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The Cincinnati Reds unsuccessfully shopped Jay Bruce at the 2015 MLB trade deadline, but the team appears more motivated to move the right fielder with the offseason officially underway. 

Continue for updates. 

Reds Could Move Bruce as Rebuild Gets Underway

Tuesday, Nov. 10

According to FoxSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal, the Reds “finally are willing to trade” Bruce along with closer Aroldis Chapman, as members of the front office have publicly stated a desire to shake up the roster in hopes of contending down the line. 

“We’re in a tough division,” President of Baseball Operations Walt Jocketty said, per Rosenthal. “We’ve got to be realistic about it.”    

The Reds attempted to deal Bruce at the deadline, but according to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick, the trade fell apart when they had “second thoughts” about the return they would be receiving from the New York Mets. 

“We still wanted to be somewhat protective of our club last year,” Jocketty added, per Rosenthal. “We had certain guys we just didn’t want to move. We started at the deadline knowing that we would gear up—’16 would be a transition year and in ’17 and ’18, we think we could be stronger and more competitive.”

According to Spotrac, Bruce is due an affordable $12.5 million next season before Cincinnati decides whether it wants to exercise a $13 million club option in 2017. 

The two-time All-Star slumped in conjunction with the Reds’ slide into the NL Central cellar. During the 2015 season, Bruce batted .226 with a shaky .294 on-base percentage while hitting 26 home runs and driving in 87 runs. 

Rosenthal didn’t peg potential suitors for the 28-year-old, but considering Bruce is under team control for two more seasons, he should be an attractive option to prospective contenders in need of cost-effective power. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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The Kansas City Royals captured their first World Series title in 30 years with a 7-2 win in 12 innings over the New York Mets on Sunday night, and catcher Salvador Perez walked away with MVP honors following his sensational championship display.

Perez went 1-for-5 in Game 5, but his RBI groundout to third base in the top of the ninth scored Eric Hosmer and allowed Kansas City to send the game to extra innings. 

The Royals catcher finished the World Series with a team-high eight hits—three of which came in Saturday’s Game 4 win—and two RBI, while batting .364 as he became the first catcher to take home the hardware since the Toronto Blue Jays‘ Pat Borders in 1992, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

StatsCentre added that Perez became the seventh catcher in MLB history to earn World Series MVP honors, while MLB.com’s Richard Justice pointed out that Perez joined Pablo Sandoval (2012) as the only Venezuelan-born players to accomplish the feat. 

MLB snapped a shot of a giddy Perez in the locker room while he was accepting his trophy: 

ESPN Stats & Info noted Perez’s performance in this year’s Fall Classic served as redemption for how the 2014 edition ended:

“I already forget about last year,” Perez told reporters following the win, according to ASAP Sports. “So I just enjoy the moment now. In 2015 Kansas City is No. 1. Who cares about what happened last year?”

As Baseball Tonight explained prior to Game 5, Perez’s play behind the plate over the past few seasons has been tremendous:

The Royals had worthy MVP candidates galore—including Alcides Escobar and Eric Hosmer—but Perez’s consistency with the title on the line was hard to ignore. According to Justice, Perez played every inning of the World Series before manager Ned Yost removed him for a pinch runner in the 12th on Sunday night. 

The 25-year-old recorded a hit in every game of the World Series, and without his poise behind the plate, Kansas City may not have reached the championship plateau.

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The New York Mets were five outs away from tying the World Series at two games apiece, but disaster struck in the top of the eighth inning, and the Kansas City Royals captured a 5-3 Game 4 win Saturday at Citi Field. 

After reliever Tyler Clippard walked a pair of batters with one out, closer Jeurys Familia came in to face Eric Hosmer. The Royals slugger’s softly hit ball slid under second baseman Daniel Murphy’s glove, which allowed Ben Zobrist to score the tying run from second.

At that point, the Royals smelled blood in the water. With the game knotted at three, Mike Moustakas singled home the go-ahead run, and Salvador Perez followed up with a single to stretch Kansas City’s lead to two. 

