It was a Monday. August 4th.
Grant Balfour was doing his usual Balfour thing, increasing drama in late innings when they weren’t exactly necessary. 10th inning was getting rather dicey as the Athletics bats were starting to awaken just in time for the potential victory. After a hit, stolen base, and two walks, Joe Maddon steps out to argue with the umpires. He seemed absolutely pissed at the strike that never was called which led to a 3-2 count that we all knew was one step closer to getting the bases loaded with one out----and the winning run just 90 feet away. The checkswing could have gone either way but Maddon was having none of it. He was immediately tossed.
He storms off, and moments later the Athletics would win the game. Not much controversy, as it wasn’t as egregious a call as Maddon made it out to be. But the truth is, how much of it is Maddon being mad at the call but instead being mad at the predicament he has been placed on? There is far more to the tale here than just a simple baseball game between two teams aiming for the playoffs.
We are seeing the Oakland Athletics and the Tampa Bay Rays, two teams that get more from their budget than any other team in baseball. We are seeing two teams that barely see money getting tossed around—combine their payrolls and it will still be less than the Red Sox, Phillies, Yankees, and (especially) the Los Angeles Dodgers. We are seeing two clubs most likely to leave their current city---with the Athletics potentially moving to San Jose, Portland, or San Antonio and the Rays getting extensive attention (secretly) from Montreal and Orlando. But most importantly, we are seeing two clubs in similar dire straits going in opposite directions.
The Oakland Athletics have a legitimate shot at winning the entire thing this season—and breathing life to the city trying to keep them.
The Tampa Bay Rays however just lost the best pitcher in the history of the team, and the man had not even turned 30 yet.
We were seeing the Tampa Bay Rays’ current closer struggle against the team that wasn’t willing to shell out the big bucks to keep him despite the fandom, and despite what he had accomplished for them the couple years before. Now with Balfour blowing another game, Oakland seems like the smarter team.
We are seeing a fanbase that is louder, more rambunctious, and also more plentiful in number despite the economy not being as successful as in the Bay in Florida. We are seeing a team that despite a piss-poor stadium that constantly has plumbing problems drawing 24,000 fans a game---7,000 more than the Rays.
We are seeing an Oakland team that managed to swindle Jon Lester from the Red Sox, Sam Fuld from the Twins, Samardsija from the Cubs, and a few more in the crazy 72-hour timespan. The Rays got….Smyly. They lost…David Price, one of the best players to ever wear anything Tampa. We didn’t upgrade our dying bullpen. We didn’t upgrade the depleting offense. It was almost a white flag being flown, while seeing Oakland stockpile up for September and October.
We are seeing Andrew Friedman do his best impression of Billy Beane but still fail in executing like the legendary GM. With just 8 million more a year, Billy Beane has taken two straight AL West crowns while slowly march his way to a third straight title. As a matter of fact if it had not been for Justin Verlander, the last two years could have had Oakland enter the World Series picture. And the 2014 team just might be the team that finally gets over that hump as they are the best team in the American League.
In the meantime, we see Friedman sprinkle bad decisions all over his usual fare of good risks and gambles. Grant Balfour was a very poor gamble that is haunting us dearly---while watching our closer from last year Fernando Rodney pull an All-Star caliber season in Seattle. And our closer before that? Rafael Soriano, having a successful career with good stints with the Yankees and the Nationals. Nowadays the focus is shifting from grabbing utility players from everywhere and merging them into a contender in favor of grabbing young studs, and hold them as long as possible and develop them before they move on to larger contracts. Only time will tell if the long-term contracts of young, not-yet-fully-proven players will lead to a well-rounded, experienced, veteral young team with World Series numbers behind them. As of now, Florida now waits to see if the Miami Marlins and their crappy owner actually makes the postseason.
Joe Maddon was most likely furious that after a season marred by injuries and mediocre performances that would be eventually be turned around by a nearly-unbelievable torrid run, management didn’t pull off a miracle of small moves to give the Rays much-needed help to gun for the second Wild Card. Maddon saw his team sit on the bottom of the standings before winding up just 3 games off the second Wild Card spot. Friedman didn’t want to risk keeping David Price and aim for a longshot playoff spot when at this point he was at his most valuable---and during a playoff race that sees over a dozen teams with a legitimate shot at extending their season. Ironically, the Rays were one of those teams.
Maddon is the most optimistic manager and easily the most oddball of the bunch. He makes calculated puzzling moves, he mastered a few strategies like the outfield shift that gets imitated left and right by other baseball teams, and rarely ever sounds defeated even when the Rays are at the tenth straight loss. He looks at the bright side of everything, which is the exact opposite of what we are used to in Florida coaching (See Urban Myers' run-for-the-hills approach when it got tough and Stan Van Gundy's inability to be happy). Maddon is a perfectionist, but knows that we live in an imperfect world, an imperfect sport, with an imperfect playing field. He brings out the best in everyone, and weeds out as much talent as possible from players that don’t get a chance in other cities. Ben Zobrist would have had a decent career with any other team; with the Rays however he is an All-Star with some of the best WAR numbers in the league. B.J. Upton is a disaster with Atlanta, he at least had a role in Tampa.
That being said, Joe Maddon’s hand for the 2014 season just went from a 3-of-a-kind to a pair of Jacks, and he has to somehow bluff baseball and convince them he has a winning combination. While Bob Melvin is a fantastic manager, he gets better cards to play with. Beane is a fantastic GM that guarantees Melvin a good hand no matter what players he loses and receives in the off-season. That is why the Athletics have become a consistent threat year in and year out; while the Rays always remain a force to be reckoned with as long as Maddon is back there concocting his magic.
Joe Maddon wasn’t seeing red at the checkswing, he was seeing red at the superior team developed with similar payroll once again getting the better of his squad that had just lost one of their best men. Maddon is getting sick of playing with a pair of Jacks, even if he will never admit it.
And who was on third base, 90 feet away from winning the game?
Sam Fuld, an ex-Ray.
Of course. The River Card.
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