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Book Report: Moneyball

 "In all of baseball for the past few years there has been only one batter more useful to an offense: Barry Bonds." ~ Quote by Billy Beane about Jason Giambi.

MY FAVORITE BASEBALL POINTS

I have heard of people referring to Moneyball as the bible of baseball. However, I have never read a bible that contained an F-bomb and Moneyball contains enough F-bombs to be considered an IVD (Improvised Vocal Device). In its true light, this book should be considered as a doorway into the sabermetrics library. The author Michael Lewis, goes into great depth explaining where Billy Beane gains his measurements of baseball players. Most of the metrics lead to Bill James and the background on James proved fascinating revealing a legacy he has created for statistically starved baseball fans.

James0508_medium

via img.timeinc.net


HOW IT APPLIES TO THE COLORADO ROCKIES

Billy Beane believes that a closer can be created and Saves is a misleading stat. "Bases empty in the 9th inning with the team leading-was clearly far less critical than a lot of other situations pitchers faced. You could take a slightly above average pitcher and drop him into the closer’s role, let him accumulate some gaudy number of saves, and then sell him off." This belief is most likely a precursor to why Beane traded Huston Street to the Rockies in the 2009 offseason.

In preparing for the 2002 draft, Billy Beane discovers that the Rockies have failed to ink a high school CF named Denard Span to a predraft deal which he fears may have cost him Nick Swisher, his targeted first pick in the draft. The Rockies select Jeff Francis instead, Minnesota selects Span later in the draft and then signs him for less money than Colorado offered, Span hit .294 in 08 with 47 RBIs.

IF YOU LIKED THIS BOOK, YOU SHOULD READ THIS LITERARY CLASSIC

Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane

The two books have similar parallels as Beane and the youth in Courage are both considered initial failures, before ultimately saving companies which are considered inferior. Courage is set during the Civil War and attempts to explain hidden truths as to why men are fighting and dying. It asks the question of what is courage, and how is it earned?

13706172_medium

via images.barnesandnoble.com


 

 

 

Poll
How do you feel about sabermetrics?
They are viable stats which should be used by more Major League teams.
25 votes
I prefer old fashioned stats like RBIs, Batting Avg and Pitching Wins.
7 votes
Who needs stats? I'm not a math geek! I use the eyeball test.
1 votes

33 votes | Poll has closed

Eat. Drink. Be Merry. But the above FanPost does not necessarily reflect the attitudes, opinions, or views of Purple Row's staff (unless, of course, it's written by the staff [and even then, it still might not]).

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CRITICISM OF THE BOOK

Players are not part of an equation, they deal with injuries, fears, and outside pressures which affect their performance. The book references On Base Percentage (OBP) and OBP plus slugging percentage (OPS) as the golden arrow of winning baseball, but I am unconvinced to their importance as a dominating factor.

Let’s look at how OBP and OPS have helped teams since 2002.
2002-2008 OBP
1-Yankees .358
4-Colorado .343
10-Oakland .336

2002-2008 OPS
1-Yankees .815
6-Colorado .777
14-Oakland .754

2002-2008 AVG WINS
Yankees- 97
Colorado- 75
Oakland- 89

Colorado has performed better than Oakland in OBP and OPS since Moneyball came out, and has not translated the stat into wins. Most revealing of all is that in 2008 Oakland ranked 28th in OBP. Which tells me either Beane has abandoned this philosophy as wrong, or chosen the wrong talent to fill this metric.

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Feb 22, 2009 1:34 AM MST reply actions  

Beane may identify OBP and OPS as very important stats, but I’m not sure (without having read it) that he identifies it as THE stats to win by. Naturally, they don’t address pitching talent whatsoever. If the Rockies had the pitching of Oakland or New York the last seven years, they would be much, much higher.

Beane has abandoned this philosophy as wrong, or chosen the wrong talent to fill this metric.

