The Closer That Can't be Moved

Here comes ol' Ken Giles, rattling some chains again.

Look, it's kind of surprising to me that a closer this...fine...keeps being part of big blockbuster deals every few years. First he gets shipped to Houston for a couple of nobodies and Vince Velasquez, wins a World Series but everyone starts complaining about 'is HE the best closer for a team like the Astros?', and that complaining bogs down his 2018 numbers, they trade him for Roberto Osuna, and he suddenly figures out how to close games again.

And now the conundrum rears its ugly head again: Ken Giles figures out how to be a great closer again at the exact moment the Blue Jays decide he's expendable, and that he should be pitching for a contender. Which is the exact thing that made his numbers go down in the first place. So...what I'm saying is that...maybe Ken Giles doesn't want the Jays to trade him?

Not that this excuse worked for Marcus Stroman, but...Giles is Giles, and therefore not Stroman. But maybe Ken Giles' status as a fringe guy is enough to get him to stay in Toronto for the rest of the year.

....well, that and the fact that Giles has missed his last few appearances with elbow issues.

However, Giles may have figured out the way to avoid being dealt in the new, hard deadline era of baseball: just...be injured the week of the deadline. Teams generally don't deal injured players (except for Arodys Vizcaino apparently). Zach Wheeler's stock went WAY down when teams found out he was having injury issues, and even though he seems to be back now, teams are skeptical. Do they want to bank the rest of the year on someone who may not be healthy for it? It's what robbed the Phillies of a month of Wilson Ramos, the A's a week of Shawn Kelley, and the Indians of all but 2 days of Leonys Martin.

So...if Ken Giles isn't able to throw by Wednesday, he could stay on the Jays for the rest of the season, continue to be a trusted closer, and end the year with numbers he's proud of. So maybe not being traded could be the best thing that could happen this year.

Imagine that?

[Also, since this is a Blue Jays post as well, I have to get this in: Bo Bichette's gonna be awesome]

Coming Tonight: The biggest horse in the trade deadline race.

Uncustomed Heroes of 2018: Blue Jays

It happened to the Royals. It happened to the Mets. It happened to the Giants. And now it's happened to the Blue Jays. All those great players who made this team a playoff contender for two years...have been leaving, one by one. And while we're left with some impressive younger stars...overall, this team was a disappointment, even to someone who hates the Jays (despite ALWAYS PULLING THEM IN EXTRA SLOTS IN GROUP BREAKS).

For instance- Marco Estrada! Once one of the more formidable strikeout artists in the Toronto rotation. This season, despite some generally good starts (one of which I saw firsthand), Estrada's numbers were down, his ERA ballooned above 5, and despite having the most starts of any Toronto pitcher, he still gave some of his least impressive numbers since Milwaukee. Estrada will most likely be looking for a new team in 2019, and they'll be banking on a lot.

In a season marred by injury, Marcus Stroman wasn't dissimilar, with another 5+ ERA, low strikeout numbers, and...let's face it, Stroman looked human for the first time in a while. I sincerely hope he turns things around, because he was a great young arm with those contending Jays teams.

One of the other stowaways from the 2016 squad, Devon Travis, was also sidelined due to injury a bit, but played fine infield when he could, though it's getting to the point where he's starting less.

One of the reasons Travis didn't start a ton was the rearrangement of the infield- Aledmys Diaz was playing short quite a bit, leaving Travis' only time at infield spent vying with a rookie. Diaz is still a fine defensive infielder, though with this Houston deal, I feel as though he's becoming more of a backup utility man. Which isn't...bad, it's just not what I expected.

Travis' other competition was this guy, Yuli's kid brother Lourdes Gurriel, who had an impressive rookie season, playing infield well, hitting durably, and tiding Jays fans over for not getting Vlad Jr. this year. It's also looking like the position is his for 2019, so unless the Jays upgrade from Travis, the infield will be as incompatible as ever.

One of the biggest surprises was the rise of Randal Grichul's average, which finally came alive after leaving St. Louis. Grichuk was one of the best offensive performers on the team, boasting the third-highest WAR on the team (with a 2.2), and notching 25 home runs. Looks like he's cemented his status as a starter, finally.

Ryan Borucki was one of the many call-ups who attempted to save the Toronto rotation after J.A. Happ left, and he wasn't bad, though he did suffer the same ERA problems as everyone else. It'll be interesting to see how he does with a full season.

And Ken Giles, a guy unceremoniously booted from the closing position in Houston, snagged the job in Toronto after being traded for Roberto Osuna, and did fairly well for himself, reestablishing dominance for the first time since Philadelphia, and perhaps giving the Jays some incentive to keep him around.

Coming Tomorrow- They were fun, they were impressive, and they left the playoffs way too soon.

Division Series Update: Two Down, Two to Go

The first hurdle has been passed, and the Houston Astros are officially the team to beat in the AL. The Indians, in this series with New York, have proved that they're relatively human, and they can be beaten. The Sox only chased Houston one game, and the Astros still managed to eliminate them, by being two steps ahead and as powerful as they've been all year. It'll be interesting to see how they take on either the Yankees or Indians.

As for the departed...

Sad to say, the Sox never really had a chance. They were the odd men out, the third option of two vastly superior division leaders, and they would have been eliminated no matter who they played. They put up a good fight, and Andrew Benintendi had a nice run at things yesterday, but in the end it boiled down to the same thing it boiled down to last year...they don't have near enough to compete.

