Billy Beane: Sore Loser

I know, I know... among statheads, Billy Beane is "THOU WHO CANNOT BE QUESTIONED"

yet....

prom the Philadelphia Daily News...

Regarding 3-man rotation -
"This team did a lot of historic things. And if people can't understand that, they're shortsighted, spoiled fools," he (Beane) said."

Regarding the Red Sox Job and Oakland Fans-
"I'm under contract here and I'm very proud to be general manager of this team," he said. "But when you share a stadium with a football team and you have [32,146] for Game 5 of the Division Series on a Sunday afternoon after an incredible season, it starts wearing on you.

"We kill ourselves from a baseball-organization standpoint. I feel like we've lived up to our end of the bargain. I don't know what else we can do."

Philadelphia Daily News Story

Awwww..... Poor Billy - Darling of all.... The situation is not as pleasant when a lower payroll team than you bumps you out.

Free Ricky Rincon!

[KCBOOMER]

Originally posted by CpUltravox
I know, I know... among statheads, Billy Beane is "THOU WHO CANNOT BE QUESTIONED"

Regarding the Red Sox Job and Oakland Fans-
"I'm under contract here and I'm very proud to be general manager of this team," he said. "But when you share a stadium with a football team and you have [32,146] for Game 5 of the Division Series on a Sunday afternoon after an incredible season, it starts wearing on you.

I guess I am not as cynical as you, CP. sure he's being a little petulant, but we all get that way now and again. What should he have said? The reverse would have been "I'm open for the Red Sox job and the fans in Oakland are the greatest!".

Oakland has never been a baseball town and asking it to be something it isn't is difficult. Where were the fans? Home watching the Raiders game.

"And if people can't understand that, they're shortsighted, spoiled fools"

That's the one that gets to me. It seems.. so against everything Beane stands for - that is - open mindedness to new methods of player evaluation. Shortsighted, spoiled fools?

[pathogan]

...he just got bumped,probably feeling the heat somewhat,and is frustrated

[gyb13]

Originally posted by CpUltravox
Regarding 3-man rotation -
"This team did a lot of historic things. And if people can't understand that, they're shortsighted, spoiled fools," he (Beane) said."

cp - this quote....how does it regard to the 3-man rotation?

The article made it sound like the comment was prompted by criticism over the 3 man rotationin the playoffs...

I assume that's where it came from....


The following is copied directly from article...
---
GM Billy Beane didn't have a lot of patience for those who second-guessed his organization, including the decision to use a three-man rotation with Tim Hudson getting Games 1 and 4.

"This team did a lot of historic things. And if people can't understand that, they're shortsighted, spoiled fools," he said.

[gyb13]

still doesn't make much sense. it's not like they pioneered using a 3-man rotation, so the 'historic' comment doesn't make sense.

i think the quote is probably not in reference to the preceding paragraph in the article. they just wrote it up that way and it sounds misleading

Originally posted by gyb13
still doesn't make much sense. it's not like they pioneered using a 3-man rotation, so the 'historic' comment doesn't make sense.

i think the quote is probably not in reference to the preceding paragraph in the article. they just wrote it up that way and it sounds misleading

I can see that - you mean, as opposed to commenting on the moves Beane made, the 'historic' comment referred to the A's exploits in the last year?

The A's were very good this year, as well as the past two, and are to be held up as an example for what a smart, creative front office can do.

I'm not sure anything they've accomplished on the field is particularly 'historic.'

[gyb13]

Originally posted by CpUltravox
I'm not sure anything they've accomplished on the field is particularly 'historic.'

seriously....look at seattle post departures of griffey, unit, arod

The parallels between the Braves of the ninties and the A's of the aughts lead me to believe that Oakland is treading a path already blazed.

Hudson, Zito, Muldur
Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz

Closer - Revolving door for both teams

Position players are all solid, but only Tejada sticks out as exceptional. Much like a early-career Justice. And Oakland has Justice now.

There is no shame in walking down that path. But to call it historic is a bit premature. What the Braves have accomplished for the last decade is historic. What the A's have accomplished so far is an occurance.

I've wondered this about Schuerholz - is he smart for coming up with three aces, or is he lucky? Perhaps the same thing for Beane? Time will tell.

[moose]

gyb-
read the except again: it's saying that he bristled at criticism in GENERAL, including the rotation choice.

his response was that his team did "historic things" (like a win streak, i guess ).

[gyb13]

I understand that. I just think that the way it sounded was misleading. It should've read something like:

GM Billy Beane didn't have a lot of patience for those who second-guessed his organization.

"This team did a lot of historic things. And if people can't understand that, they're shortsighted, spoiled fools," he said.

[Criticism of the organization] included the decision to use a three-man rotation with Tim Hudson getting Games 1 and 4.

[satchel]

wait, gyb - are you suggesting you've never seen a poorly edited newspaper piece before?

As for Beane, I would be inclined to let the comments slide for the reasons cited by others here in the thread, unless it becomes a repeated theme for him. He is justifiably frustrated, and, like many often do, aired some of that frustration to the press.

He and his team should be proud of all the regular season wins they racked up, especially the 20-win streak, and the way they woke themselves up after some lackluster play early in the season. But Beane and his ballplayers know that regular season wins aren't considered to be much of anything in the long run - you are remembered for what you did or did not do in October. (See, e.g., the 2001 Mariners.)

[soxfan121]

It is my fondest wish that Billy Beane realizes that with the A's, there is nowhere to go but down and decides his future is best served running the Red Sox. Won;t happen, but I can dream, OK?

As for the tenor and content of the comments, it isn't surprising. I'm sure Beane thought that the team would finally get over the hump and win a series in this year's postseason. In fact, I think he probably thought that he had the talent to win the WS this year - and his comments reflect the frustration of another opening round loss.

As for the fans in OAK, it's never going to get better. The Giants are too close, have too nice a ballpark, and the A's play in a awful park that is rarely filled, even in a Game 5. Too bad.

[b-ball-lunachik]

Originally posted by CpUltravox
The article made it sound like the comment was prompted by criticism over the 3 man rotationin the playoffs...

I assume that's where it came from....

cp -- I think this is the originating article for that quote -- I had posted a piece of it in the What's next for the A's thread because I didn't like the owner trashing the fans!

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/s...cs/4236455.htm


I understand Beane's frustrations and his vent, but he has to keep in mind that the reason he is so highly lauded is because he does so much with so little. If he had a much higher payroll, I still think he would be respected and would do a great job with it, but probably wouldn't get that genius title -- they would say he's doing what anyone with a lot of money can do.