Or maybe neither? The year after Moneyball was published, Oakland fell precipitously in the OBP standings. It had long been suspected that OBP was an important metric, but Moneyball quantified it higher than expected. The NFL is known as a "copycat" league. When an innovation breeds success, it is copied until competition is once again normalized, creating the need for another innovation. The NFL isn’t the only place this copycat trait exists – it’s only more apparent in its formations and strategies. While Beane may have chosen some poor players in 08, I believe that other teams jumping on the OBP bandwagon may also be an explanation

"Winning doesn't really matter as long as you win." - Vinny Jones

by Andrew T. Fisher on Feb 22, 2009 9:37 AM MST up reply actions  

OBP was the main focus of the book...

Beane used previous Athletics GM Sandy Alderson’s concepts and expanded upon them based off of the writings of Bill James. There were 3 rules within the A’s organization

1. Every batter needs to behave like a leadoff man, and adopt as his main goal getting on base.
2. Every batter should also possess the power to hit home runs, in part because home run power foced opposing pitchers to pitch more cautiously, and led to walks, and high on-base percentages.
3. To anyone with the natural gifts to become a professional baseball player, hitting was less a physical than a mental skill. Or at any rate, the aspects of hitting that could be taught were mental.
P. 59, Moneyball

The book also discusses how Oakland was looking for ineffeciencies of the market, but it kept coming back to OBP. When Beane discusses how they were planning on replacing Giambi and Johnny Damon in 2002, he didn’t say anything about replacing the homeruns or batting average. Beane said he was trying to find players who would equal the OBP of those two players.

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Feb 22, 2009 10:10 PM MST up reply actions  

2008 was clearly a rebuilding year for the Oakland Athletics

They’ve traded away many key parts and just ran a few cheap/scrapheap guys to try and keep things competitive. To say that Beane has abandoned OBP players is shortsighted.

OBP and OPS are the keys to good offense. Clearly, the oakland players didn’t have it this year. I won’t deny that.

There’s a few problems which many people have pointed out about OPS, including Tom Tango.

OBP is intended to show how well a player is at creating a situation for others to advance him, while SLG shows a player’s individual ability to advance runners himself.

The first problem with OPS is that all baseball thinkers will rank OBP as MUCH more valuable than SLG, as you can’t score runs (as a team) without people on base, no matter how well you drive them in. Some think that OPS should really be (3 or 4)*OBP + SLG.

The second problem with OPS, and Tango touches on this in “The Book”, is that OPS is essentially suggesting that a player gets on base and then drives himself in. If you had a team full of clones, or at least a couple clones batting sequentially, then you could use OPS by itself, as you have people with identical On-Base skills and people with identical Slugging skills, and then you could just use OPS to define how well a player is at producing runs.

I talked with PF about this outside of PR, and we were talking about how OPS is nice because it’s comprised of easy-to-find numbers, without having to bust out a spreadsheet or anything like that. However, it is misleading when evaluating a player and not knowing his component numbers.

Say I have 2 .800 OPS guys. They’re equally valuable, right (assuming all the other little variables like baserunning ability and lineup position and surrounding batters are equal)? Perhaps, but say I told you that Player 1 has a line of .300/.370/.430, and then Player 2 bats .272/.272/.528. Personally, Player 1 is supreme. He makes 10% fewer outs than Player 2. I have him in my starting lineup every day. Player 2, however, never walks, however, averages a double every time he hits the ball (almost), and would most likely be my last PH option, as I don’t want to give him more than like 1, maybe 2 outs at a time to work with.

Once I’ve finally read Moneyball (I own it, it’s sitting on my table, I’m just busy as hell with school ATM) I’ll come back and make more commentary on both the Book and your report. I’m glad you’re doing this. I mean, it’s kind of dull, but that’s what PF and I get into – the boring parts of baseball.

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 22, 2009 3:54 PM MST up reply actions  

Thanks for the description on OPS...

