Royal Rebuild [OOTP 19]

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10/08/2019: DIVISIONAL SERIES SCORES
ALDS Game 3: Houston 3, Kansas City 12
W: Danny Duffy L: Brad Peacock S: None

ALDS Game 3: NY Yankees 4, Boston 2
W: Sonny Gray L: Chris Sale S: Tommy Kahnle

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MINOR-LEAGUE PITCHERS EARN YEARLY AWARDS
Ponce, Hinton win PCL and SAL honors
By artoodeetoo
10/08/2019

The Royals had two pitchers earn their respective minor league's Pitcher of the Year awards earlier this week; as Lexington's (Single-A) Kyle Hinton and Omaha's (Triple-A) Cody Ponce, both right-handers, won these honors.

Starring as the Legends' closer, Hinton rolled through South Atlantic league play with a 1.84 ERA and thirty-seven saves in forty opportunities. He fanned seventy-nine hitters in sixty-three innings, covering fifty-eight games. Fellow teammate Brady Singer finished second in the voting, amassing four of the possible fourteen first-place votes. Hinton garnered the other ten.

Ponce received nine of the possible sixteen first-place votes, winning over Phil Klein and Jordan Hicks, both of Memphis. Round Rock's part-time closer, Eddie Butler, also received two first-place votes, but finished fourth. Klein and Hicks received three and two first-place tallies, respectively.

He struggled in the second half of the season, but Ponce led the PCL in wins (14), innings (172.0), and was second in quality starts (14), behind teammate Eric Skoglund, who had sixteen. His 4.03 ERA was more than a point worse than Klein's 2.88, and about three-fourths of a point worse than Hicks' 3.34, but both were used out of the bullpen more than half the time, while Ponce did his work as a starter only.

The Carolina League (High-A) is expected to announce their annual pitching award, among others, tomorrow night. 2018 first-rounder Jackson Kowar is considered a favorite to win the Carolina League's Pitcher of the Year.

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HOUSTON @ KANSAS CITY (GAME 4, ALDS)

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ORIOLES HIRE TINGLER AS MANAGER
Royals' Picollo emerges as top Seattle EVP/GM candidate
10/10/2019
By MLB.com Staff

Baltimore has hired Rangers special assistant Jayce Tingler to take over as the team's manager, the club announced earlier this morning. Tingler has been a minor-league coach, but has never been the skipper at any level before joining the Rangers' front office.

Just thirty-eight, he brings a wealth of playing experience as well as his minor league coaching experiences. He was involved with the development of the minor league scouting programs for the Rangers, working pretty closely with team vice-president and general manager Jon Daniels.

Unless the Mariners, Blue Jays, or Rays hire someone younger, Tingler is now the current youngest manager in baseball, at thirty-eight years of age. He'll be thirty-nine on Opening Day 2020, but being a young guy doesn't bother him in the least.

"This is something I've prepared for, worked for, and I'm happy to be here," he said. "We're going to get to work right away, and help the Orioles be the best franchise in the league."

The Orioles are well-positioned to make a huge improvement, and they already have a great leadership team in place with general manager Kevin Nicholson and executive vice president Theo Epstein. They drafted Bobby Witt, Jr., with the first pick in last year's draft, and are poised to pick in the top ten again this year.

Even with Chris Davis' albatross contract, this is a team that should be able to go out and improve the club via free agency. They had the worst bullpen ERA of any team not named the Reds in all of baseball, and there are a wealth of arms that should be available on the free-agent market, should they decide to go that route.

Elsewhere around the league...

