There has been a lot of frustration directed to Beane lately. Many people blame him for this terrible season. I wanted to shed some light on the reality.
First off, Beane isn't the problem, it's the MLB system. Agents and the player union work together to get huge salaries for mediocre players, thus setting the bar impossible to reach for small market teams. Put that together with the fact that there is no salary cap whatsoever, and the "luxury tax penalty" isn't being followed by the wealthiest teams, and you have issues. Small markets teams may have bursts of success, but will NEVER have extended success. That's the way the MLB is designed. You can look at every single World Series winner, or every team that made the playoffs 4 or more times in the past 15 years, and you will see that they were all in the top half of payroll during those years. There is only one exception... The A's.
Given the circumstances and hurdles given to him, Beane has done the best he could. He knows he only has the 3-4 year cycle with players before they get too pricey, and he lives by that, because he has to. He knows value when he sees it, and he knows that it takes value to get value. He has done everything he can to make the team the best it can be every single season, and he has succeeded almost every single time. So, I have to say Beane + Front Office, has done a tremendous job.
Don't forget that all those players that made the team so good over the past 3 seasons, were acquired as well. Each trade at the time looked pointless, and then everyone was surprised. Look at the below, a rough guide to the reality of Billy Beane's tenure.
1998- Beane becomes GM after the A's went 65-97
1999- Traded for Randy Velarde, sign FA John Jaha and Olmedo Saenz - A's go 87-75
2000- With Terrence Long and Velarde on the team from the trade a year prior, and Jaha and Saenz - A's go 91-70
2001- Traded for Jermaine Dye, Jeremy Giambi, and Corey Lidle. Long, Jaha, and Saenz still on team. - A's go 102-60
2002- Traded for Mark Ellis and David Justice. Signed FA Scott Hatteberg. Dye, Giambi, Lidle, Long, Jaha, and Saenz still on team- A's go 103-59
2003 - Traded for Erubiel Durazo. Selected Scutaro off waivers. Ellis, Dye, and Hatteberg still on team. - A's go 96-66
2004- Traded for Damian Miller, Mark Kotsay, and Jason Kendall. Hatteberg, Dye, Durazo, Scutaro still on team. - A's go 91-71
2005- Traded for Bobby Kielty, Dan Haren, Jay Payton and Milton Bradley. Ellis, Kotsay, Hatteberg, Scutaro still on team. - A's go 88-74
2006- Sign Frank Thomas. Kendall, Ellis, Kotsay, Scutaro, Payton, Kielty still on team - A's go 93-69
-The Dark Years-
2007 - A's trade AWAY Dan Haren for Chris Carter, Brett Anderson, and Carlos Gonzalez
2008- A's trade AWAY Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin for Josh Donaldson + players.
2009- Sign FA Coco Crisp
2010- Sign FA Brandon McCarthy
2011- A's trade AWAY Trevor Cahill and Craig Breslow for Jarrod Parker and Ryan Cook. A's trade AWAY Gio Gonzalez for Tommy Milone and Derrek Norris. A's trade AWAY Andrew Baily for Josh Reddick. A's sign FA Brandon Moss.
2012- Traded for Seth Smith. Acquired Jesse Chavez. Sign FA Yoenis Cespedes, Jonny Gomes, and Bartolo Colon. Carter, Donaldson, Crisp, McCarthy, Parker, Cook, Milone, Norris, Reddick, and Moss still on team.- A's go 94-68
2013- Acquired Stephen Vogt. A's trade AWAY Chris Carter for Jed Lowrie. A's trade AWAY minor leaguers for John Jaso. Norris, Moss, Donaldson, Cespedes, Reddick, Crisp, Smith, Parker, Colon, and Milone still on the team. - A's go 96-66
2014- Traded for Drew Pomeranz. Norris, Moss, Lowrie, Donaldson, Crisp, Reddick, Jaso, Vogt, Chavez and Milone still on the team. - A's go 88-74
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Please don't tell me Beane isn't doing anything right, or he is over rated. Matter of fact, the years where he did the least amount of transactions were the worse years of his GM career. It's time we stop blaming the GM for the 2015 issues, and we start looking towards the future. A future that Beane has already set out to make successful.