That’s the best explanation I’ve read so far on the web (+1). I like how it shows a hitters ability to place himself at a position on the basepaths before he takes a swing, while avg only shows if he’ll make it to first base.

There is a good article on Driveline Mechanics using Moneyball as an example and comparing OPS and Defense to see which is the better measurable. The author, Devil_Tongue, compares Adam Dunn and Endy Chavez to come to the conclusion that they are both comparable. It’s a pretty good read, and I am dam envious of his graphics!

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Feb 22, 2009 10:25 PM MST up reply actions  

I think a key point missing

from the write-up, is that Beane didn’t necessarily say OBP was the best stat, rather OBP was superior to batting average, and also (and this is the key part for Oakland) was that it was undervalued by the market. Poseidon touched on this, but part of Oakland’s drop in OBP could partially be attributed to other teams acknowledging OBP and seeking out those players. I don’t remember if he was specifically mentioned in Moneyball, I think he was but anyway, Kevin Youkilis would be an example of this.

Right now, it’s looking like defense is the hot undervalued commodity. I think this has something to do with defensive statistics (other than fielding percent) really blossoming. This is probably the first time defense has been really quantified.

by Resolution on Feb 22, 2009 6:33 PM MST reply actions  

Euclis, the god of walks...

Is how Moneyball refers to Kevin Youkilis. Even though he is only an overweight AA player at the time, the A’s covet Youkilis to the point they attempt to insert themselves in several trades to try and acquire him. Beane is sneaky in trades, he’s like the kid at the lunch table trading until he winds up with the chocolate milk, cookies and jello-pudding snacks and your sisters phone number.

Defense was actually a big write-up in the book. Although the A’s speak disparaging of its value, Michael Lewis gave a major portion of a chapter to this topic. Lewis describes a company called AVM Systems which divided the baseball field into matrices and recorded every ball put into play and divided the results into derivatives. Pretty cool stuff, although I’m not sure of its value.

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Feb 22, 2009 10:52 PM MST up reply actions  

With the advent of UZR

I would wager that defense is going to start taking a forefront, as it’s more easily quantifiable now.

Mike Aviles, for example, with the range he showed last season, will always have a job. That’s been anecdotally true forever, a good defensive shortstop will never be out of work. For example, Omar Vizquel was worth 1.2 Wins above replacement. And it’s ALL glove.

The “revolutionary” aspect is that the less premium positions – RF, 2B, 3B – want stronger gloves now, and because we are becoming more able to quantify defense (albeit imperfectly) in more recognizable players, premium defense is becoming a passable substitute for a strong bat.

For example, according to fangraphs, Adam Dunn is worth 1.3 wins above average. To contrast, Garrett Anderson is worth 1.8 wins. (to further contrast, Albert Pujols is worth 8.9 wins – just so you can see the scale a bit better. Jeff Francouer was worth 1.2 wins. Hawpe was worth -0.8 wins :’( )

The breakdown comes that Adam Dunn is all bat, and a bad enough glove to almost make him average. Garrett Anderson is a strong glove and a slightly below average bat, worth just a shade more than Adam Dunn is.

Basically, as metrics such as UZR are refined, we can start to value players in a much broader spectrum, and players will start to fit together like a puzzle.

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 23, 2009 10:35 AM MST up reply actions  

I don't know why that's struck out

but Frenchie was worth negative 1.2 and Hawpe negative 0.8

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 23, 2009 1:05 PM MST up reply actions  

I thought UZR was a defensive metric?

Does it also take offensive categories in mind when defining a players value?

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Feb 24, 2009 1:12 AM MST up reply actions  

UZR is just defensive

They have pretty good ways of breaking down run contributions offensively already, and now they’re putting defense into terms of runs prevented

Runs made while batting + Runs prevented defensively = Run value of player

Divide that by 10 and you have an idea of how many Wins the player is worth.

