Michael Wacha from A&M beat the Dodgers today. The Cards go the World Series and Wacha is the MVP of the NLCS.

Wacha was drafted #19 (I think) by the Cards. The Dodgers had the #18 pick...

I believe they got Wacha with the compensatory pick the Cardinals received after Albert Pujols went to Anaheim. The Cardinals are just a winning organization.

Yes, the Cardinals have been good at having young players available to come in to replace the older players. The Cardinals were the first to have a farm system starting in the 1920s including the AA Houston Buffs.

(10-18-2013 11:24 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  I believe they got Wacha with the compensatory pick the Cardinals received after Albert Pujols went to Anaheim. The Cardinals are just a winning organization.

(10-18-2013 11:24 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  I believe they got Wacha with the compensatory pick the Cardinals received after Albert Pujols went to Anaheim. The Cardinals are just a winning organization.

That is true. It was the Pujols compensatory pick.

The Wacha thing has been absolutely unreal. He was very good at A&M but nothing like this. He has an 0.41 ERA and .114 BA in three post-season starts - after throwing a no-hitter for 8 2/3 in his last regular season start. And - he didn't really join the rotation until August.

(10-18-2013 11:47 PM)75src Wrote:  Yes, the Cardinals have been good at having young players available to come in to replace the older players. The Cardinals were the first to have a farm system starting in the 1920s including the AA Houston Buffs.

(10-18-2013 11:24 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  I believe they got Wacha with the compensatory pick the Cardinals received after Albert Pujols went to Anaheim. The Cardinals are just a winning organization.

And one of the latest guys to maintain and grow that farm system is now running the Astros. It won't be much longer until long-suffering 'Stros fans see the fruits of the newly refurbished farm system. Thanks Mssr Luhnow

(10-19-2013 08:09 AM)Da.Owl Wrote:  And one of the latest guys to maintain and grow that farm system is now running the Astros. It won't be much longer until long-suffering 'Stros fans see the fruits of the newly refurbished farm system. Thanks Mssr Luhnow

This is a little OT, but it relates. In our business where I work, there aren't a lot of folks around for hire who are really aware of what we do and how we do it. So on many occasions we end up scrambling without all the necessary staff. And there is a security clearance involved, which can be gotten in about a year or less, although a lot of stuff doesn't require it. We are usually forced to start with people fresh out of college and train them for several years prior to them being self-sufficient, as much as anyone ever is. Perhaps it is that way in most lines of business, I don't know. We do have a coop program and some departments use it. But when I was a hiring manager the department I was in had never really gone down that road. So I tried and tried to get our team leaders to work with me on establishing a "farm system" of sorts to bring in college folks as coop students to get them more established and hopefully interest them in a long term career in our business. Nothing doing. I couldn't get those team leads to try to figure out how to use a young person who didn't already have their engineering degree. Which was a bit ridiculous I thought because they would beg me to hire people who were already out of school with degrees like PE and education, then try to train them to impersonate engineers. I always had the notion that those team leaders just didn't want to hire anyone who could challenge them technically. They all wanted their own fiefdom, with them as the witch doctor.

(10-18-2013 11:19 PM)grol Wrote:  Michael Wacha from A&M beat the Dodgers today. The Cards go the World Series and Wacha is the MVP of the NLCS.

Wacha was drafted #19 (I think) by the Cards. The Dodgers had the #18 pick...

Remember the night at MMC in 2011 when Kubitza beat Wacha and the Ags 1-0? Truly awesome game. Link to box score from Rice bsaeball archives:
http://www.riceowls.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos...oxScoreAM1

(10-19-2013 11:53 AM)gmath Wrote:  Remember the night at MMC in 2011 when Kubitza beat Wacha and the Ags 1-0? Truly awesome game. Link to box score from Rice bsaeball archives:
http://www.riceowls.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos...oxScoreAM1

Thanks for the link. 1-0 over the Ags!

It's like OCO said. He was good at A&M, but who would have thought that less than 2 years later he is the winning pitcher, MVP and helps his team win the NL pennant.

(10-19-2013 12:15 PM)grol Wrote:  

(10-19-2013 11:53 AM)gmath Wrote:  Remember the night at MMC in 2011 when Kubitza beat Wacha and the Ags 1-0? Truly awesome game. Link to box score from Rice bsaeball archives:
http://www.riceowls.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos...oxScoreAM1

Thanks for the link. 1-0 over the Ags!

It's like OCO said. He was good at A&M, but who would have thought that less than 2 years later he is the winning pitcher, MVP and helps his team win the NL pennant.

Actually, he had on great, all-american season for the Aggies. His first two seasons were nothing special. Bottom line-- he developed the changeup to go along with his fastball and curve, and that suddenly catapulted him up a couple levels overnight (or over one productive Summer).