Euro 2024 Serbia's Return to the European Championship.docx
Winning an unfair game
1. Winning An Unfair Game
How Do The Oakland A’s Win With a Poor Team?
By: Kolton Donovan
2. Introduction
Team Payroll Average Salary 2002 Record
New York Yankees: $ 125,928,583 $ 4,342,364 103-58
Oakland Athletics: $ 40,004,167 $ 1,481,635 103-59
(for every $1 the Oakland A’s make, the New York Yankees make $4)
Why is the “money” part of baseball not talked about?
How can the Oakland A’s have the same record as the New York Yankees?
How can “failure” players win as many games as “star” players?
3. Important Information
Person Description
Billy Beane General Manager of the Oakland A’s
Paul DePodesta Assistant to Billy Beane/creator of the baseball theory
J.P. Ricciardi General Manager of the Toronto Blue Jays
Bill James Author of the “Baseball Abstract”
Jeremy Brown 1st Round Draft choice of the Oakland A’s
Jason Giambi Former Oakland A’s player/Current New York Yankees player
Scott Hatteberg Oakland A’s first baseman
4. The “Oakland A’s” Idea
With the lowest budget in all of baseball, the
Oakland A’s had to win with lower paid players.
The Oakland A’s needed a plan, a strategy, to win
with these “failure” players.
How? Get more runs than the other team while
preventing outs.
5. Offensive Strategy
Runs: score more than the opposing team by having
players put the ball into play.
Prevent Outs: Do not steal bases, do not bunt (unless
if it is call for), and do not play for yourself.
ERA (Earned Run Average): Be able to tell the
difference between balls you can put into play and
those you can’t
Walks: Get to first base by not swinging at every pitch
that is thrown at you. Be smart, it is a guaranteed
base.
6. Defensive Strategy
Well, for the Oakland A’s, there is no “real”
defensive strategy.
According to the book “Baseball Abstract” written
by Bill James (which Billy Beane read): Defense is
less than 5% of the game of baseball.
The Oakland A’s do more than believe that, they
actually do it.
7. Jason Giambi
The miracle player of the Oakland A’s. He could do
everything when it came to offense and even defense.
Jason was a fan favorite of the Oakland A’s franchise
and was considered the reason of why they did so well.
His last game was a playoff game against the Yankees.
A couple days later, the Yankees gave him a multi-
million dollar deal to lure him away from Oakland.
The Oakland A’s organization had a situation on their
hands. How were they supposed to replace Jason
Giambi? The answer: with someone better on offense
and cheaper.
8. Scott Hatteberg
Scott Hatteberg played catcher for the Boston Red Sox. He
had a very high ERA and batting came natural to him.
During the 2000 season, he injured a nerve in his throwing
elbow which required surgery. He could not grip a baseball
after it so the Boston Red Sox traded him to the Colorado
Rockies.
While in Colorado, he played back-up catcher and did not see a
game that season. The Rockies considered him a disabled
player, so they released him after that season.
The Oakland A’s knew he had a problem with his elbow, but that
did not stop them from seeing his ability to hit the ball and get
on base. On Christmas day, the Oakland A’s offered him to
come play in Oakland… not to be a catcher, but their starting
FIRST BASEMAN to replace Jason Giambi.
9. MLB Teams Scouting
The Five Tools: listed on next slide.
Traits Prospects Must Have:
high energy, hit home runs, steal bases, bunt, “good face", “good
body“.
Quotes from MLB Scouts:
"Stats do not matter."
“We do not look at performance, we look at talent."
"I never looked at a single statistic..."
"Attitude doesn't matter.“
“Imagine what the player will become, not what he is now.“ -
Unnamed Scout (Moneyball).
10. The “FIVE” Tools
The Five Tools:
-The ability to run
-The ability to throw
-The ability to field
-The ability to hit
-The ability to hit HARD
11. Oakland A’s Scouting
Requirements: Played in College, Desire to play Major League
Baseball, Cheap to buy, No off-field problems, Attitude, Good History,
Plate Approach, ERA (Earned Run Average), Walks, Great Hitter (Does
not mean power), Take pitches, Mentally tough, overlooked/unknown,
No reinventing.
The scouts for the Oakland A's graduated from IVY League Schools
(Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, etc.).
"You don't change guys, they are who they are." -Billy Beane
(Moneyball)
Example: JEREMY BROWN (University of Alabama) - 390 at
bats, 98 walks, 38 K's (strikeouts), 21 Home Runs
12. Jeremy Brown
Senior catcher for the University of Alabama. He broke
almost every offensive record at Alabama and South
Eastern Conference (SEC).
He was drafted the year before in a late round and
turned it down to return to Alabama.
In the listings of the top 20 catchers in baseball, he was
not among them. He was not even talked about
around baseball; no one knew who he was.
He was drafted by the Oakland A’s in the 1st round with
the 35th pick in the draft. He signed for $350,000;
which was about $1,000,000 dollars less than the
average draftee was paid in the first round.
13. Comments
The Oakland Athletics are a team in and of themselves.
They produce runs and win games because of the runs. The
players they hire and draft are usually players that are
considered “failures” which gives them more reason to want
to win.
I believe that “stars” in baseball are no more than players
who have a talent on getting on base. In that same case,
several players labeled as “failures” are labeled that because
they can get on base. Therefore, a baseball player is a
baseball player.
14. FAQs
Why does it seem Billy Beane is taking all the credit?
A: Yes, the book does talk a lot about Billy Beane. That does not
mean he is taking all the credit. If this book was meant for
someone in the Oakland A's front office to take the credit for
himself, it would be Paul DePodesta.
Why does this system the Oakland A’s use work?
A: Walks + Hitting Smart + Desire = Runs. That is the answer.
If you take walks (you get on base) and you hit (and you
get on base) and you are being smart so you can win
(additional base) means you will score runs. Therefore,
you will win the game because you produced more runs
than the other team.
15. Others That Use The
System
J.P. Ricciardi – Toronto Blue Jays
Paul DePodesta – New York Mets
Billy Beane – Oakland A’s
Bill James – Boston Red Sox
16. Final Thoughts
How do you win an Unfair Game?
Find the players that are different. Find the players
that have above average stats. Most of all, look for
those players ignored by the other teams because of
their weight or low stock.
This is how the Oakland A’s win an Unfair Game.
17. Work Cited
James, Bill. Baseball Abstract. Lawrence, KS: Author, 1981. Print.
Lewis, Michael. Moneyball. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003. Print.
Bryant, H. "The Revolutionary." ESPN, 15 Jan. 2010. Web. <www.espn.com>.
Devlin, Keith. "A Game Of Numbers." Maa.org. Devlin's Angle. Web. <maa.org>.
"Oakland A's Executive Profiles." MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Web.
Huckabay, Gary. "Interview with Billy Beane." Baseballprospectus.com. Feb. 1998. Web.
Bleszinski, Tyler. "Billy Beane Midseason Interview Part II." Athleticsnation.com. Web.
"2011 MLB Salaries by Team." USAToday.com. USAToday-MLB. Web.
"MLB Standings." Espn.go.com. ESPN/MLB, 27 Sept. 2002. Web.