Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants on winning the World Series. It was one of the better series we have seen in awhile. Let's give a hand to the Kansas City Royals, who kept us on the edge of our seats until the end of the game. San Francisco held out and emerged as champions for the third time in 5 years.
The 2014 MLB playoffs start tonight. We are going to try and predict the postseason and the outcome. If we recall this is a series that we have done through out the year. This is the last one before the offseason. It has been a good year with many surprises. Let's get started. Wild Card RoundOakland Athletics vs Kansas City Royals (September 30th)- This is going to be a good game. Even though the Athletics faded a lot after they traded Cespedes, Lester will prove that he is worth the trade. He will be solid, going 7 innings and giving up two runs. Meanwhile, James Shields will also be solid, but only lasts for 6 innings and will surrender 4 runs. Oaklands' bullpen will blow that lead, but they will come back in the 10th for the win. Final Score: 5-4 Oakland Winner: Oakland Athletics San Francisco Giants vs Pittsburgh Pirates (October 1)- The Pirates look to make it farther this year in the playoffs, after losing in the Division Round last year. They are putting the ball in the hands of Edison Volquez. Volquez has been a bit of a revelation this year, particularly in the second half. Hopefully he can carry that hot streak into the playoffs. The offense shouldn't be a problem for them either. Sadly for them, Madison Bumgarner is taking the mound against them. Bumgarner has been very good this year. I am not sure I trust the Giants offense enough to win, though. Final Score: 6-3 Pittsburgh Winner: Pittsburgh Division SeriesOakland Athletics vs Los Angeles Angels (October 2-8 if needed)- This should be one of the better series of the playoffs. Oakland has the pitching. LA has the offense. This series will definitely come down to the weak points of each team. LA has the worst pitching staff of anyone in the playoffs. I wouldn't trust the threesome of Shoemaker, Weaver, and Wilson to win the series for me. The offense certainly has the firepower to take on the A's, but Oakland has shut down pitching. Sonny Gray has been near unhittable lately, Lester is a beast in the playoffs, and Samardzija isn't that bad either. If the A's can put up some runs, they will win the series. Winner: Oakland in 4 games Detroit Tigers vs Baltimore Orioles (October 2-8 if needed)- Someone the Baltimore Orioles ended the year as one of the best teams in the majors. They made it with their pitching finally stepping up. Their pitching staff is still a scary thing to take into the playoffs. I am not sure how much I trust the Orioles rotation of number 3 starters. The Tigers on the other hand have the superior starting staff. Price, Scherzer, and Verlander are scary names on paper. Price has been pretty bad since the trade, though, and Verlander hasn't been himself for a while. This series will come down to the offense. The Tigers have a great offense, but I feel the Orioles are deeper top to bottom, especially with Miguel Cabrera not playing up to his standards. The Tigers bullpen will blow the series for them. Winner: Baltimore in 5 Pittsburgh Pirates vs Washington Nationals (October 3-9 if needed)-After fighting their way through the Wild Card round, the Pirates still have something to prove. They will put up a fight, but the red hot Nationals will shut them down. Specifically the Nationals pitching will shut down the Pirates offense. The Nationals offense will be good enough to get the lead, and then the pitching will keep the Pirates subdued. Winner: Washington in 4 St. Louis Cardinals vs Los Angeles Dodgers (October 3-9, if needed)- The Cardinals somehow fought their way into the playoffs again. They are a gritty team. They will definitely put up a fight, but the Dodgers are just to complete of a team for the Cardinals to deal with. Kershaw will shut down St. Louis twice, and the offense will tear up the Cardinals pitching. Winner: Los Angeles in 5 Championship SeriesOakland Athletics vs Baltimore Orioles (October 10-18 if needed)- The Orioles will find their way into the ALCS, but won't go any farther.Their pitching will collapse, and the A's pitching would shut down the Baltimore bats. The A's pitching will completely stop the Orioles offense and emerge as the MVPs of this series. Winner: Oakland in 5 Los Angeles Dodgers vs Washington Nationals (October 11-19 if needed)- This will be the Championship series to watch. The two best teams in the NL will meet. The Nationals statistically have the better pitching, but you will see them choke in the playoffs once again. The Dodgers will ride to the World Series on backs of Kershaw, Ryu, and Grienke. The offense will be subdued, but do enough to win. Winner: Los Angeles in 6 World SeriesLos Angeles Dodgers vs Oakland Athletics (October 21-29 if needed)- This will be a pretty forgettable World Series. The A's will finally collapse completely after playing some solid baseball for a few weeks. The A's won't be able to contain the Dodgers offense, and the A's offense will be shut down by the Dodgers dominant pitching.
