a700hitter

They are players. Organizations that are only concerned with the development of their top prospects are not doing the best by their organizations. Players mature and develop at different rates. Guys who were not blue chippers at the beginning can overtake the blue chippers. Good scouts can spot the kids with that potential, but the organization needs to develop them.

Mike Leake to the Giants

Y i am referring to overall pitching performance. Team pitching needs to pitch to an ERA under 4. Royals pitching is under that mark. They are doing it with a lights out bullpen. They are an anomaly. The only thing the split shows me is that their pitching strength will not be sustainable year over year unless they get some good starters, because it is very difficult for a bullpen to produce these excellent results with any consistency. The Royals approach is not a strategy for consistent success which is why they are making bold moves to go for it all this year picking up Cueto for the stretch run. They know that August can wear down bullpens and that their starter will have to be putting up more quality starts.

One good starter that won 3 games in the World Series. They clearly had a stud number 1 and the rest may not have been #1's but they didn't have four #5s. You are moving the goal posts. No one has said that we need a mythic level of pitching. What you can't have is a pitching staff with a 4+ ERA. That would not compete. That is the best that our collection of 4s and 5s could have been expected to produce. They did far worse, but this group had no chance of being good enough even if they didn't underperforming. If your pitching is 4+ ERA it is unlikely that you will compete.

I can call them only if they are going to happen. . . sometimes. I wish I could make it happen. Lol!

Called it.

On the other hand, it is not too early to write Napoli's obit.

And people are always quick to write his obit

The FO was seduced by "clutch" Panda.

Another big move by the Astros Astros Acquire Carlos Gomez, Mike Fiers For Four Prospects By Steve Adams [July 30, 2015 at 6:48pm CDT] 6:48pm: The Astros and Brewers have announced the trade. Milwaukee will also send an international bonus slot to the Astros as part of the deal. 6:42pm: The Brewers will receive outfield prospects Brett Phillips and Domingo Santana, right-hander Adrian Houser and lefty Josh Hader, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). Heyman adds that the medicals in this deal have already been approved, so Gomez’s hip is clearly not a concern for the Astros. 6:38pm: Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports that there will be “four or five” prospects heading back to the Brewers in the deal (Twitter link). 6:32pm: The Astros and Brewers are in agreement on a trade that will send center fielder Carlos Gomez and right-hander Mike Fiers to Houston, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (via Twitter). Gomez, of course, was believed to be headed back to the Mets last night in a swap that would’ve sent Zack Wheeler and Wilmer Flores to the Brewers, but the trade fell through after names were agreed upon due to a combination of medical concerns pertaining to his hip and perhaps financial elements as well. Adding Gomez to the outfield mix should result in a significant improvement for the Astros over the remainder of the season. Despite hamstring issues that cost him three weeks earlier in the year, Gomez’s defense remains above average, and if he’s 100 percent healthy, he has a track record as one of the best defensive outfielders in baseball. Plus defense has long been part of Gomez’s game due to his excellent range, but Gomez over the past three-plus seasons has turned himself into a genuine offensive weapon at the plate as well. Dating back to Opening Day 2012, Gomez is a .275/.335/.474 hitter that has averaged 24 homers and 38 stolen bases per 162 games played. Wins above replacement pegs Gomez at an average of five to five-and-a-half wins per year in that time, depending on your preferred version of the metric. In addition to his strong all-around game, though, Gomez made for an appealing trade candidate due to his contractual situation. He’s the rare Scott Boras client that took an extension as opposed to waiting for free agency, and while he should still secure a $100MM+ contract with ease following the 2016 season, he’s currently in the midst of a three-year, $24MM pact that has worked out beautifully for the Brewers. Gomez is earning $8MM in 2015 — of which about $3.02MM remains — and he’ll earn $9MM in 2016. Provided he remains healthy, the Astros will pay about $12MM for as many as 221 games of Gomez’s career.

Hopefully there will be a few rain delays causing a shortened outing by Sale/

that just doesn't make sense. A good process doesn't get abandoned because of some bad results.

Pirates acquire Soria.

if the strategy was a good strategy and not flawed, why should they try something else?

Two consecutive seasons of going almost wire to wire in last place is no fun at all. It's not even August and we have not had a meaningful game in a while. Thank you Ben. I can't remember a stretch this bad.

And I am sure that no one will claim him again and he will be assigned to Pawtucket.

That is eye-opening. And somehow they convinced themselves in the FO that our moves were "value acquistions". Yes, they were a good value for the players. LOL!!

This is a reverse lock matchup. Go Red Sox!

This could push the Yankees into the trade market.

When someone is insulting you, they should try to get the facts straight before they hurl the insult. LOL!! I love it when that happens. Intelligence issues.

Norris is not very good, regardless of his ranking. He has had struggles at AAA this season and in his MLB stint he has had a lot of trouble throwing strikes.

The Blue Jays are said to be closing in on a deal for David Price. Tulo and Price -- those are a couple of high quality adds.

The resistance to admitting that the strategy was flawed and the excution was even worse puzzles me. If that is the stance, do those people expect that Porcello's performance will regress and he will be a top of the rotation pitcher. If the organization places that kind of faith in him, making him the #2 again next season, they will be tossing away another baseball season.

He did get an awkward hug from the owners after he traded him.

We will have to disagree on this point. I was aware of the arguments and stats at the time of the acquisitions, but I found them to be weak and tenous support at best. I never believed that this chance had a good probability to succeed, not even as a mediocrity.