ST: Cubs @ Blue Jays - Sept 8-10

[Michael Bradley]

I wonder how much of that has to do with the Cespedes trade and if Beene will get flack for making the trade.

I don't know if it was the Cespedes deal that killed them or the follow up Millone trade where they traded a controllable lefty with (presumably) some value for a fourth OF instead of someone who could really help them. I'm not sure why they thought they could replace Cespedes with Sam Fuld of all players and think they'd be fine offensively.

Because they had on paper more than enough offense to compensate for any loss of power and Fuld is a far superior defender.

They needed a better replacement for Cespedes than Fuld (who is a bad offensive player). I know the A's like to platoon everyone, but Cespedes is a 3.4 WAR everyday player this year and was a good offensive player (OBP-aside) in a terrible park for hitter's. They weren't going to trade Millone for anyone like that, but Fuld is basically a 32-year old Anthony Gose. They surely could have gotten someone better than that for a controllable lefty making the minimum.

The A's still have as good a shot as any to win the World Series (anything can happen once you make it), but that trade is not looking good at all. In reality, a lot of their players regressed in the 2nd half, but the narrative will focus on Cespedes/Lester.

[Schad]

Don't think you can blame any of the A's trades for their swoon (though the Lester/Samardzija deals will look horrific long-term if they miss out) so much as they serve as yet another example of the sheer unpredictability of teams from month to month. The loss of Cespedes isn't the reason why several of their best hitters have turned to mush, no more than the acquisition of David Price caused Detroit to go on a 7-12 tailspin that handed the Royals the Central lead. There just ain't no such thing as consistency in baseball; players are always up/down, luck is always up/down, and consequently teams are on a long series of up/down cycles themselves.

[MikeM]

Perhaps the only thing Beane could be guilty of is overrating what he had on the offensive side. Seems like everyone of their hitters has regressed in the 2nd half but was it really that hard to predict? Norris, Moss, Jaso, Vogt, Crisp have all come back to Earth.

At the same time Fuld was basically having a career year when they traded for him and he's predictably fallen back to Earth as well.

I don't think Cespedes for Lester is a bad trade but replacing his offense with Fuld or some type of platoon with other traditionally **** hitters was a mistake.

[DrHalladay]

My issue with the Oakland trades is them giving extra to get both Samardzija & Hammel.

There were already plenty of questions about how legit Hammel's production was and someone internally at Oakland made a misjudgement here for sure. If they'd gone for just Samardzija it wouldn't have cost them Addison Russell. If they'd gone after a better second pitcher instead, they wouldn't have needed to go after Lester too later on at the deadline. Or they could've used the extra assets to grab a position player instead of acquiring 3 pitchers for their mid-season push.

[Santoki]

My issue with the Oakland trades is them giving extra to get both Samardzija & Hammel.

There were already plenty of questions about how legit Hammel's production was and someone internally at Oakland made a misjudgement here for sure. If they'd gone for just Samardzija it wouldn't have cost them Addison Russell. If they'd gone after a better second pitcher instead, they wouldn't have needed to go after Lester too later on at the deadline. Or they could've used the extra assets to grab a position player instead of acquiring 3 pitchers for their mid-season push.

At the time they had by far the best offense in baseball and made the trades in preparation for the playoffs. They've been ultimately outpitched by the likes of the Tigers in the playoffs, so they decided to double down on the rotation. And, to be fair, both Lester and Samardzija have been good for them. It's Gray and Kazmir that have nosedived.

[Santoki]

Oakland loses again and drops 3/4 against the White Sox. They're now only 1 game up on the Tigers and 1.5 up on the Mariners. All that with +159 run differential...

I'd also like to point out the Indians aren't dead in the water either. If they win today they're 3.5 back just like the Jays and they have another series left against Minnesota and one with Houston. They also have two crucial ones with Detroit and KC.

Cleveland isn't dead, but neither are they particularly relevant to our playoff calculations...the odds of us finishing as the first runner-up to a Wild Card spot won by the Indians are pretty damned slim, so we can cheer unreservedly for them to sweep the Tigers/Royals.

That's true, but having another team basically mirroring the Jays is just another variable to think about. I'll still be rooting for them to take out Detroit this weekend.

[dballislife]

man morrow was a bullpen guy but has tried year after year after year trying to be a starter, and has just failed...a 98-100 heater since coming out of the pen with good secondary stuff, this guy can be elite in the pen...he should really give it a try, look at wut it did to casey and cecil, and their stuff doesn't even come close to morrow's

[Schad]

man morrow was a bullpen guy but has tried year after year after year trying to be a starter, and has just failed...a 98-100 heater since coming out of the pen with good secondary stuff, this guy can be elite in the pen...he should really give it a try, look at wut it did to casey and cecil, and their stuff doesn't even come close to morrow's

Morrow has failed to stay healthy as a starter, but he hasn't really failed as a starter even including his injury-ravaged 2013/2014 seasons...he's been right around average, better than that by advanced metrics. He'd be useful -- not great, by any means, but useful -- putting up his five-year averages as a starter, if it was in 170-210 IP a year.

Problem being that it ain't, and it remains to be seen whether he'll be able to stay healthy in the bullpen. Probably a better option for managing his diabetes, but his throwing motion also seems to lend itself to putting stress on odd bits.

[Michael Bradley]

The Yankees just got a three run HR off McGee in the 9th to win in walk-off fashion.

Too many teams bundled up together.

[Santoki]

Tampa takes no hitter into 8th and Yanks score five including walk-off three run homer. Great...

[Schad]

The Yankees just got a three run HR off McGee in the 9th to win in walk-off fashion.

Too many teams bundled up together.

I want a seven-way tie between Oakland, Kansas, Detroit, Seattle, Cleveland, the Yankees and Jays, simply because (as best I can tell) this becomes the tiebreaking scenario:

Between KC/DET/CLE: the two with the worst records in combined games between the three will play a one-game playoff. The winner of that game will then play the team with the best record in combined games; the winner of that second games takes the division, while the two losers compete for the Wild Card.

(This is as far as I know, because the tiebreakers technically don't extend beyond four teams)
The remaining six teams would either draw lots or be sorted by record in games involving the participants...neither I nor MLB knows which, best I can tell. Four of those teams would compete in two one-game playoffs for the right to face the other two in one-game playoffs.

The winners of those two games would be the Wild Card winners, entitling them to...play in a one-game playoff.

[s e n s i]

The Yankees just got a three run HR off McGee in the 9th to win in walk-off fashion.

Too many teams bundled up together.

I want a seven-way tie between Oakland, Kansas, Detroit, Seattle, Cleveland, the Yankees and Jays, simply because (as best I can tell) this becomes the tiebreaking scenario:

Between KC/DET/CLE: the two with the worst records in combined games between the three will play a one-game playoff. The winner of that game will then play the team with the best record in combined games; the winner of that second games takes the division, while the two losers compete for the Wild Card.

(This is as far as I know, because the tiebreakers technically don't extend beyond four teams)
The remaining six teams would either draw lots or be sorted by record in games involving the participants...neither I nor MLB knows which, best I can tell. Four of those teams would compete in two one-game playoffs for the right to face the other two in one-game playoffs.

haha and all this would have to be jammed into one day, september 29th

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-l ... 52028.html