Tag / Brendan Ryan

by jim

The Starlin Castro Era

Starlin+Castro+Chicago+Cubs+v+San+Diego+Padres+2sR4jFdXnUplBefore Kris Bryant, before Addison Russell, before Anthony Rizzo, there was Starlin Castro.  Hailed as the next big star when he debuted as a 20-year old in 2010, Castro quickly became a bright spot on what had become a disappointing Cub team, finishing 5th in Rookie of the Year voting.  2 years later, he signed a long term deal intended to keep him on the north side of Chicago through 2020.  Unfortunately, continued defensive lapses, sagging offensive production, and, chiefly, the emergence of Russell as the new long term solution at shortstop made Castro expendable.  Yesterday, the Cubs announced they had come to an agreement to send Castro to the Yankees for pitcher Adam Warren and shortstop Brendan Ryan.

Castro’s tenure with the Cubs had its ups and downs.  A 3-time All Star, Castro was the lone young star on the team when Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer took over baseball operations following the 2011 season.  During the long rebuilding process, he, along with Rizzo, were the faces of the franchise.  But his frequent defensive lapses, where he would lose concentration and find himself unaware of what was going on around him, caused embarrassment and occasional punishment.  This past season, as the rebuilding efforts were starting to bear fruit, Castro found himself losing his starting job and relegated to a part-time player at a new position.  His Cubs tenure ended with a 2 for 16 performance in the NLCS loss to the Mets.

The Cubs wasted little time in replacing Castro, announcing the signing of Ben Zobrist to a 4 year deal prior to announcing the trade.  Zobrist had been a favorite of Joe Maddon’s in Tampa and looks to be the starting second baseman for the Cubs heading in to 2016.  Meanwhile, the expectation is that Starlin Castro will now fill that same role for the Yankees.

by jim

Perfect

Going in to yesterday’s White Sox – Mariners game, there had been only 20 perfect games thrown in the 143 year history of major league baseball.  9 innings and 96 pitches later, there are 21, as Phil Humber becomes the third White Sox hurler, following Charles Robertson in 1922 and Mark Buehrle in 2009, to achieve perfection.

Humber was in control for most of the game, but was clearly nervous as the 9th inning unfolded, hitting ball 3 twice, the only times in the game he had done so.  The final batter, Brendan Ryan, was retired on a check swing dropped third strike, with AJ Pierzynski throwing him out at first while Ryan argued the strike call with the home plate umpire. As Paul Konerko stepped on first base for the putout, Humber dropped to his knees and then stood up in time to be tackled by Jake Peavy and the rest of the Sox roster.

Unlike Buehrle’s perfect game, I was able to watch most of this one live.  Thanks to the outdated backout rules that MLB uses, especially for games broadcast on Fox, not many people outside of Chicago and Seattle were, unfortunately.  Since the Yankees were battling the Red Sox, only 2% of the country were able to see the game as it unfolded.  I guess not everything about it was perfect.