Tagged: Mike Scioscia
Trade Deadline Revisited
As soon as the July 31 Trade Deadline was completed, the A’s and Tigers appeared to be the big winners.
The Athletics had acquired Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel a bit before the Trade Deadline and then acquired Jon Lester in a blockbuster move while the Tigers landed David Price.
As it turned out, those teams went a combined 0-4 in the postseason and the real prize of the Deadline may have been a 31-year old pitcher from Mobile, Alabama.
The San Francisco Giants acquired Jake Peavy, for a couple of pitching prospects, a few days before the Trade Deadline. Peavy went 8-4 with a 2.17 ERA in 12 starts for the National League champions to finish the regular season and is 1-0 with a 1.86 ERA in two postseason starts.
Now it remains to be seen whether or not the Giants will resign Peavy next season, but after winning the National League pennant and reaching a third World Series in the past five years, it’s hard to argue the move wasn’t a success for the Giants.
In addition to the Peavy trade, plenty of other teams were active at the Trade Deadline. Here’s a quick rundown on how everyone performed with their new teams:
A’s acquired Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel: In 16 starts with the Athletics, Samardzija went 8-8 with a 3.14 ERA. Hammel went 2-6 with a 4.26 ERA in 12 starts.
Cubs acquire Addison Russell, Billy McKinney and Dan Straily: Russell, the No. 5 prospect according to MLBpipeline.com, was the prize of this trade for the Cubs and he hit .294 in 50 games with the Cubs AA affiliate.
The Athletics acquired Jon Lester, Jonny Gomes and cash from the Red Sox for Yoenis Cespedes: Lester went 6-4 with a 2.35 ERA in 11 starts, but was also on the mound when the A’s collapse began in the AL Wild Card game. Gomes played in 34 games for the A’s and hit .234 Cespedes hit .269 with five homers and 33 RBI for Boston.
Then, the A’s traded Tommy Milone to the Twins in exchange for Sam Fuld:
Milone appeared in six games, five starts, for the Twins while Fuld played in 53 games and hit .210 for Oakland.
The Cardinals acquired John Lackey from the Red Sox for Joe Kelly and Allen Craig: Lackey went 3-3 with a 4.30 ERA in 10 starts for the Cardinals while Kelly went 4-2 with a 4.11 ERA in 10 starts for Boston and Craig hit .128 in 29 games.
The Brewers traded a pair of minor leaguers (outfielder Mitch Haniger and pitcher Anthony Banda) to the Diamondbacks for Gerardo Parra: Parra hit .268 in 46 games for Milwaukee.
The Padres continued selling and traded Chris Denorfia to the Mariners for Abraham Almonte and minor league pitcher Stephen Kohlscheen: Denorfia hit .195 in 32 games with the Mariners.
A day after trading Justin Masterson to the Cardinals, the Indians traded Asdrubal Cabrera to the Nationals for Zach Walters: Masterson was a disappointment with the Cardinals as he went 3-3 in nine games, six starts, with a 7.04 ERA. Cabrera hit .229 in 49 games with the Nationals and Walters hit .130 in 70 games for the Indians.
The Red Sox traded Andrew Miller to the Orioles for minor league pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez: Miller appeared in 23 games for the Orioles and posted a 1.35 ERA.
Boston was very active at the deadline and concluded its day after trading Stephen Drew to the Yankees for Kelly Johnson: Drew hit .150 in 46 games with the Yankees.
In addition to Drew, the Yankees acquired Martin Prado. In order to get Prado, the Yankees sent Peter O’Brien and either cash or a player to be named later to the Diamondbacks: Prado hit .316 in 37 games as a Yankee.
The Braves acquired Emilio Bonifacio, James Russell and cash from the Cubs in exchange for minor league catcher Victor Caratini: Bonifacio appeared in 41 games for the Braves and hit .212, while Russell posted a 2.22 ERA in 22 appearances with Atlanta.
