Justin Verlander’s pitching accuracy has failed him at times this season, but he was spot on with his mouth on Saturday.
The Detroit Tigers ace hit the nail on the head when he assessed the season's first blockbuster trade, which sent Chicago Cubs pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the Oakland Athletics, with top prospects Addison Russell, Billy McKinney and Dan Straily going the other direction.
“When I saw that trade, I thought that they made that trade for us,” Verlander said. “No doubt about it in my mind. If they want to win a World Series, they’re envisioning that they have to go through us.”
Verlander may be blunt, but he has a point. The Tigers have dumped Oakland out of the play-offs in the last two seasons and, while the A's have baseball's best record at 54-33, and are on course for another American League West title, Oakland general manager Billy Beane clearly is setting up his team for a run at the World Series.
This is a remarkable change of tack for a team long associated with being budget conscious and building their roster through finding undervalued players. Beane was famously quoted in the book Moneyball as saying, "my [expletive] doesn't work in the play-offs. My job is to get us to the play-offs". Oakland's pitching staff is hardly struggling – their 3.30 rotation earned-run average is fifth-best in baseball – and Sonny Gray and Scott Kazmir have been among the best one-two punches in baseball. This move appears designed to shore up their pitching depth after injuries to Jarrod Parker and AJ Griffin.
Oakland will receive the most immediate boost from the trade, having gone all-in to win now. However, any analysis of Friday's trade must also address the ridiculous collection of highly touted position prospects the Cubs now possess. Chicago already had two of the game's top-10 prospects in Javier Baez and Kris Bryant, and Russell's arrival creates something of a logjam at shortstop.
Cubs fans know all too well the dangers of putting faith in minor-league prospects. Still, if even half of them pan out, the Cubs could be a force in the National League for years to come.
Welington Castillo appears to have catcher locked down, with Anthony Rizzo (first base), Arismendy Alcantara (second), Bryant (third) and either Starlin Castro or Russell (shortstop) rounding out the infield. Kyle Schwarber, drafted as a catcher, has been a terror since switching to left field, and centre field looks set with Albert Almora or McKinney. Baez may move to right field if Alcantara pans out at second base and Bryant stays at third.
Oakland appear favourites for the 2014 World Series title. The latter half of the decade, though, looks much brighter for the Cubs.
pfreelend@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
