Heads Up

We're were going to wait until Monday to go over the recent Thad Bosley flap...Billy Beane is forcing the issue (with Thad not, us, in retrospect that is probably a dumb way of inserting the issue, but, it's too late now, so we might as well just continue - sort of like Billy Beane leaving T Long in the lineup EVERY day, anyway).
Thad Bosley was recalled to Oakland to meet with Billy Beane late last night.
This is not a good sign - even if Thad keeps his job.
If it means enough that the A's administration (not the front office of Beane and R & D) called Thad back then it is beyond serious. It is critical.

Thad's comments in the recent media swarm have not been taken with any sodium chloride.
The A's get an unusual buffer from the local media...Michael Lewis published that fact in Moneyball.
Perhaps the media wanted to make its presence felt and decided to attack.
There really is no other path to follow to have Thad Bosley's job suddenly up in the air. There has to be other issues involved. There could be serious personality quirks, drinking, gambling, abusive language...something has to be the cause of why they A's are suddenly taking aim at Thad's work.

After all, the A's haven't been hitting for weeks and the trio of Eric Chavez, Terrence Long and Ron Gant/Adam Piatt are looking more like fodder than hitters.
Why Thad?
Why now?
Would firing the hitting instructor do anything? NO. Not really. It probably would make things worse as Thad is well thought of in the clubhouse and organization as a whole. Even if Steve Schott actions are true (Schott is rumored to have made a call to have Thad fired last week).
Our original take on the issue was to see things tighten up. For Ken Macha to take a more personal role in batting practice (instead of roaming the outfield with a fungo chatting it up with the pitchers), for Bob Geren to work with the guys on the bench and the right handed hitters and for Terry Francona to work more with left handed hitters with Thad working his tail off.
A few weeks ago, just prior to the Jermaine Dye injury, Thad starting working (we're not going to call it reconstructing) with Chris Singleton's swing. Thad had mentioned it was a three-week process.
Singleton is still doing well, so it may have worked.
Anyway, in the three weeks Singleton's swing was on blocks the A's nose dived.
Ken Macha mentioned that the A's hitters weren't slumping.

He's right. You have to have an upturn in production to ever differentiate a downturn.
The A's have been under-performing for quite some time. Especially at the plate. With the win in KC today, that they are a game over .500 for May points to the now usual late Spring swoon.

That stinks.

Numbers

April 2002

Batting	OnBase	Slugging	Walks	K’s	HR	OPS
.267	.346	.463	99	175	42	.809

A few numbers stick out here. Namely the long ball number and strikeouts. The batting average was a little low (seemingly) which is only a concern because the on-base percentage is a tad lower than one would like. Still good, solid numbers.

May 2002

Batting	OnBase	Slugging	Walks	K’s	HR	OPS
.246	.320	.397	92	181	29	.718

Eww. Down right smelly. The on-base percentage is only slightly more alarming than the slugging percentage. The May 22nd purge of 2002 did make things a little different for the summer push.

April 2003

Batting	OnBase	Slugging	Walks	K’s	HR	OPS
.262	.337	.425	100	153	28	.762

Ick. These numbers aren’t very pretty, either. Yah, the A’s were 7 games over .500 for the month, but they could have done a little better in situations that proved to be Ken Macha standards. The drop in homeruns is sickening.

May 2003

Batting	OnBase	Slugging	Walks	K’s	HR	OPS
.251	.313	.402	77	131	25	.715

Don’t peek, heads will roll.
Here’s where we are…and here’s where the story ends. Somebody needs to get fired over numbers like these.

Should it be Thad Bosley? Should ol' Boz have to fall on his sword because Jermaine Dye, Terrence Long, Eric Chavez, Ramon Hernandez, Scott Hatteberg and Mark Ellis stunk up the team plane in May?
On the surface, again, NO.
But according to media reports Thad's been in Macha's office several times (three confirmed closed door meetings since late April) to discuss the fact that Bosley's job is/was on the line.
If it were not for Eric Byrnes, Bosley would have been fired, no questions asked. Just a surface swipe to clean up a mess that may very well be a Ken Macha origination. Macha or Beane. Depends on what books and newspapers you read.
Again, we have to ask, where would this team be without Eric Byrnes?

Had The A's gone with Piatt-Gant/Long/Singleton instead of inserting Byrnes on a regular basis, who know how many games behind the Texas Rangers the A's would be right now.
Who knows?
If Byrnes didn't get a hitting streak started - he may have been sat back on the bench instead of being able to hit .380 for the last three weeks.

