MLB 2014 season thread

Every time some Johnny-come-lately Cubs fan tries to tell me they've never tried to build this way before, I give them this:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/online/features/chat020703.html


But I do love the "screw pitchers" philosophy.

 

The key is to flood the system with enough high-floor pitchers to offset injury, as Oakland has done.
The A's were able to develop enough pitching they basically exiled a guy to the league's Siberia- just because they could.

 

Yup. Greg Holland is in the discussion as the top closer in the game and no non-closer has been better than Wade Davis in 2014.

 

Davis and Kelvin Herrera have pitched a combined 101.1 innings this season without allowing a homer.

 

Apparently, Buck is optimistic about Machado's injury based on what he's heard. Full results expected tonight. Orioles-Yankees has already been postponed.

 

Without being too overt about it, that was a great little blow job for Epstein/Hoyer.

Wasn't so long ago I thought I heard the natives calling for Theo's head.

BTW, the Astros are not very far behind. Have seen them a few times this season and they're plucky. Not in a "oh how cute!" sort of way but rather they play hard and you can see them developing.

 

Can you imagine the Grantland boner if the A's and Cub's play in the World Series re: the Beane/Epstein angle? Someone would write a 75,000-word column on the SABRfication of it all.

 

Eh, I'm still not happy with him. Most fans are pretty on board.

 

Verlander's MRI comes back "structurally" OK, but the team still has to be on the verge of utter panic when their absolute workhorse-for-a-decade starts coming up lame.

http://www.freep.com/article/20140812/SPORTS02/308120143/detroit-tigers-justin-verlander

 

Epstein has still never proven he can build a winning team without a huge spending budget.

 

Which sure as hell seems like the real goal behind his approach with the Cubs, to prove that he can do it.

 

He's tanked for four years in a top-3 market. How is that a praiseworthy approach?