Fire Beane.

that Bob geren is the real problem, beane made a mistake of hiring him in the first place
but when you look at it, our record could be alot better if only bob geren knows how to manage a baseball team.
he is out there like its little league where parents complain their kid is not getting playing time. he make poor decisions all over the field, in defense, offense and pitching.

if anything Bob Geren is the one who needs to be let go

How about promote Bob Geren to GM….Beane isn’t going anywhere….This isn’t a fantasy baseball league team he is running here..

I’d start with Geren first and then we’ll see.

How many times do people need to point out that, for example, Carlos Pena was nothing special in Detroit and Boston before catching on in Tampa Bay?

You really think Hudson, Mulder and Zito were only good here because of the ballpark they pitched in? I guess they sucked whenever they went on the road.

Harang has already been dealt with a couple weeks ago. He was nothing special at the time and Jose Guillen helped them late in the season and in the playoffs. Harang didn’t start to blossom as a pitcher until he’d been in Cincy for a couple years. Even then, he was terrible last year.

It’s not going to help your case if you present an overly biased POV that ignores all the good moves Beane’s made and the things that worked. I’m not going to go through them because if you need them explained to you, you haven’t been paying attention.

When did Beane tell you that’s why he keeps Crosby around?

at someone else’s house.

id take bavasi and bowden over beane. even steve phillips

gives it away.

C’mon really how can anyone say with a straight face that they would take Jim Bowden over Billy Beane to be the GM. I’m with the folks who think this is a trolling situation.

Ok, so you can name all the bad moves during the Beane era, but yet you offer no insight as to what should have been done, or should be done going forward to prevent similar moves.

>>Beane has got to be let go.<<

He’s part owner.

>>Payroll is his excuse and he is lucky for that.<<

He is lucky for having the type of revenue stream from the paying fanbase that contrains his team’s payroll? It seems to be a decent enough excuse. You do know what happens to businesses that have costs that eclipse payroll, don’t you?

>>Who hires their best man for manager?<<

Um, nepotism and cronyism are rampant everywhere. Especially in places where OPM is being used.

>>Only Beane would do that looking for a puppet so he could be the one in charge.<<

Shouldn’t the GM be more ‘in charge’ than the team manager? It’s not like the team’s manager is going to have the GM report to him, is it?

>>Beane has made way more bad moves then good in his tenure…<<

Absolute bullshit! Your long-term memory is failing you.

>>…and moneyball does not work. <<

Moneyball is simply using statistical analysis to determine what creates runs or save them, how that could potentially translate into wins over a long season, and then spending money on players in an attempt to maximize wins while staying within a budget. Tell the Red Sox [and other teams that are employing it] that it does not work.

>>Crosby: cleary not a mlb caliber player: Beane sees himself in crosby and keeps him for that reason. <<

Except for when he tried not to keep him. But, no one else seemd to want to take on his guaranteed $5.5 million contract. Is this that memory issue again? As it is, the team is probably lucky that he was still on hand considering they were going to pay for him no matter what.

>>"but he developed the big 3" : no the coliseum is a pitchers park for sure so he has gotten lucky with a few guys<<

If they were truly a product of the friendly confines, then doesn’t that make Beane somewhat a genius for developing them, uses them to win games, and then trading them or letting them walk for prospects knowing that they wouldn’t be good away from the coliseum?

>>bad trades: Harden, Pena, harang, hudson, are just a few of the many terrible trades he has done<<

Can’t mention Hudson since he was just a product of the coliseum and got lucky with him anyway.

>>bad signings: Rhodes, Kendall, Piazza, Sweeney, Chavez, just a few of the terrible Signings<<

Not even close; even when you bring up the ones that seem bad with the benefit of hindsight. None — with the exception of Chavez, who looked to be a great signing at the time — had substantial amounts of money/time on their contracts.

Now, what about Beane’s good signings: can your memory-challanged self think of any of those by chance?

>>letting everybody go: payroll is not a good enough of excuse for not keep star players.<<

Are you willing to make up the difference?

Name your ideal line-up of who the Athletics should have kept and how much they would have cost! But here’s the constraint: you must not have any player on this ideal team of yours who came in a trade for another player on the team; can you do that? You should be able to wioth the amount of criticism that you’re levying. So let’s see you try it, shall we?

>>MONEYBALL: DOES NOT WORK- too many bad moves folks<<

Do you even know what Moneyball is? I’ve already took my shot at defining for you but wonder if that memory of yours is still hanging in there.

>>it does not make you a better fan to just always think positively. <<

Correct. Fan being short for fanatic an all. It likely causes one to be a hell of a lot more sane, though.

>>Im not saying always be ’Negativity Nancy" but come on face the facts.<<

And what are the facts again [I’m testing you]?

Beane had signed both Randy Johnson and Rafael Flakecal to the same deals that they have with their respective NL teams AND if they had peformed for the Athletics as they are performing for their teams now?

And these were two signing that many on AN clamored for and were deeply disappointed by when they did not happen.

Bean is wayy to good to let go come on you cant be serious. Hes the only reason the as win games

they wun today dummy

First, let’s look at this in it’s entireity.

Billy Beane became the A’s GM in 1998. The first season he was at the helm the team came in fourth in the division, generally sucked… the next season the A’s finished in second and contended into August. The improvement was driven by the signing of John Jaha and trades for Jason Issringhausen, Randy Velarde, Omar Olivares and Kevin Appier. Of course the local media panned the trades and talked about how crappy the A’s would be forever (a lot like your original post).

The next season, two years removed from a fourth place finish, the A’s won the division. This season came together through the use of home grown talent (Chavez, Giambi, Tejada, Hudson, Zito, Grieve) and shrewd trades the year before (Appier, Izzy).

2001 the A’s went for it and won 102 games. They did this because Beane had Mulder, Hudson and Zito… Giambi, Tejada, Chavez… and then traded for Johnny Damon, Cory Lidle and Jermaine Dye.

2002… “The A’s are going to suck because Giambi is on the Yankees,” cry the folks who have no clue… instead the A’s won one more game than the year before. Notable acquisitions… Scott Hatteberg. Ironically, the one trade that seemed to go bust is the one for Carlos Pena, Of course Beane rectified that bad deal by sending Pena packing (where he would toil before being dumped by two more teams) for Ted Lilly… who kicked ass.

I mean, I could keep writing this stuff. But I am tired and I haven’t even gotten through the half of it… this year bites. I had hoped for better… but the problem isn’t Beane. He is one of the only people who has proven they can build a team through free agency, drafting/player development and minor/major league trades.

Welcome to AN/