Baseball's Biggest Non-Stories Heading Into the Second Half

 Here are the baseball stories that you won’t find on the sports-media headlines because...well, probably because Ted Thompson, Brett Favre, and Aaron Rodgers aren’t involved.    

The A’s Can Catch the Angels 

Many people point to the Harden trade as a signal that Billy Beane has thrown in the towel for the 2008 season.  

I see it differently. So should you.  

Beane astutely understood that Rich Harden’s market value had reached its peak after a blistering first half. Over 13 starts, he had a 2.34 ERA and struck out 92 batters in 77 innings. For comparison, Harden had made 13 starts combined, during the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

Injuries were the only thing holding Harden from becoming a top-10 starter in baseball. The A’s brass must have been anticipating this moment to deal for years.  

Much like he unloaded Mark Mulder for Danny Haren, Kiko Calero, and Daric Barton in the winter of 2004, Billy Beane received a package of prospects for the long haul. Consider Sean Gallagher the Danny Haren of this bundle.  

Just 22-years old, Gallagher sports an impressive 4.25 ERA in his debut season. Looking back at Danny Haren’s first season in the majors, we see that he had a 5.08 ERA in 72-2/3 innings when he was just 22-years old. We all know how he turned out.  

Another piece of the Harden trade, Matt Murton, has already proved he can hit in the bigs, despite falling out of the Cubs' good graces. Murton’s career .810 OPS should serve well in left field, and he will push Jack Cust to the designated-hitter role, where he belongs.  

It will be a tough road to the playoffs, as he A’s find themselves six games back behind the Angels and 6.5 games back in the Wild Card.

However, the A’s have a lot to be excited about.

The A’s have allowed the fewest runs in the majors and 31 fewer than the next best team. So if they had a surplus of anything, it was quality pitching. Their huge run differential (+65) and their Pythagorean W-L record indicate that the A’s should be four games better rather than 51-44.

The Angels, on the other hand, have played way over their heads, with a Pythagorean W-L of 50-45 and have a run differential of just +21.  

Chalk it up to a spell of unluckiness that the A’s aren’t ahead of the Angels right now. Don’t be surprised if they switch spots in the near future. I know Billy won’t be. 

Not a Dominant Team in Baseball  

If you listened to New York sports radio for a few minutes these days, you’d probably think that the Mets are on pace to win 115 games and the Yankees were destined to be delegated to the Independent League.  

Not so. In fact, the Mets are merely one game ahead of the Yankees and faring no better than the Brewers or the A’s.  

There’s no parity in baseball you say?

The Yankees have the same record as the Marlins, who have spent less on their roster than the Yankees have on Giambi this year. The second highest payroll belongs to the Mets, and they have a worse record than the second lowest spending team, the Tampa Bay Rays.  

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