Great article on rebuilding a franchise (link fixed)

[Homebrewer]

“The game is best understood at 10,000 feet. But it is best enjoyed from the front row.”

— Chicago Cubs President Theo Epstein
http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/theo-epstein-cubs-playoffs-in-reach/

Well written article, not all of which, but a lot of, what the Angel's organization should be heeding as it looks for direction and fresh leadership.


“In this era, we decided it might be harder to find young hitters that can control the zone and hit for power,” Epstein says. “They’re hard to find. Teams won’t give them up when they do find them. It wasn’t any bit of genius, we just thought that whether it’s through the draft, through trades, we were going all in on hitters. It’s like being at the roulette table. You can’t cover every number. You have to pick your spots. We started with hitting.”

Edited September 18, 2015 by Homebrewer

[Guest]

your link appears to be broken.

[Angel Oracle]

We had better be drafting as many hitters (if not more than) as pitchers, now that the pitching depth has been rebuilt in the minors.

[NrM]

Yea link aint working for me too.

No question they need to bring in a guy like epstein to give this team direction.

[seenoevil]

Hand the keys to the Oracle

[ettin]

We had better be drafting as many hitters (if not more than) as pitchers, now that the pitching depth has been rebuilt in the minors.

 

I have to say AO this is definitely the one overarching strategy that I agreed with Dipoto on. When he took over we needed BOTH positional players and pitchers.

 

Choosing to draft and develop pitchers first not only filled an area of weakness but it does allow us to trade with almost every team in the League to get position players we might need as a lot of teams can always use arms.

 

Is it easier to sell a starter or a left fielder? Not every team is looking for a left fielder at any particular point in time during the year whereas a large number of teams will very likely need and have room for the starter.

 

Pitching is a more "fluid" currency in baseball and thus it is more valuable.

 

Now do we need position players? Yeah we do. I think we would have had a new one by now if Wilson hadn't gotten "injured" and our payroll would be looking a lot better in 2016 if we had traded him. Who that would have been is debatable but nothing to be done about it now.

 

Hopefully the new GM will be bright and creative in trade negotiations and player scouting and development to help rectify this situation.

Edited September 18, 2015 by ettin

[Docwaukee]

It was clear that Theo and his crew were putting an emphasis on hitting.  

 

I see pos and neg both ways.  

 

Pitching seems to translate more appropriately.  Fewer busts but greater chance of injury.  Plus you have the bullpen fall back if being a starter doesn't work out.  

 

Hitters that control the strike zone and have true power are pretty rare and hard to find.  But they seem to miss more often.   I read somewhere that the most important trait as a hitter early in their minor league career was the ability not to K.  

 

It's essentially the argument of who you would draft between Kershaw and Trout and the likelihood you get Chris Bootcheck or Brandon Wood instead.   

[gotbeer]

A lot of it has to do with just plain dumb luck also.  

 

Think of it this way.  Where would the Angels be if Trout did not last till 25?  

 

Also, in the last 10 years, I don't think that the Angels have had one protected pick.  While you may get lucky with later rounds.  Odds are, the top picks are the surer things.  And most of the top teams or at least young teams are led by top picks.  If not multiple top picks.  

[NrM]

It was clear that Theo and his crew were putting an emphasis on hitting.  

 

I see pos and neg both ways.  

 

Pitching seems to translate more appropriately.  Fewer busts but greater chance of injury.  Plus you have the bullpen fall back if being a starter doesn't work out.  

 

Hitters that control the strike zone and have true power are pretty rare and hard to find.  But they seem to miss more often.   I read somewhere that the most important trait as a hitter early in their minor league career was the ability not to K.  

 

It's essentially the argument of who you would draft between Kershaw and Trout and the likelihood you get Chris Bootcheck or Brandon Wood instead.   

 

Friedman's first year with the dodgers seemed to focus on pitching and defense. He got rid of Kemp and Uribe and let hanley walk.

Doesn't hurt to have two potential star caliber (former)prospects to go along with an unlimited payroll.

Edited September 18, 2015 by Poozy

[Homebrewer]

Not sure what happened to the link...it worked yesterday.

But here it is again...

http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/theo-epstein-cubs-playoffs-in-reach/

[Homebrewer]

Everyone around the Cubs – management, players, fans, everybody – will say that it was Maddon who took the team from the 10,000 feet phase to the front-row phase. Maddon has long been one of baseball’s best managers, but his transition from Tampa Bay to Chicago was a little bit messy. Maddon opted out of his contract with the Rays and became a free agent. The Cubs fired manager Rick Renteria barely a year after hiring him, a move that gutted Epstein and briefly created a storm.

“We saw it as a unique opportunity and faced a clear dilemma: be loyal to Rick or be loyal to the organization,” Epstein wrote in a statement at the time. “In this business of trying to win a world championship for the first time in 107 years, the organization has a priority over any one individual. We decided to pursue Joe.”

With Maddon in place, Epstein and the Cubs stopped making little bets and started making big ones. They signed pitcher Jon Lester for big money. They brought back pitcher Jason Hammel for pretty big money. They traded for a veteran leadoff hitter, Dexter Fowler, and they began calling up (or recalling) the kids, all of them – Bryant, Schwarber, Russell, Jorge Soler, Javier Baez, Matt Szczur, on and on.