WHAT ACTUALLY MATTERS: Lawrence Butler, Henry Bolte & the A’s Real Future

The A’s have played better baseball lately, winning series against the Astros and Twins, and frankly, winning is a lot more fun than losing. But Sam is back on Where Stats Meet Instinct to separate the results from the things that actually tell us something about the future. Are these wins evidence that the A’s have finally figured something out, or are we simply watching a bad team experience some positive regression? Sam also digs into why the recent DFA-reliever additions may be more interesting than their ERAs suggest—and why those moves could reveal what the organization is actually looking for. Then it’s time to talk about the players who really matter. Lawrence Butler is playing much better, but can A’s fans evaluate him without letting frustration, expectations and contract money cloud the conversation? Henry Bolte is showing why struggling, adjusting and succeeding again can be far more meaningful than simply getting off to a hot start. Sam also breaks down Jacob Lopez’s resurgence, Gage Jump’s flashes of frontline potential, the development questions surrounding Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, and why the real story of this season may be hiding underneath the win-loss record.