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Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell has been away from the team since Aug. 14 after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but terrific news trickled in Thursday when the organization announced his cancer is in remission.     

Farrell expressed his happiness with the update Thursday in a statement, per ESPN.com: 

I am extremely thankful for the outpouring of support I have received from the Red Sox, my family, friends, and fans throughout this process. I am also especially thankful for the talented doctors who cared for me in Detroit and here at [Massachusetts General Hospital]. I look forward to getting back to work and bringing another championship back to Boston.

Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski also released a statement on behalf of the franchise, according to ESPN.com: “We are thrilled to hear the great news about John today. Foremost, we are extremely happy for him and his family, knowing what he has gone through over the past two months. We all admire him for his strength and courage and look forward to having him back as our manager.”

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It’s too soon to know a lot about what’s coming in the MLB offseason, but at least this much is certain: David Price is going to make the big bucks.

If the free-agent-to-be has his way, it’ll be all the big bucks. Nobody should be surprised if Price demands a contract that begins with a two followed by eight zeroes. In a day and age when Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer own contracts worth north of $200 million, that’s not an absurd price tag for a No. 1 starter.

But a No. 1 starter with a postseason track record as ugly as Price’s? At the very least, that’s something worth discussing.

The 30-year-old lefty’s postseason struggles are very much in the ether, after all. After allowing eight earned runs in 10 innings in two outings for the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Division Series, a man with a career 3.09 regular-season ERA now owns a 5.48 ERA over his last seven postseason appearances. In those, he’s struck out 35 while allowing 49 hits in 44.1 innings.

And now, the narrative of Price’s postseason struggles goes beyond just the numbers.

Knowing the alternative was to start him in a potential do-or-die Game 5, it raises one’s eyebrows that Blue Jays skipper John Gibbons used Price in relief to protect a sizable lead in Toronto’s 8-4 win over the Texas Rangers in Game 4 of the ALDS instead. 

Why? As Alex Wong of Sports on Earth noted, Gibbons actually did have his reasons:

It wasn’t an easy decision. But I thought that was the best way to win the game. Regular season, that’s different. But this is a do-or-die game for us and I’ve seen it too many times in this business, especially with the kind of lineup and the way things were stacking up for us. Get a couple guys on a long ball, it’s a totally different game. There was still a lot of game left.

But as Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports argued, it appears Gibbons never had any intention to start Price in Game 5 anyway. The task was always likely to fall to wunderkind right-hander Marcus Stroman instead.

When Price sits down at assorted negotiating tables this winter, he’ll have plenty of selling points to cycle through. As of now, however, he won’t be able to say he can be trusted beyond a shadow of a doubt in October.

But the big question, of course, is whether that should even matter.

For Price and his representatives, it obviously won’t matter. What he’s done in the regular season will matter, and that will be their ticket to pursue perhaps the richest contract ever for a starting pitcher.

You can take it from Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors:

Even back in February, $200MM (sans deferred money) was getting tossed around in regard to Price. The 30-year-old was traded to the Blue Jays on July 30th and his risen to the occasion, somehow pitching even better for his new team. The goal is now clear: exceed the seven-year, $215MM extension Clayton Kershaw signed with the Dodgers in January 2014…

All this adds up. Regardless of whether you prefer Baseball-Reference.com or FanGraphs WAR, Price has been one of the 10 most valuable pitchers in MLB since 2010. And before the postseason got in the way, he was indeed finishing 2015 on a strong note with a 2.30 ERA in 11 starts in Toronto.

As a bonus, the trade that sent him to Toronto from the Detroit Tigers barred Price from getting a qualifying offer. With no ties to draft-pick compensation to go along with his outstanding track record, he’ll have no issue standing apart from the other ace pitchers—Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmermann and presumably Zack Greinke—who are due to hit the open market.

And to be sure, what’s happened with Price in the postseason isn’t going to limit interest in him. He’s going to be one of the market’s hottest commodities, if not the hottest commodity.

But if the asking price is going to be north of $200 million, it will behoove teams to consider all factors. And though Price’s postseason struggles shouldn’t be a big factor, interested suitors shouldn’t write them off either.