According to the Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN Stats & Info), the Royals have tied the 1996 New York Yankees with six wins after trailing by multiple runs in a single postseason. 

Familia became the first player to blow two saves in a World Series since Ryan Madson in 2008, per StatsCentre on Twitter. Madson, who came on in relief for the Royals in the seventh, was credited with the win. 

ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick provided an apt description of the game’s decisive half-inning: 

New York threatened with two men on and one out in the bottom of the ninth, but Lucas Duda lined out softly to third in what amounted to a game-ending double-play as Yoenis Cespedes got caught cheating off first.  

Thanks to the timely rally, the Royals are on the verge of capturing their first World Series title since 1985. Incidentally, the last team to erase a 3-1 series deficit and win the World Series was Kansas City 30 years ago, per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. 

Steven Matz made just his ninth career start Saturday night, but it would have been hard to glean that the 24-year-old lacked experience based on the way he handled Royals batters in the early going. 

The rookie mixed up his fastball and curveball to keep hitters guessing, and he finished the night with five strikeouts while allowing two runs and seven hits over five innings. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Matz’s five strikeouts through four innings were more than Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom combined to tally in Games 1 and 2. 

Matz displayed vulnerability in the fifth and sixth innings, though. The Royals posted two runs on five hits in those innings against the Mets’ starter before he was pulled with nobody out in the sixth.

Royals starter Chris Young didn’t allow a hit over the first two innings, but Michael Conforto’s solo blast in the third inning put the Mets up 1-0 before Curtis Granderson recorded a sacrifice fly to score Wilmer Flores and double New York’s lead.

Baseball scribe Jonah Keri was among those impressed by Conforto’s tape-measure shot: 

Conforto wasn’t done. The 22-year-old also launched a 400-foot bomb to right center to give the Mets a 3-1 lead in the fifth. With a pair of jacks, Conforto became the first player since Pablo Sandoval in 2012 to record a multi-homer game in the World Series, per Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan. 

Young appeared in control over the first two frames against the heart of the Mets’ order, but as Passan noted, the 36-year-old struggled with his location from the third inning on: 

The journeyman’s Game 4 stint lasted just four innings, but the Royals’ relievers did a nice job silencing the Mets’ bats. Other than Conforto’s solo shot off Danny Duffy, Kansas City’s bullpen combined to allow three hits over the final five innings. 

For the Royals, Saturday was another display of exceptional mental fortitude. In typical Kansas City fashion, the American League champions kept chipping away, and ultimately, their persistence paid off. 

Now, the Royals are one win away from hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy. 

And according to WhoWins.com, only five teams in 43 chances have come back from 3-1 down to win the World Series. The odds are firmly in Kansas City’s favor entering Sunday’s Game 5 (8:15 p.m. ET). Matt Harvey is currently scheduled to take the mound against Edinson Volquez with the Mets’ season on the line.

Postgame Reaction

Following the win, Moustakas discussed his team’s come-from-behind effort with Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal:

In the Mets’ clubhouse, Murphy owned his costly error.

“I misplayed it,” Murphy said, per the New York Daily News‘ Peter Botte. “There’s no excuse for it. We lost the ballgame because of it.” 

However, David Wright hesitated to blame the Mets’ second baseman for the loss. 

“That’s not the reason why we lost this game,” Wright said, according to DiComo. “That’s definitely not the reason why we lost this game.” 

“There’s some anger and some emotion right now,” Wright added, per DiComo. “It’s not the ideal position. But we dug this hole for ourselves.”

Cespedes also addressed his baserunning blunder, per Botte: “I thought it was going to touch the grass,” the outfielder told reporters. “I didn’t think it would be a double play.”

Cespedes and Co. will try to atone for Saturday’s loss against Volquez, who will be pitching in honor of his late father. 

“I’m pretty sure my dad is going to be proud of me when I pitch tomorrow,” Volquez told reporters after Game 4, according to the Kansas City Star‘s Chris Fickett.

