“What happened to steals cost outs?” Steals themselves don’t cost outs. They advance you one base, which is a good thing. They cost you outs if they come at the expense of too many caught stealings. I think there was even a point in the book where Beane said there would be a day when the A’s had several 40 SB threats.

“Not to mention, Beane’s team hasn’t been competitive in three seasons. Was Moneyball just a symptom of the era?” I think the game has evolved a lot since then. At the time, Beane was able to take fuller advantage of market inefficiencies because fewer teams were using more advanced methods. Now, not only are more teams using these more advanced methods (and subsequently removing certain inefficiencies and mitigating the effects of others), but they have more resources than the A’s do. The Red Sox have probably the best GM in baseball (who wasn’t a GM at the time of Moneyball) and one of the largest budgets. The Yankees, the Rays, the D’Backs, the Brewers, the Indians, the Mariners, the Padres, the Cardinals, and whole bunch of other teams are all now vying for the same types of things and trying to make the same advancements. Instead of the A’s being one of the few teams ahead of the curve, now they’re just a part of the arms race with fewer resources than most of their competitors.

“Would Moneyball be written today? Hard to imagine Michael Lewis sitting down with a GM of a sub-.500 club and polishing his pedestal, right?” Yes, but probably with a different team as the focal point, and with a different focus than OBP (probably defense). I think there will always be inefficiencies, it’s just that now teams are better run and better able to identify them.

That’s not to say I’m a full-fledged Moneyball supporter or that I don’t recognize its shortcomings, it’s just that I think it’s misunderstood and that context often goes overlooked.

Anyway, my two cents.

My cat Pookie says I should drop Leo like a bad habit.

And that’s me quoting Pookie!

Have another………………

Was just texting back and forth with my commish tonight and apparently one owner was talking to him about taking Lincecum in the first round, and he’s “supporting” every word the guy says, LOL…. god i love planting a seed, whispering in an ear…ya know what i mean, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!

Yes I had an off day from school (teacher! snowday!) and i’ve been drinking, cheers….

If that was a pun, then you get +100 props

@Roscoe Myrick: True, and it’s only $10 million. I’m not being facetious. What’s $10 million in today’s climate for a potential staff ace? Then he can flip him if need be. Sheets wasn’t even a full indictment of Beane… Only partially. My opening was more about the current state of Beane.

EDIT: Word.

http://razzball.com/2010-fantasy-baseball-rankings/

That is so true that it is laugh out loud funny!