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 24, 2009 8:33 AM MST up reply actions  

Since 2000, Oakland has made it to the postseason 5 times.

Now that’s pretty good. 5 times in the last 9 seasons. We’d be thrilled with that. for a while. But on 4 of those occasions, they lost in the first round and the other time they lost in the ALCS.

So the question is why does this team not go further in the playoffs? Is the construction of this team just good enough to get to the playoffs?

by pedalpusher on Feb 22, 2009 11:05 PM MST reply actions  

Billy Beane's s*** doesn't work in the playoffs.

Just ask him.

Staying on the sunny side of Blake Street since 1993.
MHCSports - Denver sports analysis from Denver sports fans

by Franchise26 on Feb 23, 2009 6:22 AM MST up reply actions  

+1 for the perfect quote

I had forgotten that

It’s based on the idea of sample sizes.

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 23, 2009 10:12 AM MST up reply actions  

But the question is why doesn't Billy Beane's s*** work in the playoffs?

If the whole deal is based on sample size, none of it’s gonna work.

If metrics are worth all the drum beating, what metrics should a playoff eager team be looking at?

by pedalpusher on Feb 23, 2009 1:43 PM MST up reply actions  

The same ones that you use during the season.

The issue is that during the season, hot and cold streaks and the like offset each other. However, during such a small timeframe, hot and cold streaks have a far greater impact.

For example, if Jeff Baker is very hot for a month, he’s very good. If he’s very cold for a month, he’s very poor. If you look at the summation of those 2 months, he’s average Jeff Baker.

If Adam Dunn is hot, he might bat .270/.420/.580 or something monstrous like that. The next month, he gets cold, and bats .210/.340/.460. But if you just look at how he did during those 2 months, he batted .240/.380/.520. Pretty standard Adam Dunn type stuff.

But if Jeff Baker (or Adam Dunn) gets hot during the playoffs, he might just stay hot until they’re over. Sure, a cold streak might follow, but he’s already home with a ring at that point.

Billy Beane’s stuff is based on looking at a larger sample size, like the length of a season. It doesn’t focus as much on individual gameplay.

Tom Tango’s stuff, however, focuses on game to game decisions.

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 23, 2009 4:13 PM MST up reply actions  

e.g., Rocktober

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 23, 2009 4:26 PM MST up reply actions  

yes dbacks

that was the conclusion I’d have hoped they’d draw.

You know, on their own.

oh btw
2007 ARI Pythag: 79-83
2007 COL Pythag: 91-72

so don’t git yer britches too big

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 23, 2009 4:34 PM MST up reply actions  

Beating a dead horse.

What’s important is that we won 90.

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 23, 2009 4:49 PM MST up reply actions  

What's more important

Is that we won four that mattered.

Staying on the sunny side of Blake Street since 1993.
MHCSports - Denver sports analysis from Denver sports fans

by Franchise26 on Feb 23, 2009 7:36 PM MST up reply actions  

It's true.

But not the next four that also mattered… ;-)

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 23, 2009 8:40 PM MST up reply actions  

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 24, 2009 8:37 AM MST up reply actions  

We have a better one at the 'Pit:

But it’s mostly reserved for discussions of Carlos Quentin and (now, anyway) Randy Johnson.

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 24, 2009 9:05 AM MST up reply actions  

I think they're both equally good

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 24, 2009 9:14 AM MST up reply actions  

You would.

You’re a sabermetrician. ;-)

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 24, 2009 9:44 AM MST up reply actions  

I don't know

Ours is more similar to Office Space

"Winning doesn't really matter as long as you win." - Vinny Jones

by Andrew T. Fisher on Feb 24, 2009 10:20 AM MST up reply actions  

I sorta figured

it was a reference to that.

But ours is more similar to Raskolnikov.

