Baseball Musings: Winning <em>is</em> Everything

December 19, 2004

Winning is Everything

Al's Ramblings gets an aspect of Billy Beane's tenure dead wrong in this post praising the Mulder deal.

Mr. Beane doesn't care if he wins 69 games in 2005, or if they miss the playoffs by one game, like they did last year.

Beane does care if they win. By winning, he brings in fans that build revenue that lets him better compete with the big boys. From page 122 of Moneyball:

He told the Blue Ribbon Panel that the Oakland A's inability to afford famous stars meant that no matter how well the team performed, the fans stayed away -- which was the opposite of the truth. All the A's marketing studies showed that the main thing the fans cared about was winning. Win with nobodies and the fans showed up, and the nobodies became stars; lose with stars and the fans stayed home, and the stars became nobodies. Assembling nobodies into a ruthlessly efficient machine for winning baseball games, and watching them become stars was one of the pleasures of running a poor baseball team.

A 69 win season would be looked at as a failure by Beane and the A's. They may be retooling for the 2006, but they want to be competitive in 2005.

Posted by David Pinto at 10:06 AM | Management | TrackBack (0)

Comments

I think they will be competitive next year, though I doubt they'll make the playoffs. But if they finish below .500 I'll be surprised.

Posted by: Larry Mahnken at December 19, 2004 01:33 PM

A's have also cleared about $13 million off the books. Are they saving up for a free agent? Or are they going to plow that money into the future contracts of Harden, Blanton, etc?

Posted by: Daniel at December 19, 2004 04:10 PM

Who is available as a free agent that they'd like? I don't see any players still out there that fit their profile. I'd have to guess that they're either saving for the future, or are hoping to take their chest of prospects and trade for a current star midseason when they understand their weaknesses better...who knows with Beane? It'll be interesting to see how it works out for them without those two pitchers. Right now, it seems like a punt for 2005...

Posted by: Dave S. at December 19, 2004 05:51 PM

Yeah that guy says lots of dumb stuff on his website. I'm glad you said something. There's a reason that clown doesn't have a 'comments section' on his website--everybody would slam his ridiculous statements constantly.

"He doesn't care if he wins 69 games or misses the playoffs by a game"?

What does that even mean?

Posted by: Bryan at December 19, 2004 06:46 PM

I think it means that Al is disabled.

Posted by: Rusty Laszlo at December 19, 2004 06:49 PM

There are a few reasons why people still read Ramblin' Al's website...
1) There aren't many Brewers related websites
2) People aren't always smart
3) A lot of people check his site out just to see what stupid thing he'll say next. It's kind of like when liberals listen to conservative talk-radio--they just love hearing something that's so ridiculous to them and get's them so angry.
4) They love his clever jokes and political digressions.

To sum it all up, he's a t00l.

Posted by: Art at December 19, 2004 07:06 PM

Al is the same guy that tried to blast Pinto a while back right?

Then when it all went down he posted something on his website like 'there's no such thing as bad publicity'...

Yeah he sucks.

Posted by: Dee at December 19, 2004 07:08 PM

Ben Grieve, only 28, is still available!

Posted by: wilson at December 19, 2004 07:53 PM

I read Al's Ramblings much too often as a Brewers fan. It is a truly accurate name for a blog. He's a jerk and not too smart, but fun to laugh at.

And Bryan makes a good point; there's a reason he doesn't have a comments section.

BTW, does anyone know of a good Brewers blog? I know they aren't so sexy, and Against the Grain is good, but a daily poster?

Posted by: Adrock at December 19, 2004 09:48 PM

Actually David, I pretty much agree with the first comment, I'd peg the A's at about 85 wins next year. But my point remains, Billy is looking at '06 and beyond. He doesn't just have a plan, he is the only GM who has consistently won with a bottom 1/3rd payroll.

As for the others, all publicity is good publicity. Just keep reading and disagreeing, and keep telling people you disagree. We'll see ya next time.

Posted by: Al at December 19, 2004 10:32 PM

Against the Grain is a good alternative to Al's ignorant ramblings. I know it isn't purely a Brewers blog but the guy works for the Brewers and usually has some inside information, as well as informative and funny takes on stuff in baseball and all of sports really.

Against the Grain and brewersfan.net is what I've been using since I got sick of Al and his ignorant ramblings a few months ago.

Posted by: Pete at December 20, 2004 03:18 AM

"But my point remains, Billy is looking at '06 and beyond."

But your comments imply that winning in 2005 isn't a priority, which I'm sure it most certainly is.

"We'll see ya next time."

You stopped seeing me months ago. Along with many others I hope.

Posted by: Joe at December 20, 2004 06:17 AM

Studes makes a good point on the THT blog, that Beane is taking advantage of how overvalued starting pitching is this offseason, and getting perhaps maximum trade value for Hudson and Mulder, and more value than he'd get with the draft picks, since the guys are closer to being Major League ready, he doesn't have to pay them signing bonuses, and may even be better than the guys he could draft anyway.

Posted by: Larry Mahnken at December 20, 2004 06:26 AM

I agree with several of the comments on Al's blog. But as one commenter stated, there ain't too many options for Brewers fans; and I find his stuff entertaining at times. Besides, isn't the whole point of a blog to voice your opinion?

That said, I recently discovered another Brewers blog on brewers.mostvaluablenetwork.com
He's not a daily poster, but isn't quite as abrasive as Al.

Posted by: chad at December 20, 2004 01:51 PM

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