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By Sam Dykstra / MiLB.com
After 162 games of regular season play, they’re both here for one game. The Royals (89-73) and A’s (88-74) will duke it out Tuesday night in the American League Wild Card game to determine who will get to play the Angels in the best-of-5 ALDS, starting Thursday. As such, both teams released their 25-man rosters for Tuesday’s winner-take-all contest, and giving them a side-by-side look provides us with contrasting ways that a successful Major League roster can be constructed.
Before we delve into this, here’s a necessary caveat. These are not your normal 25-man rosters nor are they the group of 25 players that either team would take into the Division Series. They’re designed for a one-game playoff. So you’ll see no Sonny Gray or Jeff Samardzija for the A’s because they’re not going to let two pitchers who started over the weekend take up a roster spot they wouldn’t use anyways. (On the flip side, the Royals have kept starters Danny Duffy, Yordano Ventura and Jeremy Guthrie on their roster with the idea that they would be better options out of the bullpen than some of the usual relievers, like Aaron Crow.) Instead, you’ll see a lot more position players as both sides try to take advantage of pinch-hitting and pinch-running opportunities to maximize every out in a do-or-die game.
That being said, these rosters may have been formed Tuesday, but they weren’t constructed the same day. Years of adding and subtracting helped create two groups of 25 players, and that tinkering, for the most part, has obviously been somewhat successful, considering they’re each 12 wins away from a World Series title. Here’s why the A’s and Royals are so interesting, too — they represent two completely different ways organizations can create their rosters.
Just consider the following:
Number of players on Wild Card roster originally drafted or signed as amateur free agents by Royals: 13 (Danny Duffy, Brandon Finnegan, Greg Holland, Christian Colon, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Jarrod Dyson, Alex Gordon, Terrance Gore, Billy Butler, Yordano Ventura, Salvador Perez, Kelvin Herrera)
Number of players on Wild Card roster originally drafted or signed as amateur free agents by A’s: one (Sean Doolittle)
There’s no doubt about it. Kansas City, as it stands, is a homegrown organization. When Dayton Moore took over as GM in 2006, the Royals started growing one of the best farm systems in baseball, and the roster that will be used Tuesday should be considered the fruit of that work. Of the 10 Royals originally drafted by the organization, only Billy Butler (2004) and Alex Gordon (2005) were taken in the pre-Moore era.
This should be considered an especially rare case. As J.J. Cooper pointed out at Baseball America, 29 prospects from KC’s 2011 farm system have made the Majors, and the ones with the six-highest WARs in 2014 — Danny Duffy (3.6), Salvador Perez (3.4), Yordano Ventura (3.3), Jarrod Dyson (2.8), Kelvin Herrera (2.8) and Greg Holland (2.6) — will suit up for the Royals on Tuesday while Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas will start in the infield corners. Three more (Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi and Mike Montgomery) were used to net James Shields, the Wild Card starter.
Organizations can only hope that a small percentage of their prospects actually hit the Major Leagues. Even as some of their prospects have disappointed, what the Royals have managed to do with their homegrown talent is the dream of a general manager.
On the other hand, the A’s have just the one player who has yet to leave their system. Interestingly, it’s Doolittle, who was drafted as a first baseman back in 2007 only to become a pitcher in 2011. The move paid off in a big way in 2014, when the left-hander assumed closing duties and notched 22 saves with a 2.73 ERA and a 12.8 K/9 in 61 appearances. It should be noted that Gray, a 2011 first-round pick by the A’s, would give the team two homegrown hurlers, but as already stated, he was left off the Wild Card roster.
Number of players on A’s Wild Card roster acquired by trade: 17 (Fernando Abad, Ryan Cook, Luke Gregerson, Jason Hammel, Jon Lester, Drew Pomeranz, Derek Norris, Alberto Callaspo, Josh Donaldson, Adam Dunn, Jed Lowrie, Eric Sogard, Billy Burns, Sam Fuld, Jonny Gomes, Josh Reddick)
Number of players on Royals Wild Card roster acquired by trade: eight (Wade Davis, Jason Frasor, James Shields, Erik Kratz, Alcides Escobar, Nori Aoki, Lorenzo Cain, Josh Willingham)
First off, this doesn’t do much to hurt the Moneyball idea that the A’s search for talent in trades, does it?
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Beyond the numbers, there’s obviously some merit to that. The A’s began the season with roughly an $82 million payroll, 26th-highest in the Majors. They can’t afford to offer massive free-agent contracts — Scott Kazmir became their highest-paid player entering the season when he signed a two-year, $22 million deal last offseason — so they need to get their value elsewhere. The Draft is a cheap option, but that hasn’t worked out so well (see above). Instead, there’s the trade market.
