Billy Beane Not So Far Ahead of the Pack

[G&T]

I didn't see this anywhere, but I enjoyed it.

 

A's GM Beane not so far ahead of the pack

by Gerry Fraley, Special to FOXSports.com

 

There is no truth to the rumor Sony scrapped the proposed "Moneyball" movie because lead actor Brad Pitt said "Connie Mack thought up all of this stuff first," after reading the screenplay's ode to Oakland general manager Billy Beane.

 

It is true the project that would bring author Michael Lewis' fawning book to the screen has been tabled, unlikely to ever again see the light of day. For everyone crushed by not getting to see Pitt-as-Beane ridicule Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams, who put together a World Series winner in 2005, we offer these excerpts from the rejected script.

 

The Athletics do not revolutionize the game with their 2002 Jeremy Brown draft or their identification of under-valued assets.

 

The A's do not win. The A's head south.

 

That's in the standings, not to San Jose or Fremont or anywhere else that might throw up a new ballpark to replace the Athletics' crumbling home park.

 

Oakland is headed to a last-place finish in the American League West this season. The Athletics have not finished last since 1998, Beane's first full season as general manager.

 

This will also be Oakland's fourth consecutive losing season. The Athletics' progress is more the stuff of a comedy than a celebration of big brains with laptops, but the "Major League" franchise cornered that market years ago.

 

In the world of small-market clubs, Minnesota has had a longer run of competitive clubs, and Tampa Bay reached the World Series. Their less-heralded success brings to mind Detroit manager Jim Leyland's view of "Moneyball."

 

"If I had a great, original idea about running a baseball team," Leyland said, "I don't think I'd let someone write a book about it."

 

The Beane-led Athletics had good ideas, but the organization was not as far ahead of the pack as the book would have had readers believe. Six years after the publication of "Moneyball," Oakland is nowhere close to being a playoff club. The Athletics' new-wave plan is to develop young pitchers and trade them, an approach that keeps the club trapped in a down cycle.

 

Eric Chavez's injury woes have limited his effectiveness and playing time.

 

Beane seems bored by it all, more captivated by English Premiere League soccer. Worst of all for the club, Beane has had as many hits as misses recently. Consider:

 

Oakland pioneered the manager-as-errand-boy concept.

 

Bob Geren, a groomsman in Beane's first wedding, is willing to go along with the approach even thought it leaves him with no sway in the clubhouse. Oakland players tuned out Geren a long time ago. The style did not suit two others.

 

Long-time Oakland coach Ron Washington got his managerial shot with Texas, and the Rangers are contenders this season. Beane publicly humiliated Ken Macha before firing him after four winning seasons. Macha returned this season with Milwaukee and has another winning club.

 

The Athletics were reluctant to give out multiyear contracts before the risk involved and the loss of payroll flexibility.

 

Beane broke with that by giving third baseman Eric Chavez a six-year extension in 2004. The timing was terrible.

 

Chavez has been breaking down, appearing in only 121 games since Opening Day 2007. He has had five surgeries in that span, the latest a microdiscectomy to repair a herniated disk in the back.

 

"I'm not happy about it," Chavez told reporters before the surgery. "I'm dreading it, to be honest. I've had enough."

 

The Athletics hope Chavez will be ready for spring training, but there are no guarantees. It will be the final guaranteed season of a contract extension that turned into an albatross for the Athletics.

 

Trade odds caught up with Beane.

 

The 2006 trade in which Beane acquired outfielder Milton Bradley from the Los Angeles Dodgers for outfielder Andre Ethier did not work out so well for the Athletics.

 

In two seasons with Oakland, Bradley appeared in only 115 games before wearing out his welcome, as is his habit. Ethier has become a quality front-line player with the first-place Dodgers.

 

The backstory to this trade adds to Beane's angst.

 

A running theme of "Moneyball" is that scouts, particularly experienced ones, are blockheads. Not every team believes that. Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti is quick to point out the opinions of veteran scout Al LaMacchia convinced him to add Ethier.

 

Every GM has clunker deals on his resume. The curious point to Beane's work is that he has failed to maximize the club's assets: pitching.

 

In the last four-plus years, Beane has traded four front-line starting pitchers: righthanders Joe Blanton, Dan Haren and Tim Hudson and lefthander Mark Mulder. The overall net return has been minimal

 

Lefty Josh Outman started strong, but elbow surgery ended his season early.

 

Lefthander Josh Outman, who went 4-1 with a 3.48 ERA this season before undergoing elbow surgery, could end up the most valuable addition. The rest of the acquisitions consist of :

 

# One season, at most, from rental outfielder Matt Holliday.

 

# A 16-loss season from lefthander Greg Smith.

 

# A total of 14 wins in the last two seasons from lefthanders Brett Anderson and Dana Eveland.

 

# First baseman Daric Barton, bumped to the minors by the return this season of Jason Giambi. Outfielder Aaron Cunningham, who has a .214 average for parts of two seasons in the majors.

 

# Minor-league hitter Chris Carter.

 

In Beane's defense, all of these players — save Holliday — are 25 or younger and have not reached their prime. That also holds for a rotation of lefthanders Dallas Braden, Anderson and Outman and righthanders Trevor Cahill and Vin Mazzaro. It is a promising group, but the Athletics have been here before only to trade the arms.

 

Remember what got you there.

 

The irony of "Moneyball" is that while the book relentlessly paints the Athletics as discovering the hidden value of on-base percentage, their lineup has been terrible in that area.

 

Through June, Oakland ranked last in the AL for on-base percentage at .312. A year ago, the Athletics tied Seattle for last in on-base percentage at .318.

 

Who would want to watch a movie about that?

 

FoxSports

Edited July 3, 2009 by G&T

[Chisoxfn]

Hillarious since I constantly ripped all the slobbering people did over Beane.

[ThunderBolt]

Hold up. Wait. People still resent Billy Beane for a book that MICHAEL LEWIS wrote about him? Whaaaattttt? Nobody ever said Beane was the best GM in the league, but it’s clear that his methodology has found success throughout the league. He’s one of the better analytical GM’s in the game. I don’t understand the way some people salivate the minute the Oakland A’s fall below .500. as if it points to anything other then faulty roster management, or just poor play, a circumstance that EVERY GM falls into.