The Reverse Pennant Chase

Winning these games is like eating junk food. Might be pleasant when it is happening but doesn't do anything good for you. playing .500 down stretch would have been just fine/ this is silly.
 
Winning these games is like eating junk food. Might be pleasant when it is happening but doesn't do anything good for you. playing .500 down stretch would have been just fine/ this is silly.

again, I am 100% on board with you if this was not the foundation of the team we will see next year. I think these guys playing well WILL bleed over to next year and is far more important than a few draft slots. If Aybar/Frenchy/Boni/Beckham/Chase/AJ/Norris/Harrel/Perez were all contributing to these wins, then I would be pissed.. even more than you.. But Swanson/Kemp/Ender/FF/Jace/Wisler/Folty/BP/JT(not last start)/Neck are doing well, and those guys will either be huge parts of next year or part of big off season moves.. that why it is more important to see them do well down the stretch.

just think about this for a second. Neck now has trade value. this time last season he did have any. So us being able to unload 11 million in salary and actually get a useful piece back is far more valuable to the organization than dropping to 5th in the draft next year.
 
2nd pick or 5th, it probably doesn't matter. just get the pick right.

and yeah, the part about getting to pull for your team to win and see it happen is really what sports should be about. i'm done pulling for the braves to lose. this run this last stretch has been awesome...
 
1. Twins
2. D'Backs
3. Rays
4. Braves
5. Reds
6. A's
7. Padres

With just 3 games yet to play, we can still pick anywhere from 2nd to 7th. We have to do 1 game worse than the D'Backs and Rays to get back to the 2 slot, 1 better than the Reds and A's to slide down to the 6th slot, and 2 better than the Padres to drop to 7th. So 2nd through 7th are all still very much in play. Had the Sunday Marlins game been played, if we'd won we'd now be 5th, and if we'd lost we'd still be 2nd.
 
Reds and A's are .5 back and San Diego 1.5 back. A lot would have to go right for the Pads to pass us. Luckily Detroit are fighting tooth and nail for a WC spot and has to sweep us. We can get back to 2nd place.
 
No we need to play guys like mallex, rio, Castro and colimenter. Oh wait.

Going back to what I've said earlier, I didn't see the need to give a bunch of valuable innings to Jim Johnson, I thought we could have rested Markakis/Kemp more and played younger options, I thought we could have played Ruiz more at 3rd.... and if we were doing all of those things and still winning... great! I don't want Wisler/Folty getting shelled so we can get the 2nd pick, but I do think management mishandled the end of this season. A lower pick and a significantly lower bonus pool in exchange for a few meaningless wins is a bad deal for a rebuilding club.
 
All that being said, we can still clearly grab an elite talent in the top-7 and I think everyone is happy to see the strides our offense has made.
 
All that being said, we can still clearly grab an elite talent in the top-7 and I think everyone is happy to see the strides our offense has made.

We typically agree. and I don't think we are far off on this. I just don't seem to be to bothered by the winning. Again, if it was Aybar and a bunch of scrubs.. I would most definitely. And even JJ is valuable because I think he is auditioning for another contract with us.
 
We typically agree. and I don't think we are far off on this. I just don't seem to be to bothered by the winning. Again, if it was Aybar and a bunch of scrubs.. I would most definitely. And even JJ is valuable because I think he is auditioning for another contract with us.

To me, JJ was auditioning for a spot in someone else's bullpen, I imagine with his history and his performance down the stretch he'll get a decent offer from a contending team that we aren't going to match.
 
again, I am 100% on board with you if this was not the foundation of the team we will see next year. I think these guys playing well WILL bleed over to next year and is far more important than a few draft slots. If Aybar/Frenchy/Boni/Beckham/Chase/AJ/Norris/Harrel/Perez were all contributing to these wins, then I would be pissed.. even more than you.. But Swanson/Kemp/Ender/FF/Jace/Wisler/Folty/BP/JT(not last start)/Neck are doing well, and those guys will either be huge parts of next year or part of big off season moves.. that why it is more important to see them do well down the stretch.

just think about this for a second. Neck now has trade value. this time last season he did have any. So us being able to unload 11 million in salary and actually get a useful piece back is far more valuable to the organization than dropping to 5th in the draft next year.

See I think markakis is pretty much at his pre injury levels which makes him both useful and relatively inexpensive.

If looking to contend he's a lot better option than mallex smith for example.

If they can trade and upgrade somehow great.
 
So you want the players to lose on purpose?

I just dislike the wins ok? Maybe I'm cursing the cosmos. I just want it to stop.

There absolutely is a difference in bonus pool, there absolutely is a difference in at least perceived quality of the #1 pick and the #7 pick in most drafts.
 
The good news for us in the chase is remaining schedule.

Although the Reds and Rays have superior opponents this weekend, both teams will have nothing to play for if Texas wins tonight.

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks and A's both play worse teams than us this weekend. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see each of our closest competitors win 2 of 3 in the final series.
 
Back
Top