Moneyball II

[mmarra82]

Great read, I myself became excited to control the A's after watching Moneyball. I'm currently in 2016. Won the series in 2013 and 2015. Using scout ratings of 1-5, trading set is hard, difficulty low.

It's a lot of fun.

[Hendu Style]

April 27th, 2023

Reeling A's Trade for Reliever

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Mired in a five-game losing skid, the San Jose A's acquired reliever Conrad Perkins from the Houston Astros in a multi-player trade on Thursday. In the swap, the A's send catcher Jorge Alfaro, reliever Jotaro Kaneko, and minor league prospects Morgan Lowe and Jorge Diaz to Houston.


"We just had enough of losing late leads," said A's general manager Billy Beane. "In each of the last five games, we've had a chance to win, and in each game, we've blown it."


The A's skid began against the Astros on April 23rd, when a 6-5 deficit turned into a 9-5 loss in the top of the 9th. The following night, closer Lou Barnes surrendered a walk-off homerun to pinch-hitter Dave Chir in a 3-2 defeat at Texas. On Tuesday night, the Rangers put together a 6-run eighth inning to defeat the A's, 12-9. On Thursday, Barnes blew a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the 9th, surrendering a game-winning grand slam to Jeremy Graham in a crushing 5-4 loss. The misery continued on Thursday when the San Jose bullpen allowed nine 7th inning runs that turned a 4-2 lead into an 11-4 defeat. The A's bullpen ranks last in the AL with a 6.13 ERA, and it's no coincidence San Jose is 4.5 games out of first place with a record of 10-13.


"We're not pushing the panic button, but we're addressing an issue," said Beane, who gave up a reigning Gold Glove catcher (Alfaro) and the team's 2021 first round draft pick (Lowe) as part of the swap. "Alfaro deserves a chance to start somewhere else, and we have a window right now to win a championship."


Alfaro had lost his starting catcher role to John Ellison, who, like Alfaro, was a Rule 5 draft pick. Ellison has hit .347 in 72 at-bats this season, but has struggled defensively behind the plate. He will now platoon with star prospect Terry Coleman, who will be promoted from AAA Sacramento.

[Hendu Style]

Just a little look at Cisco Field on a beautiful Tuesday evening in San Jose...

[Hendu Style]

The 2023 regular season is in the books, and despite some injuries down the stretch, we won the AL West running away with 108 wins. Of course, we won 110 games the year prior and failed to win the World Series, so let's not get carried away.


As far as the competition is concerned, it's hard not to be impressed with the Minnesota Twins. They held off Cleveland in a very competitive AL Central, and have a lethal rotation. If not for a season-ending injury to Stephen Strasburg, this would be a hell of a quartet. Instead, they'll have a three-man rotation in the ALDS that will be hard to get past:


#1 Oscar "Barrell" Williams - A disappointing 11-16, 3.80 ERA this season, but put up magnificent seasons in the 3 years prior (2020: 19-3, 2.73 ERA, 205 K; 2021: 19-8, 2.08 ERA, 247 K; 2022: 14-10, 2.61 ERA, 248 K)
#2 George Warren - MLB-best 20 wins this season. He's won 18 or more games in each of the last 4 seasons, never striking out fewer than 239 hitters in that span. That's a hell of a #2 pitcher.
#3 Phil Markel - 15-7, 3.02 ERA in 32 starts. Just a few years ago, he was a consistent Cy Young contender (19-8, 3.06 ERA in 2018; 19-5, 2.79 ERA in 2019).


I'm counting my lucky stars we won't have to play them in the ALDS, and will be rooting for the Blue Jays like no other in their playoff series.


In the National League, it's another homerun crown for Jose Medellin, though his Brewers failed to make it to the postseason this year after going to the World Series in 2022. My money is on the Mets to win the NLCS. They're going to have to run the gauntlet as a Wildcard, but New York has an exceptional ace in Jake Brentz (17-7, 2.82 ERA, 250 K) and a solid 2-3 with Jesus Berrios (11-14, 3.20 ERA) and Brett Marshall (10-14, 3.15 ERA). And let's not forget about Jim Weeks (.260, 32 HR), who came over in a midseason trade with Arizona.