Media, Darlings, Media

Mark Saxson of the Oakland Tribune started things off on May 25th with a little slap;

”Eric Byrnes and Singleton have been happy surprises for A's hitting coach Thad Bosley, but the middle of the order is dragging the team down. Of the middle six hitters in the A's lineup, Hatteberg's .267 average leads the bunch.“

Normally that’s not that big of a deal. Except Saxson was laying the blame for the production lull at Thad Bosley’s feet, not Ken Macha’s. Clearly. In the next few lines he sways the reader to hear Ken Macha state that the offense needs to get going. Insinuating that Macha is pointing the finger at Boz, too.
May 29th brought the article that started the flap flipping at high, extended volume with philosophy the background culprit. Saxson tries to blame the approach to hitting the A’s, for the most part, utilize as faulty. Saxson points to two games in a 48-hour period (Darrell May’s Sunday performance and Kris Wilson’s first appearance as a starter the previous day) as proof positive. Saxson points to a pitcher getting ahead with first pitch strikes and casts the A’s as standing around waiting for walks as evidence that the A’s ‘philosophy’ and therefore, Bosley and Beane are somehow to fault.

Huh, funny.

Wilson was on a strict pitch limit Saturday since he was making his first start after being in the bullpen. May, also new to the starting role got a number of hitters out on less than three pitches. Throwing strikes was a means for the pitchers to survive. Saturday was fraught with bad play and Sunday the A’s pulled out the win after wearing down May.

If guys are swinging early in the count, they aren’t working the count. Necessarily if the hitters are out on less than four pitches. Especially since guys like Terence Long and Ramon Hernandez are first ball swingers (notice, we didn’t write ‘hitters’).

Then came Thursday afternoon and Bosley’s explosion at questions he was on the way out…

"If I'm not, then why did Ken Macha call me into his office three times, the first time on April 25, and tell me that my job is in jeopardy? Why would he tell me that Billy Beane called him and said that Steve Schott called him in the seventh inning Sunday and said they should fire me? Ken is the instigator of this. So at this point, fire me. If Steve Schott and Billy Beane and Ken Macha feel somebody else can do better, go get him. It's really that simple. I've got a resume, I know what I've done for this team and what I've given to the organization."

Too much said to just call it a bad week and a little touch of the flu. This leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the entire organization.

Friday came and Billy Beane, deep in the middle of draft preparations for Tuesday was heard from:

"I saw some of the comments. This part of the game is a distraction and not something I want to focus on. What we want to do is to focus on winning baseball games. But this is unfortunate."

No GM, let alone anyone in a decision making capacity for a MLB team wants to deal with this crap in the week leading up to the Amateur Draft. Especially Beane, who rarely sleeps days before the draft and has more to lose and to gain than anyone else next Tuesday and Wednesday. The A’s rely on the draft to re-stock their farm system and keep their roster full of cheap, replaceable parts.

Thad Bosley was given an opportunity to respond to the Thursday comments

”I'm a major-league hitting coach. My commitment is totally to the ball club. Why would I be here if I wanted to be somewhere else? Sure, I have other interests, but I don't commingle them with baseball. Personally, I don't feel there's a rift. I just feel that, hopefully, we're on the same path. The Oakland A's gave me an opportunity to come back to the major leagues and coach, and I appreciate everything I've been given the opportunity to experience. I think, in some of the things we've accomplished, in some small way I've made a contribution."

Here’s where we start to connect the dots (not that crap ice cream ‘treat’ that looks and feels like silicone in your mouth). Rotowire, the AP, MLB and the Armenian Grandmother’s Association had Ted Lilly pitching Friday night and Tim Hudson pitching Saturday. When we checked the score as we were leaving our various jobs Friday night, thoughts raced – Lilly is stinking up the joint. Until we heard Bill King on KFRC commenting on Hudson’s inability to get his pitches down. Ken Macha’s response to media questions on the switch

”There was a glitch with the media relations department.”

Looks like there is a glitch in the communication department with ken Macha and it’s costing the Oakland Athletics on the field.

Thad Bosley’s name didn’t come up the last two years when the A’s forgot their bats in the late Spring swoons.

So, we ask, again; Why Thad, why now?

We learned in Moneyball that the A’s were willing to look over Jeremy, the Giambi who would not side, getting busted in Nevada for trying to board a plane in possession of marijuana (ugh, marijuana’s bad, M’kay). It wasn’t until he was rumored to be drinking too much on the team plane and when Billy Beane saw an advantage to getting rid of the defensively challenged and much maligned, ugh, guy who hits left-handed.

Is it a similar situation with Thad Bosley? Is it other issues that are going to force an action?
To be a fly on the wall would make for good subject matter on a psychological and sociological setting. Otherwise it’s a good time to complain about that tricky bladder, very much down the hall.

The writing appears to be on the wall as a press release was out before the A’s 7-6 win over KC today.

”Oakland's offense has been struggling. The club entered the game Saturday with a .257 batting average -- 11th in the American League. They were 10th in four other key offensive categories: .414 slugging percentage, .325 on-base percentage, 743 total bases and 248 runs.

The team batting average had dropped from .265 on April 27 to .257 entering the game Saturday. The team was hitting .251 in May and had scored three or fewer runs in seven of the past 16 games.

