DCBucky
Mar 30 2003, 07:34 AM
Profile of the A's GM in today's NYTimes Magazine. "How a cheap, conniving, exceedingly clever general manager reinvented the Oakland As -- and Major League Baseball."
His top tips:
Good fielding usually costs more that it's worth.
Base stealers tend to be bad deals.
Batters who walk alot are often undervalued.
Pitchers who don't throw hard can be good bargains.
Link to article here. (reg. req.)
[ March 30, 2003, 06:35 AM: Message edited by: DCBucky ]
Charlie in the Trees
Mar 30 2003, 10:47 AM
The opening anecdote to the article makes it clear that the Billy Beane/Art Howe was doomed. The rocket scientist vs. the traditional baseball guy. The only surprise is that relationship lasted as long as it did.
I do take issue with two things in the article, one from Beane and one from Michael Lewis, the author:
(1) I strongly disagree with Beane's assessment that defense is over-valued. Good defense makes pitching better. Pitchers make better pitches when they can trust their defense. If defense is so over-valued, why are A-Rod and Jeter making so much more than Omar Vizquel?
(2) I don't understand why Lewis was so dismissive of the Minnesota Twins. The Twins beat the A's an ALDS last year, yet Lewis labels them "clearly inferior," or some such nonsense. The Twins have developed an alternative model for competing with a low payroll. Their model is based on defense and discipline. The manager (not the GM) is the center of that particular model. Rather than dismissing the Twins out-of-hand, there should've been some recognition that they are viable alternative strategy.
One final point, there was a really interesting issue raised by that story that the author completely overlooked. He discussed how Beane was the single-most decisive GM in baseball, with a serene sense of the corrrectness of his actions. Yet, earlier in the article, he talks about how Beane's big league career was doomed by self-doubts and second-guessing. Ummm, isn't there an interesting question about how a player paralyzed with doubt becomes the decisive team executive? Would've liked to have seen that question answered.
Good article, though.