Salon's Kaufman accuses Kindred of 'ignorance'

No one has? Really? The guy's moves get analyzed more than the president's. No one has seen fit to call bullshit on him? When a nobody minor leaguer retired this season from the A's system, a dozen national columnists weighed in with glee.

But no one has criticized Beane? Nobody? Really?

 

OK, I confess.
I have.

 

Brad Pitt is being talked of as playing Beane. No joke.

 

By whom?
Beane?
Or Michael Lewis?

 

What is Pitt's VORP?
They'll need to determine who to ask next after he turns them down.

 

VORP!

http://www.variety.com/VR1117994175.html

I think Steve Buscemi could really ham it up in a bit role.

 

Seriously, does anybody really think there is a market for Moneyball the movie?

 

No one with any power to fire him.

Seriously, if I'm A's management, what am I getting out of him other than hosannahs to the highest from his cult of fans? He's a genius who's sent attendance levels down to the the second-lowest in his league in a two-team market where they can ill afford a slump.

 

" . . . but . . . but . . . the playoffs are . . . A CRAPSHOOT!!!! . . . "

: : :

 

Found an interview with Youkilis on Hardball Times, a sabermetrics site.

Anyway, here's the money quote, if you will, that should tell people that this is art AND science:

THT: Have the Red Sox asked you to change anything, or have they pretty much left you alone?

Youkilis: No. Sometimes, you know, in certain situations you have to be more aggressive. With runners in scoring position, you've got to be more aggressive and be ready to hit because you want to drive in the runs; you don't want to walk.

If it's like second and third, one out, you get a pitch to hit, you've got to hit it. That's a big thing. You get a good pitch to hit in that situation, you've got to hit it. You can't go up there in that situation taking a lot of pitches.

 

you would actually fire him? He may not have one a championship but he's been very successfull. Look at the payroll he is dealing with, I think your Brewers would be mighty happy if they produced the same results over the last 9 years

 

Youkilis' strikeouts actually have come down with his walks -- 120 to 108 from 2006 to 2008. That could mean he's getting fewer bat-on-the-shoulder strikeouts that come for playing marginal strikes for balls. Or it could mean his bat speed is better.

And Bubbler, the A's attendance has been awful long before Beane, and will be long afterward. The team's attendance jumped briefly during WS days and 100-win seasons, but for the most part Oakland ranks at the bottom. If Beane is no longer able to spot and have his team develop young talent, then he's gone, because the only hope A's fans have is Beane's mad-scientist moves, which aren't so much mad-scientist as trying to get as many strong young prospects as he can when a player is just about ready to receive a massive contract.