I apologize for my lack of posting here at the blog, but that whole work thing was keeping me occupied over the past month and when I got home I didnt feel much like posting, and usually just went to bed. But enough about my problems, onto more pressing matters.
Matt Holliday just got traded a few days ago, and from where I sit it seems to be a fair trade for both sides. The Cardinals got a quality bat in Holliday, who is sure to be much improved now that hes moving out of the unfriendly hitters park that is Oakland and into a more neutral park. The A's got the 2nd best prospect from the Cardinals system, another player with very high upside, and some other guy. Not a bad haul for someone who is struggling like Holliday is...or was.
I'm not really sure why, but there are some writers out there who have it in for Billy Beane. I guess its because he came off as kind of cocky in "Moneyball", but thats not his fault. I mean, its not like he wrote the book or anything. I have a feeling Tracy Ringolsby is one of those people. For some reason he thinks The A's just got taken to school by the Cardinals, which I dont think is anywhere close to the truth, but lets examine this further, shall we?
St. Louis general manager John Mozeliak played the waiting game — and won.
The Cardinals were after Matt Holliday last winter.
The Rockies asking price was steep.
Oakland outbid the Cardinals.
Eight months later, the A's had to salvage what they could, and sent Holliday to St. Louis.
It's a win-win for Mozeliak
You know an article is getting off to a bad start when the writer starts doing his best Plaschke impression. I dont understand why writers do this, it doesnt add anything, its just annoying, and I think its kind of lazy. Look at how easy it is.
I wake up in the morning.
I go brush my teeth and shave.
I drive into work.
My boss was a douche.
God how I hate him.
What I'm doing right now is adding no substance and it is annoying.
I miss my Moms basement...it was nice.
Okay, I'll stop now. But yes, I hate when writers do that. So all you writers reading take note: Unless you want to be ridiculed by poor grammar and run on sentences, dont write like Bill Plaschke.
He avoided the temptation last winter, when the Rockies were looking at a return on Holliday of big-league outfielder Ryan Ludwick, second baseman/outfielder Skip Schumaker, and right-handed pitcher Mitchell Boggs, who spent time in the Cardinals rotation earlier this season.
A 30 year old coming off a year there is no way he will ever replicate, a 2nd baseman with a career 100 OPS+(who they have playing LF now for some reason that year), and a 24 year old (at the time) with a career 1.828 WHIP is asking too much? Okay, fine. Do carry on.
Without Holliday, the Cardinals still found themselves in first place in the NL Central, leading by a game on Friday morning.
Then they got Holliday from Oakland. As well as bringing a legitimate bat to compliment Albert Pujols, Holliday also provides an emotional lift to his new teammates because the organization stepped up and added the right-handed slugger. The cost? Three prospects, none of which showed promise of having an impact in St. Louis.
That last sentence is what caught my eye when I was skimming over the article. I had heard of Brett Wallace before, but I figured I would find out a little more about him, which is something Mr. Ringolsby did not do. After a quick search of Google This was the first thing to pop up. Yeah, his ETA to the majors is 2010. Not to mention he is ranked 42nd best prospect IN THE WHOLE LEAGUE. Why is Mr. Rigolsby making him sound like a scrub?
(quick break to watch Entourage)
Okay, where was I?
The uncertainty about the free agent market this offseason, however, created the possibility that agent Scott Boras could call Beane's bluff and accept arbitration from Oakland, like he did once for Kevin Millwood in Atlanta
Maybe I'm not remembering this right, but I could've sworn it was Maddux that accepted arbitration from Atlanta. Maybe Millwood did, too.
A key reason that the Rockies are where they are is they dealt Holliday. That's not a knock on Holliday, but rather a statement of what Huston Street has meant to the Rockies. The question Rockies fans are left to ponder is where they would have been without Street
Yes, the guy that pitches for 1 inning is more valuble than the corner outfielder who OPS's 1.000 at coors field. Makes sense to me.
I think my favorite part to the article is reading the comments. Some choice ones:
From Gleek: Beane and the A's are a bunch of losers. It's too bad that used to be a good team before Beane and his cheap ball sabermetrics crapola got a hold of it.
Beane has been GM since 1998. They have had some success between now and then. Probably the biggest mistake Beane made is giving Michael Lewis so much access to how they ran things. That took away his competitive advantedge, because after the book came out, everyone knew what he was doing. He pretty much had his whole strategy published.