Miguel Tejada, last year's American League MVP, was hitting .225 after 53 games. Eric Chavez had a .161 average in his past 15 games, dropping his average to .241. Jermaine Dye, who was activated Friday from the disabled list, has a .179 average with one home run in 22 games.”

Well, we can only wait, wonder, and then expect Bob Geren to be named hitting coach on Monday.

Thanks for the time, Boz. You were better than you got treated…

“It was quiet for the first couple of innings, and I was like,
’Oh, boy, here it goes again’.
So I said,
’OK, the joke’s over, here we go, c’mon guys.’
Mark Ellis said,
’Shut up, Mulder.’
But I tried to lighten things up because everone seemed stressed out.”

- Mark Mulder, Rally Starter

LEST THEY BE PURGED FROM THEIR FATES

Well, Ken Macha is thinking of moving Eric Chavez down in the order against lefthanders and moving Erubiel Durazo up in the order.

Gee, what would make him do that?

With Jermaine Dye returning with the club this weekend it makes for a roster shakeup of immense proportions.

Well, some proportions.

Dye may not come off the DL this weekend, essentially allowing Ron Gant and Adam Piatt to sing for their suppers.

Piatt has some trade value, but not enough that Billy Beane and the front office are willing to trade him now - at this time. Piatt has Triple Crown ability and getting a third lefty reliever isn’t what the A’s are after.

Gant has little to zero value for another team, and sending Gant down to Sacramento is ridiculous.

Sacramento does have several players who should be sniffing the clean laundry in Oakland right now.

At Bat

Batting Average/On Base Percentage/Slugging Percentage

Esteban German 2nd base: .325/.425/.407

Jason Grabowski Utility: .392/.451/.588

Billy McMillon Outfield: .333/.401/.556

Graham Koonce 1st base: .247/.371/.506

Dave McCarty 1st base: .297/.370/.584

Mike Lockwood Outfield: .400/.486/.633

On the Mound

Innings Pitched - Strike outs/Walks Earned Run Average

Jeremy Fikac RHP middle relief: 13 IP 17/5 1.38 ERA

Chad Harville RHP - Setup: 27.1 IP 20/11 2.63 ERA

Justin Duchscherer RHP – Starter: 45.2 IP 38/3 1.77 ERA

Rising Storm

Aaron Harang came in yesterday and threw four shut out innings after John Halama gave up homeruns as if they were infected SARS patients.

Everybody calm down.

Eeyore came in and threw four innings of shut out ball. The Twins have not seen Harang in a very long time, so really, Harang was essentially pitching against himself. As long as he didn't do anything stupid (like leave balls out over the plate - Halama) he was going to do fine.

The twitching and shrugging about inserting Harang into the fifth spot doesn't make much sense when the 4th spot in the rotation is the bigger question mark.

Spoiled Rotten

As A's fans we’ve become a little spoiled when it comes to performance. Expecting your fifth starter to be Mulder, Hudson, Zito is a little overboard. A fifth starter is a fifth starter for a reason, they can't cut it as a 1-2-3 or 4 guy. At best John Halama is a fourth starter...unless we're talking Texas or Tampa Bay then he might be a 3rd starter.

No Lilly-Hammer

What really is an issue is Ted Lilly's inability to throw a fourth pitch that mixes well with his other three pitches. Lilly has a good changeup, decent fastball and a crisp curveball. He throws a cutter, but not effectively. It is an off-speed pitch that doesn't bode well. When three of your four pitches are off-speed, hitters can wait and simply time the delivery and guess location.

Ted Lilly needs to get a splitter working or develop some sink on his fastball. He's a flyball pitcher and he does not change speeds well enough to pitch into the 7th.

Too often, Lilly is ahead in the count and has two strikes. He then falls behind and loses hitters.

By the third inning the rightfield bleachers are muttering, "he's wasting too many pitches".

The difference between Mark Mulder and Ted Lilly is essentially attitude. Mulder will go after hitters because he knows he has an assortment of pitches that will keep the hitter guessing. Lilly is passive aggressive hoping hitters will strike themselves out guessing on the speed of the next pitch.

While Lilly's walk total is only 21 (K/BB of 2.10), the number of walks he gives up with two strikes is rather alarming...14 walks and 8 strikeouts. Which is really the difference of a single pitch.

Two thirds of Ted Lilly's bases on balls come with two strikes on the hitter.

Picky

We could throw in that on four different occasions Lilly has had a runner at first picked of and three times the runner advanced to second. Twice on bad throws by Scott Hatteberg and once a bad call by the umpire in the field.

Lilly does have a good pick off move, but once the shoulders are turned and the runner is frozen, the pitcher can come off the mound and run right at the runner. There' really no point throwing to first once the runner is caught. Especially if Scott Hatteberg is still reluctant to throw down to second.

What the Hell?

We've been harping on Ken Macha's misuse of the bullpen for some time.

Last night should give you an indication that we might be right.

Hindsight being 20/20 and all, sure.

But, we've been saying this for weeks.