Meanwhile...

People are saying there was no doubt that this could happen. Well, I had doubts. If you'll recall, I predicted the Diamondbacks to beat the Dodgers so badly they'd be catapulted into the World Series. Looking back on this three game sweep, I should have been a bit more optimistic in the Dodgers' abilities, and less reliant on that big slump they had towards the end. They've definitely still got it, and the pitching, even with Clayton Kershaw giving up home runs, is shutting them all down. It's looking like this NLCS miiiiiight be a rematch, but I'm thinking whoever they play, they're likely to have the high ground.

And, as for the departed...

As powerful as the Diamondbacks could be this season, it turned out to be their own division that did them in, and in a year where three teams wanted desperately to compete, it would have been tough for them to get a word in edgewise, especially with the Dodgers' season. I think people like Paul Goldschmidt, Zack Greinke and David Peralta were definitely able to extend this team's season by a week, and they should be very proud of how far they came...and very concerned, as they're expected to go further next year.

Alright. Enough certainty. Let's go into the ones still going on...

First of all, HOW ABOUT THOSE NEW YORK YANKEES? Second game in a row where the odds were against us, and we tore through. It did help that Trevor Bauer was on short rest (which seems to be a theme with him), but people like Greg Bird, Aaron Judge and Todd Frazier have been annihilating the ball, and Luis Severino had an amazing night on the mound. Wednesday night is for all the marbles, and it'll be Corey Kluber, who we...roughed up Friday night, and Sonny Gray, who people also have a tendency to rough up. I'm gonna be hoping for the best, but also...even if the Indians win, I can root for them. They're cool.

And in the NL,

I think the message I'm getting here is that maybe the Nationals aren't really cut out for the postseason, no matter the year. Either that, or the Cubs have just been getting hot at the right time, as even with Max Scherzer on the mound, Albert Almora and Ben Zobrist went wild, pushing the Cubs over the Nats, and allowing for a lead going into Game 4 today. The Cubs will have Jake Arrieta on the mound. The Nats will have Tanner Roark. At a glance, Arrieta is the safer bet, but you honestly never know.

Tonight, we may have a full NLCS matchup. I'll alert you with details if so.

Uncustomed Heroes of 2016: Astros

It saddens me that the Astros couldn't make as strong of a run as they did in 2015, but this season definitely wasn't too far of a step behind, thanks to the strong work that A.J. Hinch has been doing up front. The team's still in progress, and is a few steps away from getting back...steps they've been taking already this postseason.

Dallas Keuchel didn't have anywhere near as good of a season as he had in 2015, but he tried his best, and still did well in the strikeout category.

Luis Valbuena spent a lot of the season circling the DL, but he's still a nice little player, and I'm glad he's found somewhere to stick around and become a starting team player. Hopefully he'll be a bit better in 2017, and potentially a more permanent 3rd base option.

Collin McHugh had to take a lot of the reins of the rotation this season, and he did a pretty admirable job, doing some strong work in the wins category, and leading the team in strikeouts.

Yulieski Gurriel was a late addition, as well as a Cuban import, and he did his best in the last month or so of the season. I think he'll be like a Yasmany Tomas-type, just an all-around player that can play anywhere and hit in the clutch.

We end with the closer. After Luke Gregerson blew the job, Ken Giles, former Philadelphia closer, was brought in to save the job, and while he wasn't perfect, he did a good enough job that I get to make a custom of him. Hoping he gets the gig next year, too. I'm still a fan of his from his Philly days.

Coming Tomorrow- The A's had a pretty down year, but not ALL was lost- after all, they have one of the most overlooked youth movements in the bigs.

Rooting for the Underdog: Toronto vs. Philly preview

Tonight, I will be attending my fourth and (probably) final baseball game of the season. And it is probably the furthest thing from a stretch of the four. For the Sox and Cubs, I had to fly to Chicago and take numerous train stops. For the Mets, I had to be up in North Jersey already, and then take the train into New York, and take even more subway stops.

Tonight, I literally have to drive a few miles to the local train station, take that into Philly, and take a few subway stops to Citizen Bank Park. It's the simplest stadium for me to get to, and it's one of the cheaper tickets, mainly because the Phillies are doing pretty badly this year.

Tonight, the game will be against the Blue Jays, which is pretty frightening, because the Blue Jays are one of the hottest teams in baseball, and it only takes one or two slip-ups from the Yankees for them to get back into the lead in the AL East. Which means right now, this is one of the worst times for the Blue Jays to be playing the Phillies. They're getting easy wins. We do not want the Blue Jays to be getting wins this easily, especially against the Phillies.

Which is why, tonight, it would make me very, very happy indeed if the Phillies found a way to win the game tonight. Right now I am 3-0 in terms of watching the home team win, and I wouldn't want any Blue Jays to break that. Tonight, Mark Buehrle is pitching against Adam Morgan, and while that may look like a lopsided matchup, and it is, something could happen tonight that could turn the game in our favor. Frenchy could hit three homers. Utley could become 26 again. Howard could hit. I'm gonna be there with my girlfriend, and I doubt she'd want the Phillies to lose.

So please. Regardless of how hot Josh Donaldson, Troy Tulowitzki, Jose Bautista, and practically the entire rest of the team is, I'm hoping that somehow the Phillies break out of this one. It may be unlikely, but stranger things have happened.