**Two names have surfaced in the Reds' and Mariners' search for a top personnel decision-maker -- Frank Wren, who is currently with the Red Sox as a special advisor, and Royals minor-league director J.J. Picollo. Picollo was passed over for the Royals' GM job two years ago before hiring Travis Greenleaf, who has the Royals on the cusp of returning to the ALCS in just his second year running the team. The 48-year-old Picollo would also have the added bonus of likely bringing Royals scouting director Lonnie Goldberg, who has been one of the main architects of this year's Royals team. Other names on the periphery seem to be Tony Reagins, who works in the MLB front office, and Pirates assistant GM Kyle Stark, who surfaced as a name only recently. Wren is not known for his adept management of a major-league roster, but is well-regarded for his farm system prowess, which both franchises could use to rebuild their pipelines. -- Jason Frampton

**The Red Sox inked a two-year contract extension with catcher Robinson Chirinos, mere hours after Boston's series-clinching victory over the Yankees. He'll make $4.9M in 2020, but the 2021 year is a $4.9M vesting option that activates only if he hits 480 PA in 2020, which would be a tough goal. He also has incentives that could push his total salary to $5.06M in 2021 if he meets the vesting goal. It's a nice raise for Chirinos, who made just $1.1M this past season and will be thirty-five on Opening Day. -- David LoPietro

**Free-agent-to-be Michael Pineda pushed back his offseason workout program three weeks after finding out the inflammation within his pitching elbow was not healing as fast as hoped after a throwing session that caused some minor pain. Additional procedures will not be required, but it's a red flag for teams looking to invest in the former All-Star. Pineda was 6-10, spinning a 4.54 ERA last year with the Twins in twenty-one starts. -- Jason Frampton

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10/09/2019: DIVISIONAL SERIES SCORES
ALDS Game 4: Houston 3, Kansas City 4 (F/14)
W: Drew Smith L: Riley Ferrell S: None

ALDS Game 4: NY Yankees 6, Boston 8
W: Rick Porcello L: Zack Godley S: Archie Bradley

NLDS Game 3: NY Mets 1, St, Louis 2
W: Michael Wacha L: Dallas Keuchel S: Arodys Vizcaino

NLDS Game 3: LA Dodgers 4, Chi. Cubs 0
W: Walker Buehler L: Jon Lester S: None

10/10/2019: DIVISIONAL SERIES SCORES
NLDS Game 4: NY Mets 2, St, Louis 7
W: Miles Mikolas L: Felix Hernandez S: None

NLDS Game 4: LA Dodgers 1, Chi. Cubs 5
W: Kyle Hendricks L: Nathan Eovaldi S: None

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ROYALS TREK BACK TO HOUSTON FOR GAME 5
Kansas City attempts to go 3-0 in elimination games
By artoodeetoo
10/11/2019

Tonight, the Royals will try to pull off what seemed extremely unlikely just a few days ago -- needing three straight wins after falling into a two-loss hole in the ALDS against the Astros. They completed the easiest part, winning both home games -- one by a comfortable margin, and the other by the skin of their teeth in fourteen innings -- but the results were the same in the win-loss column.

Peter Alonso has had a rough series, but delivered the penultimate hit in the 14th -- a single laced down the right-field line that scored Billy Hamilton with the winning run. The other big performance in Wednesday night's game was that of the bullpen, which put together a regular-length's game worth of scoreless innings in relief of starter Jimmy Nelson.

Jorge Lopez threw two scoreless innings while fanning two, while Drew Smith topped him with three scoreless innings, fanning four in the process. He picked up the victory, an important one. It was a win eerily reminiscent of the wins that the Royals had in the 2014 and 2015 postseasons; utilizing a dominant bullpen performance, even if it hasn't been sharp all series long.

"I think these guys are just scratching the surface of how good they can be," said manager Ned Yost. "One thing with young teams like this is, they don't realize how good they are, or can be. They just go out and have a lot of fun playing the game. It reminds me more of the 2014 team than the 2015 team, because that 2015 squad was just so driven and business-like. These guys have a ton of fun playing, and it rubs off."

Houston manager A.J. Hinch faced some tough questions from the media after the loss on Friday, and much of it was deserved -- why go with Collin McHugh in Game 4 instead of Lance McCullers? Hinch's reasoning was understandable. McHugh has had regular and postseason success against Kansas City, and he didn't want to blow his hottest pitcher on the road in a tough environment in case they lost; but now the pressure's really on, as they face a Royals squad full of confidence heading back to Minute Maid Park.

