Moneyball had more to do with Michael Lewis' view of the world than it did with Beane's.
As for the GRE, it's all facts.
and Tejada and Chavez.
But Lewis is a good writer who likes stories. It's why his books are so easy to read and entertaining. He takes some licenses and I think the As were simply the vehicle he used to make a grander point that maybe wasn't a 100% accurate.
He is a lot like Gladwell really.
50PoundHead (10-23-2017), jpx7 (10-26-2017), Knucksie (10-23-2017)
Beane's been pretty mediocre the last decade after the Big 3 dissolved and moved on and has made some just awful mind boggling moves during that time frame as well. Most overrated GM in history behind JS
So who you got in game 1 of the series? Verlander vs Kershaw..,,should be a good one
50PoundHead (10-23-2017), Knucksie (10-23-2017)
Not to mention the fact that while Beane had the right idea in mind (making data-centric decisions), some of his assumptions were just flat out wrong. His position that defense didn't matter cost the Athletics wins. People don't realize that Chris Pratt Hatteberg (who did have a good first year in Oakland) was a replacement level player for the next three years in Oakland. He was one of the shining examples of Beane's brilliance from Lewis' book. The data we have now shows that Beane was wrong.
Last edited by chop2chip; 10-23-2017 at 02:46 PM.
That's what happens when you have to geniuses in the room at the same time. Both are so smug and arrogant they just can't get out of the way of themselves...and someone has to win.
JS thought he was acquiring another top notch starter like Maddux, when all signs were pointing that Hudson was in decline. Don't get me wrong he still was a very good pitcher but this wasn't acquiring a top tier ace at the peak of their prime, therefore Hudson's value wasn't as high as many perceive it should have been. But our buffoon up stairs thought that he was assembling a better pitching staff that we even had in the nineties with Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz in their primes with the likes of Hudson, Hampton, and John Thomson!
Beanie on the hand was clearly overthinking things and trying to make everyone look dumb by taking a horrible deal. Dan Meyer was never going to amount to much at the big league level and Charles Thomas rode a hit streak for the As to believe they acquired the next Kenny Lofton. It was a risk, if those players would have amounted to anything, and we knew they wouldn't, Beane would have been annointed baseballs greatest genius of all time all the while his organization would have been better off taking the safer and "better" option on the table.
I may be in the minority, but a rotation of Smoltz, Hudson, healthy Hampton, Thomson, and Jaret Wright was pretty good. We will be really lucky if we have a rotation as good as that one any time soon.
Last edited by Enscheff; 10-23-2017 at 03:23 PM.
By your measure of success, JS is a revolutionary.
I'm not stating Beane is a moron. I just think he is more of a beneficiary of a great pool of talented young players that propped up his outsized reputation. On the other hand, I think Friedman deserves all the praise he's received and more.
Context matters
Now wait a second, I was told by several resident board geniuses that acquiring young talent is the best way to judge a GM (even if they inherit it from the previous GM).
Or is that only true when they want to say the Braves FO is brilliant?
It's so confusing trying to apply consistent logic to pozzies.
Great performance by Kershaw and Turner is simply on fire.
Vin Scully is just the ****ing GOAT.
That was a classic. Vin rocks!
Chopping With The Braves And Rolling With The Tide
CyYoung31 (10-25-2017)