Billy Beane is no genius

[Mookie4ever]

In fantasy: Tejada > Chavez
In real life: Chavez > Tejada

You are out of your friggin mind.

I concur.

I also agree. Sick numbers aside, Tejada is a leader and is the heart and soul of the Orioles who happen to be leading the AL East right now.

[Conner]

In fantasy: Tejada > Chavez
In real life: Chavez > Tejada

tejada has been the MVP once already - he led the league in RBI last year and his on his way to being among the leaders this year - he is at least in the top 5 fielding shortstops (a much tougher position to fill with a quality player than 3rd) - is this entire statement based on OBP? i mean come on - giambi has about a .400 OBP right now - is he really helping the Yanks?

Just for the sake of argument:

1) He shouldn't have won the MVP. Not at all.

2) He's definitely not a top five defensive shortstop. He's mediocre defensively.

[Dans]

Next year we should conduct an experiment - we'll have a 12 team auction and assign people randomly a budget. Some will have $260, some $350, some $65 - we'll make it proportional to the major leagues. i'd be interested to see how the $65 team does over the course of the season.

Billy Beane made the playoffs with that equivalent.

[Conner]

Next year we should conduct an experiment - we'll have a 12 team auction and assign people randomly a budget. Some will have $260, some $350, some $65 - we'll make it proportional to the major leagues. i'd be interested to see how the $65 team does over the course of the season.

Billy Beane made the playoffs with that equivalent.

That'd be an absolutely terrible experiment, and it would prove nothing at all.


Do the managers of the teams who are spending less get to keep all the rest of the money that they decide not to spend?

[bombs]

keep in mind, they are not trying to win anything this year, and only maybe next year.

Mission accomplished.

[OREO fan]

In fantasy: Tejada > Chavez
In real life: Chavez > Tejada

tejada has been the MVP once already - he led the league in RBI last year and his on his way to being among the leaders this year - he is at least in the top 5 fielding shortstops (a much tougher position to fill with a quality player than 3rd) - is this entire statement based on OBP? i mean come on - giambi has about a .400 OBP right now - is he really helping the Yanks?

Just for the sake of argument:

1) He shouldn't have won the MVP. Not at all.

2) He's definitely not a top five defensive shortstop. He's mediocre defensively.

how are you judging his defensive capabilities? he has great range and while he does boot the occasional ball - i would say he is much better than mediocre for his position

i am a homer so i am definitely biased here - but just out of curiosity name 5 better

[Dans]

Billy Beane is not the owner - Do you think he gets to keep the remaining money?? This thread is about him, not the Oakland management.
What the experiment would prove is that as a GM it's near impossible to compete with teams with bigger budgets and that it's absurd to make statements about him being a bad GM.

[Dans]

In fantasy: Tejada > Chavez
In real life: Chavez > Tejada

i am a homer so i am definitely biased here - but just out of curiosity name 5 better

Rey Ordonez!

[Mookie4ever]

In fantasy: Tejada > Chavez
In real life: Chavez > Tejada

tejada has been the MVP once already - he led the league in RBI last year and his on his way to being among the leaders this year - he is at least in the top 5 fielding shortstops (a much tougher position to fill with a quality player than 3rd) - is this entire statement based on OBP? i mean come on - giambi has about a .400 OBP right now - is he really helping the Yanks?

Just for the sake of argument:

1) He shouldn't have won the MVP. Not at all.

2) He's definitely not a top five defensive shortstop. He's mediocre defensively.

how are you judging his defensive capabilities? he has great range and while he does boot the occasional ball - i would say he is much better than mediocre for his position

i am a homer so i am definitely biased here - but just out of curiosity name 5 better

His fielding % is slightly below average, his range factor is slightly above average. He is average defensively.

[RAmst23]

Let's take the defense argument out of this, because neither side is going to prove that Chavez or Tejada is a better defensive player..
Both players actually look fairly equal when checking out both their statistics. The only category that Tejada has dominated in is RBI's when he acquired 150 last year and 131 in 2002. Both have fairly equal SLG % and Chavez has a high OBP in 2 of the last 3 years.

I think it just looks worse now because Tejada is destroying the ball and Chavez looks useless.

Anyway, Beane isn't looking to great right now and yes you can attack the guy for keeping Zito and trading away Mulder+Hudson. Was Mulder at the height of his value at the end of last year? No. While Zito can most definitly turn it around now, he's not doing anything special. The important question to ask is did Billy Beane put his club in the best possibly position to win this year? I think certainly the answer is no, yes it's early, but I don't think this club can contend. Also, did Beane put his club in the best possible position to win next year? Who knows right now..