Speaking of Arizona... that offseason trade we made with the Diamondbacks for their pitching prospect, Gio Piontelli? The D'backs got a run of horribly bad luck in that deal:


Cliff Jensen - 1-7, 7.18 ERA in 10 starts before undergoing Tommy John Surgery.
Alex Meyer - 5-10, 4.41 ERA before tearing his labrum... out for the next 9-10 months.


BA Vollmuth hit a respectable .270 with 23 homers in the final year of his contract. Calvin Carter was solid as a reliever/starter with a 3.87 ERA in 116.1 innings. And Tony Blanford is playing himself right out of a big league job, posting a 5.46 ERA in 72 appearances.


As for the guy we got in that deal... Gio was just 3-12 with a 4.72 ERA after being promoted to Triple-A Sacramento mid-season. He will absolutely compete for a spot in our starting rotation next year, and will be a lock if he can improve his control.


But the focus right now is on the postseason. Our rookie catcher Terry Coleman has a strained hammy and may not even appear in the playoffs. If we're fortunate enough to make it past the ALDS, Octavio Hernandez should be back from a bruised wrist and roaming centerfield for us. Same goes for our second baseman, Michael Pryor, who was hit in the knee with a pitch in his final appearance of the regular season. If we can scrape together 3 wins against either Cleveland or Tampa Bay in the ALDS, we'll be in great shape for another deep playoff run.


Go A's.

[Hendu Style]

October 10th, 2023

Billy Beane Diary

In my years as a player, scout, and GM, I've never seen a day quite like this. We're down 2-1 in the best-of-5 ALDS, but feeling really good after Corey Seager hit a 2-run jack in the 2nd inning to give us a 2-0 lead. We've got our ace on the hill, so we're already thinking about a winner-take-all Game 5 back home in San Jose. Then it happened.

Roderick Fleming led off the bottom of the third with a solo homerun off of Julian Riverva. Okay, no big deal. We're still good. But then, on a 1-2 pitch, Riverva plunks Will Craig with a pitch... and Craig just goes ape----. He charges the mound! Both benches clear. Craig is ejected, which is a no-brainer. But then Riverva gets the heave-ho too. In the words of longtime A's announcer Ray Fosse, "Unbelievable."

Why on earth would Riverva want to hit a guy on purpose with a 1-2 count, with a 2-1 lead, in a do-or-die playoff game? It's simply unfathomable. Needless to say, the wheels came off from there. Coming in ice cold from the pen, Luke Bard walked Andrew Toles on five pitches. John Ballard hit a 2-run triple, and later scored on an RBI groundout. Just like that, our 2-0 lead had turned into a 4-2 deficit. We lost 7-4, and with that, the series, 3 games to 1.

When the wounds heal, I'll look back at this season and know that we put together a hell of a squad. We had six hitters in our lineup bat .300 or better. We had two 30-homerun hitters. Two 100 RBI men. Three guys with 36 or more steals. Though we ranked 10th out of 15 AL teams in homeruns, we lead the league in runs scored.

Our bullpen, which had faltered early on, had the best ERA in all of baseball, led by a 40-save reliever with a 1.17 ERA. Four of our starting pitchers had between 15 and 17 wins. We also had four starters with at least 200 strikeouts. We are a team without a clear weakness. Yet, we still failed to win a championship, and didn't even reach the ALCS this time around.

I'll try not to panic and make a trade or signing to push us over the top. But it won't be easy to avoid that temptation. We're on the verge of a new TV deal, and we could see an influx of up to $100 million in our budget next season. My goals will remain the same. Sign our talent to extensions and keep them in San Jose. Those I deem expendable or overvalued will be traded for young talent. The cycle continues. Let's just hope it gets us another ring, sooner rather than later.

[Carlton]

Will Craig is a genius in the mold of Tyrus Cobb, over react and charge the mound in order to get the best pitcher out of the game and a not warmed up enough reliever in there

[Hendu Style]

November 3rd, 2023

Billy Beane Diary


Talk about a tough decision. We've had two incredible hitters splitting time between first base and DH for us the past few years, and the time has come for us to part ways with one of these guys. Both Chauncey Jordan and Josh Sterling bring similar attributes and stats to the plate. But both are going to be very costly very soon for us, so we have to make a move. Here's a quick comparison.