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 24, 2009 10:30 AM MST up reply actions  

we're american sorry

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 24, 2009 10:32 AM MST up reply actions  

we're educated, sorry

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 24, 2009 10:50 AM MST up reply actions  

old timey pictures = educated?

oooh look at you mr old timey picture

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 24, 2009 10:54 AM MST up reply actions  

Why yes, actually.

We’re classy like that. Plus we talk about Raskolnikov. And…. beating dead horses. And stuff.

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 24, 2009 11:37 AM MST up reply actions  

This thread has been..

I suspect Cobra’s involvement.

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Feb 24, 2009 12:26 PM MST up reply actions  

I do that sometimes...

and RMN seems to be my PR equivalent. (Except that he doesn’t regularly post at the Snakepit)

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 24, 2009 1:10 PM MST up reply actions  

Dude

Your writers’ articles are WALL OF TEXT

I can’t find snippets to focus on

I have trouble paying attenti- oh a squirrel!

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 25, 2009 12:47 AM MST up reply actions  

What?? Don't blame ME for the fact that you can't read...

Heck, I have ADD and I can make it through Jim’s articles…

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 25, 2009 1:01 AM MST up reply actions  

WALLLL OFFF TEXXXXTTTTT

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 25, 2009 11:51 AM MST up reply actions  

Hip new trend.

Try it.

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 25, 2009 1:29 PM MST up reply actions  

Hip new reality

Deal with it

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 25, 2009 2:16 PM MST up reply actions  

No, sir.

I feel like RMN and myself are too alike — all the attributes that I dislike about myself, I see in him. :-P

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 26, 2009 12:25 AM MST up reply actions  

......

how would you separate us, anyhow? It’s the internet.

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 26, 2009 9:06 AM MST up reply actions  

Also remember

You build a team to win during the season. If you can’t win during the season, you can’t win during the playoffs. There isn’t a formula for winning in the playoffs.

The playoffs is where all the crazy bounces and amazing plays and improbable events are front and center.

If the Yankees ended every game with “The Flip” then oh man

If Reggie Jackson was Mr October as well as Mr Regular Season he’d be the greatest player ever.

How many times does Bill Buckner really blow that play during the season?

You get the idea. The Playoffs are where all the stupid intangibles suddenly become “real”, when they’d just be outlier points during the regular season.

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 23, 2009 4:21 PM MST up reply actions  

Also

The real value of Moneyball: Where else can you read a whole chapter of a serious book and say holy crap, did I just read an entire chapter about Chad Bradford?

by Resolution on Feb 23, 2009 6:23 PM MST reply actions  

I loved the chapter about Chad Bradford...

The story about his dad being paralyzed from a stroke and not being able to lift his arm fully. So when young Chad played catch with his dad he was programmed to pitch sidearmed. Then as his career progressed he dropped his arm angle lower and lower to overcome adversity. Until finally Bradford is so low he brushes the ground causing wild pitches.

Plus the story about the White Sox not believing in him, even though he dominates at a high elevation environment ala Coors Field. So they store him in AAA until Beane trades for him. Cool Stuff.

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Feb 23, 2009 9:32 PM MST up reply actions  

Holy crap

Did I just read an entire comment about Chad Bradford?

http://twitter.com/blakebomber

by BlakeBomber on Feb 24, 2009 2:41 PM MST up reply actions  

Is there a player you would rather talk about?

Like A-rod?
Or how about JD Drew? A “great” player because he owns a lifetime OBP of .392 and is blessed with amazing talent. So much talent that Beane clone Paul DePodesta signed Drew to a 5 year $55 million contract in which he played in only 61% of the Dodgers games and then opted out of his contract. If the player is so great because of his OBP, then why would he play for 4 teams in the past 5 years?

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Feb 26, 2009 11:24 AM MST up reply actions  

Attitude and Injury

Makes a player unwantable even if his OBP is Awesome

JD Drew is awesome. He’s just a jerk. And a fragile one at that.

See: Bradley, Milton.

