And then there were two. Pitchers John Lackey of St. Louis and Andrew Miller of Baltimore are the last ones standing of all of the players traded to playoff contenders on July 31, the last day players could be traded without having gone through waivers. They are the only ones remaining in the playoffs.
There is one other player who was traded that day who is still in the playoffs, but what a circuitous route Kelly Johnson took to get there.
Johnson, a journeyman utility infielder-outfielder, signed with the New York Yankees as a free agent last December. He played for them for the first four months of the season before they traded him to Boston for Stephen Drew July 31.
A month later, after he played 10 games for the Red Sox, they traded Johnson to Baltimore on the last day he could be eligible for post-season games. He played in 19 games for the Orioles, then got his first taste of post-season play with a pinch-hitting appearance in the division series against Detroit.
No longer in position to help their teams win the World Series because their teams either didn’t reach the post-season or did and were excused from the post-season short of the World Series are top-of-rotation pitchers David Price of Detroit and Jon Lester of Oakland, outfielders Sam Fuld and Jonny Gomes of Oakland, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera of Washington, center fielder Austin Jackson of Seattle, Emilio Bonifacio of Atlanta, right fielder Gerardo Parra of Milwaukee, third baseman Martin Prado and reliever Esmil Rogers of the Yankees and Angel Sanchez of Pittsburgh.
And these are only the players who were obtained in trades or on waivers on July 31. Others were acquired in deals leading up to deadline day. It’s an annual practice, and every year there are plenty of deals made that are more hopeful than successful.
Jake Peavy was scheduled to start Game 2 of the National League Championship Series for San Francisco and Jason Frasor was the winning pitcher in relief in Kansas City’s wild-card victory over Oakland in the American League series.
But these pitchers are on vacation: Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammels (Athletics), Justin Masterson (Cardinals), Chris Capuano (Yankees), Huston Street (Angels). Joining them are infielders Danny Valencia (Blue Jays), Kendrys Morales (Mariners) and Chase Headley (Yankees).
The Athletics got a jump on the competition by acquiring Samardzija and Hammel from the Chicago Cubs July 5. However, general manager Billy Beane said his priority in making that trade wasn’t to have those pitchers in the A’s post-season rotation.
“We had to do everything we could to get into the playoffs,” Beane said in a telephone interview last week, saying the playoffs were in the past and he was already preparing for next year.
But given that 25 days after the Cubs’ deal, he traded one of his best hitters, Yoenis Cespedes, on deadline day for Lester, did he have second thoughts about the pitching trades? “No,” Beane said. “We made the playoffs. That’s what we wanted. We just didn’t go far enough.”
The Athletics face a pitching shortage for next season. Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin continue to recover from elbow ligament transplant surgery and are not expected to be ready for the start of the season. Oakland is also expected to lose some of their pitchers as free agents.
“We have to manage the payroll,” Beane said. “It’s starting to bump up to where it’s becoming difficult with what we have. We’ll let some players go as free agents.”
Most likely to leave are starters Lester and Hammel and reliever Luke Gregorson.
“As disappointing as it is to get knocked out early,” Beane said, “we’re proud of what we’ve done.”
With the rise of the Mariners, the Angels’ playing up to their capability and the possibility that the Rangers, if healthy, will rebound, the American League West could become a dangerous place to play next season.
“Depth will be a problem early in the season,” Beane said, alluding to the delayed return of Parker and Griffin.
The Tigers don’t have the money problems the A’s have, but they face a free-agency problem in the person of Max Scherzer, who can be a free agent after rejecting a 6-year, $144 million offer earlier this year. Scherzer gambled and won, pitching free of injury while compiling an 18-5 record and a 3.15 earned run average.
He was also one-third of the Tigers’ starting rotation that was a victim of the Orioles’ division-series sweep. Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Price form one of the best starting trios in the majors and with Rick Porcello one of the best quartet of starters.
The Detroit starters, however, were unable to pitch the Tigers beyond the division series, which was the goal of general manager Dave Dombrowski. Did he acquire Price for post-season purposes?
