Billy Beane Cubs Speculation

it’s hard to pin the majority of Oakland’s woes on his shoulders. CarGos and Ethiers aside, he’s mit more than he’s missed, and 2011 has been a surprisingly good showing from the A’s front office, at least recently. He seems to have some new momentum, and the glimpse of a more balanced A’s team next year.

If he stays, then we can assume they’re probably staying for the foreseeable future, too. If he goes, then ownership may be loathe to hold on to the team for much longer.

But part of me is really curious to see what he could do with the Cubs’ resources.

And would prefer for him to stay. He’s stuck by this team, and has executed some great trades. He’s put together teams that have helped the A’s win.

I feel like this team needs to start thinking differently than they have over the past 6-7 years. Things are getting stale. Signing older players and wishing for good outcomes…. Trading for AAAA players, hoping someone sticks….

Other GM’s have caught up to Beane. Maybe it’s time to switch it up. Bring on a more creative GM. Does Beane even want to be a GM anymore? Maybe he wants to take on less of a role in this area (if he hasn’t already). I could see him following in Sandy Alderson’s footsteps. Billy Beane – CEO of the Oakland Athletics???

If Beane leaves, the big C-word becomes a lot more prevalent in my mind.

I think somebody else will be offered the job first and will accept, though I do think Beane would be a strong and seriously considered candidate.

Having said that, I would be fine either way. It has seemed to me for awhile that Forst is the one really running the majority of the show anyway, with only occasional input/correction from Beane. Beane strikes me as one of those people who bores easily, and that he may have actually been in this position for far too long considering his personality. The soccer interest doesn’t help dissuade me from this thought. It may be the best thing for him to have a new team and a new challenge.

I’ve always have had a heightened sense of optimism about the A’s each year just because he’s there. If he leaves, the A’s will feel like any other of the many franchises which disappoint me on a year in year out basis.

Presumably, he would have to sell it to leave, and presumably, that investment has appreciated since it was made.

I could be wrong of course but there have been many times that he and I have chatted with the recorder off and he just loves the mellow nature of the GM position in Oakland. He loves coming to work in flip flops, shorts and bringing his dogs into the office with him. He loves his relationship with Lew Wolff whereas both of them are almost always on the same exact page.

If he did consider leaving it’s because he truly believes the stadium issue will never be resolved and that he will never have the opportunity to play with a larger budget and see what he could do. I know that one thing that drives BB is challenges but the challenge in Oakland has almost become unmanageable. I recently saw somewhere that the number of teams in MLB with payrolls over $100 million has ballooned to something like 14 teams whereas it was like 5 or 6 just a few short years ago. And I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be to try and get free agents like Beltre and Berkman every year only to be turned down largely because of the stadium situation.

All that being said, I would truly be depressed beyond belief if Billy left. I still think he’s one of the smartest minds in baseball and, above all that, a fantastic person.

if Billy will stay or go, but since he often has gone against the conventional wisdom, maybe he will actually go. I still believe he is among the top 5 GMs. It will hurt if he goes, but make for interesting trades in the future.

(I did very much enjoy going to see last Saturday’s Jays-A’s game, however) Billy Beane is one of the major reasons I became obsessed with baseball. Though my love of baseball is certainly more on the transaction side, that doesn’t mean I don’t love the sport, and I have Billy to thank for that. On one hand, as a huge fan of his it would be amazing to see him work with the kind of capital the Cubs job would provide. On the other, I would much prefer to see him at the helm of the next great A’s team. The only problem is, I don’t know when that next great team is going to come. I don’t think any of us do, and that includes Billy. I think he’s a great GM, and no matter what he does the rest of the way in his career he’ll likely wind up in the HoF.
I want the plaque to read “Spent entire career as A’s GM”, however.

Lew hasn’t been approached by the Cubs to allow Beane to interview.