Is 2004 #1 Pick Matt Bush the New Brien Taylor?

Before we even get to the post, I can already tell you what my answer will be….No, simply because nobody, not even the Padres, thought Matt Bush was the top talent in the 2004 draft. He was a local kid and would cost less, that’s why he was drafted. Period. But, let’s see what IB has to say anyways….

On Sunday morning it was reported that former San Diego Padres minor leaguer Matt Bush was injured in physical altercation outside a bar near a Padres training facility in Arizona. For the former 1st overall pick in 2004, (selected in front of Phil Hughes, Stephen Drew, Justin Verlander, and Jered Weaver), this is yet another setback for the man who has been drawing comparisons to former New York Yankees farm hand Brien Taylor, who famously blew his arm out in a bar fight about 15 years ago. Are comparisons between the two players apt? Is Matt Bush the new Brien Taylor?

First of all, the only reason I included this paragraph is to illustrate how dumb it is to include who was drafted in front of whom. In 2002 Bryan Bullington was drafted ahead of BJ Upton, Scott Kazmir, Khalil Greene, etc. Hell, Jeremy Guthrie fell to 23rd overall because he required an enormous package to sign, and he hasn’t been worth it at all.

Because it was so long ago, it’s hard to remember just how good Brien Taylor really was. As a 20-year-old in high A ball in 1993, Taylor struck out 187 batters in 161 innings, with a very good 3:1 K/BB ratio. The next year he stuck out 150 in 163 IP, and while the high walk rate was troublesome; it was probably something Taylor would get over with experience. If the thought of the 1996-2000 Yankees dynasty makes you ill, imagine those same teams with David Cone, Andy Pettitte, David Wells, and Roger Clemens along with a young lefty throwing 96 MPH. They might still be winning titles. Or Wells and Cone would have introduced him to the NY nightlife and his career would be over. Regardless, Taylor has serious talent, talent that Matt Bush just doesn’t have.

True, Brien Taylor had more talent than Matt Bush ever will, which obviously proves my point that you can’t compare the two, cause Brien Taylor was deserving of the #1 pick. Also, I never knew Brien Taylor was black, so that’s something.

In over 700 at bats in the low minors, Matt Bush has yet to get on base more than 33% of the time. He has hit for no power, no average, and when the Daddies tried to make a Rick Ankiel switch and turn Matt Bush into a pitcher, he threw seven innings, notched 16 strikeouts, and then had Tommy John surgery. It is impossible to express how bad of a player Matt Bush is, and we’re not going out on a limb here by saying that Bush will never see the inside of a major league clubhouse. But in order for Bush to be the next Brien Taylor, this latest injury would have to rob him of his “stuff,” effectively ending his career.

Bush can sit at 94 MPH and has a pretty good sinker, and the very face he struck out over 2 hitters per inning, even though it was in just 7 innings, proves he is not as bad as IB points him out to be. There are many many players in minor league baseball who are worse than Matt Bush, they just don’t get scrutinized because they aren’t former #1 picks. I will say that if Matt Bush can come back from Tommy John surgery well, he will be at least a reliever for the Padres, even if it’s just for the fact that they don’t want him to be just the 3rd #1 overall pick to not play in the bigs.

So really these guys can’t be compared at all. Taylor deserved to be the #1 pick, Bush didn’t. Although to be fair, Bush was thought to be a top 15-20 type talent. This wasn’t the worst thing Intern Bill wrote, but it’s clear he has something against Matt Bush, which is a little puzzling, maybe he’s a Padre fan.

Summer Project: Fixing Baseball Teams

I decided to go back in time a bit to a week ago to review Intern Bill’s post on fixing the Washington Nationals. It is apparent he couldn’t fix his own sink, much less a baseball team.

- Firesale: There are assets on the good ship National that are worth selling. Tim Redding is a pitcher whose above-average performance this year is probably an anomaly, but he is cheap enough and still arbitration -eligible, so that he has value. Same for Odalis Perez, a lefty who is costing less than $1 million. Dmitri Young, who is getting on base at a nearly .400 clip, also has value. All-Star Cristian Guzman, also in the last year of his contract, can also be moved.

I guess Tim Redding is above average, he has a 103 ERA+, but he only has 78k to 41BB, so it’s not like he has been John Danks this year. I don’t think the Nationals could get anything worthwhile for him. Odalis Perez has a 1.50 WHIP, so I don’t think opposing teams are beating down Jim Bowden’s door to get a hold of him. And Christian Guzman just signed a two year extension, so that’s out

- Let the talent leave and acquire draft picks: “The Plan,” as espoused by Nationals fans, is to take high ceiling amateur players in the draft, and pay them exorbitant amounts of money. They have already had success with prospects OF/1B Chris Marrero, SP Collin Balester, and major leaguers SP Matt Chico, and 3B Ryan Zimmerman. The loss of Odalis Perez after the season might net them two picks in the 1st round, thus probably getting another haul of amateur talent that have a high probability of making an impact on the major league team. This might be preferable to trades.

First off, they do not take high ceiling guys, that is retarded. Ryan Zimmerman, although he was a top 10 pick, was about as safe of a bet as there is. Colin Balester has an over 5.00 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. He sucks. Same with Matt Chico. And there is no no no no no way Odalis Perez will be a type A free agent. How fucking retarded is this? Type A guys are CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, not Odalis Perez.

