Is Billy Beane really a genius?

Question

This guy is now in his 12th season as general manager of the Oakland Athletics. In five of those seasons the A's have made the Playoffs, four times as the American League Western Division Champions. Not bad. But they've only won one postseason series, that in 2006, and were swept in the ALCS. This after blowing a 1-0 lead in the 2000 ALDS and a 2-0 lead in the 2001 ALDS, both times against the Yankees; a 2-1 lead in the 2002 ALDS against Minnesota; and a 2-0 lead in the 2003 ALDS against Boston. And he can't find a way to hang onto the team's best players, even though every team owner is a gazillionaire. Shouldn't a "genius" have at least won a Pennant in his first 11 seasons as GM?

Answer 1

Genius may be strong, but he's one of the best GMs in the league because he can succeed without the money.

Business operates differently.  The A's fans don't pay $300 for a single ticket, so they don't quite bring in the revenue and no one, NO ONE, puts hundreds of millions of dollars into a franchise to lose money, even if it brings world championships.

Do you think if every team had the budget constraint that the A's have that they would have lost to teams like the Yankees, Boston, Angels, Minnesota (ok, maybe them)

Their payroll is about 38 Million.

Pick a team, any team, only take players that will make up $38 mil in payroll and add in a bunch of first year players and see how well they do.

Answer 2

Until this year he kept a small market team very competitive. There is some genius in that. If the A's fired Beane he would have a job offer from someone else by the next day - not many GMs can say that.

It would be a great to see him with a $200 million payroll for a few years and see what he could do.

Answer 3

h**l yeah hes a genius (have you read moneyball?)

but the one flaw his plan has (well what i think is a flaw) is his team revolves around young players with little experience (i know thats the only way to win with a $37 million payroll) and the players dont play well in the postseason due to lack of experience.

Answer 4

Beane is not afraid to try new ideas.

As he was quoted in Moneyball, however, he recognizes there are limits to what his maneuvers can achieve, and that luck can play a significant role, beyond any influence he can bring: "My (stuff) doesn't work in the postseason."

Answer 5

It's impressive with what he has done with not much payroll. But he's been "playing for the future" for a while now, and I think while the future's important, you need to play in the present too. He got rid of Harden, Haren, Hudson, and acquired prospects. Prospects can be good. But it's taking a BIG chance because sometimes they don't always work out.

Answer 6

Anything that happens after the A's made the playoff is outta his hands.  He doesnt control how the players play or anything, that job rests on the shoulders of the coach.

If the A's were good enough to make the playoffs 5 seasons, then it would be their job to finish the season with atleast a Pennant.

I think Billy Ball at times is annoying, but I still have faith in him to make good moves.

Injuries have been the A's main problem the last couple of seasons.  Thats one thing he defiently cant control.  This year's team didnt even look that bad even tho the team payroll was so cheap.

Frank Thomas Mike Sweeney barely cost him anything, thats a great move on his part.  But unfortunately both got hurt.

Answer 7

I wouldn't call him a genius but he's adapted a new way of getting and finding talent with a team that doesn't have a payroll that can compete with teams like the Red Sox, Yankees and Mets.

And yeah, where are his championships? It's not all about the GM obviously but I think it says something that the A's still haven't won a World Series under his direction.  

Answer 8

He is one

He is the Smartest man in Baseball

But the Owners are idiots

They dont give any money for beane to work with, imagine if he worked for the Yankees, they would 30 WS by now

The Owners came into the MLB to make money, a big no no, when an Owner buys a team, he bought it to win the World Series, not to make money

Its really hard for Beane to do his job with such a low market and low budget team, so he trades the A's big players for prospects, thats Moneyball, read the book.

Answer 9

He seems to always be making moves that everyone else thinks are crazy and they work out. He does great things with not much payroll.