The dichotomy in my head

[Philip]

6 minutes ago, tntoriole said:

.Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, even knowing full and completely as God what was going to happen to Him, still expressed a question to the Father as to whether the cup could be removed from Him.   

He didn’t question, he requested, and then he said, “nevertheless not my will but thine…”

 On an infinitely smaller level, I am willing to trust Mike, but I want to win as many games as possible, the way I remove the contradiction It’s by saying I want to win as much as possible without interrupting the plan.

Leaving good players in the minors when they are clearly ready, for the sake of avoiding the few extra wins they might provide, will make me angry. Continuing to play a hopeless pitcher is frustrating. Davis is the very poster child of that, and the sooner he is dumped the better.

”we have Faith that Davis can turn it around and be productive again.”

grrr

”We aren’t calling up Mountcastle because with him we might get the third instead of second pick.” Would grit my teeth.

 At the same time I do not now and never have advocated signing an expensive free agent to serve the same purpose. 

[JR Oriole]

I accept being bad for now, but I want to see improvement in the win totals each year and I think the overall record against the Yankees and losing streak to them is ridiculous and stupid.  No professional baseball team should lose 17 games in a regular season to another team, no matter how much better one may be than the other.  6-13 or 7-12, okay.  2-17 should not happen again, so I want to see that improve. 

[now]

Certainly the OP makes sense in the bigger picture, where

1. We are doomed and nothing matters in the long run.

2. Live every day to the fullest, since it's all we've got.

[weams]

4 minutes ago, now said:

Certainly the OP makes sense in the bigger picture, where

1. We are doomed and nothing matters in the long run.

 

For some, hand drumming and African rhythms fill those voids.

[LA2]

20 hours ago, bird watcher said:

This gets harder as the rebuild moves forward but . . . I root for prospects to hit and pitch really well and for filler bullpen guys and journeymen hitters to blow it so we lose and get better draft picks. It’s easy to swallow a loss if the guys that will matter later are playing well. 
 

As time moves on there will be less guys to not care about and so losing will mean guys that matter aren’t performing. 

I enjoyed watching Hanser Alberto, Villar, Severino, and Nunez not blow it--and occasionally Ruiz, Smith, Jr., and Wilkerson, too--regardless of whether we won or lost.

[oriole]

Winning should be the goal every day by the high draft pick is the consolation for not winning. Win-win situation right?

[now]

2 hours ago, weams said:

For some, hand drumming and African rhythms fill those voids.

Good call! I'd say it fills the bill for both 1 and 2 (living life to the fullest each moment/day)!

[Philip]

3 hours ago, now said:

Certainly the OP makes sense in the bigger picture, where

1. We are doomed and nothing matters in the long run.

2. Live every day to the fullest, since it's all we've got.

“Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”

[foxfield]

23 hours ago, Philip said:

I care. Anyone who says they don’t care whether a team wins or loses is not a fan of that team. I want the team to win more and win more every year. Establishing a good system and a deep and quality supply Is not going to be ruined if we win 60 games instead of 59, or 69 instead of 65. I don’t want any stupid decisions, but people seem to be confusing putting the best team on the field we can, with trading Zach Davies for Gerardo Parra.

There’s a whole lot of stuff we can do to field a watchable team without jeopardizing “the plan”

I don’t know what your plan is, but mine includes winning a World Series. To accomplish that plan I’d crawl over broken glass. Watchable?  Sounds like compromise to me. My plan doesn’t allow for compromise....

[Es4M11]

23 hours ago, Philip said:

Possible but highly unlikely. You’re suggesting that one pick perhaps 4-5 places away from another could make that difference. A lot depends on the depth of the draft and the wisdom-and number- of our choices, and I have no idea how that draft is shaping up, but it is highly unlikely that picking 2nd vs 5th vs 9th is going to make a significant difference.

On 12/31/2019 at 9:28 AM, Frobby said:

I’d hesitate to say that one draft ever dictates the future of an organization.    Look at the Astros -  the no. 1 pick didn’t work out for them in 2013 or 2014, yet they built a fantastic team anyway.    Meanwhile the Angels had an amazing draft in 2009, headlined by stealing Mike Trout with the no. 25 pick but also several other scores, and yet it’s led nowhere.   

But sure, I’d rather pick higher than lower, when it comes to trying to acquire future talent for my team.  
 

I would hesitate to to say one draft dictates the future as well. That said, the possibility is real. And if the alternative to that very real possibility -- however slim -- is to win a few more ultimately meaningless games... it's an easy choice for me.

Examples can be found to support both arguments, although I admit there are certainly more cases to be made on the other side of the argument. But consider Stephen Strasburg as a recent example for the Nats of how a top pick can have a major impact and transform a franchise, and throw in Anthony Rendon while we 're at it. Of course it takes more than one guy, but certain individuals can have outsize impacts and I am all for increasing the odds of finding and drafting those guys.

[thezeroes]

The overall 9th pick in the draft has a 63% chance of making the MLB.  He will garner an average WAR of 8.0.

The overall 5th pick in the draft has a 61% chance of making the MLB.  He will garner an average WAR of  12.0 WAR.

The overall 2nd pick in the draft has a 85% chance of making MLB and will garner an average WAR of 15.2.

 

So where a player is picked in the first round does seem to make a difference in both WAR and MLB chances.

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, thezeroes said:

The overall 9th pick in the draft has a 63% chance of making the MLB.  He will garner an average WAR of 8.0.

The overall 5th pick in the draft has a 61% chance of making the MLB.  He will garner an average WAR of  12.0 WAR.

The overall 2nd pick in the draft has a 85% chance of making MLB and will garner an average WAR of 15.2.

 

So where a player is picked in the first round does seem to make a difference in both WAR and MLB chances.

You're always better off picking higher.  Always.  What actually happens with that pick is full of noise and random chance, but the odds are always better the higher you go.

Also, you're picking higher in all the rounds.

[Can_of_corn]

6 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

You're always better off picking higher.  Always.  What actually happens with that pick is full of noise and random chance, but the odds are always better the higher you go.

Also, you're picking higher in all the rounds.

Larger pool as well.

[atomic]

23 hours ago, JR Oriole said:

I accept being bad for now, but I want to see improvement in the win totals each year and I think the overall record against the Yankees and losing streak to them is ridiculous and stupid.  No professional baseball team should lose 17 games in a regular season to another team, no matter how much better one may be than the other.  6-13 or 7-12, okay.  2-17 should not happen again, so I want to see that improve. 

No team should be playing another team 19 times in a season.  That is ridiculous.  Anyway the Yankees are trying to build the best team in baseball and the Orioles are trying to lose.

What is surprising is the Orioles won 2 games against the Yankees last season.  The Washington Generals never beat the Harlem Globetrotters.

[24fps]

1 hour ago, atomic said:

No team should be playing another team 19 times in a season.  That is ridiculous.  Anyway the Yankees are trying to build the best team in baseball and the Orioles are trying to lose.

What is surprising is the Orioles won 2 games against the Yankees last season.  The Washington Generals never beat the Harlem Globetrotters.

The Generals beat the Globetrotters once 100-99 on January 5, 1971 in Martin, TN.  They lost over 16,000 times.