Anyone who honestly believes Beane shouldn't have traded Holliday, or that he received less than he traded is a m.o.r.o.n.Beane absolutely had to trade Holliday, because he certainly wasn't going to resign in the off-season. Holliday is likely going to be Type-A, but ultimately that didn't matter because the package Beane received was significantly better than one extra first round pick in the draft.Both Wallace and Mortensen have relatively high ceilings...in fact, Wallace was the best position prospect in the Cards system. Eric Chavez now has an heir apparent in Oakland.And it's not as if the A's traded 2007 Holliday. Holliday has been grossly under-performing in Oakland this season, so i would imagine his value was substantially lower than it was 1-2 years prior.And the argument comparing Carlos Gonzalez to Brett Wallace is silly, really. Gonzalez isn't half the prospect Wallace is. Huston Street is the only player of value from that deal.I'm no fan of the A's, but Ringolsby doesn't have a clue. Beane did just fine.
I think this commenters thoughts are about in line with what the majority of people thought of the deals Beane made. I dont know if I agree with Wallace being Chavezs heir to 3rd base, but I agree with the rest of what he said.
From Gleek again: Let's see the A's got rid of a proven MLB talent for noobs. Beane once again shows that he is a cheapskate and doesnt want to win.
Noobs? Is Billy Beane playing online computer games? I dont think this dude realizes that Beane does not set the payroll (I know he has a part ownership, but its a relatively small share).
Slapshot2003: Hey riingolsby, Beansie did the best he could with what was being offered out there. I'm sure it's a better deal than you could've gotten.And BTW: Tracy is a girls name!!!!
Apparently slapshot either is a middle school kid or he just isnt very bright. I mean......come on, dude. Thats your best insult? He might as well have gone the whole 9 yards and thrown in "Tracy is a girls name, so that means you have cooties!!!!!!"
I think this one is my favorite one
What_Eva_34 7/26/2009 12:36:01 AM
THE WRITER OF THIS ARTICLE IS AN ID.I.OT. THEY GAVE UP THEY'RE BEST HITTING PROSPECT, AND HE WROTE THEY GOT HOLLIDAY FOR NEXT TO NOTHING. STICK TO WRITING, BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS SKILLS. WHAT MAY BE GOOD TODAY, MAY TURN OUT TO BE A DISASTER TWO SEASONS FROM NOW.
............ I'm going to take this sentence by sentence.
THE WRITER OF THIS ARTICLE IS AN ID.I.OT.
okay, first off, he left a period out. Second, why is he spelling out Idiot like it stands for something?
THEY GAVE UP THEY'RE BEST HITTING PROSPECT, AND HE WROTE THEY GOT HOLLIDAY FOR NEXT TO NOTHING.
so they gave up "they are" best hitting prospect?
STICK TO WRITING, BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS SKILLS.
Perhaps Tracy doesnt, but at least he can write coherently.
WHAT MAY BE GOOD TODAY, MAY TURN OUT TO BE A DISASTER TWO SEASONS FROM NOW.
I just cant believe that this person sat down at his computer, typed the comment, looked at it and thought "yeah, that awesome. This comment brings a lot to the table."
YAWN. Well its about 1230 around here and I have to be up in 5 hours so I'm going to stop here. I was going to do another article, but I'm too tired right now. I'm a bitch like that.
4 comments:
I read this article yesterday at lunch and since my brain ignores bad journalism on the weekends, I ignored the illogicality (may not be a word) of the article.
I think this was a pretty good trade for the A's, especially since the Cardinals will only get Holliday for one year. I am not madly in love with the prospects the A's got, but it's not bad for a one year rental.
Also, he needs to get his facts straight. Millwood did not accept arbitration. Maddux accepted arbitration and the Braves had to trade Kevin Millwood for Johnny Estrada, which sucked, but ended up working out because Estrada was decent.
Everyone hates Moneyball and hates Beane because he dared to do something different. I also agree he should have kept his philosophy to himself to keep the competitive advantage.
The article wasnt really that bad, just a few key areas stuck out. I think the commenters amused me more than anything else. There was another one I thought about putting up, but I then realized I was starting to write incoherently, so I decided to stop.
See, thats what I thought too. I was almost 100% sure it was Maddux, because I remember the Braves being all bent out of shape because they were told he would not accept.
Its funny that Moneyball is pretty much what got people to take sabermetrics seriously. Branch Rickey wrote a whole article about OBP and SLUG back in the day, and Earl Weaver was the same way. I think it was Earl Weaver who said something along the lines of "I dont need anyone whos fast. Just give me a team of guys who can hit the shit out of the ball." or something to that effect. I also dont think that Beane anticipated the book taking off like it did.
I think we should start making fun of the commenters more (not the ones on this site of course_. Those people tend to be incredible idiots. I just feel like I am shooting fish in a barrel by making fun of commenters though.
Yep, Maddux accepted arbitration and to stay under budget the Braves had to make a trade for purely financial reasons.
Usually things like Sabermetrics don't get taken seriously until they have pissed someone off and someone tries to disprove it as a bonafide theory. I am not a huge Moneyball fan but Beane seems to do a pretty good job on a limited budget there in Oakland. That being said, I would never want to be an A's fan.
Peter King's back! Did you know he got a prostate exam while he was on vacation?? YOU WILL!
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