Beane’s baseball tactics starting to fail

Posted by Rob Boudreau Categories: Athletes, Editorial, Front Office, MLB

The Oakland Athletics seem to be in a state of slow freefall. In 2006, they finished first in the AL West with a 93-69 record. Since then, they’ve finished third (76-86), third (75-86) and fourth (75-87). A’s general manager Billy Beane has found himself contending with low payrolls and a dwindling talent pool. To deal with it, he has had to find unique and creative ways to evaluate young talent, coming up with a system that is well documented in Michael Lewis’ 2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, where Beane is the primary character. For years his formula worked, but now it might be time to go back to the drawing board.

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Rich Harden Traded To Chicago Cubs

Posted by Milo Taibi Categories: Athletes, MLB, News, Trades

Jim Hendry and the National League best Chicago Cubs made a huge splash on Tuesday, acquiring ace Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin from the Oakland A’s. In exchange for Harden and Gaudin, A’s GM Billy Beane received pitcher Sean Gallagher, outfielder Matt Murton, INF-OF Eric Patterson, and catching prospect Josh Donaldson.

“I don’t necessarily think we’ve taken a step back. I think we’ve taken a step forward for the next three to five years,” Beane said. “We were balancing that the club’s playing well but also keeping in mind that we’ve had numerous injuries over the last week.“

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