“And to win for this year,” Dombrowski said. “David Price is a fine pitcher and he did very well for us. We’re disappointed we didn’t advance. We’re not disappointed with what he did. We also like what he gives us for next year.”
Price was not a new move for Dombrowski. In previous races, he obtained Anibal Sanchez and Doug Fister. “They did very well for us,” he said, “but we didn’t win. We try to win the championship every year. We’ve just come up short.”
The Tigers have won the American League Central title the last four seasons but it was only in 2012 that they reached the World Series, where the Giants swept them.
“You never like to lose,” Dombrowski said. “We’re disappointed. We want to win the world championship next year. We’ll try to win again.”
Teams that have premier three-man rotations don’t benefit from them in the post-season if the best they do is win the wild card and then lose that game. They benefit if they win it because they have good pitchers to start the first two games of the division series.
“I’ve never seen teams go into the playoffs with such dominant pitchers,” a major league club executive remarked.
However, the dominant pitchers haven’t necessarily dominated all of the time. The No. 1 culprit has been the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, whom the Cardinals rocked for 11 runs in 12 2/3 innings. Adam Wainwright of St. Louis has allowed 9 runs (8 earned) in 9 innings. Lester gave up 6 runs in 7 1/3 innings.
And then there is Madison Bumgarner of San Francisco, who has allowed nary a run of any kind in 16 2/3. Zack Greinke pitched seven scoreless innings and Peavy a scoreless five and two-thirds in his first start.
ROCKY THINKING OF ROCKIES’ OWNER
The Colorado Rockies have fired general manager Dan O’Dowd – or he has resigned, as the club said – after 15 years, but they may want to consider firing the owner, Dick Monfort.
In response to e-mail complaints from fans, Monfort reportedly replied that if fans weren’t happy with the Rockies’ efforts, perhaps they should stay home and not show up at Coors Field. In addition, said Monfort, who has been with the Rockies for 17 years, maybe the city doesn’t deserve a major league team,
Now there’s a bright businessman. Criticize the paying customers for criticizing the product he’s selling.
Monfort has also been guilty of false advertising or at the least giving fans false hope. He did that by predicting that the team would win 90 games this year. The Rockies had won 90 games only twice in their 21-year history and in their 22nd season won 66, their third lowest total.
The Rockies’ best known move in recent years was placing senior vice president Bill Geivett at a desk in the clubhouse. The Rockies said Geivett also resigned. They did not say if anyone would assume his seat at his desk in the clubhouse.
THE ANTI-GEORGE BENEFITS CASHMAN
At the same time Dan O’Dowd was fired in Colorado or resigned or resigned under pressure, Brian Cashman received a new three-year contract from the New York Yankees, which will extend his tenure as their general manager to 20 years.
A two-decade duration is remarkable for the Steinbrenner-owned Yankees, but the key here is the Steinbrenner isn’t George but Hal. If George were alive and running the Yankees, Cashman would have been gone at least a year ago.
My feeling is Hal is doing whatever is necessary to be the anti-George. He was old enough to see the way his father did things and vowed to do them differently.
That, of course, is Hal’s prerogative, but I think he’s making a mistake in this case. Cashman has had 17 years to build a winner, but he chose the easy way and instead bought a winner with the Steinbrenner money. How Hal doesn’t see that eludes me.
In 17 years Cashman did not build a farm system. In 17 years Cashman let Mark Newman squander any opportunity to scout and develop young players. The Yankees’ drafts, over which Cashman should have assumed responsibility, have been left instead to incompetent executives.
Not that Cashman would have done a better job running the draft. I don’t know that he has ever gained first-hand expertise in the scouting and evaluation areas, but he should have had someone more knowledgeable than Newman, but like Hal Steinbrenner, he was reluctant to fire anyone.
Cashman has allowed the Yankees to grow old and very likely won’t be able to buy his way back into serious contention, no matter how much Steinbrenner money he has at his disposal.