In This Economy... Even Moneyball Is Broke - Part 2 of 3

Well... thankfully Part I did its job and stirred up quite the discussion didn't it. Of course, this isn't a personal attack against Moneyball, Billy Beane, or baseball's new wave of creatures from their mother's basements known as sabermetricians (sorry I just can't leave out that mother's basement line, it's solid gold). Thinking outside of the box and breaking the status quo is what we love best here at RSS. Emotions and loyalties may run high from progressive baseball minds when it comes to Moneyball, but will the facts about Mr. Beane and his A's persuade the VORPies? Without further adieu, Parts II and III addresses the specific moves Billy Beane has made, where the A's have been, where they are, and where they are going, thanks to Moneyball. (I didn't anticipate needing 3 parts, but consider this my masterpiece... or epic failure)

First off, give Billy Beane credit. He built a darn good ballclub in Oakland that competed consistently. From 1999-2006 their worst season was 12 games above .500. However, Beane's A's could never close the deal. The question that needs answered is did Beane's constant moving and shaking help or hurt the A's in the grand scheme of the Moneyball A's?

Let's initially look at the A's roster from their first run of playoff appearances from 2000-2003. Here, they won 3 AL West titles and made the playoffs each year, but failed to advance out of the first round.

The pitching staff was led by the Big 3 of Zito, Hudson, and Mulder throughout this run while Tejada and Giambi slugged their way to MVP awards before walking away in free agency. Even though the names changed, the lineup constantly produced enough to hold up their end of the bargain and get the team to the postseason.

But, with a stacked pitching staff and a loaded lineup, the A's could never get out of the first round. They lost twice to the Yankees including the memorable 2001 ALDS when Derek Jeter stole the show with his flip (left) and dive into the stands. In 2002 and 2003 they managed to lose the ALDS with homefield advantage to Minnesota and Boston respectively. However, its clear Beane was going for it. Good players like Damon, Dye, Justice, Lilly and others were added to the roster in this time frame and contributed. To this point, I would have been drinking the Billy Beane kool-aid with everyone else. However, things changed after the 2004 season when the A's missed the playoffs and the division crown by 1 game.

After the 2004 season Billy Beane did the unthinkable, he broke up the Big 3.

Within 3 days in December 2004, 2 of the Big 3 were dealt as Mark Mulder was sent to St. Louis and Tim Hudson was shipped to the Braves. I dare anyone to tell me one player of consequence the A's received in return besides Dan Haren from those deals. You know who else the A's got for 2/3 of one of the most vaunted pitching trios in history? Juan Cruz, Dan Meyer, Charles Thomas, Daric Barton, and Kiko Calero. (they aren't going into Cooperstown anytime soon)

Oh, and that one player of consequence, Dan Haren? He was traded in December 2007 for a ragtag group of hit or miss prospects from Arizona that have all fared about as well as Bob Uecker thus far in the bigs.

The 04-05 A's had restocked with good young players like Crosby, Ellis, Kotsay, Byrnes, and Swisher. While they had lost Giambi and Tejada, the lineup was still producing. So why did Billy Beane pull the plug on the A's incredible run in December of 2004? Why commit yourself to rebuilding by trading away Mulder and Hudson, especially in December? Why not try another run with a team that had made the playoffs 4 out of the last 5 years and missed the postseason by one game the year before? Surely, he could've seen where the team was at in July and got much more for his aces? Wasn't it too early to start over?

So what is the legacy of the Big 3 Era in Oakland? A lot of near misses, and a lot of promising prospects that fizzled out faster than Todd Van Poppel. Hudson, Mulder, and Zito are mere ghosts of Oakland's past and reminders of the glory days of Moneyball. Little did anyone know that the Big 3's time in Oakland would be as good as it would get for the rock star GM and his Moneyball A's. But hey, no one could see the economic collapse coming either, right?

The final part of the Moneyball Trilogy coming soon looks at the A's since their only playoff victory this decade in 2006. The A's were successfully rebuilt by that time, or were they? Were they only rebuilt for the demolition expert GM to be overanxious to start from scratch again? The 2006 A's stand as a symbol for what haunts Billy Beane and the Moneyball A's. In Part III we look at the A's most recent struggles and the fate and ultimate verdict of Billy Beane and the Moneyball A's.