The Nationals are in the midst of a rebuilding process that will hopefully put them in the position to contend long term. Any moves that can help that process will a positive development for the future.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

Is Billy Beane Surrounded By Too Many Yes Men?

It seems Intern Bill has lobbed me a softball with this post, in which he examines an article in the Santa Rosa Press. Let’s take this paragraph by paragraph….

On Monday, seemingly eager to rile those in the statistical baseball community, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat’s Lowell Cohn wrote that not only were the Oakland Athletics a better baseball club before their most recent round of trades, but also that Oakland General Manager Billy Beane’s method of team construction wasn’t that great, the A’s will never contend, and that Beane himself is an ego maniacal freakshow surrounded by yes men that make the acolytes that fall at the feet of Steve Jobs look downright insubordinate by comparison.

Hmm, yeah well since this is Cohn’s thoughts I don’t wanna rip on him too much, but no shit the A’s were better before the trades, but they aren’t trying to win this year, they’re trying to win for several years. The best way to do this is trade established players for prospects. Next.

Naturally, the story was met with outrage in the circles where the only method of reproduction will be (and is) online dating. Remember how a few years ago, some guy in Denmark drew a picture of the prophet Mohammed, and Muslims everywhere collectively lost their minds? This is basically the basement-dwelling stat outcast’s equivalent of drawing a picture of the prophet, taking a dump on it, and wiping oneself with the pages of the Koran. After going home Tuesday, Cohn might have found David Eckstien’s head in his bed. However, once a reader gets past the sheer boldness of it all (or arrogance, depending on your perspective), Mr. Cohn makes some points that are worth exploring.

I will bet he does not. Nice mom’s basement joke too, retard. I think Intern Bill must be Murray Chass.

Concerning the on-field product, Cohn is obviously wrong. Billy Beane, the gay seer of Alameda County*, has guided the A’s to the postseason five times in 11 years despite having one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, and he did this by using two different “cores” of players. If you accept Cohn’s central thesis, the A’s might have made the playoffs this year if they didn’t blow up the team again. This is a laudable accomplishment, and should allow for a great deal more leeway when judging Beane’s actions, rather than say Houston GM Ed Wade trading for a broken down Randy Wolf when his team is 10 games out of first place. As for Cohn, anyone who says that imbecilic Brian Sabean is a better GM than Beane should probably not be taken seriously.

I have to commend Intern Bill here. He makes a great point about the Randy Wolf trade, and he’s definitely right in saying that no matter what you think about Beane, if you say Brian Sabean is better than him you’re retarded. The end.

But assuming they’re true, some of the other points resonate. Shouldn’t even very smart and successful people have at least one voice around that goes against their conventional wisdom? A few less yes men for George Lucas and company would have made the most recent Indiana Jones’ abomination an extension of a great franchise instead of the death of it. And doesn’t the fact that Beane is a co-owner of the team and its GM put the franchise in a potentially touchy position? What if this whole “my [ish] doesn’t work in the playoffs” thing (Beane’s quote, not ours) really doesn’t produce the results fans and ownership are seeking? And doesn’t that make it nearly impossible to make a change? When a person has the best job they know they can possibly get, that’s when that same person’s job performance starts to slip. Because when there’s no motivation, what’s the point of trying harder? A World Series title won’t make Billy any richer.

Had Intern Bill read Moneyball, he’d realize the A’s have tons of people who aren’t “yes men.” And no shit Beane’s shit doesn’t work in the playoffs. It makes infinitely more sense to design a team around who will be the best over 162 games rather than over 20ish playoff games. And who says there is no motivation? You don’t think Billy Beane wants a World Series? If you think that, you’re an idiot.

Or will it? Maybe it’s not so much that Beane wants to win, but rather win his way. It’s not enough to have a ticker tape parade while dodging bullets in Oak-town, he needs to show that he’s the smartest guy in the room, and deserves the kind of worship people have been giving him all along. And if that means trading away stars, hemorrhaging fans every year, and moving the team to a parking lot with a mayor, so be it. In the words of Bill James, “the best part about being in an ivory tower is pissing on the people below you.”** If Beane continues on this path, and fails to bring home a title, that’s exactly what he’ll be doing to the fans of the Oakland A’s.

Beane is the smartest guy in the room, that much has pretty much been established. The only person who can really rival him is Theo Epstein, and thet is because he has mounds of cash at his disposal. If they switched places I would be willing to guarantee the Red Sox would have two World Series titles still, and perhaps even more. And yeah I suppose the A’s aren’t gaining a ton of fans, but if they keep getting into the playoffs lik they have been, eventually the stars will align and the A’s will bring home a World Series.

To be honest, this post didn’t have much to argue, because Intern Bill didn’t make any points. It seems to avoid criticism he has backed off his stances a lot, and is now just offering fluff. Which I suppose is better than basically admitting he is a dumbass.

Site News

As you all know, this is designed pretty much to rip on Intern Bill. Obviously I’m not going to reveal who I am, much like he has not. I’ll be critiquing his posts over at TBL usually within 24 hours of when they are posted. I’m skipping the current one, but rest assured I’ll have a critique of the next one up. I’m going to try to refrain from making this seem a little too much like Fire Joe Morgan, but I’ll probably be following the same format so I apologize if it seems like I’m ripping them off too much.
If you have any questions, complaints, etc. feel free to send an e-mail to internbillsucks@gmail.com

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