Why don't the A's win any more?

Lest we forget, and to add to my Carlos Gonzalez point, Billy also traded Andre Ethier (.385/.497/.882 in Double A) for Milton Bradley. Ethier outplayed Bradley as a major leaguer the very next year; had he stayed in Oakland this would have been his final year before free agency.

At least Bradley was of some help (though not vital) in getting them to the ALCS, but don't you think the A's might have been better off with Ethier and Gonzalez in the same outfield for the past 3-4 years than they were with partial seasons from Bradley and Holliday?

 

http://baseballevolution.com/richard/2008beane
http://baseballevolution.com/richard/2008beane2
http://baseballevolution.com/richard/2008beane3

The notorious Jeremy Brown was drafted ahead of Brian McCann and Russell Martin.

 

Finley sold out to the Haas family in 1980. They turned the Coliseum into a place that was tolerable and, with "Billy Ball" and, later, the "Bash Brothers," it was an attractive team to watch. The Schotts kept the seat warm, even though the city of Oakland's zeal to get the Raiders back ruined the Coliseum for baseball.

But Beane, Wolff and Fisher (the real money behind the team) seem more interested in singing the small-market blues (despite being in a Top 10 TV market) and making eyes at San Jose than putting a decent team on the field and building a farm system that produces major league players ... kind of like that team across the bay with the shiny trophy did. And even if they do get to San Jose, unless they improve the product on the field, expect a 1-2 new yard bump in attendance at most. Because I don't think San Jose fans are going to forsake the Giants just because there's a new kid in town.

 

If Moneyball is to be believed, which of course isn't a given since we don't really have any other sources, Brown was someone on absolutely no one's scouting radar and has turned into a pretty solid high minor league catcher who has gotten a cup of coffee. Beane overestimated his own genius, but he was at least on to something.

 

Another interesting point is that the relative value of OBP fluctuates with run environment. When lots of runs are being scored (*cough*steroids*cough*), the value of OBP goes up.

With the run environment trending back down, significantly, the raw value of walks is also going down.

 

Decent take on Finley...

http://www.zimbio.com/Reggie+Jackson/articles/1_NZWKXbSqM/reggie+jackson+two+worse+owners+baseball+history

What I remember most is when Al Dark, who got religion, was quoted as saying Finley would go to hell if he died that day, was canned for it.

 

Brown's long out of baseball.

If Beane deserves high marks, it's on some of the early trades.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/06/gm-trade-histor.html

 

It's possible to score a ton of runs and be toward the bottom of the pile in OBP. See 2010 Blue Jays.

 

I'm a Giants fan in the Bay Area but I follow the As simply because they're here and bring the Bosox to town. I give Beane credit for doing what seemed to be the impossible, bringing the A's back from the brink after the Bash Brothers machine ran its course and LaRussa went elsewhere.

The A's were at the bottom of the barrel and the stadium experience was horrible after the Raider stadium modifications. Yet, Beane was the head of the operation that resulted in 4 straight playoff appearances and then the '06 ALCS appearance. Amazing if you ask me. Those teams were headed by homegrown talent, Zito, Mulder, Hudson, Tejada, Giambi.

Now Moneyball, which Beane did not ask for, shed some light into the inner workings of Beane, not only the draft, but also some of the trades and Beane's smug view of himself (poor Minaya.) But its true, Beane's view was not so much stuck on sabermetrics, but recognizing his financial limitations and looking for other ways to maximize the resources, even if they were contrary to the popular view. At that time OBP was undervalued; its mainstream now. Beane just has not found that market soft spot yet.

He has put together a nice stable of arms, Cahill, Gonzalez, Anderson, Braden, Bailey. However, the hitting is atrocious. Would CarGo and Ethier help? No doubt, but Bradley was a stud in '06 so perhaps that trade was worth it. The CarGo trade? Not his finest day.


Sabean looks fabulous now basking in the glow of last year, but in '09 people wanted his scalp. In the long run, Beane's done a great job given his limitations.

 

I tuned out Billy Beane after the A's lost to the Red Sox in, I think, the 2003 ALDS. It was the series where they led 2-0, and everything turned in Game 3 when a guy was thrown out at the plate because he tried to step over the catcher instead of sliding. This was, of course, after the famous Jeter play a year or two earlier.
Beane said, "We'd beat those guys if we had another $50-$60 million to spend."
No, asshole. You were in position to beat them with your small payroll team. You'd beat them if you taught your roided up freaks how to slide.

Also, just out of curiosity, is there a "Moneyball" chapter outlining a sabermetric for the BALCO effect?

 

Hitting 60% more home runs than the league average is a nice way to do it.

 

The thing is that Sandy Alderson pioneered the idea of value on limited funds and Beane got most of the credit.