Don't understand Beane's moves? Good.
So, you can't figure out what Billy Beane is trying to do. That means he isn't confiding in you, and that's a good thing.
If you can't figure out what he's doing, the other GM's can't, either. That's a good thing.
If the A's are 26th in payroll spending while they are near-last in revenue, that's a good thing. Committing to ridiculous future expenditures while assuming ever-rising revenues is a stupid thing. In Vegas, it is known as "betting on the come," the sucker's strategy. Just think if you were a Mets fan, or a Dodgers fan, or a Mariners fan, or a Cubs fan, or...name 20 other teams.
If the A's occasionally veer off-course in their rebuilding (2009) in an effort to be competitve, all while stockpiling big-time right-handed "wap-a-pap" hitting talent, that's a good thing.
Being an A's fan is a good, constantly entertaining, thing. Grazie, Billy.
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Dodgers and Mariners Fans
Just think if you were a Mets fan, or a Dodgers fan, or a Mariners fan, or a Cubs fan, or…name 20 other teams.
If I was a Dodgers or Mariners fan, I’d be thinking “division title” right now.
The Ultimate Opportunist
by Rated-R Superstar on Dec 23, 2009 10:20 PM PST reply actions
I hate you
But not because of your comment – because of your signature. Damn you DAVIS!!!
The A's are gonna win a lot of games this season... That's a good thing.
Someday the caldera at Yellowstone will erupt and cover the world with a blanket of sulfuric ash… That’s a good thing.
Someday, human beings will get together and build a rocket ship, in which to blast Huell Hauser into the sun… That’s a good thing.
"Sniff some krazy glue, and start a religion!"- The Reverend Billy Lard
More likeley it will be Mono
the last time it went they found an ash layer in Quebec
"Not in your wildest alcoholic nightmare would you ever imagine such events unfolding!" Bill King
by Buck Turgidson on Dec 24, 2009 11:50 AM PST up reply actions
Qualify, or quantify, likely
Mono (Long Valley Caldera) has some impressive signs, but I will go with my hearsay of some good geologists, that Yellowstone will be first.
I don’t have any comparative numbers though. Do you know of them?
I don’t mind being wrong, but I prefer to be corrected, and be right if it’s possible.
"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled."-Plutarch
by One won lost won on Dec 26, 2009 10:33 AM PST up reply actions
I'm an amateur
But from what I recall from the “rocks for jocks” class I took Mono would be bigger and the larger area is so unstable in terms of conjoining faults.
But you talk to good geologists so I would defer. Either way would be better than a doomsday scenario. snerk
"Not in your wildest alcoholic nightmare would you ever imagine such events unfolding!" Bill King
by Buck Turgidson on Dec 28, 2009 7:26 AM PST up reply actions
sometimes wikipedia is pretty sweet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Valley_Caldera
"Not in your wildest alcoholic nightmare would you ever imagine such events unfolding!" Bill King
by Buck Turgidson on Dec 28, 2009 7:37 AM PST up reply actions
It's just too easy, isn't it?
I can’t bring myself to say it either.
by still bills kingdom on Dec 24, 2009 5:34 PM PST up reply actions
The only way to win
What some baseball fans don’t understand that spending lots of money means nothing now days since the yanks and redsox can out spend what ever you spend. You must build your teams up with young players for a long run of 3 years. Giants are a prime example of buying enough players to be a 500 team but no shot of a championship.
I would not say "no shot"
The Giants could have gone deep into the playoffs, where anything could happen, if a couple of players had career years. Sandoval plus a fine season by a 1B and 2B would have done it.
Three or so “career years” is usually what catapults non-accumulating teams (i.e. not the Yankees, not the Red Sox, not the Mets) into the playoffs, IMO.
"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled."-Plutarch
by One won lost won on Dec 26, 2009 10:37 AM PST up reply actions
Zduriencik isn't confiding in me either, but I like what he's doing a lot more.
It's not the results, it's how you look going about those results -- Tim McCarver
he's doing what he needs to out of necessity though
Beane has one of the most stacked farm systems in the game; John Z has many years of remnants of a moron GM to try and eradicate all previous memories of. Beane has the stocks, John Z is going out to acquire the bonds. Beane can afford to and kind of needs to just sit on his hands, John Z needs to completely overhaul everything, he’s just doing a real good job of it.
Z is playing for 2010 and 2011,
and he’s drawing against his 2012 and 2013 in order to do it.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
They haven't given away any pieces that I thought were worth much in the long haul
A few C-grade prospects— who’s really going to notice the difference? The best guy he’s traded has been Jeff Clement, who hasn’t exactly made him pay.
The M’s farm system is actually better now than it was a year ago, thanks to Dustin Ackley and what are really only minimal losses in trade.
O'Hara: Detective Lassiter is literally on fire.
Spencer: What kind of fire are we talking about-- "Michael Jackson in the Pepsi commercial" fire, or "misusing the word literally" fire?
I get your point, but
I think you overstate it. Even if none of them are top-quality prospects, there’s still just the quantity of them. Part of the numbers game is to load up in quantity on second-tier prospects and wait for a few of them to shake out.
I count these nine: Brett Lorin, Aaron Pribanic, Nathan Adcock, Justin Souza, Luis Valbuena, Fabian Williamson, Philippe Aumont, J.C. Ramirez, Tyson Gillies. I get that none of them is a sure thing, and any one of them alone will probably amount to little or nothing. But throw enough guys against the wall and a few of them will probably stick. Add to that formerly hot prospects fallen from grace, Wlad, Morrow, and Clement; all three are not what was once hoped of them, but they aren’t total busts yet either. Any one of them could still put it together, too.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
It's Jack Z, is it not?
"Loyal? I'm the most loyal player money can buy." - Don Sutton
I thought his nickame was
Roc-A-Fella.
"Sniff some krazy glue, and start a religion!"- The Reverend Billy Lard
by Gaijin_Suketto on Dec 27, 2009 1:14 AM PST up reply actions
Like Cust and Hannahan
he has the given name John. (Not John Joseph, though.)
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
if I know Billy Beane
He doesn’t just have one plan for improving the team. There’s going to be at least one more “big” move this offseason (according to my gut). But what it ends up being will just depend on how the market continues to develop. Still, it better be a cleanup hitter!!!

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