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 26, 2009 12:20 PM MST up reply actions  

Both those guys were signed by ...

Paul DePodesta when he managed the Dodgers.

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Mar 4, 2009 1:12 AM MST up reply actions  

I think he was banking

On Tracy or Little (whoever was at the helm then) on being able to stabilize that clubhouse. Alas, everyone got hurt.

Seriously, look at 2007: if Bradley had stayed healthy, we might not have had Rocktober.

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Mar 4, 2009 9:13 AM MST up reply actions  

Replace Bradley through healthy

with about 1000 other things, and will ring true. We had to have about 95% of all things go right

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

by Andrew T. Fisher on Mar 4, 2009 6:25 PM MST up reply actions  

Not only did Bradley injure himself...

He tore ligaments in Mike Cameron’s hand after spiking him on a fly ball collision. Smooth move Bradley, in one game you effectively took out 2/3rds of the Padres outfield.


Who cares about his explosive personality? The guy has great OBP!!

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Mar 5, 2009 1:56 AM MST up reply actions  

And that's what makes him such a wild card

He’s a phenomenal batter; just look at his numbers with Texas

But he’s a complete jerk.

I wouldn’t want him here, but if you had a team with someone who could keep him in like, he’s a clear benefit to a lineup.

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Mar 5, 2009 9:32 AM MST up reply actions  

He would need to play on a team loaded with veterans...

That hold him accountable with high expectations. Similar to what the Boston Celtics are hoping to get out of Stephon Marbury.

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Mar 5, 2009 12:45 PM MST up reply actions  

Precisely

I think Bradley’s had to eat some humble pie seeing how he nearly singlehandedly ruined the 2007 Padres’ chances for the postseason, like we mentioned above. You didn’t hear ANY trouble with him in Texas, and I think Pinella has the oomph to get him to shut up and get in line.

You know, he’ll just roll his wheelchair into the dugout every game….

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Mar 5, 2009 2:12 PM MST up reply actions  

Comparing Management Strategies

"But we’ve always been obsessed in Oakland with not being the cute small-market story that came and went." ~ Billy Beane

Beane does what he’s always done, trade away ripening players such as Swisher and Haren for younger pitchers Brett Anderson and future closer Joey Devine. The acquisition of Devine allowed Huston Street to become expendable as Beane sent him and others for a free-agent-to-be so the A’s could receive future draft considerations, if not a slew of prospects at the trading deadline. Beane has continued to buy low, sell high and reshuffle the deck if things don’t work out.

"We’re an organization – and a general manager – that went through a period of time searching for what we truly needed to be as an organization." ~ Dan O’Dowd

In comparison Dan O’Dowd has also traded ripening players Holliday and Jennings for young pitchers Bucholz, Street, Hirsch, Smith. However, O’Dowd has taken another path in his strategizing by extending contracts of arbitration eligible players in an attempt to purchase free agency years. The tactic also works towards building trust in the team by providing financial stability for the player. O’Dowd probably believes this trust can translate into the Rockies receiving future consideration when the player tests the open market.

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Feb 24, 2009 12:51 AM MST reply actions  

In comparison Dan O’Dowd has also traded ripening players Holliday and Jennings for young pitchers Bucholz, Street, Hirsch, Smith. However, O’Dowd has taken another path in his strategizing by extending contracts of arbitration eligible players in an attempt to purchase free agency years. The tactic also works towards building trust in the team by providing financial stability for the player. O’Dowd probably believes this trust can translate into the Rockies receiving future consideration when the player tests the open market.

Josh Byrnes does the same thing; that’s the more traditional mid-market path. While big budget teams like the Yankees, Red Sux, Dodgers and Mets can just spend to reload every year, the rest of us have to go in cycles of rebuilding and competing. Beane’s A’s, OTOH, don’t ever look to a certain time in the future when the roster is static because they’re continually rebuilding young. The A’s, as a result, have some level of long-term sustained success, but there’s never any “window” within which they have a particularly good shot at a World Series, either — the closest they’ve come is when they had the “Big 3” of Hudson, Mulder, and Zito. (Back when Zito didn’t completely suck)

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 24, 2009 8:18 AM MST up reply actions  

Beane never creates a team...