Winner: Los Angeles in 5 In July, we did a preview series for the rest of the MLB season. We made some bold pics and some easy pics. We were wrong in just about every category. Below we have the original and the corrections. * denotes Wild Card 1. ** denotes Wild Card 2
The Castillo contest is over. The Boston Red Sox have signed Rusney Castillo to a 7 year/ $72 million deal. Castillo is another one of those Cuban imports. He isn't as highly touted as Jose Abreu, Yasiel Puig, or Yoenis Cespedes, but it does look like he will be at the very least a solid addition. The kid has some plus-plus speed and a bit of pop. I could see him competing for a SB crown and have enough pop to hit 15-20 HRs a year. That may be on the generous side, but it is best case-scenario. On the other hand, this has the potential to be the first big Cuban free-agent signing bomb. The kid is definitely worthy of your attention, though. His signing raises questions about what the Red Sox will do. After watching their outfield suffer most of the year, the team now has unbelievable depth at the position now. This makes them the most interesting team to watch in the offseason. Right now it looks like Jackie Bradley Jr played his way out of Boston and it also is looking like at least 2 of Victorino, Craig, Nava, Betts, and maybe Castillo himself are on their way out of Boston this winter. What do you think of the signing? Good or bad?
After being rumored for about the past year, SP David Price has finally been traded. Price now finds himself in Detroit. This was all part of a three-team deal. Seattle was the third tea. They sent Nick Franklin to Tampa and grabbed CF Austin Jackson from the Tigers. Meanwhile Tampa got 2B/SS Nick Franklin, SS Willy Adames, and SP Drew Smyly. This definitely gives the Tigers one of the best rotations in baseball. Look back later for an analysis.
David Price was just the center piece of a three-team deal that sent him to Detroit, Austin Jackson to Seattle, and Drew Smyly, Nick Franklin, and Willy Adames to Tampa. This turns out to be the most lopsided deal of the day. Let's take a look at all 3 sides. Seattle Mariners: This just turns out to be Detroit not having someone else Tampa wants. So to go Seattle listening, Detroit offered up their CF, Austin Jackson. Seattle wanted a RH power bat and they got one. It is anyone's guess as to how well Jackson will perform in the huge confines of Seattle, but he should be able to do well. He doesn't have the protection of Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez, but he does have the protection of Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager. A minor step down, but not a huge one. They also managed to hold onto Paxton and Walker. Franklin has been able to make enough contact to stay in the majors, so the Mariners didn't give up much. Grade: A Detroit Tigers: Detroit was the one that wanted Price the most. And they didn't give up much either. They lost Drew Smyly, who is good, but not great. They lost Austin Jackson. He was the biggest loss, but he wasn't the best contact hitter. He strikeout often and didn't have a high average. And they fgave up Willy Adames. This is an 18 year old kid in the minors who projects to be just average. That is a steal. In return, they get a previous Cy Young winner to pair with their other two. The Tigers top three pitchers are the last 3 Cy Young award winners. That is insane. Now to discredit that, Verlander has been pretty bad this season. Scherzer also hasn't been at Cy Young level either. But Price is doing pretty good after a rough patch. And then they have Anibal Sanchez rounding out the pack. This team can afford to loose Austin Jackson, but that statements is even more true when they acquire David Price. Grade: A+ Tampa Bay Rays:
Tampa was ready to trade Price. They couldn't afford him and it was time. Many expected them to get twice the return they got on James Shields (Myers, Odorizzi). They didn't even get half of that. They got a young guy that projects to be an average player at best, not playing at worst (Adames). They got a SS with some pop, but can't hit for an average (Franklin). Then they got a middle-of-the-rotation starter that is good at best. I guess Tampa was going to give Price away for the first offer they got, because right now it looks like they got nothing in return. These are average players at best. These aren't cornerstones like Longoria or Myers. Usually Tampa is really good at making deals. I don't know what happened this time. Grade: F The John Lackey trade was an interesting one. He had an intriguing option for the league minimum last year that made him extremely valuable. It eventually got to the point where the question was who would bite? It seems like the Cardinals liked Lackey the most and gave up a good amount for him. Let's take a look. St. Louis Cardinals: The Cardinals gave up 5 years of control of Kelly and 4 years of control of Craig to get John Lackey, so they obviously like him. This is a bit of a signal, along with the Masterson trade, that the Cards are going all-in this season. They were foiled in the World Series last year by the Red Sox and they didn't want that to happen again. So they went and improved a starting rotation that was starting to weaken. Wacha is gone for a while. Miller has been pretty horrible. They have to worry about Martinez's arm. There were too many question marks in the pitching staff. So yesterday they grabbed Justin Masterson, who has the potential to thrive in the NL. Today they grabbed, John Lackey, who has been great in the AL East, but could really step up his game in the NL. They also get another year of Lackey at the league-minimum. Lackey has said he will honor the option. Lackey could be a stabilizing force behind Adam Wainwright and Lance Lynn. If Masterson also is solid and works out his problems, the Cardinals could be a force in the playoffs. All they need now is for Oscar Taveras to make the RF spot his and they will be set. Grade : A Boston Red Sox:
