2017 may go down as the year of triumph of the austerity ideology in sports. Not only did the Astros break through and shockingly satisfy Sports Illustrated’s once-ridiculed (by yours truly among others) prophecy to win the World Series a mere half-decade after entering one of the boldest tanking projects in sports history; Basketball’s Philadelphia 76ers have also […]
Tag: The Process
GMs and Rebuilding Time
What is a successful rebuilding effort by an MLB club? This question is worth asking in light of the recent Championships by the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs, both clubs that scorched the earth in order to return to glory in a fully remade club format. In both cases, new front office management teams spearheaded […]
Processes and Gamesmanship
This weekend, I went on Baseball Prospectus’ Effectively Wild podcast and took part in their Brewers preview episode. I came to some pretty pessimistic conclusions about the Brewers future. I don’t see them contending in the next three years, and I don’t see a clear path to that point. It’s obvious what the Brewers need to […]
Of Course Teams Are Going To Copy The Royals
Jerry Crasnick posted an article at ESPN on Friday suggesting that teams won’t be copying the Royals‘ free-swinging, contact-oriented team constructed around solid defense and a strong bullpen, rather than around middle-of-the-order sluggers and ace-level starting pitchers. There’s a perfectly good reason for that: most teams don’t play in cavernous parks like Kauffman Stadium that encourage contact […]
Top Brewers Storylines of 2015: Resurrection of the Farm System
On Monday, my colleague Jack Moore covered the departure of Doug Melvin, one of the bigger developments to emerge from this year. While Melvin certainly had his strengths as General Manager, his failures ultimately outweighed his successes — and chief among the former was, as Moore cited, Melvin’s utter inability to construct a respectable minor […]
Stearns Shows His Houston Roots In Trading Adam Lind
On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Brewers traded Adam Lind to Seattle for a trio of teenage pitchers who have yet to pitch in full-season ball in the minors and are not ranked in the Mariners’ top-30 prospects by MLB.com. It’s the sort of deal that elicits sighs and groans from the Milwaukee faithful, rather than fist […]