Last night Barry Zito went out to pitch the bottom of the 8th. Fine. No Worries.

Zito's pitch count was in the mid 90's and if he didn't fall behind a hitter or two he could get out of the 8th in less than 110 pitches.

Well, after Doug Mientkiewicz grounded out to second on two pitches things seemed fine.

Dustan Mohr doubled on the fourth pitch of his at-bat with one out.

Okay, Ken. That's enough. The tying run is at the plate and Zito has seen enough. Call it a day. Send him to the showers.

Zito plunked A.J. Pierzynski.

Okay, that's good. He signaled he wanted out by hitting a batter. Go get him.

Luis Rivas is not going to hit, so you might as well go to the mound and bring in Keith Foulke for the 5 out save or Chad Bradford for the one pitch double play.

Okay, Ken is going to wait until Bobby Kielty is announced, then he'll make the change.

Okay, Ken is asleep or he's drunk.

There's no excuse for leaving Zito in the game.

Zito is a flyball pitcher and with two runners on and only one out, a flyball in the gap scores the tying run. A groundball gets you one and maybe two.

Kielty battled Zito and narrowly misses a 3 run job by less than a telephone pole.

Hey, why not pitch around Kielty, load the bases and bring in a reliever Ken?

You've got the top of the order to deal with and you'd better not risk this game when your team has already fought back to take the lead.

Oh, okay, you're going to pitch to Kielty and have him hit a three run homer that will go down in Twins lore and possibly cost Barry Zito the Cy Young in a few months.

Way to go Ken.

In the top of the ninth, Ramon Hernandez and Mark Ellis battled in their at-bats for a combined 13 pitches before each struck out swinging.

Terrence Long came along and swung at the first pitch, fouling out to third.

If this wasn't the worst way to start a road trip, write us your entries for worse. We'll post them and discuss.

Should Ken Macha be worried about his job?

Maybe.

He was supposed to have a better idea what was going on with his team.

He sure doesn't seem to.

Eric Chavez is now 5 for 56 against lefthanders this season (.086). That's the worst batting average against lefties of any regular in MLB. His batting average is below .250 and his OBP is .332. This is a guy who was supposed to be an MVP candidate and who Macha called the most talented player he's seen in 30 years.

Chavez is talented, but has a tendency to get himself out. He's often remarked early in the season that he has no clue at the plate.

Somebody fetch a clue and get this guy some help.

Either that, or Ken should quit putting him in the number three spot against lefties. Both Eric Byrnes and Scott Hatteberg had two hits last night and Chavez ponied up a big 0 for 4.

Chavez needs an overhaul and Ken Macha should be getting down and dirty to help.

Road Trip

Blogger isn't allowing us to update the template...you'll see changes in the next 90 minutes...or not. We don't know what's going on. Well, you know who is starting and who is not starting tonight, right?

Wake Up, Little Snoozies

If anyone can find the team that won an American League record 20 straight games, please inform them another team in Oakland is sullying their name.

The A's are playing as if they were already post-season bound and that the regular season, day-to-day grind takes care of itself.

Last Friday they were in 1st place in the AL West by a half game. Entering play tonight they are in second place, three games back.

Their only defense can be the unusual media attention with Moneyball and the Twins series.

Really, though, for a team that's gone to the post-season the last three years, the A's are criminally under covered by the national media and the local media, to boot.

That Ain't Dancin', Sally

So what's wrong?

Well, did you ever think there would come a point where you would have to take a step back and utter, "where would this team be without Eric Byrnes?"

That's exactly the situation. Byrnes has as many RBI as Eric Chavez. That's pathetic. Sure Byrnes is playing well, but not too far over his head. Chavez is a 'slow starter', but he's been given days off to rest and that hasn't seemed to help. His approach against left-handers has changed. He no longer attacks the pitch form a left-hander and merely tries to flip the ball into left-center with a 70-75% swing.

With Jermaine Dye making noise about returning in two weeks there will be a spot needed to slide all $12 million of him into. Erubiel Durazo and Dye platooning at DH for a few days and Byrnes and Singleton platooning in center is the most likely scenario.

The other scenario is going to be what happens to Terrence Long.

Rumors to the extent that some in the front office are making a floatation device on which Long can be sent out to drift are untrue.

T Long and Eric Byrnes might begin a platoon in left. Byrnes would play left or center depending on Singleton, essenatially making Byrnes the full time outfielder and Terrence Long the 4th outfielder.

That's still a few weeks away, but it needs to be appraoched. Long hasn't had an extra base hit in over a week and is in danger of going hitless this week.

Long's last homerun was an inside the park job, and hit his last homerun over a wall in April. His play in the field has been unspectacular with ten hop throws into the infield and failing to throw behind runners when he has no chance of getting them at the plate.

Ted Lilly needs a fourth pitch. That's a whole 'nother post we'll get to, but his three and half pitch repitoire is not holding up.

