http://www2.tbo.com/sports/rays/201...moneyball-improves-on-the-original-ar-260906/
http://www2.tbo.com/sports/rays/201...moneyball-improves-on-the-original-ar-260906/
Published: September 27, 2011
Updated: September 27, 2011 - 2:29 PM
Home / sports / baseball / professional /
Rays' version of 'Moneyball' improves on the original
By Joe Henderson
At the rate their season is spiraling downward, the Boston Red Sox may soon have some unanticipated free time. Oh, what to do? Perhaps a trip to the movies would help them escape their troubles. Say, the new flick "Moneyball" perhaps?
Um, maybe not.
Even though the movie is the saga of how Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane helped start a revolution in how to build a baseball team, a newer, better version of the concept has been playing out nightly with the Tampa Bay Rays.
"It's kind of interesting, isn't it? There probably is some irony in that. I definitely am a fan of a lot of that book and a lot of the concepts behind it," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "A lot of the philosophies are well thought out. I do want to see the movie at some point.
"I honestly believe, playing against Oakland back then and being the Rays today, I like the way we do it a little better."
The Rays were dismissed by many at the start of this year after last winter's exodus of mainstays like Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena, plus virtually the entire bullpen. Yet here they are, tied with the Red Sox for the American League wild card with two games to play.
Yes, the Red Sox are threatening to complete an historic collapse, their nine-game lead this month is gone after going 6-19 so far in September. But the Rays have also squeezed 89 wins out of a $41 million payroll and a lineup that would sometimes struggle to score in T-ball.
Something must be working. If the Rays pull this off, it would be one of the all-timers.
Actually, no one quite knows what to call the Rays' system; "Pennyball" maybe, or "More for Your Money Ball."
Author Jonah Keri took a stab at it last spring with his book "The Extra 2 Percent" that tried to get inside how the Rays have built a championship contender on a shoestring budget. It was interesting enough, but the Rays didn't cooperate much and continue to keep their evaluation methods highly classified.
Brad Pitt plays Beane in the "Moneyball." So who would play the role of Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman?
"Matt Damon, easy," Maddon said with a chuckle.
We know a lot more about "Moneyball" principles because author Michael Lewis was granted considerable access to Beane in writing the book on which the movie is based. Simplified, Beane relies less on scouting and more on things like on-base percentage and slugging percentage to choose players.
"That group (Oakland) had a total disregard for base-running and stealing, taking extra bases," Maddon said.
"Those Oakland teams, man, were pretty much a station-to-station, easy-to-plan-against team. That was it; I'm just being honest with you. They had great pitching. They were really hard to score runs on. But on the field they weren't as athletic. They lacked that one element on the bases that really pressures a team that I'm a big fan of."
Now look at the Rays. On-base percentage is important and we know about their pitching, but they also put a premium on speed. Maddon also is likely to do anything during a game. Opponents have to guard against squeeze plays and stolen bases, both of which are essentially forbidden in "Moneyball."
"What we have may be a hybrid system," Maddon said. "The biggest difference for us is that we're willing to do other things; maybe sacrifice bunt, bunt for a hit, steal a base or go first to third on a hit. We try to do things that weren't as prominent within that system.
"I kind of agree with all of it but not to the point where you just can't do it. There is that human element that you have to be able to read and feel during the course of a day and adjust to. It can't be all theory."
The Rays rely heavily on statistics but back that up with some of the top scouts in the game. Unlike in Oakland, scouting is huge with the Rays.
"I could understand where (Beane) was coming from with all that, with the scouts. I was involved in the old-school way of scouting also, and I'm a really big proponent of the newer way of scouting, using the numbers more readily and not relying on your memory or your gut feel. You could show up at the wrong time and see a guy really play well for a couple of days, and that's not this fellow," Maddon said.
"You have to be able to blend that all together and I believe we do that well here. We take the components of old school and the new way of doing things, and we blend it together and make it our way."
Just a cursory glance at their pitching staff shows draft-day steals like Jeremy Hellickson (fourth round), Matt Moore (eighth round) and Alex Cobb (fourth round), not to mention outfielder Desmond Jennings (10th round).
Friedman also places a premium on versatility, which is what he was going for in dealing Aubrey Huff for Ben Zobrist, or Scott Kazmir for Sean Rodriguez and Alex Torres. It's no accident the Rays have some of the deepest pitching in baseball while backing that up with speed and defense. You can develop pitching, and other organizations often overlook the versatile, speedy, defensive kind of player the Rays covet.
"The one thing that's constant is that we do play hard every night. The more controllable parts of the game are defense, hustle, and I think pitching is more controllable," Maddon said.
"Offense is the least controllable, and with all the technology – with the advancements in video and crunching numbers – all those advantages go to the pitching and defense, not the offense."
Maybe that's how they do it.
The Rays control what they can and mask the rest with all-out effort. It's not the classic way to build a playoff team, but it might just wind up that way.
Somebody ought to make a movie about that.
