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Wednesday, July 23, 2008
You thought DePodesta was delusional?
Houston picked up Randy Wolf (a bad pitcher) for a minor league prospect in a bid to “try and save their season.”
Colorado’s skipper, with his team 6 games out of first place, stated, “We’re not out of it yet.” Or something like that. And that is why they are not “sellers” at this point in time.
The problem with both of those teams, of course, is not so much that they are pretty far (actually one is VERY far) behind in the standings, but they are both bad teams that are pretty far behind in the standings. There is a HUGE difference between the Yankees or the Tigers being a few games back, as compared to teams like Houston, Baltimore, Colorado or Texas.
Heck, SF is only 8.5 games back, but they have exactly ZERO chance of making the post because they are a terrible team who are 8.5 games back. In fact, if they were 1 game in front, they would still have only a tiny chance of making the post.
Anyway, according to my daily “playoff tracker,” the Stros have a 1 in a thousand chance of making the post-season. Yes, that is one in a thousand, not one in a hundred or one in ten. IOW, they have NO chance of making the post.
Now, there is nothing wrong with acquiring a pitcher who makes around 2 mil for the rest of the season (I guess) and maybe adding a half win or so to your expected win percentage. But, if you seriously made that trade in an attempt to try and make the post-season, you are a stupid GM in many ways. One, you have ZERO chance of making the post with or without Wolf. Two, regardless of your chances, acquiring Wolf, a bad but not terrible pitcher, makes almost no difference whatsoever.
COL, who is presently 7 games behind, has a 1.3 in a hundred chance of making the post, practically a lock compared to Houston. I’ll give them a pass though, as Hurdle may just be “talking up” his team, which he is supposed to do in all fairness to them, their fans, and their opponents.
Houston is in last place, 12 games out, and has a really bad team. I would love to have heard the conversation in the front office that initiated that trade.