We do need to ask, what are Jason Grabowski, Frank Menechino, Ron Gant and Adam Piatt doing on the roster if they are NEVER if RARELY going to see the lineup, let alone the field, and why isn't Jim Mecir in Sacramento until he is ready? 100% is never going to happen for Jim, but if he can't pitch in back to back weeks, what's the point?

On the subject of the bullpen, Ken Macha is over-working Chad Bradofrd and destroying what little confidence he posesses. Keith Foulke can get 5 out saves and should have been on the bump after Ricardo Rincon allowed a runner to get to second with less than two out on Wednesday.

In short, this team could very easily go into a downward spiral in a hurry.

While You Were Away

Here's why we aren't as active as we should be...we're working on a plan to sell out the June 30th make-up game Seattle and should have played in Japan. We're trying to get strings pulled, backs scratched and knobs fiddled with to get it done.

We are also working on trying to line a series of interviews with the A's organization. From the guy who orders the plastic cups to that guy who acquires the players that appear on the cups.

We are working. That takes a lot out of our day(s).

We are fighting MLB.com right now with our Total Ticket and Extra Innings packages. We're getting error messages and blackouts when we shouldn't and we are looking to possibly file a lawsuit against MLB.com and MLB. We have yet to be able to watch a condensed game on any computer screen. We have contacts in the Attorney General's office and if we get a few more people together (3 is all you need to file a class action suit in California) we can file a class action lawsuit.

We are discussing selling Player to be Named Later stuff. We can't sell Elephants in Oakland stuff because we would be 'profiting' off of the site and in possible violation of MLB copyright. Which is why the site refers to Oakland Athletics and not the Oakland Athletics. Technically, the A's are involved in athletics in Oakland so we can write about them.

We are trying to set up a carpooling system with A's fans so that people who live too far from BART can get a ride from other A's fans in Northern California.

We are working on an attendance stat sheet.

We are trying to go through each post and find out why our archives are screwed up.

We are working on a system to update statistics real-time onto the blog.

We are answering emails. A lot of Emails. We spend more time on emails than on the blog...and it shows.

We're trying to figure out if we can afford to buy the URL rights to www.elephantsinoakland.com and expand some of the things we do.

We are following the draft. June 3rd. Mark your calendars.

We are trying to see if we can get a blog writer for each of the A's minor league teams, or at least someone who can get us accurate updates and information. As you have read, we trust the Associated Press and media outlets as much as we can throw them - and with our assorted injuries, we shouldn’t be throwing anything.

We are getting the Staff Car up to speed and ready for smog testing.

Plus, we have just been beaten down by various computer, software problems and that damn cancer thing that seems to be taking control of the lives of everyone around us...and us.

In a nutshell, that's why we have been a little slower than we should be.

MONEYBALL

by Michael Lewis
Hardcover: 288 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.08 x 9.56 x 6.36
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (May 10, 2003)
ISBN: 0393057658
Since the book deals with the Oakland A’s, we figure we had better throw our two cents in, for no other reason to hear the ‘clink’. But, it’s a rambling discourse so, try to stay close.

CLINK

This book is not a story. It’s about a story. It’s a narrative form used to convey the perpetuation of an idea. Some have taken to calling the book a story of Billy Beane, which it’s not. Some call it a story on the inner workings of a MLB team, it’s not that, either.

”I wrote this book because I fell in love with a story. The story concerned a small group of undervalued professional baseball players and executives, many of whom had been rejected as unfit for the big leagues, who had turned themselves into one of the most successful franchises in Major League Baseball. But the idea for the book came well before I had good reason to write it—before I had a story to fall in love with. It began, really, with an innocent question: how did one of the poorest teams in baseball, the Oakland Athletics, win so many games? “ – Michael Lewis

Books are a tough sell. Especially to people who don’t write. Even tougher for people who don’t read. Books on sports are an even tougher sell. Books, in the baseball world, are what players have others write for them and what those who couldn’t play the game do for a living. Books serve no purpose other than to cover stains on coffee tables or to help fall asleep.

Or, that's the reasoning in most of the basbeall circle.

Side note: Jay Jaffe of the Futility Infielder is a baseball book-a-saurus. He has more thoughts on baseball books than he has baseball books...and he has a lot.
MONEYBALL has been reviewed and torn apart for a few weeks now. Excerpts from the book were available in Sports Illustrated and the New York Times as well as ESPN.com.

The excerpts were not the book. Yet, people jumped to conclusions that the excerpts were what the book was all about. People feelings were supposedly hurt and nerves were frayed.

This created a lot of controversy. Well, it created controversy, in that; writers and journalists said it was a controversy. In other words, a writer for a newspaper asks, “what do you think of the controversy surrounding the Billy Beane book, Moneyball?” The question is flawed, but the writer doesn’t care. They are trolling for sound bites and entries for a few columns. They got a few from none other than Kenny Williams;

''I've heard of those [kind of] people,'' Williams said of Beane. ''It's called ego-itis. When the ego weighs more than the brain and swells, it affects your powers of memory and recall.
''If I would have written that book, I would have started out by giving thanks to my director of scouting and that staff for drafting people like Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, Tim Hudson, Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejada.''

