OK, I'm being sarcastic here, but lets focus on what is going on here. The Cubs have added a new wrinkle to the Epstein myth. Right now they are dumping salary like mad in hopes of acquiring enough international monopoly money credits to avoid substantial penalties they might incur as a result of signing a bunch of sixteen year old kids from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
I'm sure these kids project to be awesome prospects and all, but this is rather taking building for the future to a whole new level. Here is a link to a good summary of the Cubs activity as well as the rules of the game.
I was reflecting a bit the other day while listening to some sports radio talk in the car. A lot of people have a fundamental misunderstanding of the so-called moneyball strategy, especially as it applies to teams like the Cubs. Moneyball was really a system devised by Billy Beane to build competitive teams in a small market within a limited budget.
The system takes advantage of market aberrations, some of which no longer exist to the extent they did in the earlier years of the decade simply because other teams have figured out the same imbalances as well. The whole scheme is based on being able to develop a steady stream of young talent through your minor league system, develop and exploit their talent to the point they become too expensive to retain, then swap them off for similar pieces who are nearly ready to take their places.
The relevance of this setup to a major market team like the Cubs with lots of money and very little marketable talent escapes me. If anything, Epstein and Hoyer are building an organization that may, in the future, be able to implement a system similar to moneyball. Bear in mind, of course, that the system itself is entirely irrelevant to their own situation. If that is the case, Cubs fans are in for some really lean years.
Anyway, in the version of the big leagues that inhabits the friendly confines, the Cubs have suffered two more losses. In the final game at Oakland, they lost a heart-breaker 1-0. Wood pitched a shutout through six innings, only to have Guerrier throw it away in his first outing as a Cub.
Castro was thrown out at home plate on a play on which virtually any runner at second would have scored easily. There is a bit of controversy about whether Castro took the right route or ran hard or got a late jump. Most of the defensive statements are just fluff. If you watch the video replay from the Oakland announcers, you know that from right off they recognized Castro was just jogging. You cannot see what kind of lead or jump he got, but he is a good ten feet from third base when Cespedes closes on the ball.
Yesterday, Castro was caught napping and picked off second base. Didn't matter to the result, but there is definitely something wrong with this kid. He is just not paying attention to the game most of the time. Maybe this is another indication of how hard it is to develop players on a team that is designed to lose or maybe it just means Castro is just not the player or the personality people think he has the potential to become.
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