Billyball

看板Athletics作者coreytseng (Salsa lover)時間20年前 (2005/08/04 01:13)推噓1(1推 0噓 0→)

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這是昨天 Foxsports.com的文章, 講豆子魔法的! 但願真像他講的那樣, 豆子先生只需要得一個世界大賽冠軍來證明他自己的魔法!! XD 最好笑的是這句, 講到綠帽的薪資時: "A-Rod leaves more in tips for the clubbies who wash his socks." 笑死了.... --------------------------以下是全文------------------------------------------ A's continue to do it the Billyball way He had his chance to play with the Monopoly money, Billy Beane did. The Boston Red Sox were not the New York Yankees, but they were an embarrassment of riches all the same. They wanted Beane lording over their nine-figure payroll. For 15 minutes, Beane wanted the very same thing. Once upon a time, the general manager of the Oakland A's had agreed to move up in weight class and become a big-market heavyweight. But something funny happened on the way to the first float in an historic Boston parade. Beane decided he needed to remain close to his family on the West Coast. More than anything, Beane decided he didn't need to travel 3,000 miles to drink champagne. "Now I don't ever envision myself being anywhere else but Oakland," he said by phone recently. "Everything I've ever wanted to achieve in baseball, I can achieve in Oakland." He believes he can win a championship in Oakland, even on 55 million lousy bucks. Who dares to doubt him? Who would possibly challenge his blind faith, other than those crusty, doughnut-wolfing scouts Beane has ignored in assembling a consistent low-budget contender that thrives on the notion it can't compete with baseball's bluebloods over the long haul? No, Beane's A's haven't won a playoff series. They get to the first round, lose to the Yanks or Twins, and go home. October is the only month when the human radar guns get to light their cigars and raise their whiskey glasses to the premature death of Billy-ball, a formula built on the principles of sabermetrics and the belief that on-base percentages are more important than a scout's subjective measurements of a prospect's raw gifts. But sooner rather than later, the A's will break through and make a run to the World Series. Don't think so? Ever hear of the 2004 Red Sox? Phil Mickelson at the 2004 Masters? Roy Williams at the 2005 Final Four? You don't need to recall John Elway's helicopter ride in his first Super Bowl to know that most athletes and teams haunted by big-game demons eventually conquer them. This year's A's give off the kind of feel-good karma that defines a champion. They were 17-32 in late May, physically trashed by injury and emotionally wrecked by the off-season trades that sent away Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder. They have gone 42-14 since, exploding into the wild-card lead and threatening to overtake the Angels in the AL West. Beane didn't do it by dealing for the kind of high-profile players the Yankees are forever able to buy whenever their season begins turning south. Jay Payton, Jay Witasick and Joe Kennedy represent his biggest in-season deals. Jay Payton, Jay Witasick and Joe Kennedy. The A's have won 11 of 12 entering Tuesday night's game at Minnesota. They are raging against the assumption that this season would be a transition year at best (and a complete waste of time at worst) after Hudson and Mulder stranded Barry Zito and headed off to the National League contenders of Beane's choosing. "Those trades were met with so much skepticism because we were coming off a 91-win season," Beane said. "But if you look out on the field one day and say, 'we need to rebuild this thing,' you've probably waited too long. We could see the erosion of personnel on the club. We couldn't keep it status quo. If we kept (Hudson and Mulder) and moved other players for financial reasons, we wouldn't even have a .500 club now." Despite a $150 million payroll disadvantage, Beane has outmaneuvered his Yankee counterpart, Brian Cashman. Ultra-valuable kids such as starter Danny Haren, closer Huston Street, shortstop Bobby Crosby and outfielder Nick Swisher are each making a salary of $350,000 or less. A-Rod leaves more in tips for the clubbies who wash his socks. Beane has to be perfect ?he can't cover his mistakes with his employer's millions the way Cashman can. Operating without a financial safety net, Beane has kept the A's a winner after Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada and two-thirds of his Big Three starters were escorted to the door. This fact hasn't exactly thrilled the baseball traditionalists who took the best-selling Moneyball as an assault on their very being, and who painted Beane (despite the fact he didn't write the book) as a pompous self-promoter whose system didn't fly in the playoffs. Whatever. For the sake of his legacy as one of the game's great executives, Beane knows he needs to win at least one World Series title. A kid who used to pick his brain, Theo Epstein, did it with the big-market job Beane held for 15 minutes. Somehow, some way, Beane has to buy himself a parade on 55 million lousy bucks. The 2005 A's are starting to have that sooner-rather-than-later look. -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 66.125.227.164