"It was a risk that I was willing to take," he said. "I had a meeting with my staff about it; there was some disagreement, but said it was up to me. I went with Collin, who has done well in the past against this team in this stadium, and it didn't work. That's the game, sometimes."

Trevor Oaks will make the biggest start of his young career tonight, and he'll be going up against the likely AL Cy Young winner in McCullers with a trip to the ALCS against Boston on the line.

"I'm ready, this is why I play the game," he said. "Win or lose, we're going to leave it on the field."

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HOUSTON @ KANSAS CITY (GAME 5, ALDS)

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2019 ALDS: IN REVIEW
Franchise has made ALCS in last five playoff appearances
By artoodeetoo
10/12/2019

Since 1980, the Royals have been in the playoffs just five times, but they have made the ALCS in each of those five seasons (1980, 1985, 2014, 2015, and now 2019). It's the longest such streak in the modern era, and they'll look to continue their consecutive World Series streak as they move on to face Boston after a thrilling 1-0 win in last night's Game 5 at Houston.

By virtue of being the higher-seeded team, the Royals will get home-field advantage in the ALCS; but Boston was one of the better road teams in the league, posting a 46-35 record.

Both Trevor Oaks and Lance McCullers were dealing, but Salvador Perez's homerun in the sixth inning was the only run in the penultimate Game 5 after a series full of explosive offenses, with the teams combining for forty-three runs in the first four games.

Oaks held the high-flying Astros to just three hits and no walks, striking out seven in as many innings before giving way to the bullpen. It was a far cry from his four-inning, five-run performance in Game 2 in the same stadium. He admitted that the moment may have been a little big in the first outing, but that the nerves were gone before Game 5.

"I had a totally different mindset before tonight's game," he said. My stuff wasn't perfect, but the ball was staying in the park and guys were swinging over the top. There were a few fly balls I thought might go, but fell just short, thankfully."

Series MVP Cheslor Cuthbert really only had one blow-out game, going 4-for-5 with a homerun and four RBI in Game 3. He was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs in Game 4, but no one else offensively really stepped up in a comparable way. After a regular season that saw him hit in the .340's much of the year, Peter Alonso was 3-for-23 in the ALDS, although one of those hits was the walk-off single in Game 4.

Salvador Perez started all five games, and collected one hit in four of them. The Game 5 homerun; while important, was in the sixth inning, and Oaks was the bigger reason for the win in last night's contest. David Peralta? 5-for-23 with one homerun and one double. Brian Goodwin drove in six runs and hit a homerun, but was just 4-for-24.

"The numbers probably won't show it, but a different guy showed up in each game," said manager Ned Yost. "In Game 3, it was Cheslor. Game 4 was Peter in the 14th, and Brian's (Goodwin) big homerun in that one to help send it to extras. Game 5 was Trevor with the big start. It's not just one or two guys."

THE ALDS BY THE NUMBERS

1. That's the number of earned runs allowed by the bullpen throughout the remainder of the series after Luis Cessa's five earned runs in Game 2's loss.

16. The number of innings pitched that covered, including nine scoreless frames alone in Game 4.

0.43. Lance McCullers' WHIP in his two starts. Oh, what could have been if A.J. Hinch throws him in Game 4.

27. Jimmy Nelson and Trevor Oaks combined for twenty-seven strikeouts in their two starts, covering 22 1/3 innings.

5. Billy Hamilton set a Royals single-game playoff record with five steals in Game 3, stealing third twice. He tied the Royals' record for most steals in an ALDS, matching Jarrod Dyson's six from 2014.

.143. A.J. Reed's batting average. Reed hit twenty-four homeruns in eighty-six games for the Astros, but went just 3-for-21 with one homerun, hitting into three double plays.

0. The number of times Houston was shut out at home during the regular season.