Perplexity

My plan A going into today’s draft: Main Goal: Get John Jaso. Then get Aledmys Diaz or Trevor Story.  Then get a pitcher (maybe Stripling? Snell?). End up with the most money left.

Plan B:  Tyler White (or Story) and Brett Nicholas; maybe add either Diaz or Snell/Stripling. End up with the most money left.

What I did: Rich Hill, Nicholas, Dae Ho Lee.  Ended up with the most money left.

So — what good does it do to make a plan if I have no one I can trust to carry it out?

Haviland: W, 4 – (-2). (.257, .366, .429; 10 ip, 0 er). Juan Nicasio pitched 7 shutout innings, and a swarm of relievers kept anyone from reaching base. Matt Joyce homered in his only at bat (OPS: 5.000!) and everyone else built on that good start.  That’s the Dragon formula for success: a bunch of good core performances and a swarm of good-to-great supporting roles, and never a hint of mercy.

Canberra: W, 7 – 1. (.289, 357, .500; 6.7 ip, 0 er).  I don’t want to jinx anyone, least of all the Kangaroos, but this is really heartwarming:  the Kangaroos can stay with the Dragons. Canberra outhit Haviland, and almost matched their pitching.  They’ve been doing this steadily for quite a while now.  I don’t see any reason to think they can’t keep up. Can we look forward to a season-long battle between these two teams?

Old Detroit: L, 1 – 8.  (.188, .257, .250; 10 ip, 8 er).  I think I can explain how the Wolverines lost track of their carefully-laid plans:   Haviland’s Chiefest of Calamities was complaining this morning, at 7:15, that there was no update out for today.  He admitted his interest wasn’t a scientist’s interest in baseball phenomena, nor the historian’s interest in the record of events, nor even a mathematician’s aesthetic interest in the order and beauty of numbers.  He wanted to see the standings because he wanted to rejoice in the Wolverines’ sufferings.  How Dragonish. And how aggravating to have to gratify him: Mike Broadway surrendered 6 runs in 3 innings Friday night.  Saturday morning the Wolverines found a small measure of satisfaction: Broadway got his pink slip, with emphasis. Dragons do not have a monopoly on atavism.

Portland: W, 2 – 1. (.205, .244, .359; 8.3 ip, 0 er).  Three of the four top teams got shutouts from their pitchers. Adam Conley did his 7.7 innings without even allowing a hit. Must be nice to know the secret of good pitching; it eludes the Wolverines.  One the other hand, six Rosebuds went hitless… so I guess you could say Portland gave back to the community. Or, I don’t know,  maybe it was Michael Broadway who was giving back to the community.

Pittsburgh: W, 4 – 2; (.258, .273, .548; 13.7 ip 4 ip).  The Alleghenys are in my head. Everywhere I look I see their handiwork. Trout. Altuve. Blair/Inciarte/Swansby. I still had a chance to implement a semblance of plan B when I put Aledmys Diaz up for bid. The A’s bid against me implacably.  I was in torments. I knew if I got Diaz his offensive prowess would disappear like a mirage.  For mirage it surely is — look at his minor league record! His .410 BABIP!  But I also knew, as a certainty, that if I let Diaz go to Pittsburgh, he’d just be the next in the line of superstars I’ve handed to the Alleghenys. Schroedinger’s cat is neither dead nor alive until the box is opened — you can’t know until you open the box, so you can’t supply a value for the cat’s life.  Weinert’s draft pick is kind of like that, with one crucial difference: I already know whether Aledmys Diaz will be great.  By not opening the box I made him so.

Peshastin: W, 9 – 1. (.333, .389, .667; 7.7 ip, 1 er).  Ok, so he let in a run, but Alex Wood’s ERA was still only 1.29 for his 7 innings – and his FIP was only 1.13.  He struck out 9, allowed the one hit and one walk.  With that solid hitting (led by Seth Smith’s homer and two walks in 4 trips to the plate), the Pears had the best day in the league.  Why have the Pears suffered so badly until now? They grabbed Story, Stripling, and Blake Wood today — they accomplished Wolverine goals better than the W’s did. Is this the pivot point for the Pears’ season?

Flint Hill: L, 5 – 10.  (.261, .320, .522; 5 ip, 7 er.) The Tornados ripped Jaso from my grasp.  So violent! And unnecessary! The Tornados already have a hitting-first catcher who plays other positions: Evan Gattis.  Gattis led the Flint Hill offense last night with a homer and a single in 4 AB.  Maybe they wanted Jaso for his 1b skills — but they already traded for Wil Myers, who is having a good April (.804 OPS). Maybe the Tornado will repent of this wanton, senseless violence… but, I don’t know, they’re Tornados. 

Cottage: ”W”, 3 – 4. (.200, .273, .333; 11 ip, 6 er).  We’re down amongst the mortals now — no pitchers filleting all their hitters. Two for four with a homer is a BIG day (for Matt Adams, this time).  Today’s draft wasn’t entirely easy to understand.  Why did Cottage have to spend $5,500,000 to get Nomar Mazara, but only $500,000 to get Mallex Smith?  Is Mazara 11 times more valuable than Mallex?  Especially for the balance of this year?  It’s hard to imagine, but we’ll see.

Kaline: “L”, 10 – 8. (.323, .417, .806 — Happy Edgar Martinez Day! 1.3 ip, 2 er)   I didn’t think my competition for Tyler White would come from Kaline.  I see it now in retrospect — Drive first-basemen have underperformed.  But I was flummoxed at the draft. I felt again for a moment that sense of free-falling despair I had last year when the Wizard yanked away my Upton for prospects trade by bidding on Jace Peterson. He yanked White away this year. Will this keep happening?

DC: L, 3 – 4. (.269, .296, .423;  9.7 ip, 2 er). Henry Owens turned in a nice start (6 ip, 2 er) and four relievers swarmed over the rest of the day, keeping any more runs off the board.  This is the model for Balk success: a good core performance and a swarm of pests in supporting roles.