Cespedes is being seriously overrated. Great power hitter, no doubt. But the A's have plenty of power without him with. Norris, Moss, and Donaldson, and even Jaso is slugging over .450


I think they're going with a Gomes/Fuld platoon in LF now? But what they miss in his power, they will gainwith much better OBP. Cespedes has been at about .300 these last two years, in other words, awful.

 

Cespedes was a big part of Oakland's offense. 

 

We'll see how "overrated" he was to them as time goes on without him. 

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Cespedes is being seriously overrated. Great power hitter, no doubt. But the A's have plenty of power without him with. Norris, Moss, and Donaldson, and even Jaso is slugging over .450


I think they're going with a Gomes/Fuld platoon in LF now? But what they miss in his power, they will gainwith much better OBP. Cespedes has been at about .300 these last two years, in other words, awful.

 

If Cespedes is so overrated, then why was he batting in the meat of the order for Oakland?

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If Cespedes is so overrated, then why was he batting in the meat of the order for Oakland?

Because he has power?


It's not hard to figure out what Oakland is doing here. Cespedes power is nice, especially with the lack of scoring in baseball now, but his .303 OBP means he is making a ton of outs. So he is only useful if he is mashing the ball. And I think he is 4th on the team in slugging, so they have other guys who can do that.


Gomes has a .400 OBP vs LHP this year and Fuld is .340ish vs RHP. They won't hit for the power that Cespedes will, but they will make less outs, get on base more, and give Donaldson and other more at bats in the process. Even Vogt has been a nice little pickup for them if they decide to play him in LF some.


They were going to likely trade Cespedes in the offseason anyway, so they decided to get an ace pitcher to front their rotation for the playoffs instead of maybe the prospects they would have gotten in the winter.

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I hope we get to see them face off in the ALCS.

I don't .

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BAL fan, do you really think you guys have the rotation to make a playoff push?

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Aww, thats nice. You found a playmate.

Call it what you'd like.

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TravC59, aka JacksJags. @TravC59 on Twitter
;
; "This is really good, you want a bite, Honey?"

More food for thought:


Verlander had 2 starts @ Oakland in the 2013 postseason.


Game 2:

8 Innings, 2 Hits, 0 Runs, 1 BB, 10 Strikeouts


Game 5:

7 Innings, 4 Hits, 0 Runs, 1 BB, 11 Strikeouts



Not bad for someone who will be our #4, at best, option this post-season.

Verlander is also not the same guy, at all. He's almost 1.5 worse in ERA over last year.

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TravC59, aka JacksJags. @TravC59 on Twitter
;
; "This is really good, you want a bite, Honey?"

BAL fan, do you really think you guys have the rotation to make a playoff push?

Obviously on paper it's the weakest starting rotation of the three AL division leaders, but you never know. Also, if Anaheim wins the wildcard, I believe that Oakland and Detroit would play in the wildcard round if the playoffs were to start today FWIW.

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Oakland wouldn't play Detroit if the season ended today. Detroit is the two seed. Why would the 1 seed play the 2 seed in the opening round of the playoffs?

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Oakland wouldn't play Detroit if the season ended today. Detroit is the two seed. Why would the 1 seed play the 2 seed in the opening round of the playoffs?

Baltimore is the 2 seed. We currently have a better record than Detroit. Also, there is a rule that prohibits team from the same division from playing in the Wildcard round so Oakland and Anaheim can't play in the wildcard round.

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Baltimore is the 2 seed. We currently have a better record than Detroit. Also, there is a rule that prohibits team from the same division from playing in the Wildcard round so Oakland and Anaheim can't play in the wildcard round.

 

Baltimore is 62-48 for a .564 winning percentage.

Detroit is 61-47 for a .565 winning percentage.

 

Detroit has a higher winning percentage and thus is considered to have a "better record".

 

http://www.mlbplayoffsbracket.com/2014/index.php

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Baltimore is 62-48 for a .564 winning percentage.

Detroit is 61-47 for a .565 winning percentage.


Detroit has a higher winning percentage and thus is considered to have a "better record".

<a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.mlbplayoffsbracket.com/2014/index.php'>http://www.mlbplayoffsbracket.com/2014/index.php</a>

My mistake. So Anaheim and Detroit would play.

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Man I hope McCutchen's injury today is minor.

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TravC59, aka JacksJags. @TravC59 on Twitter
;
; "This is really good, you want a bite, Honey?"

Oh, and that "Unwritten rule" of having to retaliate by throwing back at another player is absolutely stupid.

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TravC59, aka JacksJags. @TravC59 on Twitter
;
; "This is really good, you want a bite, Honey?"

As much as I hate it, I find it kind of ironic that you can throw 95mph at someone in baseball and not get fined but a LB gets fined $25,000 for hitting a WR coming across the middle. 

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As much as I hate it, I find it kind of ironic that you can throw 95mph at someone in baseball and not get fined but a LB gets fined $25,000 for hitting a WR coming across the middle. 

The fine is worse for hitting a QB then it is for hitting your wife....

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TravC59, aka JacksJags. @TravC59 on Twitter
;
; "This is really good, you want a bite, Honey?"

The fine is worse for hitting a QB then it is for hitting your wife....

 

disgusting but true

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disgusting but true

And really I should have said penalty, not fine.

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TravC59, aka JacksJags. @TravC59 on Twitter
;
; "This is really good, you want a bite, Honey?"

Baltimore is 62-48 for a .564 winning percentage.

Detroit is 61-47 for a .565 winning percentage.


Detroit has a higher winning percentage and thus is considered to have a "better record".

<a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.mlbplayoffsbracket.com/2014/index.php'>http://www.mlbplayoffsbracket.com/2014/index.php</a>


Maybe I was just looking into the future. Seriously though, big series for the O's starting tonight in Toronto.

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Man I hope McCutchen's injury today is minor.

 

3 weeks at the very least.

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If something can corrupt you, you're corrupted already.
- Bob Marley