Daily Dose: Fall Classic
With four days of no baseball (lord, help us), there’s very little news to discuss. However, you might have heard that the Giants and Royals will begin a pretty big series on Tuesday. Let’s go through some World Series nuggets as we prepare for the Fall Classic.
Only the Game 1 and Game 2 pitching matchups are set in stone so far. Madison Bumgarner will get the ball for the Giants in Game 1 on Tuesday. Yes, he started the Giants’ last game, but the club has the opportunity to bring him back on regular rest Tuesday. Bumgarner will square off against James Shields, who is ready to roll after passing a kidney stone during the ALCS. Ouch.
Game 2 will feature veteran Jake Peavy versus youngster Yordano Ventura. Ventura struggled in his lone ALCS start before exiting with right shoulder tightness. He’s also, between the regular and postseason, thrown 196 innings in 2014, which tops his previous career high by 46 frames. However, he says he’s feeling fine and will be ready to toe the rubber on Wednesday.
The Giants will throw Tim Hudson in Game 3 and Ryan Vogelsong in Game 4 when the series moves to San Francisco. Although the Royals have yet to announce their Games 3 and 4 starters, it will be some combination of Jeremy Guthrie and Jason Vargas. Guthrie pitched before Vargas in the ALCS, but with the Giants having a left-handed heavy lineup, it might make sense for Kansas City to throw Vargas in Game 3 this time around.
Michael Morse, who hit a huge pinch-hit, game-tying homer in the eighth inning of NLCS Game 5, will be the Giants’ designated hitter in the World Series. Morse missed nearly all of September, the Wild Card Game and the NLDS with a strained oblique, but he returned to deliver two hits in four pinch-hit at-bats during the NLCS. NLCS Game 5 hero Travis Ishikawa will continue to man left field.
Tim Lincecum has yet to appear in a game this postseason, possibly in part due to a sore neck, but he’ll be on the Giants’ World Series roster. San Francisco has two capable long relievers in Yusmeiro Petit and Lincecum, who thrived in a relief role during the Giants’ World Series run in 2012.
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Shuffling Cards
Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak and manager Mike Matheny met with the media on Monday – four days after being dispatched by the Giants – and offered some tidbits on their club heading into the offseason.
Adam Wainwright will not need surgery on his right elbow after having issues with it during the second half and in the playoffs. He will follow his normal offseason routine, but the Cards could scale back his workload in spring training to compensate for his innings total over the past two seasons.
Michael Wacha will also have a normal offseason after an MRI Friday on his right shoulder came back clean. Wacha missed a large portion of the 2014 campaign with a stress reaction in the shoulder, and it’s an ailment that can pop up again, so he’s not out of the woods just yet.
One Cardinals player who will need surgery is Jon Jay, who will have an operation on his left wrist. Mozeliak said that he’s “very optimistic that it will be a relatively simple procedure,” with Jay needing 6-8 weeks of recovery time. The outfielder will have a pretty normal offseason and is penciled in as the club’s starting center fielder for 2015.
The one position that is up for grabs next season for St. Louis is right field. Randal Grichuk started there down the stretch in the regular season and in the playoffs, but Oscar Taveras will probably be the favorite to break camp as the starter if he shows up to spring training in great shape. The Cards have given Taveras an offseason conditioning program to follow after he packed on about 20 pounds following last August’s ankle surgery.
Carlos Martinez will prepare as a starter in spring training but appears pegged for an eighth inning role for the time being. The Cards are not expected to re-sign setup man Pat Neshek. Marco Gonzales will also enter camp as a starter but could wind up in the bullpen as a result of St. Louis’ rotation depth.
Quick Hits: The Red Sox will reportedly consider trading Yoenis Cespedes this offseason. With a glut of outfielders, someone will surely have to go ... Yu Darvish (elbow) will return to the United States in November for a follow-up MRI to see whether he can be cleared to begin his offseason throwing program ... While Paul Molitor is still considered the favorite for the Twins’ managerial vacancy, the club isn’t ready to offer him the job just yet ... Both the Cardinals and Lance Lynn are reportedly open to discussing a contract extension this offseason. Lynn is arbitration-eligible for the first time ... The Red Sox have had preliminary contract talks with impending free agent closer Koji Uehara, but a deal isn’t close ... Rangers general manager Jon Daniels revealed over the weekend that the team’s next priority is to re-sign impending free agent starter Colby Lewis ... The Red Sox have hired former Athletics hitting coach Chili Davis to serve in the same capacity for their team ...