The Red Sox did a good job. They gave up Lackey, who might've not accepted the club option since Lester was traded. They also got a very promising player in Allen Craig, who hasn't been able to perform consistently, but shows flashes when does play. They have him until 2018, which is worth a lot. Then they got Joe Kelly, a promising young guy, who might be able to put everything together under the tutelage of John Farrell and Juan Nieves. They have Kelly until 2019. They gave up a minor leaguer, though. He was pretty solid, but in the long-term, probably won't be anything special. The Lester got two players who have tons of potential for a minimum of 4 years together. The key to making this deal really good for the Red Sox is unlocking that potential. Grade: A, just for the amount of control they got. In an effort to clean up their starting rotation a bit, the Cardinals have acquired John Lackey from the Boston Red Sox. In return, the Red Sox get SP Joe Kelly and 1B/OF Allen Craig. Lackey was interesting, because he has an option for the league minimum next year. Meanwhile, Craig has had a rough year in St. Louis and a change of scenery could help. Kelly has been injured for most of the year and has been around average while pitching. It could still turn out to be a win for the Red Sox. Boston all sent minor leaguer Corey Littrell and roughly $1.75MM to the Cards. Come back for the analysis later.
As everyone has heard by now, Boston have sent Jon Lester and Jonny Gomes to the Oakland Athletics and gotten Yoenis Cespedes in return. Oakland also got roughy $1 million, while Boston got a Competitive Balance Draft Pick. This seems to be a fair enough trade on both sides. Let's take a closer look. Oakland Athletics: This trade proves one thing. The Athletics are all-in on the World Series this year. After giving up their best prospect (Addison Russell) to get Jeff Samardzija, they gave up their most powerful hitter for Jon Lester. The A's have one of the best offenses in baseball, which is why they can absorb the loss of Cespedes. There was a rumor going around that they were going to shop him in the offseason anyways. Just in case they had huge concerns about losing some offensive firepower, they grabbed Jonny Gomes from the Red Sox, too. Gomes is something of a playoff lucky charm. He has that fantastic attitude and is pretty solid. They also went out and grabbed Sam Fuld to platoon with Gomes. The A's definitely come out better for this season. In fact they are now the definitive World Series favorites. They have the best rotation in baseball now. Here is how it lines-up: 1. Jon Lester LHP 2. Sonny Gray RHP 3. Jeff Samardzija RHP 4. Scott Kazmir LHP 5. Jason Hammel RHP That is a shutdown rotation. The only weak spot is Hammel, who has been awful since he joined Oakland. Oakland could plug in Jesse Chavez into that spot or go out and trade for a stronger 5th starter. They are in win-now mode and with the team the have built and the players they gave up, anything less is a disappointment. Grade: B Boston Red Sox:
The Red Sox realized that this season was lost and that they potentially lost Jon Lester for good. They figured he would walk in the offseason. So they made something happen. They weren't gonna get a comp pick. They were gonna get a top player. And they did. They got Oakland's best bat. Cespedes fills a huge hole in the OF. They need a big bat there and they got one. This trade is a focus onto 2015. They have Cespedes for 2015, and maybe longer if he likes it in Boston. Cespedes has ridiculous power. That is evidenced by his 2 HR Derby titles. Moving to an extremely hitter-friendly park in Fenway will surely make his power numbers go up. I think Cespedes could wind up being Manny 2.0. I don't think he will have the same quirks and bad-boy behavior, but I think he could have similar production. Definitely a good trade for Boston. They gave Lester to a small-market team too. Oakland has no shot at signing Lester. Boston does. They did shoot themselves in the foot in Spring Training with the first offer, and then again when trading him because he can't get a qualifying offer, which will make his price skyrocket. But has a chance to make Lester and Cespedes teammates in 2015. Grade: A- After being rumored to be dealt for a week, Jon Lester has finally been moved. Lester is on his way to Oakland. He is taking friend Jonny Gomes and cash with him. In return the Boston Red Sox get a much needed power bat in Yoenis Cespedes. While Gomes and Lester are mid-season rentals, Boston has Cespedes through 2015. This looks like a fair trade for both sides, but we will look at that in another article. This trade comes on the heels of the Samardzija/Hammel trade. For know, all we can say is that Billy Beane really wants that World Series ring.
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