Kenny Williams thinks that Billy Beane commissioned this work and/or ghost wrote the book, just as Kenny Williams thinks he got the better of several deals with Billy Beane. We’ll don’t need to detail the trades.

The important point from Kenny’s quote is that he, Kenny Williams, does not comprehend the business he is in.

In an ironic twist, recently Kenny Williams was named in the top 20 of influential minority figures in sports. Billy Beane is quoted as saying of Kenny Williams “Kenny's one of the brightest minds in the game. He's very self-assured, straightforward and honest."

Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun Times (and ESPN’s Around the Horn) isn’t as big a fan of irony as Kenny Williams is of denial. Everybody sees the writing on the wall in Chicago except Kenny Williams and his scapegoat in waiting, manager Jerry Manuel.

Michael Lewis goes to great lengths in the book to examine how a particular Major League Baseball team, the Oakland A’s, operates. Through that literary prism the reader can plainly see that most of MLB, as an example - Kenny Williams, just doesn’t get it.

Look at the NFL and NBA. These sports both have highly publicized drafts and spawn enormous interest in who’s the next phenom, what team will take who, when and for how much.

Detailed analysis and research are poured into the player’s lives and abilities. The player’s are devoured and consumed. By the end of the process anyone with a casual interest in basketball or football can tell another average passerby how well or poorly a team did in the most recent draft. Yet, some drafted players are still busts and others, not drafted at all, still become stars.

Side note: With the NBA now in love with high school talent, could the NBA go the way of the CBA? Read Moneyball and take a look at the percentage of high school draft picks that make it in MLB.

Because of the operations of MLB and its minor league system the drafted players in baseball are the future of the sport. MLB does not have a highly publicized draft or go to great strides in marketing their draft. Why, though? To keep an even keel of not promoting their sport within, for one, but the real reason is elusive. To keep player’s salaries down? Possible. Lack of interest creates lack of marketability.

So why do most teams look at the draft as merely a crap shoot and then turn around and pay a king’s ransom for their 17 year-old high school draft pick? Most of the players in the draft are at best three years away from reaching the major league team. Most never will. There are mountains of data and research available, yet, largely goes ignored.

A lot of responsibility lies in the eyes and information from scouts each team employs. Lewis creates a vision of what a scout does for a MLB team and why it just doesn’t match what the rest of an organization is trying to do.

Especially in Oakland.

It seems that the scouting department was the last bastion untouched by the organizational approach in Oakland. While Clay Wood the ground crew guy understands the approach - the scouting department looks at statistical data as if it were math homework they’d rather not do.

It begs the question; what are the other teams doing and how on earth can they continue to do it year in and year out?

Is MLB, as an operation, and the 32 teams as organizations, run so inefficiently that monkey’s throwing darts at a dart board full of names a better way to conduct a draft of players than the current process the teams use?

Actually, yes.

MLB teams are run inefficient and without a concise vision or business plan. When teams do utilize a plan it plan differs from the parent team to the minor league teams and from the marketing department to the scouting department.

The amount of money that gets poured into scouting, drafting and the player’s salaries in MLB is ridiculous. When a team decides to trim payroll by trading off ‘expensive’ players.

It seems similar to fixing a flat tire on a car by planting a rubber tree near the offending tire rather than affixing the spare. When the rubber tree doesn’t grow into a tire, the teams just throw more money at over valued talent attached to over priced free agents. Buying expensive tires in the future won't solve the problem of flat tires.

This is where Billy Beane takes over in the book. Lewis sets the build up to Billy Beane’s ascent to GM as a hero’s journey. Beane took over from Sandy Alderson who knew very little of baseball operations tradition, so he was able to skirt the ancient system. What held Alderson to a different standard was the ability of the ownership in the late 1980’s to throw money around. By the time Beane has taken the mantle in Oakland, money doesn’t get thrown around.

Lewis is able to get close the inner Oakland A’s and in a passage in the book sets up a scenario for the reader to relish. Billy Beane, the GM, the guy who runs the show, has a mission to quash the last realm of futility in the Oakland A’s organization: the scouting department. Beane surrounds himself, well, corners himself, with a handful of college educated guys and Paul DePodesta’s laptop versus a Hauf Brau table of scruffy, aged scouts who are still looking for the “good face” to determine a player’s ability.

This is where Grady Fuson’s feelings get hurt, in retrospect, because of comments made by Beane and in how he presents them.

Beane was excited the day of the draft and hadn't slept in a day or two. If he ordered a paperclip pizza with extra checkers for lunch, it would seem a reasonalbe reaction to his physical and mental state.

A few bad words and a few bruised egos.

Big deal.