“I want to pitch,” he added, per the Hartford Courant‘s Jeff Jacobs. “I want to make people proud. That’s what I love.”

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New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard told reporters he had “a few tricks” up his sleeve prior to his start in Game 3 of the World Series on Friday night, and it turned out he wasn’t kidding. 

Before the Mets exploded for a 9-3 win, Syndergaard opened the evening by throwing high and inside against Royals leadoff batter Alcides Escobar in the top of the first inning. 

He admitted that was on purpose.  

“My intent was to make him uncomfortable,” Syndergaard said after allowing three runs and striking out six Kansas City batters in six innings, per Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller.

However, Syndergaard made it clear he didn’t toss the pitch with violent motives.

“I certainly wasn’t trying to hit the guy,” he added, per Miller. “I didn’t want him to get too comfortable.”

Escobar has become renowned for swinging at first pitches throughout the postseason, and Syndergaard evidently wanted to dissuade him from doing so Friday night. According to MLB.com’s Mike Petriello, Escobar had swung at the first pitch in all 13 of his leadoff at-bats in the 2015 playoffs entering Game 3.

“We will send a message back. Don’t worry,” Escobar said, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

“If they have a problem with me throwing inside, then they can meet me at 60 feet, six inches away,” Syndergaard added, per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. 

The Royals didn’t view the things through a similar prism, per Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star:

“I thought it was weak,” Royals outfielder Alex Rios said, according to McCullough. “Very weak. I thought it was unprofessional.” 

First baseman Eric Hosmer echoed his teammates’ thoughts. 

“Any time a guy throws at one of your teammates heads, it’s not going to go over very easy,” Hosmer said, according to the Kansas City Star‘s Vahe Gregorian. “Of course we’re going to be angry. Of course we’re going to be upset. But we’ll find a way to get back at him.”

However, it could be a while until Thor takes the mound again. The Mets have yet to announce probable starters beyond Game 4, so unless Syndergaard is thrust into an emergency relief appearance, his return to the mound may be dictated by the Mets’ ability to force a Game 6 or Game 7. 

As Miller explained, the starters for Saturday’s Game 4 aren’t exactly the retaliatory type: 

Either way, the Royals need to respond with a more complete outing. This postseason, Kansas City pitchers have posted a 7.02 ERA on the road. According to Fox Sports, that mark has contributed to a 2-4 road record and an opponents’ batting average of .276. 

Chris Young will try to rectify those problems Saturday, but the Mets have to be feeling confident following their offensive outburst in Game 3. 

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The New York Mets bats fell silent in Game 2 of the World Series, but they made a serious racket in Friday’s 9-3 Game 3 win over the Kansas City Royals at Citi Field. 

One game after mustering two hits against Johnny Cueto, the Mets offense came alive against Yordano Ventura. In 3.1 innings, Kansas City’s starter surrendered seven hits and five earned runs, which proved to be all New York needed.

Third baseman David Wright—who entered Friday night with three RBI in the postseason—went 2-for-5 with four RBI, including a two-run single in the sixth to blow things open.

According to MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo, the four runs Wright plated were the second-most by a Mets player in a World Series game. Rusty Staub tallied five in Game 4 of the 1973 Fall Classic.

Mets starter Noah Syndergaard was touched up early in the first World Series start of his career, but the 23-year-old regained his composure and struck out six over six innings. The flamethrower also retired 12 straight batters at one point before calmly working out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning. 

Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal pointed to Syndergaard’s poise as a turning point: 

Syndergaard came out throwing serious heat, but Kansas City wasn’t fazed. The Royals struck first on an RBI groundout from Eric Hosmer in the game’s opening frame, and the American League champions went on to rack up six hits over the game’s first two innings.

CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman broke down how the Royals were able to succeed at the plate early on:

But for a change, the Mets had enough offense to keep pace—and then some. New York entered the night batting .220 in the playoffs, but it supplied Syndergaard with encouraging run support in the first inning thanks to a two-run bomb from Wright:

The blast was the second of Wright’s career in postseason play, per ESPN Stats & Info, and it wasn’t the last ball the Mets would launch into the Citi Field stands.

After the Royals posted two runs in the second inning, Curtis Granderson poked one over the right field wall in the third to propel the Mets back in front.

As ESPN Stats & Info diagrammed, the shallow dimensions in right field allowed Granderson’s ball to clear the fences:

The Mets even got contributions at the plate from Syndergaard (1-for-2 with a run scored) and pinch hitter Juan Uribe, who singled home a run in his first plate appearance since Sept. 25 to give his side a 6-3 lead in the sixth.

It’s hard to overstate how important the Game 3 win was for the Mets. Had they lost, it would have effectively been a death sentence.

In league history, no team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the World Series to win, according to WhoWins.com, while teams with 2-1 leads are 55-27 when it comes to closing out the World Series.

The team will task Steven Matz with drawing the Mets even when Game 4 gets underway Saturday night (8:07 p.m. ET).

“This is where you want to be in baseball,” Matz said, per the Kansas City Star‘s Chris Fickett. “This is the dream. This is what you write up in your backyard when you’re playing wiffle ball.”

The Royals will hand the ball to Chris Young, who would love to stick it to his former team as Kansas City attempts to seize control of the World Series and ward off the hard-charging Mets.

Post-Game Reaction

The Royals evidently weren’t pleased with Syndergaard’s decision to open the game with some high heat against Alcides Escobar, according to the Kansas City Stars Andy McCullough: 

Hosmer had a take on the situation as well, per the Kansas City Star’s Vahe Gregorian: 

According to Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller, Syndergaard responded with a challenge: 

Mets manager Terry Collins had no problems with his pitcher’s performance, per the team’s official Twitter account: 

The Mets’ captain also drew high praise. 

“He’s David Wright for a reason,” Mets pitcher Tyler Clippard said, per DiComo. “No moment is too big for him.” 

With Friday’s win in hand, the Mets will try and sustain a crazy trend.

When the Mets won the World Series in 1986, they lost Games 1 and 2 by one and six runs, respectively, before winning Game 3 by six. This year, the Mets have posted the exact same margins in their first three World Series games, per B/R Insights. 

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On the same day the Miami Marlins reportedly agreed to terms with Don Mattingly to become the franchise’s next leader in the clubhouse, per Vice Sports’ Molly Knight, the front office decided to shake things up. 

According to the Miami Herald‘s Barry Jackson, the Marlins “dismissed” general manager Dan Jennings with the belief that the move is “in [the] best interests of [the] organization.” MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro confirmed the report. Not long after, the Marlins announced Jennings’ dismissal via Twitter.

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal added Jennings was fired with three years and $5.6 million left on his contract.

According to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman, Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill will replace Jennings as the team’s general manager. Vice president of baseball operations Mike Berger will also be “more involved,” per Heyman.     

Miami hired Jennings as the team’s general manager in 2013, but his job description changed drastically during the 2015 season, when the Marlins fired former manager Mike Redmond and moved their general manager into the dugout. 

After Jennings took over as Miami’s manager in May, the Marlins posted a 55-69 record and a third-place finish in the National League East. However, the Marlins did display improvement down the stretch as they posted a 16-10 record in September while winning 18 of their final 30 games overall. 

But as USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale reported, the divorce between Jennings and the Marlins was a long time coming: 

If there’s good news for Jennings, it’s that he likely won’t be out of work long, per Nightengale: 

The Marlins entered 2015 with high expectations, but a sixth straight losing season left the franchise with more questions than answers. 

While Mattingly attempts to improve the on-field product, Hill and Berger will try to appease owner Jeffrey Loria while shaping the team’s new identity as it seeks to snap a 12-year postseason drought. 