After all, it’s safe to assume Price’s big-money contract will go the way of virtually all big-money contracts for players on the wrong side of 30: He’ll live up to it in the early portion and then slip into the twilight of his career and become drastically overpaid. That’s how these things usually work.

If so, the idea for prospective suitors will be to get the most out of that early portion. Riding Price to a postseason berth or two would be a good way to do that. Riding him all the way to a World Series or two would be even better.

And therein lies the big question: Are Price’s postseason struggles merely the result of bad luck or something tangible that could keep biting him in future postseasons?

Regarding the first possibility, there’s a simple argument to make about that being the case. We’ll leave that to Ted Berg of USA Today:

To bolster this point, it’s not as if Price has featured inferior stuff in the postseason.

As Brooks Baseball can show, his pitch selection and velocity in the postseason since 2010 pretty much reflect his pitch selection and velocity in the regular season. Also, Price hasn’t been uncharacteristically wild in the postseason. He’s walked only 3.7 percent of the batters he’s faced in the postseason since 2010, which is about as good as it gets for any pitcher.

In light of all this, an explanation for Price’s postseason struggles isn’t readily apparent. That would seem to lend credence to the notion that he’s simply been plagued by small-sample-size bad luck.

However, there is one subtle red flag.

Looking at the two appearances Price has made in the ALDS, it’s notable that seven of the eight runs he’s allowed have come on five RBI hits. Of those, four have come early in the count. Rougned Odor’s solo homer in Game 1 and Elvis Andrus’ RBI single in Game 4 came on the first pitch. Adrian Beltre’s RBI single in Game 1 came on an 0-1 pitch. Robinson Chirinos’ two-run homer in Game 1 came on a 1-0 pitch. 

Coincidence? Not really.

Getting killed early in the count has been an issue for Price in his last seven postseason outings. Per Baseball Savant, he’s been hit to the tune of a .360 average and a .720 slugging percentage on 0-0, 0-1 and 1-0 pitches. That’s compared to .246 and .373 in all other counts.

With context, that looks like it could be small-sample-size noise. But it’s not. Getting killed early in the count has also been an issue for Price in the regular season over the last six years. He’s served up a .305 average and .476 slugging percentage on 0-0, 0-1 and 1-0 counts and a .205 average and .310 slugging percentage on all other counts.

So, rather than bad luck, Price’s postseason struggles can actually be attributed to a pre-existing weakness that has been magnified in the postseason.

And this isn’t the biggest surprise. Price has a big arm and fantastic command, but his approach isn’t terribly complicated. He gets by on attacking hitters in the strike zone to get ahead, and it’s really only when he has two strikes that he’ll look to get hitters to expand. It makes perfect sense that hitters who are aggressive against him would be the ones who find the most success.

The good news, such as it is, is there’s only a small difference between the early-count aggressiveness against Price in the regular season and in the postseason. In the regular season between 2010 and 2015, hitters have swung at 36.2 percent of his 0-0, 0-1 and 1-0 pitches. In the postseason, that number has only increased to 36.4 percent.

Even still, there is something to be said about the postseason being a different animal from the regular season when it comes to aggressiveness. As Drew Fairservice noted at Fox Sports last year, hitters have been getting increasingly aggressive in the postseason ever since, you guessed it, 2010. For a guy with early-count issues such as Price, that might as well be a death sentence.

So, a $200 million contract?

Frankly, that might be a stretch to begin with in a market that’s going to be watered down by a surplus of quality pitching. As much or more than anything else, bad timing could be what bars Price from getting the mega-rich contract he’ll be seeking.

If Price does find a $200 million deal, whichever team gives it to him will be making a major roll of the dice. Deals that large are risky gambles regardless of the context. But given that his postseason struggles stem from more than just bad luck, a $200 million deal for him would have another layer of risk on top of it.

This is how the big picture is looking now, anyway. But if the Blue Jays win Game 5 on Wednesday and advance to the American League Championship Series, Price will get his chances to make revisions.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.

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Almost exactly seven months ago, Marcus Stroman lay crumpled on the ground after tearing his ACL during spring training fielding drills. 

On Wednesday, he’ll pitch the biggest game of his young career and easily the most important contest of the season for the Toronto Blue Jays.

