A little optimism from Tom

by tjmacari on Aug 2, 2011 12:19 PM PDT

After watching Ryan Sweeney make an ill attempt at a soft-liner to right that went to the wall and scored 3 runs, I was a little frustrated (to put it mildly). I've looked for some reasons to be optimistic, and here's what I came up with!

Note the following stats are off AAA pitching in a hitter-friendly league -

Here are the current stats of some of our best AAA players averaged out over 150 games:

Anthony Recker - 150 games - .302 AVG 27 HR

Jai Miller - 150 games - .296 AVG 48 HR

Mike Taylor - 150 games - .281 AVG 27 HR

Chris Carter - 150 games - .272 AVG 32 HR

Brandon Allen - 150 games - .306 AVG 33 HR

If just 2 of these 5 guys pan out next year, that'd be HUUUUUGE!

Also, on August 1st 2002, the A's were 5 games out of first place behind the Mariners. By the end of the season, they were 10 games AHEAD of the Mariners. In other words, they made up *15 games* from August to October. Our boys are current 12 games out, so at least it's still possible. (Small note, the 2002 A's did have a 20-game win streak in August ;)

Tom

Tweet Comment 18 comments | 1 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Love that optimism!!

Go A’s

by diablokid on Aug 2, 2011 1:04 PM PDT reply actions

So we need a 42 game winning streak? Agreed.

I vibrated with joy that join A's. -- Kim Seong-min

by WaddellCanseco on Aug 2, 2011 1:05 PM PDT reply actions

A little pessimism from another Tom

Really good “state of the game” piece by Tom Verducci, in light of Moneyball. Shows how everything has changed since then. Warning: will deflate the optimism in this post.

Link – SI.com

by Billy Frijoles on Aug 2, 2011 1:09 PM PDT reply actions

It just tells me Beane isn't the right guy to run the show. He's clearly frustrated and acts

like he’s out of ideas.

I vibrated with joy that join A's. -- Kim Seong-min

by WaddellCanseco on Aug 2, 2011 1:19 PM PDT up reply actions

Beane brings up good points though.

I think the way he talks to the press is always different than how he feels, too. I don’t remember him going to the press saying “we owned the royals on that dye trade” but I’m sure he felt that way.

The points remain valid. Baseball is the only major sport without a salary cap and the competitive imbalance is obvious when compared to NBA and NFL.

All the points he makes are good: 1) teams and fans and the market somehow really overvalue prospects 2) the reason they do is having a guy under cost control is so important, but yet teams that don’t value cost control as much still seem to value prospects extremely highly, 3) MLB has been on a “rich get richer” trend since Selig took over (mets/dodgers notwithstanding, but neither of those are related to baseball), and 4) small market teams have less competitive windows than before.

I don’t see anyone denying these things.

On the flip side, if he has a great new strategy that he is busy implementing, he’s probably not telling it to the press.

Lastly, who wouldn’t be frustrated the way this season has gone? He may not have assembled a playoff team, but most projections had them at at least .500 or higher.

by Billy Frijoles on Aug 2, 2011 1:31 PM PDT up reply actions