In reality, Lewis is rather tame. A few scouts can’t comprehend what the organization is asking of them and will not be dragged into reality. What the scouts don’t grasp is there are monetary concerns in abundance and how internally Billy Beane is hoping to plug holes that are not even there, yet. There are issues like, singability and future trade options that aren't open for round table discussion or debate.

The internal part is where Lewis can only paint a picture and hope the reader can make up their own mind what is really going on inside the subject's head.

Lewis does miss the opportunity to counter Beane’s apparent all Hyde rampage leading up to the draft. But, then, he doesn’t have to. This is a book, not a sports column for a newspaper or website. This book isn’t a collection for the public record. It’s what Michael Lewis saw and encountered during a short period of time within the A’s organization.

Fuson went to the Texas Rangers and Billy Beane for all practical purposes sued the Rangers by filling a grievance for an unauthorized signing. Beane allowed Fuson to be interviewed for the GM position, knowing the Rangers would never hire him for that position. The Rangers signed him in a lesser capacity as assistant general manager. But, Fuson did not return to the A’s. Fuson obviously wanted to leave. The A’s were thrown a lump of cash for their loss.

That's just a thumbnail view of some of the stuff flying around about the book. Get your own copy. Do your own homework. Do your own thinking. Make up your own decided mind.

REVIEWS

A recent review of Moneyball by David Bush attempts to poke holes in the credibility department, without much of an argument either way. The Haas family did indeed take over the Oakland A’s in 1981, but it can be argued that they were in negotiations to buy the team in the late 1970’s as Lewis writes. Further, Lewis’ editor and publisher should be the one’s taking the EROOR. Publishing Houses have fact checkers for a reason. We imagine Lewis just asked a few people “when did the Hass family buy the A’s?” The answer, “sometime in the late 1970’s or around there”. Lewis probably just took the answer at face value from a few different people and left it up to the editor to figure out the details.

There’s also a tacky reference to a misspelling of a front office first name.

Please.

We still don’t know if it’s Corey Lidle or Cory Lidle. Is that really such a Ben Grievas error as to staple “FRAUD” onto the jacket of the book?

Also, Davis takes offense that Lewis uses colorful and foul language.

Grow the fuck up.

Lewis is a talented writer for being able to sift through the trivialities of life and detail the nuance at the same time. Obviously Bush has never read anything by Lewis before.

To describe life sometimes you need to utilize what comes out of your mouth, pen or brain first. In instances, it’s an objectionable word. Then again, what’s objectionable to some is common vernacular to others. Using one of George Carlin’s seven dirty words or referencing Lenny Bruce’s act shouldn’t even make you flinch.

If you don’t ask each person in your every day life to refrain from using vulgar and offensive language, then why bother lamenting an author’s work because it has an occasional blue word?

George Washington (that guy on the one buck bill) was one of the great orators in American history and could swear up a storm when necessary.

Swearing is a national tradition.

So there.

There are a few other bloggers who have ‘reviewed’ Moneyball. Alex Belth has a lot on Moneyball, just keep reading his site, plus Alex can interview anything not nailed down. Aaron Gleeman reviewed the book and claims it’s “freaking awesome”. Probably not the most eloquent thing out of Aaron’s keyboard in awhile.

Rob “don’t call me a guru” Neyer has a lot of Michael Lewis stuff going on. Including a Q &A with Lewis and a reference to possible treasues wasted. We emailed Michael Lewis and asked about some of the stuff he didn’t get to fit in the book…and if he would allow to let us post a few quotes or paragraphs here and there.

He responded within a few hours and was nice enough to say he’d be happy to if he could. But, ESPN had already asked about and been granted the leftovers.

Damn. Beaten down by the national media, again.

Other News

Jason Sehorn signed with the St. Louis Rams. Don't be surprised if Sehorn moonlights as a free safety AND fourth receiver. As the staff member here who played football with Jason at Shasta College says, "some receivers are just better athletes than their competition and some are just smarter or have the kanck to get open. Jason was a better athelte, could get open and just smarter than the guys in the wrong colored jerseys. He could get open in a standing room only subway car if he wanted to."

What is That Smell?

We're back.

It will take a few minutes to get the blog updated. Yes, we feel bad. We were at the game Friday and the A's lost. Saturday we didn't even get to hear the game and they lost. Sunday the A's won and we were crossing the border from Nevada to California at exactly 5:00pm PST (precisley on schedule). So, apparently the A's don't win when we are in a different time zone. Make a note of it.

A Kingdom for a Clean Restroom

Greetings from the Cleveland Public Library!

We're a few hours from game time, so we dropped in to post a little...and use the facilities.

For some reason OHIO doesn't provide safe and clean restrooms.

Note: Next time you travel, take your own toilet or go on the side of any road. More private and most likely more sanitary.

We're scored a few boxes of Drake's coffee cakes and Ring Dings in W-B, PA. They don't have those on the West Coast.

It's been raining and overcast. If anyone makes a dark cloud following reference we won't mind.