The Marlins sent outfielder Jake Marisnick to the Astros in return for Jarred Cosart and Kike Hernandez: Marisnick hit .272 in 51 games with his new team and Cosart went 4-4 with a 2.39 ERA in 10 starts with his new club.
The Tigers acquired David Price, the Mariners picked up Austin Jackson and the Rays received Drew Smyly and Nick Franklin: Price went 4-4 with a 3.59 ERA in 11 starts for the Tigers while Austin Jackson hit .229 in 54 games with the Mariners. He also stole 11 bases. In Tampa Bay, Smyly went 3-1 in seven starts and posted a 1.70 ERA and Franklin hit .206 in 11 games.
Obviously these stats do not tell the whole story of who won or lost a trade or whether it was even for both teams as contract situations, cash, prospects and plenty of other factors are up for consideration, but in the break between the championship series and the World Series, it is interesting to look back and see how all those Deadline deals stacked up.
Stalling On Replay Reviews Needs To Change
Overall, instant replay has been good for baseball.
Replay filled a void that was needed in baseball and the fact that entering play Saturday 51.97 percent of challenges have been overturned, according to data compiled from baseballreference.com, illustrates that.
However, whenever a manager comes out to challenge a call there is one glaring flaw to the system and Saturday night Tigers manager Brad Ausmus was ejected from his team’s 4-0 loss to the Angels for arguing it.
Once the umpire makes his initial call it often takes managers far too long to initiate the challenge.
In the third inning of Saturday night’s game, Angels pitcher Matt Shoemaker picked Tigers baserunner Eugenio Suarez off of first base. First base umpire Jim Joyce initially called Suarez safe and about 20-25 seconds passed before Angels manager Mike Scioscia came out of the dugout to talk with Joyce.
Another 15 or so seconds passed while Scioscia discussed the play with Joyce. And approximately 40 seconds after Joyce’s initial call, the replay process officially began.
Ausmus tried to argue the play shouldn’t be reviewable because the next play was ready to begin and Scioscia had taken too long.
According to Section D, Rule 1 of the replay review rules:
“The next ‘play’ shall commence when the pitcher is on the rubber preparing to start his delivery and the batter has entered the batter’s box (unless the defensive team initiates an appeal play, in which case any call made during the play prior to the appeal still may be subject to Replay Review).”
The rules also state it is up to the umpire’s discretion whether to grant the request for review.
So under the rules Scioscia and Joyce were fine.
However, for the speed and fluidity of the game, Ausmus is 100 percent correct.
The call was ultimately overturned meaning the umpires got it right and the system worked, but there is no reason to process should take 40ish seconds to start.
Saturday night’s controversy was a bit unique because Scioscia took so long to come out of the dugout, but when all is said and done it is no different than every other replay scenario.
The typical scenario starts when the manager comes out of the dugout and talks to the umpire about who knows what while awaiting a signal from the dugout. From there the manager either gets a thumbs-up and challenges the call or gets a thumbs down and trots back to the dugout.
If a manager is going to come out of the dugout he should be forced to either make a mound visit or challenge the call. Having the opportunity to discuss gardening, attractive blondes in section 108 or make dinner plans while waiting on a signal from the dugout just wastes time.
Managers may say sometimes they just go out to get clarification – and occasionally that is true – but how many times have you seen a manager go talk to an umpire only to look back into the dugout, get a thumbs down from one of his coaches and then retreat back to the dugout?
If the manager really wanted clarification on something he wouldn’t be staring into the dugout while getting the “clarification” from the umpire.
This stalling practice has quickly become common ground on a lot close plays and seems to be a part of the replay culture in MLB, but it needs to be changed.
Replay has been really good for baseball and as the system evolves and everyone gets more comfortable with the process it should only get better.
It’s important to remember this is baseball’s first season with expanded instant replay so there are kinks that need to be – and will be – ironed out in the offseason.
Hopefully stalling is just one of those kinks.
Boor on Baseball 