2015.01 - Buffalo Sauce - Jealous Much?

[mrbornac]

I am tiring of people ragging on me for not adding pieces in the offseason year after year. Again, what would you have me do, make my team older and more expensive as my young kids are about to come either into or out of arbitration? I have a star player asking for 23mil plus a year in his 30's, again, prudance at keeping my salary reasonable is something that should be learned from, not shunned and used as an expectation of failure. When I have a foundation of players in their mid 20's, why abandon the plan? People say I should have spent money on pitching. Look at my rotation, and think that with the exception of Eccles, who would have made sense to add?
I do have one more ace in the hole that gives me confidence that while more pitching is always nice, it's not 100% mandatory.

Again, this team could fall by the wayside way faster then it was built. I know that. But if it can live up to it's potential, I will be pleased.

Looking at this season, we hope to build on the late season success we had, moving from a 1st half team that was basically .500 to a second half team that was as good as any in baseball. We know that this race will be a marathon, and not a sprint. Can our pitching provide the steady success to couple with a dangerous offense? Will the latest change made to the team (dealing away Jeff Wachoski, Jr.) be too much for this offense to overcome? These are the real questions in Buffalo as April begins and the season starts.

[felipe]

[BBvideo 425,350][/BBvideo]

[aaronweiner]

Right. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't advise you to spend money on anything, ever. In fact, I think you should cut the players you have now. Just cut them. Too expensive. Or trade them to me for scrub minor leaguers.

Rivera would have made sense. So would a trade of some sort. Or any number of guys for the bullpen.

I advise Birmingham on the same thing every year, and I've never heard him once complain that I'm jealous. BTW, I AM a little jealous, but it's not like I've had a decade to build my team.

[mrbornac]

Rivera with his 250 hits allowed and 10mil price tag didn't make any sense. He was aweful last year. I can get that kind of production from most AAAA starters in the game. He may do better this season, but I was properly scared off by his peformance and his age.

I did reach out on a number of deals, however, nothing panned out. I have specific pieces I am looking to add, not just +1 contract just for the sake of change.

[aaronweiner]

Rivera pitched in Baltimore. You think he puts up the same numbers anywhere else? The 4.5 WAR might have been a tipoff.

Nobody's saying you should just add money to add money, but I'd think that Juan Quintero would look a lot better on your team than mine, for example.

[mrbornac]

I was outbid on Quintero.. again, budget as opposed to escalating to 85M payroll a year after a 50M. If Carolina seems like a good place to spend all that money on a closer, go ahead and spend that cash, let me know how it works out for you.

[aaronweiner]

Badly. My team sucks. Haven't had a decade to build it. It's a stupid place to pay a closer. Plus, my better players apparently immediately lump the minute they move to Carolina. But at the same time, I'm putting my best foot forward with the stuff I've been dealt, and I refuse to just outright dump games.

[mrbornac]

Sounds like a good plan. And do you really think I dumped games for draft position?

I have not taken a decade to build this team - sure, I have had some time, but I was trying to win desperatly when I had my 3 stars in Wasson, Hunter, and Mitrani. And I too have had signifigant stumbling blocks, please see the original contact hitters to go to the sh1tter, Salvador Hernandez and Boyd Beauford. Oh, and Larry Sunderland, who was a stud for one year, and lumped away immediatly. Life sucks every where when it comes to lump machines. Been there, done that.

[aaronweiner]

This isn't about ME, dude, it's about you doing everything possible to try to win a title. OK, so you don't like criticism. Noted. Next year, when I do the Frick League Preview, I'll leave you out of it unless I have only nice things to say. *mental note to self* Sunshine and rainbows for Bornac.

BTW, making this about me isn't relevant and doesn't make sense. I took over a 107-loss team with the #22 farm in the league. Now I'm a 90-loss team with the #3 farm in the league, soon to be higher when Dunn hits the farm. And I'm trying to win now, because it's more fun than sitting on my ass hoping for good luck.

That said, a top closer for $4.5 million per is an asset if he doesn't lump.

[mrbornac]

So, could I have tried to win more games sooner? Yes. Why did I avoid that? Because if I didn't build a team slowly and from the ground up, I knew it had less chance of succeeding longterm. I am surpised by the number of times I have been called out on this - as if the only way that a team should try and build is through Free Agency and trades with owners who are either non responsive or trying to rob you blind. I decided on the path of the draft, and now I am accused of sitting on my hands and letting the team lose. WTF.