With the constant turnover in the clubhouse players should wear name tags on their fronts instead of spread across their backs. Look at the Phillies last year Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels playing together have a strong team chemistry, as was evident in 2007 when they helped the Coors Field Grounds crew during a rain delay

O’Dowd OTOH started a trend of signing young players starting with Jeff Francis in 2006 and following up with Tulo, Cook, Corpas and recently Ubaldo Jimenez. Dealin’ Dan felt that the Rockies fan base would continue to grow with the signing of recognizable players. In addition he gives the group time to become a team. Criticism of this plan would be that players may lose their competitive edge because of the need to fight for the big contract, but this can cause players to think and act selfishly.

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Feb 24, 2009 11:40 AM MST up reply actions  

Agreed

I touched in this very briefly in the Huston Street fanpost, but less about the team and just the psyche in general

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Feb 24, 2009 11:58 AM MST up reply actions  

Beane believes that a closer can be created...

In his time with the A’s Beane has traded away Jasen Isringhausen, Keith Foulke, Octavio Dotel, and now Huston Street. He thinks he can just throw a pitcher in there and he’ll perform well.

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Feb 26, 2009 11:37 AM MST up reply actions  

It's not just that

You take a Jason Grilli type and toss him in the 9th. He has a 22 save season and then follows it up with a 28-35 save season, and while he’s still a good reliever, he isn’t mariano rivera. Thing is, a lot of GMs don’t recognize that, they only see SAVES and then give up good value for them.

The Created Closer is just a competent-to-good relief pitcher who pitches the 9th.

Taylor Buchholz would be a perfect example of a Created Closer Candidate.

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by Andrew Martin on Feb 26, 2009 12:28 PM MST up reply actions  

You really think "The Lemur" isn't ready for a closer's role?

Compare Taylor’s 2008 to Mariano’s career numbers and tell me that he isn’t growing into a potential closer.

………….Whip-OBA-K/9
Rivera 1.02-.266- 8.21
Bucky 0.95-.249 -7.60

Good Closers are undervalued IMO. They shorten a game to 7 innings causing a team to take bad swings early in the game.

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Mar 5, 2009 2:08 AM MST up reply actions  

I agree with you

And I agree that Buchholz has closer’s stuff. But he’s been in the pen all of 1.5 seasons, and he was a project before that anyhow. Give me one more year of similar performance and I’m on board the “Buccholz could be a closer” thing.

The problem with closers is that they’re not properly used. If I have the toughest 3 guys in the lineup coming up in the 8th inning, I sure as hell want my best RP facing them. It’s kind of a leverage thing. Harikkala blows the game in the 7th, I’m not going to need to worry about Chacon blowing it in the 9th.

That said, Beane can keep his best relievers and just use them wherever, while his “created closer” amasses saves and then gets traded, while his better relievers can still patrol the 7th and 8th knocking down opposition.

The concept of a closing “Staff” appeals to me more than just one guy, and the Rockies have the pitchers to do just that.

(Ha, for a minute there I thought you were comparing Buchholz’s and Rivera’s 2008 seasons and calling them similar and I was about to drop the stat hammer on you)

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Mar 5, 2009 10:19 AM MST up reply actions  

+1

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Mar 5, 2009 11:50 AM MST up reply actions  

Does the Stat Hammer look like this?

Some stats are just too legit.

Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.

by Charlie77 on Mar 5, 2009 1:18 PM MST up reply actions  

win

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Mar 5, 2009 2:08 PM MST up reply actions  

That

is scary.

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Mar 5, 2009 2:15 PM MST up reply actions  

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