Alex Anthopoulos on FAN 590 at 8:20 EST this morning

[GNick]

It's a mystery. Presumably you've never played the game professionally... though maybe you did in College or something I don't know.

 

You are able to do a... what... 30 minute research project on knuckleballers using publically available information... I suspect you used the internet and bbref, or a similiar sight. Maybe it took you only 5 minutes... or maybe 2 hours. I don't know for sure... closer to 5 minutes I guess.

 

Now imagine you are a major league GM. Presumably you have, or atleast could ask for some interns and/or underlings who could do a 2 week project and research this and get you incredible information. Presumably you also have access to propreitary info/health reports/inside info.

 

So why does AA make the wrong decision??

 

1. He isn't using anything advanced and his opinion is greatly influenced by a small inner circle, a couple of who played the game and remember how frustrating a knuckleball was to hit.

 

2. He does have an incredible amount of data but it amounts to fitting noise. The knuckle ball research can be done in 20 minutes. Anything more is fitting noise.

 

3. AA is a genius afterall but has been taken down by incredible bad luck... but if even a genius can be brought down by bad luck what good is genius??

 

I suspect it's a combination of 1 and 2 and 3.

 

Take the Noah Syndegard component of the trade... they probably had a boatload of information and "predicted" a ceiling on him... (ofcourse Noah still might not be anything).... but their prediction on Noah was wrong because nobody can predict the future of baseball players that well... nobody could ever predict if Noah or Aaron Sanchez would be better... but AA thinks he can. Geniuses can be brought down by bad luck because they are overconfident in their prediction skills.

 

Guys like Friedman just collect young players. They don't know exactly which ones will be good... just collect enough so the luck evens out.

 

I've read about knuckleballers being erratic since days of Jim Bouton. Wasn't no research to it, heard piece on Wakefield watching a Red Sox game couple of years ago.

 

Anthopoulos did a lot right early on...but takes another skill to build team into a contender. Different than moving contracts. Which he did reasonably well ie. Wells trade. JP Riccardi did same thing...first 2-3 years looked like a genius. Dumping the Mondesi, Gonzalez contracts. Hinske rookie of the year, etc... As time wore on though it became apparent he couldn't take team to next level.

[Howard Roark]

Why would he at this point? He went all in, all he should care about now is contending by next season, because anything short of that will cost him his job. Not that I agree with this, but what most of us would like to see and what he will actually do are probably worlds apart at this point.

 

Bingo. He's in job-saving mode now, to hell with what's best for the club in the medium-to-long term. Man, wtf HAPPENED to this guy? A complete 180 turn in terms of philosophy over the past 12-18 months. He's become the new Bryan Colangelo.

[Jimcanuck]

Bingo. He's in job-saving mode now, to hell with what's best for the club in the medium-to-long term. Man, wtf HAPPENED to this guy?

 

He got schooled by the Florida Marlins and the New York Mets

[Boxcar]

It was speculated on the Effectively Wild Podcast (a while ago) that it was the result of a scout evaluation program AA has implemented. AA has said in that past that he'd like to have a way to evaluate his scouts and perhaps replace the bad ones, this could be that in action. Hasn't been at all confirmed though.

 

Seems like a lot of work when he could get results 100x more accurate by using statistical analysis instead of the archaic grading system.

[DH12]

Why would he at this point? He went all in, all he should care about now is contending by next season, because anything short of that will cost him his job. Not that I agree with this, but what most of us would like to see and what he will actually do are probably worlds apart at this point.

 

It's always next season with the Jays. They will never get there

[ElNik2013]

I don't know why people get excited about what any GM says to the media when it comes to trade rumors, it's all posturing.

 

I do think Beeston is running the team for the most part which is a big reason why they went retard last offseason, it probably fits his retirement schedule.

 

At the end of the day, there have to be moves or they'll lose players for nothing, but Beeston may be willing to do that (see Escobar), instead of looking like they're giving up on the season.

[G-Snarls]

This is why I believe there will be moves, he can't just try to sneak guys through waivers or DFA a bunch of farmhand assets.

 

Right. He will be forced to make trades. Bullpen arms for good prospects with minor league options hopefully.

[G-Snarls]

Save the waiver claims for organization filler

 

In this interview he fully admitted that he cares about fielding a competitive AAA team. He acknowledged that some of his waiver claims were done purely to improve the Bisons.

[ElNik2013]

Save the waiver claims for organization filler

 

In this interview he fully admitted that he cares about fielding a competitive AAA team. He acknowledged that some of his waiver claims were done purely to improve the Bisons.

 

 

Funny some of us took flak for suggesting this was going on. Anyway, at least he knows how to build a championship team...too bad it's in Vancouver.