Tuesday starter Jon Lester is, of course, the poster child for this after Oakland obtained him in a deadline deal with the Red Sox back in July. Of course, he’s not the only one. Jason Hammel, Adam Dunn, Geovany Soto, Jonny Gomes and Sam Fuld were also acquired from other teams in July or later. (Samardzija is another obvious addition to that but isn’t on the Wild Card roster.) A’s general manager Billy Beane has been one of the most active GMs in baseball this season, attempting to put together a playoff-caliber roster, and even that work couldn’t keep his team from going 22-33 in August and September.
On the flip side, only Josh Willingham and Jason Frasor joined the Royals this season via trade. If either contributes Tuesday night, it’ll be off the bench/out of the bullpen respectively. That being said, the Shields deal could look all the better with a deep run in the playoffs, especially given the fact that Shields is a free agent this offesason and is likely to head elsewhere.
Here’s how the 25-man Wild Card rosters for the A’s and Royals were constructed:
A’s 25-man roster
PITCHERS
Fernando Abad – Traded from the Nationals, Nov. 2013
Ryan Cook – Traded from the D-backs, Dec. 2011
Sean Doolittle – Drafted in first round, 2007; became pitcher in 2011
Luke Gregerson – Traded from the Padres, Dec. 2013
Jason Hammel – Traded from the Cubs, July 2014
Jon Lester – Traded from the Red Sox, July 2014
Dan Otero – Selected off waivers from the Yankees, March 2013
Drew Pomeranz – Traded from the Rockies, Dec. 2013
CATCHERS
Derek Norris – Traded from the Nations, Dec. 2011; only played in MLB for A’s
Geovany Soto – Purchased from the Rangers, Aug. 2014
Stephen Vogt – Sent from Rays, April 2013
INFIELDERS
Alberto Callaspo – Traded from the Angels, July 2013
Josh Donaldson – Traded from the Cubs, July 2008; only played in MLB for A’s
Adam Dunn – Traded from the White Sox, Aug. 2014
Nate Freiman – Selected off waivers from the Astros, March 2013; only played in MLB for A’s
Jed Lowrie – Traded from the Astros, Feb. 2013
Brandon Moss – Signed as a free agent, Dec. 2011
Andy Parrino – Selected off waivers from the Rangers, April 2014
Nick Punto – Signed as free agent, Nov. 2013
Eric Sogard – Traded from the Padres, Jan. 2010; only played in MLB for A’s
OUTFIELDERS
Billy Burns – Traded from the Nationals, Dec. 2013; only played in MLB for A’s
Coco Crisp – Signed as free agent, Jan. 2012
Sam Fuld – Traded from the Twins, July 2014
Jonny Gomes – Traded from the Red Sox, July 2014
Josh Reddick – Traded from the Red Sox, Dec. 2011
Royals 25-man roster
PITCHERS
Wade Davis – Traded from the Rays, Dec. 2012
Danny Duffy – Drafted in third round, 2007
Brandon Finnegan – Drafted in first round, 2014
Jason Frasor – Traded from the Rangers, July 2014
Jeremy Guthrie – Signed as free agent, Nov. 2012
Kelvin Herrera – Signed as amateur free agent, Dec. 2006
Greg Holland – Drafted in 10th round, 2007
James Shields – Traded from the Rays, Dec. 2012
Yordano Ventura – Signed as amateur free agent, Oct. 2008
CATCHERS
Erik Kratz – Traded from the Blue Jays, July 2014
Salvador Perez – Signed as amateur free agent, Oct. 2006
INFIELDERS
Christian Colon – Drafted in the first round, 2010
Alcides Escobar – Traded from the Brewers, Dec. 2010
Eric Hosmer – Drafted in the first round, 2008
Omar Infante – Signed as free agent, Dec. 2013
Mike Moustakas – Drafted in the first round, 2007
Jayson Nix – Selected off waivers from the Pirates, Aug. 2014
OUTFIELDERS
Nori Aoki – Traded from the Brewers, Dec. 2013
Lorenzo Cain – Traded from the Brewers, Dec. 2010
Jarrod Dyson – Drafted in the 50th round, 2006
Alex Gordon – Drafted in the first round, 2005
Terrance Gore – Drafted in the 20th round, 2011
Raul Ibanez – Signed as free agent, June 2014
Josh Willingham – Traded from the Twins, Aug. 2014
DESIGNATED HITTER
Billy Butler – Drafted in the first round, 2004
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