There are a lot of storylines heading into Game 5 of the American League Division Series between the Jays and Texas Rangers. There’s Toronto’s offense, which looked sluggish through the first two games but plated five runs in a Game 3 victory and erupted for eight runs and three dingers in Game 4.

Then there are the Rangers, who were riding high after taking a 2-0 series lead and pushing the powerful, favored Blue Jays to the brink. Now, suddenly, it’s the Rangers who will be fighting for their lives north of the border.

But Stroman’s incredible comeback stands above the rest. Game 5 will be his, quite literally, from the first pitch.

It’s a leap of faith for Toronto, handing the ball to a 24-year-old kid who made a scant four regular season starts. They have David Price, after all, the former AL Cy Young winner they acquired at the trade deadline, presumably for just such an occasion.

Instead, skipper John Gibbons summoned Price from the bullpen in Game 4, with the Jays leading 7-1. Price held the lead for three innings, though he surrendered three runs on six hits. In all, Price owns a 7.20 ERA in this ALDS and took the loss in Game 1.

Many questioned the decision to use Price in that situation, including CBS Sports’ Mike Axisa:

I understand it’s a lose or go home situation, but I still don’t really understand using Price in relief with a six-run lead when he could instead start Game 5. That’s why the Blue Jays traded for him, right? To start Games 1 and 5? I’d have no questions whatsoever if it was a one- or two-run game. But a six-run game?

It’s a fair point. Price, who threw 50 pitches, insisted during postgame comments to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that he’d be ready if called upon in Game 5. How much he’ll have in the tank, however, is an open question.

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Gibbons said after the game, per Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star. “It was hard for me to do, but I thought that was the best way to win the game, keep them from coming back.”

For now, here’s what we know: Game 5 belongs to Stroman, who immediately took to Twitter to express his excitement:

It’s that exuberance, in part, that helped Stroman defy the odds and return ahead of schedule from his busted ACL.

“I know they’re saying I’m going to be out the whole year, but I still have hope,” Stroman told Sportsnet.ca’s Arden Zwelling in April. “My thought process is I’m going to be ready for September.”

He was ready, and he threw like he’d never left, allowing five runs and six walks and striking out 18 in 27 innings. Still, as the calendar flipped to October, no one knew exactly how Stroman would react. He’d been out so long, and this was his first dip into the postseason crucible. 

Yes, the 2012 first-round pick teased ace-level potential in his rookie campaign in 2014, posting a 3.65 ERA with 111 strikeouts in 130.2 innings. 

But this is the playoffs, when everything changes. The lights get brighter, the pressure ratchets up and even big talents are frequently humbled.

Stroman acquitted himself capably in his Game 2 debut, yielding three earned runs over seven frames and taking a no-decision as the Jays lost in extras. The Rangers inflicted most of their damage against him in the first two innings, suggesting nerves were likely a factor.

On Monday, Fox Sports 1 commentator Tom Verducci addressed that very question during his postgame remarks.

“After that first start, his feet will be on the ground from the first pitch,” Verducci predicted. “He’ll be locked in, he won’t be over-hyped.” 

He also may not need to be perfect. The Blue Jays’ potent bats, which paced baseball in runs scored and a host of other categories, have apparently awoken.

Yes, they’ll face Rangers ace Cole Hamels in Game 5, per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. But Toronto tagged the Texas southpaw for four runs in Game 2, and mashed lefties to the tune of an MLB-leading .818 OPS this season.

Stroman should get at least some support. All he needs to do is keep the Jays in the game and get the ball to the late innings, where Price could possibly be available along with 20-year-old closer Roberto Osuna, who is unscored upon in three impressive postseason appearances.

It should be added that Stroman and the Jays are attempting to complete a difficult, historically rare feat. As Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi pointed out prior to Game 3, of the 47 teams that have fallen behind 2-0 in the best-of-five division series, only five have lifted themselves off the mat and won the next three.

Now, Toronto is a single victory away from becoming No. 6.

Seven months ago, it looked like Marcus Stroman’s season would never start. Now, improbably, he can ensure Toronto’s doesn’t end just yet.

Welcome to October, kid. 