[aaronweiner]

I have no idea who was criticizing you for building a team slowly. It wasn't me. Here's what I wrote about your team before the 2013 season:

"In the race to the bottom, the Buffalo Bison are doing a fine job. Lloyd Reece might be an upgrade over Miller and Moncada, but it was a pretty quiet offseason by Lake Erie. Good news for them: players like Pedro Monsalve and Eric Oliver look to be making the leap, the farm system is ranked second in the MBWBA with a bevy of top 30 prospects, and the future is very bright in Buffalo. The present, however, is just awful."


And before 2014:

"Buffalo won five more games than Pythagoras says they should have last year, but it bears noting that Buffalo's 75-87 record was their best such mark since 2008, the year after their last playoff appearance. This team could play better offensively and give up less runs and make a real run at .500 this season. The advent of Mike Swanson, whenever it should happen this season, will really turn the dials for Buffalo. He and Ernest Watts could be anyone's franchise players. The rotation is potentially a little underrated: other than Swanson and the rapidly aging Lloyd Reece, the pitching staff has two interesting young pitchers in Ramon Cabrera and Eric Oliver and recently the solid Doug Hayes. The bullpen isn't a total hot mess but there isn't anyone strictly reliable there other than maybe Larry Davis. We're not in love with this team as it stands, but we think that they have the building blocks to succeed. Considering it's by far the cheapest-run team in the league, if they win even another 70 games (our prediction) this team should probably try to build on their success with some dips into free agency in coming years."

And you can easily find what I wrote about you this year.

Not sure how that translates into criticism. Advice maybe. This year, after you won 94 games and came within a game of the Landis, it's time for criticism if you're not doing anything to upgrade the team other than internally and you still have the 20th-highest payroll in the league.

[aaronweiner]

I mean, do you WANT to be the Pittsburgh Pirates of the MBWBA?

[mrbornac]

No, frankly, I have been aiming for the Atlanta Braves of the 90's. Sure, they could have won more WS, but their consistant high level of performance was built moslty with draft picks and kids that they acquired and rode for years. Sure, they got Smoltz in a trade with Detroit and Maddox was a FA after some great time with the Cubs, but they as a rule were steady and consistant once they had their players. That domination is what I am trying to achieve. Will I get there? That is hard to know. Do I have faith in my plan? Yes.

[mrbornac]

"In the race to the bottom, the Buffalo Bison are doing a fine job" smacks of calling me a tanker. I don't take kindly to that.

[aaronweiner]

Again, I'm not criticizing that. You may have noticed, for example, that I've frontloaded Quintero's contract; that's because I knew I'd have the salary room this year, wasn't so sure in 2016. You kind of tried doing that with Jeremy Gaze, but I had max cash.

I get what it's like to be a rebuilding team, but last year showed that your team is there, and it's cheap, and that is exactly the moment at which you spend money.

BTW, if I wanted to say you were tanking, I'd have said you were tanking. I'm not shy. You were keeping salary flexibility for the next couple years when you thought you'd be good. Of course, said flexibility isn't all that great if you're not actually using it.

[mrbornac]

I did add close to 10M in bullpen salary with my waiver acquisition from Las Vegas. I am happy with my rotation, and I am happy with my lineup. Sure, I tried to add some pieces via Free Agency - namely bullpen help, but I either was not moved to break the bank or was beat out. I am up to 70M this year, and I suspect I will be over 80M next season, and close to 100M the year after. Even with the players I have, I will soon be hitting the cap.

[aaronweiner]

BTW, my point wasn't so much that you HAD to go out and spend money. If you read what I actually wrote:

"There is a very strong chance that this team will go back to the playoffs, but it’s also possible they won’t, and if they don’t they’ll look back on this offseason and wonder if they should have spent money on pitching."

I dropped back your record some because your Pythagorean record was +2 and some because your hitting being as good as it was shocked the crap out of us sabermetrics guys. Presuming the hitting is sustainable, right now is the moment when I, if I owned your team, would certainly have pushed forward and signed pitching.

That doesn't mean it HAS to happen. But if you miss the playoffs this year, tell me the thought won't cross your mind.

[mrbornac]

We will see. Nothing is for certain - making the playoffs, or players that you sign being worth the money you spend. If I do make the playoffs this year and in future years, I could say it is because I didn't add the players this off season...

[aaronweiner]

Well, right. That's the point: if you make the playoffs this season, either by doing so in a competitive race or by winning 95 games, you can look back on my preview and laugh your ass off. That's why it's a preview. I'm right to have written what I wrote, and you'd be right to laugh at me for having written it.

[mrbornac]

Thank you for writing the preview. Really. I just tire of the same old "Why didn't he spend money this off season" line....