The Athletics made several errors in their approach to mid-season roster reconstruction, opines SB Nation’s Grant Brisbee, but trading away Yoenis Cespedes was not one of them. Overvaluing Jeff Samardzija, failing to improve at second, and giving up Addison Russell were all front office mistakes, says Brisbee, though much of the team’s recent poor play can be chalked up to some combination of bad luck and injury.
- Samardzija said he expects to reach free agency in November of 2015, according to Bruce Levine of WSCR-AM (on Twitter). Though Oakland obviously attributed significant value to controlling him next year at a below-market salary, giving up Russell to do so, it is hardly surprising to hear that an extension is not in the works. Samardzija went on to say that he is open to both the Cubs and White Sox as a free agent and indicated that the city of Chicago is still a priority for him (link).
- The Astros’ coaching staff is in limbo thanks to their managerial opening, writes Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. Houston likes its current coaching staff and when figuring out who their next skipper will be, they’ll have to also decide how much they value the staff and whether it’s worth getting rid of coaches they like to accommodate a new manager.
- Diamondbacks chief baseball officer Tony La Russa has several avenues to pursue in his GM search, writes Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. Cardinals farm director Gary LaRocque and agent Dave Stewart have been heavily tied to the job and both have a history with La Russa. Meanwhile, if La Russa truly wants to “beef up” his analytics department, Yankees assistant GM Billy Eppler should garner strong consideration.
I am no fan of Samardzija, but I don’t necessarily blame Beane for buying high. When he traded for Shark and Hammel, it wasn’t a given that Price or Lester would even be available. Pitching was scarce so he upgraded when he had the chance. He just didn’t get the ace that he shouldn’t have thought he was getting.
Beane did get an ace in Lester (5th in WAR, 13 in SEIRA); and a very solid #2 in Shark (19th WAR, 16 in SEIRA). Just because the offense fell off doesn’t mean these guys aren’t pitching to expectations.
As for Price, who honestly thought he was getting dealt for that package?
The Price deal still surprises me. It’s MLB: The Show uneven.
Shark was never a no.2 a career era of nearly 4 with the Cubs, doesn’t translate to a no.2
His stuff in the AL is for a no.5 starter and he’s pitched exactly like one
No.5 Starter stuff???
With OAK he has a 7.1 SO/Walk ratio, a 3.6 FIP, a little under 7 innings a start, and a whip under 1. That is number 2 number 3 type numbers.
To be fair he cant be a #2 or a #4 for the matter while being used in the pen. From 08-11 Shark was used out of cubs pen or aaa and have a spot start here or there. So you should only go off his starting stats
Choking happens to a lot of good teams, can’t really put all the blame on Beane when his players don’t perform. Beane was aggressive with his trades and he wanted to win, this was the right move instead of doing nothing. I am pretty sure he tried upgrading at second, but didn’t find a deal to his liking.
I don’t think Brisbee was blaming Beane for the team’s inability to win at the level its performance would suggest of late. As usual with his writing, you have to know when he’s bringing the sarcasm. Point he’s making is that much of the actual, on-field downturn is essentially bad luck.
you’re probably right, but there was a lot of surprise and criticism of Beane when he traded his cleanup hitter. I don’t really read Brisbee all that much (to be honest), so…whenever you just casually look at something like that, it’s easy to take it seriously.
Not upgrading at 2nd base was a pretty big mistake. Upgrading the pitching was important though. Still no one would’ve thought Norris, Donaldson, and Moss would struggle like they did post all-star break.
Moss has been non existent.
They would have faded a whole lot faster if the Samardzija/Hammel trade hadn’t happened. Chavez, Milone and Pomeranz were very unlikely to keep up their first half performance all year. And even Gray and Kazmir have been looking fatigued lately (which the front office always knew was a possibility). It always hurts to give up a great prospect package, but those reinforcements were very necessary.
The same could be said for their offense. Why weren’t preventative measures taken there, as well?
Because good offense is much harder to find nowadays than pitching.
Ugh that’s going to make the Cubs trade look really bad if Russell pans out.
Their farm system isn’t that deep, and they already depleted it with the trades for their rotation.
It wasn’t as feasible. With the exception of the middle infield (where they did try to find help), there wasn’t a position where they could have found a clear upgrade. At least not among the hitters who were known to definitely be available.
And the Samardzija/Hammel trade wasn’t solely about upgrading. It was also about depth. Their rotation depth had been hanging by a thread ever since they lost Parker and Griffin.