All statistics current as of Oct. 12 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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FINAL SCORE: Blue Jays win 8-4 over the Rangers

Thanks to early home runs off the bats of Josh Donaldson, Chris Colabello and Kevin Pillar, the Blue Jays topped the Rangers 8-4 and sent the series to a decisive Game 5 at Rogers Centre. First pitch is slated for 4:07 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

David Price picked up his second postseason win after the lefty ace allowed two earned runs in three innings of relief.

If you want to talk baseball, find me on Twitter @KarlBuscheck.

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In a literal sense, the Toronto Blue Jays didn’t need Troy Tulowitzki‘s three-run homer on Sunday.

The blast came in the sixth inning of Toronto’s pivotal Game 3 win over the Texas Rangers. The Jays were already leading 2-0 and went on to win 5-1 to stay alive in the best-of-five division series, which the Rangers now lead 2-1.

So Tulo’s RBI were pure insurance, mere glaze on the doughnut. Really, though, they were a lot more than that.

First, the home run instantly became Tulowitzki’s signature Blue Jays moment.

When the All-Star shortstop arrived north of the border at the trade deadline via a deal with the basement-dwelling Colorado Rockies, the hope was that he’d gild Toronto’s already loaded offense. And he teased big things, collecting five hits in his first 14 Blue Jays at-bats, including a home run.

But a shoulder injury suffered in a collision with teammate Kevin Pillar put Tulowitzki on the shelf. And while the Jays’ bats kept raking into October, it was worth wondering what, if any, contribution Tulo would offer.

For the first two games of the ALDS, the answer was “not much.” The Jays sagged in general, but Tulowitzki was a non-entity, going 0-for-10 with four strikeouts and five men left on base.

The Blue Jays aimed their ire at the umpires after some questionable calls in Game 2. But clearly, the issues ran deeper than that. Ace David Price, another trade-deadline addition, stumbled in Game 1, surrendering five earned runs in seven wobbly innings. And a lineup that led all of baseball in runs scored, home runs, OPS and a host of other statistical categories looked listless.

Toronto needed a spark, a jolt, a swift kick in the backside or its first postseason foray in 22 years was going to be short and sour.

Starter Marco Estrada set the tone early on Sunday, putting up zeroes with his off-speed array as the Blue Jays built their lead. 

When Tulo stepped to the plate in the sixth, though, it felt like a turning point.

The Blue Jays had just loaded the bases with nobody out, only to watch Chris Colabello ground into a 3-2-3 double play. In an instant, a surefire scoring opportunity was in danger of fizzling.

Instead, Tulowitzki ensured the big inning would happen after all, launching a 3-2 changeup over the left field wall.

“It was huge and, in the moment, I was definitely pumped up,” Tulowitzki said, per Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star. “Got back to the dugout and everybody was excited. It was a little breathing room.” 

Tulo was indeed visibly psyched as he rounded the bases, as ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick noted:

No wonder—that was his first home run since Sept. 6, and the first long ball he’s blasted in the postseason since 2007, when he and the Rockies made a surprise World Series run.

If the Blue Jays are going to make their own Fall Classic appearance, they’ll need more thump from Tulo, plus his potent cohorts, including Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and AL MVP hopeful Josh Donaldson, who collected two hits and scored a run on Sunday.

In Game 4 on Monday, another must-win, the Blue Jays will face left-hander Derek Holland. That’s good news for Toronto’s mashers, who led all of baseball with an .818 OPS against southpaws. And while a bright red sample-size warning light should flash above this stat, Tulo is 2-for-3 in his career against Holland.

The point is, Toronto is back in this series after teetering on the brink of an embarrassing collapse. The Blue Jays entered the playoffs as a squad many, including yours truly, labeled a legitimate juggernaut. Now, with two more wins, they can prove it and stamp a ticket to the American League Championship Series. 

Price, who undoubtedly wants a shot at redemption, is available for Game 4—which knuckleballer R.A. Dickey is slated to start—and will be ready to roll for a potential Game 5, per Sportsnet.ca’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. 

