I've really been wanting to see this movie. It opens this week. I've heard that Brad Pitt delivers and outstanding performance as Billy Beane, as well as Jonah Hill's depiction of Pete Brand. (Say, didn't Kevin Pritchard hire Jeffrey Ma - the MIT whiz-kid - to do something similar for the Blazers?) Should be a fun movie to watch.
I lived in the Bay Area at the time. La Russa was the manager. There was quite a buzz about how the team was using advanced statistics to determine who played, and when. It didn't guarantee victory, but the team was a solid contender. They made the world series against the giants and there was a major earthquake during one of the games...
The gf loves the whole theater experience - replete with stadium seating, sound system, popcorn, the whole 9 yards. Before meeting her, I was your basic stay-at-home and wait for the dvd kind of guy. It's all good, though. She doesn't require much in terms of entertainment $$. Movies are her bag. I'll roll with it.
is this going to be another "Major League" situation where the team makes the playoffs as the big climax? his teams could never win in the playoffs, it was a nice way to compete over 162 games but you need power pitching to win in the postseason and they could never find that. and i don't think that 89 team was put together with sabermetrics and beane. considering that team had guys like McGwire, Canseco, and Dave Henderson, which seem like the complete opposite of what beane and company were trying to do there.
The movie description says for the 2002 season. But I remember they were using the advanced statistics in the 1980s. The 2002 season was a full commitment to the strategy. EDIT: I found this: http://miscbaseball.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/more-on-sabermetrics-in-1983/ (and another that said LaRussa didn't allow any of his custom stats to be made public, like who had what batting average against lefties.)
IMO, this was a rather thought-provoking viewer review... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210166/reviews
i'm sure coaches have been using those kinds of stats long before 83 but the computer made it easier. that isn't the "moneyball" approach though.
well ...... i'm not sure what you did there but prove my point. he found a way to compete for 162 games with a limited budget and changed the way the game is played. i said that, but i also said what that blurb did, that he couldn't win with it in the playoffs. what he really did was show teams like Boston how to build a team using those same principles but with the cash to get the one or two players they really needed to put them over the top. to me the "moneyball" system works with your everyday players, but in the end you need the pitching. beane got lucky (or drafted wisely) on some good, but not great, pitching (tim hudson, mark mulder, barry zito). i commend him for changing the game and really sports as a whole and am not saying he doesn't deserve the book/movie but in the end it was the red sox that really won with the "moneyball" system.
The Cubs had two ace pitchers and a stacked lineup a few years back. They choked in the playoffs, badly. So there is a clutch element that the advanced stats can't show without history (playoff data). In any case, I was there, and they talked on the local sports about how LaRussa was using unorthodox stats (and computers) in ways nobody else was. The word "sabremetrics" was used frequently. It was of particular interest to me as I was a big fan of Bill James, his stats projects, and his books back when I was in HS in the 70s...
I think I read somewhere that there were legal issues/permission not given or something for not being able to use DePodesta's name, but using Beane, Hatteberg, etc. I'm intrigued by the movie. They're never as good as the books, but I might spend 3.99 on demand or get it out of a redbox in a couple of months. I'm still trying to get Mrs. FromWA to find time in her schedule of raising two kids under 18 months to sit down for 90 minutes and watch Thor.
