Beane not on the money
Billy Beane’s commando attack on the long-established principles of building and maintaining a baseball franchise, a reputation stoked by a fawning book he did not write called “Moneyball,” has left few sympathizers for his Oakland A’s, last and looking it in the American League West.
Scouts feeling underappreciated by Beane’s theories and general managers feeling intimidated by Beane’s charisma have arrived now at smug, a long-in-coming superiority jolt kept afloat as the Athletics struggle through injuries and the trades of pitchers Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson. It doesn’t hurt that teams run by Beane disciples Paul DePodesta and J.P. Ricciardi – the Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays – are running lukewarm as well.
Baseball doesn’t much stand for change. It helps make it the sport it is, which you are free to take how you would like.
A system born of his own baseball sensibilities and the limitations of a payroll that has shrunk in relation to the league’s foremost franchises, Beane’s instinct- and computer-driven strategies, along with the arrival of Mulder, Hudson and Barry Zito, put the A’s among the elite. The trip back is going to take time; the money-driven trades of Mulder and Hudson brought, at best, varied reviews, and Zito, who has deserved better than his 2-6 record, can be a free agent after this season, if the A’s do not pick up his 2006 option, or next.
All of which has provided a small thrill to the baseball folks who don’t particularly care for Beane, or his manner, or his game.
“And,” Beane said, chuckling, “they never put their names to it.”
If nothing else, he added, “People do care about what we’re doing, which is something.”
Or not doing, as the case may be.
The A’s have lost half their pitching staff to injury, and last week closer Octavio Dotel opted for elbow surgery despite several medical opinions that advised against it. Eric Chavez, in the first season of a six-year, $66-million contract, has slumped; a home run Thursday was his fifth, and two hits took his average to .225. Jason Kendall is batting .246 and, as expected, providing no power. Eric Byrnes, who appears to be in manager Ken Macha’s rearview mirror, is in a three-man platoon with Nick Swisher and Bobby Kielty. Mark Kotsay and Kielty have hit some, but the A’s have hit 30 home runs and have a team OPS (a measure of on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) of .673, both by far the worst in baseball.
They also are on pace to lose more than 1,000 player games to the disabled list. Last season, only the Boston Red Sox sacrificed as many as 600 games to the DL and made the playoffs.
“It’s gotten progressively worse,” Beane said. “That being said, that’s part of the game. … You know, that’s the job. Deal with it. Shame on me as the GM for not being able to respond well enough.”
Yet last week found Beane, whose tirades in the clubhouse and testy phone calls to the manager’s office have become legend – “urban legend,” he has claimed – cool and buoyant. Starter Rich Harden and reliever Kiko Calero are due back from injuries soon, Bobby Crosby returned from the disabled list hitting and they had won four in a row until Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays ended the streak Friday.
New owner Lew Wolff has been understanding and optimistic through two very difficult months and, besides, Beane has Pope-like job security; he is signed through 2012 and his ownership stake in the franchise is nearly 5 percent.
They trundle onward, rebuilding and reassessing, living in the glare of the last decade, Beane not humbled by life near the bottom.