Still, this budding comeback is a tall order, as Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi pointed out prior to Game 3:

Forty-seven times teams have fallen behind 2-0 in the best-of-five division series, and only five of them have fought back to advance in the baseball post-season. …

As hackneyed as it sounds, any potential rally by the Blue Jays starts with that one elusive win, much the way it did for the 1995 Mariners over the Yankees, the 1999 Red Sox over the Indians, the 2001 Yankees over the Athletics, the 2003 Red Sox over the Athletics, and, of course, the 2012 Giants.

The Jays got that first win, and Tulo got his first postseason knock in a Toronto uniform—a big fly no less. Even if the runs he plated were superfluous, that means a lot.

All statistics current as of Oct. 11 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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When David Price‘s first pitch crossed the plate and got Game 1 of the American League Division Series going, there was so much optimistic energy in the air at the Rogers Centre that it’s a wonder the umpiring crew didn’t signal some sort of interference.

What followed, however, was a reality check. Both for Price and the Toronto Blue Jays as a whole.

The Blue Jays’ first postseason game since Joe Carter’s World Series-winning home run in 1993 didn’t go well, as they dropped Game 1 of the ALDS to the Texas Rangers by a 5-3 final. Price did well to get through seven innings, but he allowed all five of the Rangers’ runs. Robinson Chirinos dealt the big blow with a two-run homer in the fifth, and Rougned Odor put the nail in the coffin with a solo homer in the seventh.

With the Blue Jays now down 0-1 in the best-of-five series, they must at least be concerned about the well-being of star sluggers Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista. Though the Blue Jays report they’re both fine, they’re certainly less fine than they were after exiting with head and leg injuries, respectively.

But more so than the two of them, it’s arguably Price the Blue Jays should be concerned about.

The 30-year-old ace left-hander had a huge hand in Toronto’s 40-18 showing after the first of August, posting a 2.30 ERA in 11 starts in a Blue Jays uniform after coming over from the Detroit Tigers in a July trade. In so doing, he reaffirmed his status as one of baseball’s very best pitchers.

After Thursday’s performance, though, it’s fair game to refer to Price as one of those guys. You know, a guy who just can’t get it done in the postseason.

Price was money for the Tampa Bay Rays as a reliever in the 2008 postseason, allowing just one earned run in five appearances. But after Thursday’s outing, Price now owns a 5.26 ERA in six postseason starts since 2010. In those, he’s given up 43 hits in 41.1 innings, including eight home runs.

There’s clearly only one conclusion to draw: Price is a spineless weakling who, in addition to a spine, clearly lacks the will to win in October.

Or, we could go with the less sports talk radio-y explanation that Price’s experience as a starter in the postseason consists of a small sample size. As rational beings, we can grant that weird things happen in small sample sizes.

Even still, there’s room for worry. Because right now, the question is not so much what’s caused Price’s postseason struggles as it is whether he’ll be able to change the narrative before this series is over.

After all, rather than whether Price just didn’t have the spine for the job, it makes a lot more sense to wonder whether he flopped against the Rangers simply because it was a bad matchup for him. 

Price’s whole operation hinges on getting ahead by pounding the strike zone with fastball after fastball before finishing hitters off with his changeup. He’s typically able to get away with this due to the sheer excellence of his hard stuff and how well he mixes and matches different fastballs.

But at the same time, it’s not unheard of for teams to jump on Price’s in-zone hard stuff and knock him around. That’s what the Rangers did to Price on Thursday, as four of the five hits—including both homers—came on hard stuff that was either in or just about in the zone.

Of course, all teams handle fastballs in the zone well to some degree or another. To that extent, it’s not overly surprising that this is how Price was defeated.

But we should be even less surprised that the Rangers defeated Price in this fashion. It so happens they’re very, very good at hitting hard stuff in the zone. Per Baseball Savant, the Rangers ranked fourth in MLB with a .321 average against in-zone heat and second in MLB with a .536 slugging percentage against it.

With this being the case, one can view Price’s Game 1 defeat as something of an inevitability that creates a sense of unease, if not quite a sense of dread, about him squaring off against the Rangers again in Game 5.

Of course, the Blue Jays would have to get that far in order for Price to have his shot at redemption. And after Thursday’s game, that looks like no easy task.

