Misery meter high for some MLB teams
With five weeks left in baseball’s regular season, we’re wondering not so much which teams will be the last ones standing in October, but which will suffer the most misery by not getting to the playoffs.
For now, we can only wonder who will have the most gut-wrenching winter, especially after every front office just had the golden opportunity at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline to hit CTRL-ALT-DELETE on their rosters.
The finger-pointing already has started in Southern California. Remember the days when the front office of the Dodgers was being celebrated for aggressively pursuing Manny Machado? These days, it is being scolded for having the wrong priorities, with a bullpen in shambles.
Remember all the euphoria in Pittsburgh with the arrival of ace Chris Archer? It is being replaced by criticisms the Pirates gave up far too many prized prospects to the Rays in a season that’s going nowhere.
The Brewers opened the year by grabbing All-Star outfielders Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich and doubled down on their offense by nabbing Jonathan Schoop and Mike Moustakas at the trade deadline. Those cheers now are replaced by screams as fans wonder why they never got a starting pitcher. The Brewers have lost 10 of their past 15 games and have the National League’s worst ERA in August.
It’s premature to know which trades completed last month will prove boom or bust. However, it’s safe to say the Cubs can’t thank the Rangers enough for Cole Hamels, who has helped erase the memory of Yu Darvish’s disastrous first season.
The Nationals might be slapping themselves silly for believing their band of underachievers would wake up and reach the postseason.
The Dodgers, who not only have the richest payroll but also one of the deepest farm systems, might have the ugliest 70-degree winter you’ve ever seen if they don’t win the National League West for the sixth consecutive season. They were aggressive in acquiring Machado and second baseman Brian Dozier, but they stopped short of the lightning round by grabbing only veteran John Axford for the back end of their bullpen. Certainly, they could not foresee that All-Star closer Kenley Jansen would be sidelined since Aug. 10 with an irregular heartbeat; he was expected to be activated before Monday’s game. But their bullpen just went through a stretch of blowing leads in seven consecutive games as the Dodgers drifted from first to third in the NL West.
“It’s now or never,” Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw said Sunday.
The Pirates should be applauded for finally going for it when they had an opportunity to at least grab a wildcard spot, but those hopes are fading, with the wondrous celebration of Archer’s arrival aging like an old family Polaroid. They are 7-10 since the trade and trail the Cubs by nine games in the NL Central and
51⁄ games in the wild-card race. The beauty of Archer,
2 along with reliever Keone Kela, is that they will be around for at least two more seasons.
“I’m not here for just this year,” said Archer, the biggest pitching prize of the deadline. “They made it clear this is a move for 2018 and beyond. There’s a window here until 2021. That’s why they were willing to part with the package they did.
“We are going to win, and it’s going to be awesome doing it in a city like this.”
Still, crazy things can happen to dreams of grandeur. Just ask the Nationals. They have had seven years of Bryce Harper. Nine years of Stephen Strasburg. Four years and two Cy Young Awards from Max Scherzer (and perhaps a third on the way). And not a single postseason series victory.
This year, barring a miracle finish after losing 40 of their past 69 games, will be their most embarrassing season in franchise history. The Nationals have wasted this collection of talent while Harper, Daniel Murphy and Gio Gonzalez can all depart as free agents.
The front office believed the Nationals had it in them to make one big run and didn’t trade any of their prized pieces at the deadline, only to be fooled again.
The Astros, who won the trade deadline a year ago by seizing Justin Verlander just before the Aug. 31 midnight deadline, gambled by acquiring Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna.
He hadn’t pitched since May 8 after being arrested on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend. He was suspended for 75 games by Major League Baseball and did not appeal the punishment. No team would take a chance on him when the Blue Jays openly shopped him.
No team except the defending World Series champions.
Osuna has given up just one run in five appearances, but the Astros have lost seven of their past nine games and lead the Athletics by a single game.
If the Astros don’t win the American League West, or if they go out early in the postseason, fair or not, their decision to acquire Osuna will be blamed for their demise.
Colorado pushed up Rocktober early by going 30-14 since June 28, the best in the NL. They have never won a division title. Now, just a half-game out of first place in the NL West, they have a whole lot of folks in the Rockies willing to push back ski season for an October joy ride or scream at the front office for spending $106 million on a struggling bullpen.
The NL West first-place Diamondbacks would feel more pain than the Rockies if they miss out considering their window is closing a little sooner, with starter Patrick Corbin and center fielder A.J. Pollock free agents after this season and perennial MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt a year later.
The Cubs, who grabbed three relievers at the deadline, still are clinging to those 2016 World Series memories, but if they bow out before reaching the NLCS for the fourth consecutive season, you can be assured there would be a whole lot of winter changes besides the renovations at Wrigley Field.
There’s a whole lot of front office testosterone and egos riding on these division and wild-card races, and for those who fall short, shrewd and savvy trade-deadline moves will be shredded.
These pennant races can be so joyous, but they can cause a whole lot of pain, too.