In the middle of the 2014 season, Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane did something unusual.
Of course, that is what is expected of Beane, the man who popularized Moneyball and who has long been lauded for his outside-the-box thinking and ability to gauge the current trends in baseball and go the other way.
So two years ago, when teams were busy hoarding prospects and eschewing picking up Major Leaguers at the trade deadline because they wanted to hang onto their young players, Beane zigged while everyone else was zagging. He traded for two starting pitchers from the Chicago Cubs, Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel, in exchange for a package of young players.