The task won’t be easy, but a raw talent base boasting Giancarlo Stanton, Dee Gordon, Martin Prado and Christian Yelich should give the front office a solid foundation to work with. 

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The Kansas City Royals used a brilliant complete-game outing from Johnny Cueto and a four-run blitz in the fifth inning to defeat the New York Mets, 7-1, in Game 2 of the World Series to take a 2-0 lead as things gets set to shift east. 

Cueto stayed perfect at home this postseason by striking out four and allowing a mere two hits over nine innings. The Royals have now won a franchise-best seven straight playoff games at home, per ESPN Stats & Info.    

Wednesday’s outing at Kauffman Stadium was strikingly similar to Cueto’s Game 5 effort against the Houston Astros in the American League Division Series. According to Grantland’s Rany Jazayerli, that puts him on a unique level: 

Mets starter Jacob deGrom didn’t allow a hit through three innings, but the Royals finally got to him for a single in the fourth before posting four runs on five hits in the bottom of the fifth, among those a two-run single from Eric Hosmer:    

Every Royal batted against deGrom in the fifth as they ultimately wore down New York’s ace. Hosmer’s go-ahead punch put him in elite company, per ESPN Stats & Info:  

Once again, Kansas City’s depth helped facilitate a rally, as Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller noted:  

Joe Lemire pointed to some staggering numbers regarding Kansas City’s plate discipline against deGrom, who struck out just two over five innings:   

After allowing four earned runs, deGrom became the first New York pitcher to surrender at least that many in a game since Logan Verrett on Sept. 22, per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. 

Unlike in Game 1, the Royals offense needed some time to grease the wheels Wednesday night as deGrom and Cueto engaged in a pitcher’s duel early on. 

The Mets tallied the game’s only hit over the first three innings as it appeared deGrom was locked in, which led Sporting News’ Ryan Fagan to suggest an alternate scoring process:

On the other side, the Kansas City Star‘s Andy McCullough took note of Cueto’s sensational start at home: 

Cueto only struggled in the fourth inning, when Lucas Duda briefly gave the Mets the lead on an RBI single. Joel Sherman of the New York Post explained how Cueto’s lack of command set up the game’s first run: 

The story, though, was the fifth-inning rally facilitated by Alcides Escobar’s game-tying single. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Escobar continued his climb up a noteworthy list with the base knock:  

Thanks to Cueto’s masterful display, the Royals are headed to Citi Field up 2-0 with the odds heavily in their favor. Historically, teams up 2-0 in the World Series wind up capturing the title 80.4 percent of the time, per WhoWins.com. 

However, the Royals will need to be on guard in Game 3. According to WhoWins, teams up 2-0 are just 24-27 all-time in Game 3s.

The Mets will turn the ball over to Noah Syndergaard (1-1, 2.77 ERA) against Kansas City’s Yordano Ventura (0-1, 5.09 ERA) for Friday’s 8 p.m. ET showdown in New York, and it’s safe to say the pressure is on the 23-year-old as he gets set to take the mound for his first-ever World Series start. 

Postgame Reaction

“That’s what they brought me here for was to help win a World Series,” Cueto said, according to MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez. “And that’s what I’ve worked for.”

Hosmer discussed all things Game 2 with Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal following the win: 

Mets third baseman David Wright hesitated to fault his team for the deficit it faces.

“It’s not so much what we haven’t done,” Wright said, per the Wall Street Journal‘s Jared Diamond. It’s what they’ve done.” 

Looking ahead, deGrom sees a return to Citi Field as a positive development for the Mets, according to DiComo: 

“By no means are we done,” Duda added, per DiComo. 

Mets manager Terry Collins echoed the first baseman’s sentiment. 

“You’ve got to bounce back,” Collins said, according to Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan. “That’s big league baseball.”

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Kansas City Royals pitcher Edinson Volquez reportedly took the mound for Game 1 of the World Series shortly after his father died.