Exhibit A: Toronto is now down 0-1 in the series. Being down in a series right out of the gate automatically makes everything that much more difficult. In the words of Sterling Archer, duh and/or hello.

As for Exhibit B, what the Blue Jays must now hope is that the next three starters—Marcus Stroman, Marco Estrada and R.A. Dickey—can succeed where Price failed. Given that all three have pitched well recently, this is not a fool’s hope. But given that the three of them have combined for as many postseason starts as you and I have, it’s not an ironclad hope either.

Then there’s Exhibit C, which concerns Toronto’s offense. It always has been and indeed remains the Blue Jays’ best chance of vanquishing the Rangers and moving on to the American League Championship Series. However, the Game 1 injuries to Donaldson and Bautista do raise a pair of red flags. If they’re not 100 percent going forward, then Toronto’s lineup isn’t 100 percent.

Oh, and there’s also the possibility that Texas ace Cole Hamels could make it two tough days in a row for the Blue Jays offense, as even Toronto manager John Gibbons could admit to MLB.com’s Richard Justice: “We got our work cut out for us with Hamels.”

In a nutshell: doom, doom and more doom.

OK, fine. Not actually. It’s not as if there aren’t any silver linings from Thursday’s game for the Blue Jays. As Mike Axisa of CBS Sports noted, one is that the Blue Jays completely shut down the heart of Texas’ batting order. When you can do that, you’re going to win more games than you’re going to lose.

But while there may not be a sense of doom in the air after Price’s ongoing postseason struggles spoiled the party in Toronto on Thursday, there’s at least a sense of doubt that wasn’t there before. The Blue Jays went into Game 1 with all sorts of momentum and all sorts of good vibes after tearing through the league in August, September and early October, but they got humbled.

As Price well knows, the postseason can certainly do that to a player. And as Toronto was reminded for the first time in over 20 years, it can do it to a whole team too. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.

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Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista will be back in the lineup for Game 2 of the ALDS, according to Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi. He was removed from Game 1 after suffering a hamstring injury.

Bautista remains one of the most dangerous power hitters in baseball while also being one of the most patient. The six-time All-Star finished the 2015 season with more walks (110) than strikeouts (106) while bashing 40 home runs with a .536 slugging percentage.

The Blue Jays have the league’s best offense, finishing the regular season with 891 runs scored.

Bautista was susceptible to injuries for a two-year stretch, missing 114 games between 2012 and 2013, but he played 155 games last year and was on the field for 153 games this season. Toronto’s World Series hopes likely rest on him staying in the lineup.

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Josh Donaldson has been the biggest offensive catalyst for the Toronto Blue Jays all season long, and the third baseman is back in the lineup for Game 2 after being removed from Game 1 with a head injury.  

As the Blue Jays rocketed up the AL East standings following a trade deadline that saw the team acquire Troy Tulowitzki and David Price, Donaldson consistently set the tone for Toronto’s offense.  

“He’s a guy that keeps pushing, pushing, never takes an inning off,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said, per MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm. “We needed some of that, but the name of the game is production on the field, and he is near the top of most offensive categories, and he has played some great defense for us. I don’t know where we would be without him.”

En route to cementing his place as an AL MVP candidate, Donaldson batted .297 while smashing 41 home runs and driving in an AL-best 123 runs this season.

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The New York Yankees were eliminated from postseason play Tuesday after falling to the Houston Astros, 3-0, in front of their home crowd, and general manager Brian Cashman took some time afterward to reflect on a deal that nearly materialized at this summer’s trade deadline. 

According to LoHud.com, Cashman told reporters the Yankees turned down a proposed deal that would have sent pitcher Adam Warren and second baseman Rob Refsnyder to the Oakland A’s for utility man extraordinaire Ben Zobrist. 

Zobrist was ultimately traded to the AL Central-champion Kansas City Royals in exchange for minor league pitchers Sean Manaea and Aaron Brooks. 

Since joining the Royals at the trade deadline, Zobrist has batted .284 with a .364 on-base percentage and .453 slugging percentage. Although he’s appeared in just 59 games for the Royals, Zobrist’s mark of 1.6 offensive wins above replacement ranks seventh among all Kansas City players. 

