some observations

[Inside Pitch]

 

I for one see nothing wrong with the Dodgers recent workaround strategy (that many in the media have pretended to be upset about) of taking on salary in trades in exchange for getting bundled compensation draft pics. The draft rules are what is outrageous. 

 

Bingo -- I'm pretty sure the owners all thought that everyone would toe the line and nobody would dare do what the Dodgers are doing...   BOOM....    LA has exploited the system in a very pointed way..  To blame them is to ignore than MLB agreed to let the possibility exist.  Those tradeable competitive balance picks are golden.   A team picking up a FA with draft pick compensation need only find a way to acquire one of those picks in order to soften the blow of losing a first rounder.   It's a tremendous workaround.

Edited August 4, 2015 by Inside Pitch

[Inside Pitch]

who the **** is MD?

 

One of the Beastie Boys,  dummy....

[Homebrewer]

Scioscia has a playoff team, too bad he sucks at managing playoff baseball.

[floplag]

I dont think conceding this season was intentional at all, who thought Hou would be this good this fast.  I think they thought they could squeak by, make the post, and consider the season a success without going nuts.   Maybe they still will make the post, if it started today they would, but they wont go very far barring some very timely hot streaks.  

I dont think the Howie trade was bad at all personally.  Gia isnt an all star, but hes getting it done.

The Hamilton thing i still dont get at all, dont think i ever will, it just made no sense... must be things we dont know.. you dont just flush that kind of scratch unless you are prepared to eat it, and we used it as a reason to not make the club better... thats double dipping on a bad move. 

The pen, well, we never filled the gap from the starters to Smith.  Then again if the starter could get out of the friggin 6th inning that wouldn't be an issue.

Are we a playoff team, per the standings yes... are we a title threat, no, too many weaknesses.  

Its a darned shame really we are wasting what might be the best year we will get from Pujols, another great season from Trout,  and have suddenly become gun shy and frugal afraid to make another mistake.   That doesnt send a good message to the players or those potential FAs we will try to sign come winter.

I'm very disappointed as the club seems to be back to the old identity crisis mode.. are we large market, small market, spenders or not?

There is a price for hoarding prospects and building a farm... its called losing a lot of games for a few years till they develop.  

[Homebrewer]

Exactly...unless you are going to do what the Cubs and Astros have done, and openly rebuild for a few years, then you have to spend-spend-and spend some more to bring in talent every off-season and mid-season.

This requires keeping an owner informed and happy, but out of the loop when it comes to decisions.

Arte is more like Stienbrenner than I care to even admit.

Doing the in-between dance doesn't cut it.

 

The Cubs and Astros are going to be forces in the coming decade because they bit the bullet and had a plan.

The spenders eventually have bad acquisitions, and even their good acquisitions age fast... 

[OregonLAA]

Our bullpen is fine. As long as guys are used in the right spots. Ramos has been solid and is a better loogy type guy than we normally have. Rasmus really has the ability to be a 7th inning shut down type.

Rasmus - Smith - Street is solid as hell.

Gott is good but he's not ready for 7th inning duty yet. But we can use him in other spots. Just use Salas and Alvarez when we are up or down by a lot. Really I would just love to see one more guy show up. Bedrock would be awesome with his filthy stuff but he might be another year away

[Stradling]

For those saying we have a playoff team what does this team do well? We have four decent to great hitters, we have two good bullpen arms, we have four good starting pitchers, and four good defensive players. One of the starting pitchers has only made six or seven starts, Weaver was bad, CJ was inconsistent according to most, and Shoe started out slow. We don't run well and we don't play great D.

[Guest]

Its not the wild cards that's changed the postseason IMO.  Its the added days off to accommodate the TV schedule - that's completely changed how teams play in the postseason and nullified the strengths and weaknesses of certain teams.  A team with 5 capable starters but no shutdown guy is tough during the regularly season but at a disadvantage in the postseason .vs a team sporting a King Felix and the sort...  There is no way the Giants can ride Bum the way they did last year in postseason play setting that more closely resembles the regular season.   The changes to how teams draft has also IMO dramatically altered how teams go about things.   Nobody had ever purposely publicly tanked til recently.

 

Baseball's chase of the all mighty dollar has IMO weakened/cheapened the postseason.

 

The fact that the wild card exists means that theorestically teams which may only be capable of achieving win totals in the low 80's still get the opportunity to go deep in the postseason because they happen to have a lockdown ace and two solid bullpen guys, even if the rest of their pitching staff is pededtrian. As you pointed out the postseason requires a different kind of roster than the regular season, so the wild card makes this dilemma a bit worse.

[Inside Pitch]

For those saying we have a playoff team what does this team do well? We have four decent to great hitters, we have two good bullpen arms, we have four good starting pitchers, and four good defensive players. One of the starting pitchers has only made six or seven starts, Weaver was bad, CJ was inconsistent according to most, and Shoe started out slow. We don't run well and we don't play great D.

 

Strad, do you really think the defense is an issue?  2B is a bit of a black hole, but they are one of the best teams in MLB at turning batted balls into outs.  http://www.baseballprospectus.com/sortable/index.php?cid=1819929   I have actually been pretty surprised by how well they have defended, I was pretty sure it was going to be the weakest link.

[Stradling]

I don't think defense is an issue but it's not a team of great defensive players. Go around the team and tell me who's great defensively.

Great: Trout and Calhoun

Very Good: Albert and Aybar

Average: Ianetta

Below average: Freese, Gia, Joyce, Cron

If the stats show they rank high in turning batted balls into outs then that's probably more about positioning, but people don't want to hear that because it probably means the players are getting scouting reports. We all know Scioscia doesn't believe in those new fangled metrics.

[WallyWorld]

For those saying we have a playoff team what does this team do well? We have four decent to great hitters, we have two good bullpen arms, we have four good starting pitchers, and four good defensive players. One of the starting pitchers has only made six or seven starts, Weaver was bad, CJ was inconsistent according to most, and Shoe started out slow. We don't run well and we don't play great D.

 

but now you're using "playoff team" as this nebulous, indefinable term. I agree in the general sense that they have a lot of flaws and it's certainly not a great team. And in a different year they may not be a playoff team. But with the state of the AL in 2015, they are a playoff team, in that they are absolutely within the mix of teams that could make the playoffs.

[Stradling]

but now you're using "playoff team" as this nebulous, indefinable term. I agree in the general sense that they have a lot of flaws and it's certainly not a great team. And in a different year they may not be a playoff team. But with the state of the AL in 2015, they are a playoff team, in that they are absolutely within the mix of teams that could make the playoffs.

I was using the term HB used.

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

There's no reason why the halos can't ride a streak through the playoffs. They can beat the Yankees.

[WallyWorld]

I was using the term HB used.

 

I understand, Strad. I'm not trying to pick on you, I'm just saying that by any objective measure, they ARE a playoff team. To say they're not is purely subjective, based on whatever criteria you think they're falling short on. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

Barring a complete collapse, I would say we are still a playoff team, but not much beyond that.

 

We may get in, but it will be a short stay.

[Angel Oracle]

The Jays, O's, and Rangers will ALL overtake us.

Noooo WC game!

[tomsred]

The Jays, O's, and Rangers will ALL overtake us.

Noooo WC game!

 

Oh goody, more Hamilton threads.