According to Hector Gomez of Z101 Digital, Volquez’s father, Daniel Volquez, died Tuesday in the Dominican Republic from heart disease. He was 63. A source confirmed the news to ESPNDeportes.com’s Enrique Rojas, per ESPN Deportes’ Marly Rivera. 

At the request of Volquez’s wife, the Royals did not tell the pitcher of his father’s death before he took the mound Tuesday night, according to the Kansas City Star‘s Jeff Rosen. 

Fox Sports passed along an update once Volquez’s outing against the New York Mets came to a close: 

After the game, teammate Eric Hosmer said the team hadn’t been informed of Volquez’s father’s passing prior to the game, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. 

Volquez has been an integral component of the Royals’ pitching staff and finished the regular season tied for the team lead with 13 wins. He allowed three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts over six innings in Game 1.

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MLB fans were left in the dark Tuesday night when Fox’s television broadcast of Game 1 of the World Series between the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals was interrupted by technical difficulties.    

According to Eric Fisher of SportsBusiness Journal, this is the image televisions across the country were presented with when Fox’s broadcast truck in Kansas City, Missouri, lost power: 

The delay lasted five minutes, per Fisher, but play was stopped briefly as a result of the outage. According to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, the league’s inability to view replays in New York resulted in the suspension of play. 

USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale noted the delay could affect New York Mets starting pitcher Matt Harvey: 

During the outage, Twitter users wasted no time having a field day with the proceedings.

The Providence Journal‘s Tim Britton drew similarities between Tuesday night’s broadcast hiccup and a similar one during Super Bowl 47: 

Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post jokingly pointed to a famous Fox stalwart as the outage culprit: 

Awful Announcing dreamed of a world in which two eccentric TV personalities were able to entertain fans: 

Grantland’s Rembert Browne painted a picture of the panic that must have ensued inside the Fox truck: 

Michael Klinck offered another humorous take on Fox trying to make a frantic fix: 

ESPN broadcaster and former MLB pitcher Dallas Braden implied he was to blame: 

CBS Sports’ Will Brinson suggested an alternate placeholder while fans were left searching for answers: 

Of course, the night wouldn’t have been complete without everyone’s favorite meme making an appearance, courtesy of Spike Lundberg:

Ultimately, the broadcast returned via MLB Network’s international feed, per CNN’s Rachel Nichols, and baseball enthusiasts were able to revel in the joy of the Fall Classic. Twenty-three minutes after the outage began, the domestic feed returned and order was restored, according to ESPN’s Darren Rovell. 

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The Philadelphia Phillies fired former general manger Ruben Amaro Jr. on Sept. 10, but the 50-year-old front office mind won’t let the dismissal stop him from putting his baseball aptitude to work on the diamond. 

Ian Browne of MLB.com announced on Monday morning that Amaro will join the Boston Red Sox as their new first base coach.   

The news of Amaro’s unorthodox career move came on the same day the Phillies reportedly hired 35-year-old Matt Klentak to be the team’s new general manager, according to CSN Philly’s Jim Salisbury.

NBC Sports’ Craig Calcaterra provided a unique spin on Amaro’s bold choice: 

The Boston Globe‘s Pete Abraham noted it was a move that could pay off for Amaro: 

Amaro took over as Philadelphia’s general manager in 2009 after more than a decade in the team’s front office, and the Phillies prospered for a few years under his guidance. In 2009, they captured their second straight National League pennant but failed to snag back-to-back World Series titles, as they fell to the New York Yankees in the Fall Classic. 

Philadelphia followed up by winning an MLB-best 97 games in 2010 before securing a franchise-record 102 victories during the 2011 campaign. However, the Phillies lost in the 2010 National League Championship Series and crumbled in the 2011 National League Division Series. Since then, they’ve missed the playoffs in four straight seasons. 

An eight-year MLB veteran who played for the Phillies, Los Angeles Angels and Cleveland Indians, Amaro has the baseball IQ necessary to become a key component of John Farrell’s coaching staff in Boston as the Red Sox seek to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2013. 

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