Despite Zobrist’s second-half prosperity, Cashman made a wise move by standing pat and not mortgaging valuable future pieces in exchange for a half-season rental. According to Spotrac, Zobrist is set to become a free agent at the end of the season, at which point he won’t be tethered to the Royals and he’ll be free to find long-term security elsewhere. 

Refsnyder made his MLB debut on July 11 as the Yankees scrambled for solutions at second base, but he was optioned back to Triple-A on July 19. However, the Yankees promoted the 24-year-old back to the big leagues prior to September, and he impressed in 16 total regular-season appearances. 

In a small, 47 plate-appearance sample size, Refsnyder batted .302 with two home runs and five RBI while recording an on-base percentage of .348. He even started Tuesday night’s Wild Card Game but failed to record a hit. 

Prior to the postseason, manager Joe Girardi told reporters, “We like the way he’s swung the bat and defensively, he’s done a good job,” according to the New York Post‘s Dan Martin. 

Warren was also solid for the Yankees in spots. The 28-year-old posted a 3.29 ERA as he went 7-7 and notched a career-high 104 strikeouts in 131.1 innings. 

Zobrist would have given the Yankees some more peace of mind at second base as Stephen Drew flirted with the Mendoza Line, but holding on to two inexpensive, cost-effective youngsters instead of taking a shot on a two-month flier will help New York in the long run. 

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com. 

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New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia won’t pitch during the 2015 MLB playoffs after deciding to enter treatment at an alcohol rehabilitation center.

Sabathia released an official statement Monday to explain his decision, courtesy of the Yankees’ official website:

Today I am checking myself into an alcohol rehabilitation center to receive the professional care and assistance needed to treat my disease.

I love baseball and I love my teammates like brothers, and I am also fully aware that I am leaving at a time when we should all be coming together for one last push toward the World Series. It hurts me deeply to do this now, but I owe it to myself and to my family to get myself right. I want to take control of my disease, and I want to be a better man, father and player.

I want to thank the New York Yankees organization for their encouragement and understanding. Their support gives me great strength and has allowed me to move forward with this decision with a clear mind.

As difficult as this decision is to share publicly, I don’t want to run and hide. But for now please respect my family’s need for privacy as we work through this challenge together.

Being an adult means being accountable. Being a baseball player means that others look up to you. I want my kids — and others who may have become fans of mine over the years — to know that I am not too big of a man to ask for help. I want to hold my head up high, have a full heart and be the type of person again that I can be proud of. And that’s exactly what I am going to do.

I am looking forward to being out on the field with my team next season playing the game that brings me so much happiness.

After the announcement, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spoke about Sabathia, saying: “It wasn’t a phone call I was expecting,” but added the team will “do everything in our power” to support the pitcher, via Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News.

“CC has demonstrated a great deal of courage…Time and place have no bearing,” Cashman said, per Feinsand. “There’s something here that needs to be taken care of.”

Sabathia has struggled to find his form over the past three seasons and is coming off of a 2015 campaign in which he posted a 6-10 record with a 4.73 ERA. Those numbers suggest he’s a shell of the southpaw stud who won 59 games in his first three seasons with the Bronx Bombers.

A nagging knee injury also limited Sabathia to eight starts in 2014 and landed him on the disabled list late this year.

NBC Sports’ Drew Silva highlighted how Sabathia still managed to close out 2015 strong despite the personal issues he’s now made public knowledge:

The former Cy Young Award winner and six-time All-Star has a World Series title to his name as well, so Sabathia has accomplished about all he could have hoped to in a stellar career. At age 35, it appears he is keen on returning to the mound in 2016, though he may be hard-pressed to rediscover the form that made him one of baseball’s best pitchers in his prime.

Above all else, the concern is for Sabathia’s well-being. If he can take care of himself away from the field, there’s at least a chance his transcendent talent will allow him to stage a successful comeback once he’s fully recovered.

As for the Yankees’ immediate outlook, they’ll start Masahiro Tanaka in Tuesday’s American League Wild Card Game against the Houston Astros, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart. It’s a win-or-go-home scenario, but home-field advantage should help New York as it goes up against Astros ace Dallas Keuchel.

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