I hope it comes out what infielders they went after and what teams wanted in return.
I’d love to know that as well. Jimmy Rollins was the only name that came out near the deadline. But I’m sure there were other conversations. I’d especially like to know how their talks with the Rays went. Supposedly they tried to get both Price and Zobrist initially, but then Zobrist went off the table for some reason, and after that was when their talks with the Cubs picked up steam.
If the Sox and Cubs offered the exact same years and money he’d choose the White Sox. He grew up a Sox fan and really like The Cell.
If the Sox want him, they can get him. As I had said before, he wants to pitch for the Sox. I have to believe that is his priority as it starts to get a little clearer now. A realistic offer of 5-$80 should get him in the silver and black and pitching in a ballpark he loves to pitch in. 2016 or maybe even next year the starting rotation can be Sale. Quintana, Samardjizija, Rodon and Danks. Nice and dominating.
By the way, I know he turned down more from the Cubs. There’s a reason for that.
Right. I’m sure Don Cooper could give him some solid guidance too. I expect him to throw a solid game tomorrow against the Sox unfortunately.
I’m a big Sox fan and it kills me to say this, but I hope he does throw a great game. I hope we lose a majority of our remaining games. I’m hoping for a top 5 pick in the draft next year.
I hope you do get him and that’s from a Cubs fan, he isn’t all that
Not having a offense not only trading Cespedes but Moss has become a pitcher with a bat. That is 2 middle of the order players. Combine that with I can’t catch Callaspo playing 2b it has been a disaster.
I hope Samardzija does go to the Sox, he never impressed me before and doubt he is a big game pitcher anyway, I would love to see him go to the Sox and be part of a rebuild and have him watch the Cubs (that he gave up on by refusing their offers) steadily rise to the top with all their stud players
What rebuild? We expect to contend with a few good moves. Our studs are here with more coming. Your “studs” that Shark won’t get to see, well let’s see, off the top of my head, three of them are at or below the Mendoza line. Alcantara, Baez and Alt. I wonder if he’ll miss watching Baez and Alt strikeout every other time up? Just a long long list of overrated prospects at least so far.
Soler, Hendricks, Wada have all excelled since being called up, prospects are a gamble we all know that, but lets hope Shark doesn’t come back to Chicago… for either team, none are all that great of a fit. Cubs will have 5 “control” pitchers and the Sox will have 5 lefties, should be fun.
Isn’t Wada around Dunn’s age? Mid thirties is not a prospect.
First, its Olt. Second, Rizzo was also under the Mendoza line during his first month in the majors. Lets wait for a much larger sample size before we make assumptions about whether a prospect is overrated or not, shall we?
The only big game I can remember Samardjizija pitching in a cub uniform was September of 2012. He won that game. Oh the pressure of trying to get your teams 60th win.
I don’t think Samardzija going 4-5 3.70 is much of an “overvaluing,” as he’s 35-47 3.94 lifetime. “Overpaying” for his mediocrity is the word.
the a’s were doing well before the trade. If it aint broke, dont fix it.
Trading away cespedes wasn’t a mistake but trading away russell who isn’t even in the majors was? Odd.
Cespedes was a x-factor in feared middle lineup bat-defense-club house chemistry as well. I don’t think pure stats can spell that out. Really doesn’t look like the As will even get a WC spot at this pace. Are they planning on trading Samardzija in the offseason to rebuild ?
Samardzija has been incredibly disappointing since arriving in Oakland. Not surprised, yet he’s still gets to go through arbitration process if the Athletics choose to do so, which might happen.
Beane will likely trade him to help rebuild the farm system.
If we look at the A’s record before and after trading Cespedes, we see how flawed the WAR theory is.
The A’s play in a stronger division this year. Better pitching in the division and the Astros are not an automatic win anymore. The performance of players in the first half was unsustainable. Mid season trades don’t solve all your problems.
Win win for Cubs if he comes back. Get Russell and only lose shark for 1 yr and a half when we wont compete anyway. He signs back in 2016 when we contend. He is at least a #2 starter who is a tough competitor
They are doing a great job there, no doubt about it.
If anything, I’d say Beane’s problem is he didn’t make enough moves.
And I was in favor of the Orioles doing nothing, but it’s not like Duquette would have been trading from his roster like Beane did. So assuming Oakland is worse off because they traded Cespedes, it’s hard to argue that to some extent the Orioles current club wouldn’t be better off to some extent by having Lester instead of Bud Norris going every 5th day.