On the other hand, who would believe it?
www2.tbo.com © Copyright 2011 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company.
http://www2.tbo.com/sports/rays/201...moneyball-improves-on-the-original-ar-260906/
Published: September 27, 2011
Updated: September 27, 2011 - 2:29 PM
Home / sports / baseball / professional /
Rays' version of 'Moneyball' improves on the original
By Joe Henderson
At the rate their season is spiraling downward, the Boston Red Sox may soon have some unanticipated free time. Oh, what to do? Perhaps a trip to the movies would help them escape their troubles. Say, the new flick "Moneyball" perhaps?
Um, maybe not.
Even though the movie is the saga of how Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane helped start a revolution in how to build a baseball team, a newer, better version of the concept has been playing out nightly with the Tampa Bay Rays.
"It's kind of interesting, isn't it? There probably is some irony in that. I definitely am a fan of a lot of that book and a lot of the concepts behind it," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "A lot of the philosophies are well thought out. I do want to see the movie at some point.
"I honestly believe, playing against Oakland back then and being the Rays today, I like the way we do it a little better."
The Rays were dismissed by many at the start of this year after last winter's exodus of mainstays like Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena, plus virtually the entire bullpen. Yet here they are, tied with the Red Sox for the American League wild card with two games to play.
Yes, the Red Sox are threatening to complete an historic collapse, their nine-game lead this month is gone after going 6-19 so far in September. But the Rays have also squeezed 89 wins out of a $41 million payroll and a lineup that would sometimes struggle to score in T-ball.
Something must be working. If the Rays pull this off, it would be one of the all-timers.
Actually, no one quite knows what to call the Rays' system; "Pennyball" maybe, or "More for Your Money Ball."
Author Jonah Keri took a stab at it last spring with his book "The Extra 2 Percent" that tried to get inside how the Rays have built a championship contender on a shoestring budget. It was interesting enough, but the Rays didn't cooperate much and continue to keep their evaluation methods highly classified.
Brad Pitt plays Beane in the "Moneyball." So who would play the role of Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman?
"Matt Damon, easy," Maddon said with a chuckle.
We know a lot more about "Moneyball" principles because author Michael Lewis was granted considerable access to Beane in writing the book on which the movie is based. Simplified, Beane relies less on scouting and more on things like on-base percentage and slugging percentage to choose players.
"That group (Oakland) had a total disregard for base-running and stealing, taking extra bases," Maddon said.
"Those Oakland teams, man, were pretty much a station-to-station, easy-to-plan-against team. That was it; I'm just being honest with you. They had great pitching. They were really hard to score runs on. But on the field they weren't as athletic. They lacked that one element on the bases that really pressures a team that I'm a big fan of."
Now look at the Rays. On-base percentage is important and we know about their pitching, but they also put a premium on speed. Maddon also is likely to do anything during a game. Opponents have to guard against squeeze plays and stolen bases, both of which are essentially forbidden in "Moneyball."
"What we have may be a hybrid system," Maddon said. "The biggest difference for us is that we're willing to do other things; maybe sacrifice bunt, bunt for a hit, steal a base or go first to third on a hit. We try to do things that weren't as prominent within that system.
"I kind of agree with all of it but not to the point where you just can't do it. There is that human element that you have to be able to read and feel during the course of a day and adjust to. It can't be all theory."
The Rays rely heavily on statistics but back that up with some of the top scouts in the game. Unlike in Oakland, scouting is huge with the Rays.
"I could understand where (Beane) was coming from with all that, with the scouts. I was involved in the old-school way of scouting also, and I'm a really big proponent of the newer way of scouting, using the numbers more readily and not relying on your memory or your gut feel. You could show up at the wrong time and see a guy really play well for a couple of days, and that's not this fellow," Maddon said.
"You have to be able to blend that all together and I believe we do that well here. We take the components of old school and the new way of doing things, and we blend it together and make it our way."
Just a cursory glance at their pitching staff shows draft-day steals like Jeremy Hellickson (fourth round), Matt Moore (eighth round) and Alex Cobb (fourth round), not to mention outfielder Desmond Jennings (10th round).
Friedman also places a premium on versatility, which is what he was going for in dealing Aubrey Huff for Ben Zobrist, or Scott Kazmir for Sean Rodriguez and Alex Torres. It's no accident the Rays have some of the deepest pitching in baseball while backing that up with speed and defense. You can develop pitching, and other organizations often overlook the versatile, speedy, defensive kind of player the Rays covet.
"The one thing that's constant is that we do play hard every night. The more controllable parts of the game are defense, hustle, and I think pitching is more controllable," Maddon said.
"Offense is the least controllable, and with all the technology – with the advancements in video and crunching numbers – all those advantages go to the pitching and defense, not the offense."
Maybe that's how they do it.
The Rays control what they can and mask the rest with all-out effort. It's not the classic way to build a playoff team, but it might just wind up that way.
Somebody ought to make a movie about that.
On the other hand, who would believe it?
www2.tbo.com © Copyright 2011 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company.