Josh Sterling in 3 seasons:
2021: .309, 41 HR, 116 RBI
2022: .317, 36 HR, 116 RBI
2023: .268, 30 HR, 96 RBI


Chauncey Jordan in 4 full seasons:
2020: .341, 35 HR, 116 RBI
2021: .278, 29 HR, 103 RBI
2022: .316, 32 HR, 107 RBI
2023: .321, 36 HR, 120 RBI


Of course, Jordan is coming off the better season. But Sterling is the better defensive first baseman. Both are left-handed. Chauncey just turned 28. Sterling is less than a year younger. You could flip a coin and have an easier time trying to decide between the two.


The deciding factor, unfortunately for Chauncey, is going to be the thing that always seems to sort things out for the A's: money. Jordan is asking for an extension of roughly $14.5 million per season. Sterling's demand of $8.5 million a year is much, much lower. Though money is not necessarily a concern right now, I'd hate to spend almost $15 mil a year on a guy when we could've spent about half that on a nearly identical player. My mind is made up. With arbitration hearings just a week away, I have to make my move. Chauncey Jordan has likely played his last game in San Jose.






Update:

Two days later, Sterling agreed to a 6-year, $43.4 million extension that will pay him $7.24 million per season. Soon thereafter, Jordan is packaged with starting pitcher Dedgar Jimenez (12-10, 4.76 ERA, 214 K in 2023), utility infielder Gustavo Gonzalez (.256, 14 HR), and minor league pitchers Leland Connol and Julio Cortez to Cincinnati. In return, the A's get two minor league pitchers (Corey Hawkins, Steve Underwood) and $10 million in cash.

[Hendu Style]

February 8th, 2024

TV Deal Doesn't Change A's Strategy

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- There was a time not so long ago that the A's would gladly spend money to draw some of Major League Baseball's most expensive free agents to the Bay Area. They had their dalliances with the likes of Bryce Harper, Justin Upton, and Stephen Strasburg. And now that the A's have come to terms with upstart sports provider "SWX" on a lucrative television rights deal, it's only natural to think the money would be burning a hole in Billy Beane's pocket.


You would be wrong.


In an free agent feeding frenzy that saw the Yankees sign starting pitcher Vince Washington to $38 million per season and third baseman Hector Veloz to $36.5 million per, the A's took the road less traveled. Their one significant free agent acquisition was DJ Peterson, who signed for a relatively paltry $8.1 million salary for two years as a platoon first baseman. That's it.


There were reports that the A's brass met with Veloz's representation team, but were scared off by the gargantuan salary he was demanding and eventually received. They also explored a deal with closer George Francis, but refused to budge above $10 million per season. The 4-time all-star would eventually sign with the Mets for a hair under $15 million.


"The A's have kind of stolen a page out of the San Francisco Giants playbook," says one AL executive. "The Giants have always stayed away from free agents, but rewarded their own players with big extensions."


The point is a valid one. In recent years, Sancho Fajardo (7 years, $107 million), Michael Pryor (6 years, $77 million), Julian Riverva (5 years, $47.5 million), and Josh Sterling (6 years, $43 million) have all inked long-term extensions to avoid arbitration and free agency to stay in San Jose. And while the team is reportedly $50 million under budget for each of the next three seasons, Beane refuses to spend that money on one or two marquee players, instead keeping that flexibility to eventually sign other home-grown players to extensions.


"You look at that team, and they've got all sorts of young guys who could command huge salaries on the open market," says the executive. "You've got to think the A's are going to keep spending money to make sure their players don't see free agency until they're in their 30's."


Such players include infielder Manny Colon, Jason Dallimore, Tommy Alford, and Ken Taylor. All are earning the league minimum but will soon enter their arbitration years. The A's have made a habit of signing players to extensions after their first or second arbitration year.


Remarkably, the A's do not have one player currently ranked in the top-25 in salary for the upcoming 2024 season. The closest is Corey Seager, whose $19.4 million is a relative bargain considering the .315/26 HR/106 RBI season he put together in his first full season with the A's.


At some point, the A's will inevitably spend a truckload of money on a free agent. They have too much money coming in from SWX not to spend millions. But for the moment, there's one less big spender on the free agent market, and that's good for business in San Jose.