We've got extra tickets for the Indians' game tonight, so if you're in Cleveland find the guy in the A's grey road jeresey who looks like he hasn't showered in 48 hours and make an offer. Honestly, a hot dog and a beverage would do just fine.

Moneyball

While we were at the Baseball Prospectus Pizza Feed on Wednesday, Michael Lewis was doing a book signing in the Bay Area. He was to attend the Pizza Feed. The book signing was ranked higher. He probably would have gotten more questions about his wife (yes, that Tabitha Soren) than anything else at the Pizza Feed, anyway.

If you have not read the book, do so. If you have read it, read it again, not that we need to prod you to do that.

The Grady Fuson, Kenny Williams flap seems like it is being fanned by jealous sports writers and other GM's.

Kenny Williams still thinks that Billy Beane wrote the book.

Grady Fuson still thinks the A's owe him something.

Micahel Lewis is a very good writer.

Maybe it's just a case of the sports "journalists" being upset they have never had access like Lewis got and can't write as well, either. Not to mention that Lewis gets to talk about Bud Sleig and not have to field his calls.

We'll try to post over the weekend.

SCORE!

Matt from the Cleveland Indians might be the second coolest guy on the planet. He pulled enough strings to get us tickets for the Friday night game in Cleveland.

Matt's getting free stuff.

ERROR

There's an error right now with Blogger.

Something to do with servers.

People, please, this is what happens when you don't tip the wait staff.

Several Good Reasons

Will Carroll has managed to get Michael Lewis on Baseball Prospectus Radio this week.

Michael Lewis is the author of Moneyball, the book that forces people in the stands to wonder what you’re doing reading during batting practice when there are baseballs whizzing by your head.

Will is so cool he’s also wrangled Billy Beane this week on BP Radio.

This week's BPR will be all about "Moneyball", the controversial new
book giving the insider look at the Oakland A's. Excerpted in NY
Times Magazine and this week in Sports Illustrated, "Moneyball" is
currently #20 on the Amazon.com bestseller list and will debut on
the NY Times Best Seller list next week.

In his only national radio interview, author Michael Lewis
will speak with BPR about the book, what he saw in his year with the
A's, and whether the controversy surrounding the book is justified.

That might be enough for many, but not BPR. We'll also have the
subject of "Moneyball", Billy Beane. Beane is currently General
Manager of the Oakland A's and a former major league baseball
player. His unique approach is changing the game, but his brash
personality is rubbing many the wrong way. Is it truth or sour
grapes? Only BPR will have Beane during the week of publication.

More details on BPR can be found at: radio.baseballprospectus.com
Netfeed at 9am Eastern on www.espn950.com.

We’ve been trying to get connected to the site, but it might be too busy. Keep trying and we’re sure you’ll get in, eventually.

We’ve finished Moneyball, twice. We’re still thinking of how to present the book to you in a way that is not condescending. But, that thinking takes too much effort. So, go get a copy of the book yourself and by next week we can all have a good debate on the subject. We have a link on the right that takes you to Amazon.com. It’s cheaper by 10-15% than getting it at a bookstore.

The great part about Moneyball is that the chapters tend to stand on their own, making it a great book to easily slip into and easily depart in a short period of time.

That’s code for, “buy an extra copy for the bathroom”.

Lewis has a writing style that allows depth through simplicity and allows the reader to be either naïve or educated and still be enthralled by the journey.

Plus, it’s got a cool look into a few players and the process of how some become an Oakland Athletics and why some get Milo’d.

Also, the book mentions Jeremy Brown and Nick Swisher. A pair that we hope to see as the first catching tandem in an ongoing experiment to allow catchers to have an extended playing career while still be able to walk 50 feet pain free by age 40.

On a separate note, the Elephants in Oakland Staff Car is now ready to be picked up. We’ll be flying to Philadelphia, hopefully get a chance for coffee with Mike of Mike’s Baseball Rants and then catch the A’s in Cleveland Friday night.

We’re going to drag the laptop along, but don’t expect too many postcard posts. We’ll do our best, though. We still refuse to purchase a cell phone to do remote posting.

That Works

We have figured out how to pitch to Alfonso Soriano. You know, that guy tearing up the AL?

This systematic approach will take some time to learn, so pay attention:

HOW TO PITCH TO ALFONSO SORIANO

First, get an A's uniform.

Put the A's uniform on.

Go out and pitch.

Lesson over.
Okay, now we require a fee for our consulting services...

ALL FIRED UP (No Where to Go)

Jeff Torborg was fired.

That's good.

Wait, on Baseball Tonight Harold Reynolds just called Rafael Palmiero a complete player...some people are just too stupid to be allowed to try and tie their own shoes - and Harold wears loafers.

Anyway.

Torborg the Terrible was fired Saturday with his henchman, pitching coach Brad Arnsberg.

" While Torborg took the news with typical grace, Arnsberg became angry when told he was fired. Beinfest said he and owner Jeffrey Loria went to the pitching coach