Like I said in my previous post, I admire Billy Beane and his innovative way in trying to get productive players on the cheap. My two main problems are 1) The A’s have not even made it to the WS, let alone won a title. and 2) Because of the low payroll he was saddled with, he was more or less forced to think outside the box, as it were. You know, necessity is the mother of invention. In any event, he’s been using his “Moneyball” approach for about ten years now without any major success, unless you consider keeping a low payroll team competitive a major success. I don’t mean to sound dismissive. It’s just that the results speak for themselves.

Let me give you another example. The Marlins have only been around since 1993 and they have won 2 WS titles. Their approach is to continually unload all of their high priced players and keep their payroll ridiculously low (this year it stands at $21 million). In order to keep it that low they are forced to bring up a bunch of cheap minor leaguers to fill the roster. They put all these young kids on the field and play out the season. I would say that approach is pretty bold, wouldn’t you? If you start counting after the 1997 WS, the Marlins have been using this approach for about the same amount of time that the A’s have been using the “Moneyball” approach. In that time the Marlins have 1 WS title and the A’s have none. So I ask you, which approach has been more successful? Why should other teams emulate the A’s and not the Marlins?

I will say that I believe the “Moneyball” approach to be the better way to go. The Red Sox have added to the validity of this approach. BUT(this is a big but), as I stated earlier, the Red Sox augmented the “Moneyball” approach by also spending a lot of money.

I would love for teams to be bold in their approach, but that doesn’t happen often for many reasons. It has to start from the top down. If the owner doesn’t support bold moves they will not happen. First of all the owner has to hire the GM. If the GM’s ideas are to far afield the owner won’t hire him to run his team. Bold is risky. As the GM, manager, coach, etc…you are putting your neck on the line. I don’t think ownership gives management as much leeway with bold moves either. The other thing going against bold moves is that most GMs, managers, coaches, etc…all came up through the system. They are insiders and that colors their perceptions. The Phils are a perfect example of this in who they hire as GMs, managers, and the rest. They place a high value on promoting from within. It is uncommon in many organizations to see an outsider get a top management job and be given a free hand to implement ideas outside the norm. That’s why a guy like Bill James(yes I know he works for the Red Sox) has not gotten a shot for so long. He’s an outsider. He never played, managed, coached, scouted…nothing. He had no history on the inside of the game so nobody valued his ideas enough to truly listen and try them.

The Phils have who they have at GM because that’s what ownership wants. The only way we will see major change with the Phils is if we get a new owner who is willing to do things differently and supports bold moves.

I admire Billy Beane as well. His is a very innovative way to try and field a winner on a shoe string budget. However, like I said before, he did not, nor is there any indication he will be able to, win a championship solely by his method.

Bringing up the Red Sox is exactly the point. Tried and true(the Phils) may be to stale to get the job done many times, but innovation by itself(the A’s) is not always enough either. The Red Sox have combined innovation with lots of money and have found success. What I said previously still holds true. You do not guarantee yourself a championship by spending lots of money, but you almost certainly guarantee you will not win a championship if you don’t. The combination approach is the key.

If you feel the need, review my last few posts on the old blog and we can finish up with Howard(and move on to Hamels). I’m sure Pete would appreciate us getting back on this topic.

My biggest gripe with sports in general is that sports management teams tend to be very conservative in their thinking, preferring to stick with tried and true instead of trying bold new ideas. I think the main reason for this, as you said, the pressure to win NOW.

This is why I’m a huge fan of Billy Beane and his methods. It hasn’t won a championship yet, I get that, but his thinking was a step in the right direction – how do you win with a really low payroll? The next step was taken by the Red Sox, what if you removed the restriction of a low payroll, what could you do then? I firmly believe, that without Billy Bean’s work, the Red Sox aren’t what they are now, a powerhouse baseball franchise that has the chance to win it all every year.

You’re a big fan of Bill James – did you know that he works for the Red Sox? He’d been doing all this work for the past 20 or so years, but in that time, not one single organization thought, “This guy is pretty smart when it comes to baseball, I think he could really contribute to our organization.” It’s really great for Boston that the Red Sox owner, John Henry, is a really smart guy, and knows how important it is to surround yourself with smart, outside-the-box thinkers when trying to accomplish a dauting goal, like winning a championship.

What do the Phils have? Ruben Amaro, Jr.? What DID they have – Ed Wade? Who was here before that? Pat Gillick isn’t the greatest, but in the past decade or so, he’s been the only progressive thing about them. And after he leaves, we’re going back to Amaro, a relic from the Phils’ past of “just good enough to miss the playoffs”? I have this horrible, gut feeling that last year and this year will be as good as it gets for the Phils, and a decline is upcoming, starting with next year.

I have similar gripes with the NBA and the Sixers, but I just don’t have time to get into it, I have too much to gripe about…

The question with Hamels is not productivity rather durability. Waiting on him, as you say, is also the way the Phils should proceed. He hasn’t made it through an entire season injury free yet. He needs to put up a couple complete seasons of work before the Phils go long term with him.