Random thoughts on the 2015 World Series

Some random thoughts the morning after a stunning Game Five 2015 World Series victory by the Kansas City Royals.

***As someone who usually roots for the underdog, I like the fact that it was Christian Colon who came through with the big hit for the Royals last night, rather than one of the big stars. Colon's position as the fourth-overall pick in the 2010 draft actually hurt his reputation as a prospect by creating unrealistic expectations, but it seems clear that he has skills that can help a major league team if you look at him objectively. It is also notable that in college he had a reputation as a "clutch" player with excellent makeup who came through in difficult situations. He certainly showed that last night.

***Eric Hosmer's baserunning. I have nothing specific to say about it, I just wanted to type "Eric Hosmer's baserunning." Here are his Top 10 Sim Scores through age 25. It is an odd mix of names.

1. Carlos May (943)
2. Delmon Young (940)
3. Freddie Freeman (940)
4. Keith Hernandez (935)
5. Billy Butler (935)
6. Jeff Francoeur (931)
7. Elbie Fletcher (931)
8. Vic Saier (931)
9. Tony Horton (924)
10. Fred Merkle (923)

I was thinking more along the lines of John Olerud or Wally Joyner myself.

***Three years ago, right after the huge James Shields deal with the Tampa Bay Rays, I wrote an article about Dayton Moore and US Civil War general George McClellan. McClellan was terrific at building his army, but had problems converting that into success in battle. Moore had built up his farm system and with the Shields trade was shifting out of the rebuild process into trying to win now.

Dayton Moore is trying to avoid being McClellan. He's got the farm system built up, the army trained and organized. He's good at that. Now he's taking the field of battle and deploying those forces. That's admirable.

Of course, what's the next part of the story? Is Moore going to turn into an aggressive, brilliant field commander like Ulysses S. Grant or William Tecumseh Sherman? Will he be cautious but effective like George Gordon Meade? Mercurial and erratic like Joe Hooker? Or will he be the well-meaning but dangerously inept Ambrose Burnside? The suicidally aggressive John Bell Hood?

And are the Glass family taking the Lincoln role, gently but firmly prodding their general forward, or are they a bunch of meddling, counterproductive Jefferson Davises?

We'll have to turn the page to see.

Well, we have our answers now. The Glass family kept their noses out of baseball decisions (that was a big problem during the previous Allard Baird administration) but was willing to put up the cash necessary to back the team (also a big problem in the past) while letting Moore fight the battles. Moore proved very adept at winning those battles, signing the proper free agents and making more solid trades.

Moore would be the first to tell you that it was a team effort of course, on and off the field, and that's true. But the bottom line is that he was the man in charge, and he won his campaign to bring a championship back to Kansas City.

The Process worked.

***As for the New York Mets, there's a working process in place there too although I think their success this year caught everyone by surprise and was a year or two earlier than expected. The outstanding pitching staff should keep this team competitive for years to come. Have faith, Mets fans. Your day will come again.