F1reant via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)The Grades Are Still Up
Every major outlet graded the Braves' trade deadline an F. Three weeks and a Dodgers sweep later, Tyler Mahle has a 1.52 ERA and the team is 80-55.
Every outlet owes Alex Anthopoulos an apology. They won't issue one. The standings already did.
Battery Power called it a "Disastrous Day." ESPN said underperformers. Yahoo said losers. Bleacher Report used Mahle's 5.13 ERA and Falter's 13.97 ERA as their evidence. Three weeks later, Tyler Mahle has a 1.52 ERA in Atlanta. He had a 6.04 with the Giants.
That's not a reclamation project. That might be the best deadline acquisition in baseball.
But here's the part that gets me. Yardbarker published "Failed to Capitalize." Then the same outlet published "Stayed Disciplined." Both takes. Both hedged. Then last week they dropped a three-week retrospective calling the acquisitions "undoubtedly all net positives." That's not analysis. That's a three-act apology in SEO form.
80-55. Five straight wins. First in the East. The team that "lost" the deadline just swept the team that "won" it.
I wrote this on August 12. Wrote it again on August 14. The headlines are still live on the internet. The record doesn't care about your F.
AA told you at the deadline: "We didn't go into the deadline with the thought that we have to get this or we have to get that." Translation: he doesn't panic-buy because the internet is mad. The internet was mad. The internet was wrong.
Tell me I'm wrong.
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The sports media graded a process before a single game was played and got it objectively wrong by every measurable standard.
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