But once Beane had figured it out, Boston had already starting doing it. Wasn't that Theo's line about the book when it became popular? "You told everyone how to do it!"
That said, I don't think Lewis is saying the book "Moneyball" hurt the game, but that the concept did. But that's the thing - once someone figured it out, eventually they all would (well, maybe White Sox excluded?!). So leadership and the commissioner's office are the ones on the hook for not figuring it out and seeing the impact three true outcomes, lineup turnover success and further specialized, max-effort relief pitching might bring. That's where the blame lies, not the GMs and scouts and analytics departments. Theo's tried a few measures and I'm sure he and other have more ideas coming (I hope), but it often takes so long to implement something in baseball that it just falls further and further behind.
The NFL figured this out and they just say, "fork it, here's a rule change, go play this season" - often to further protect offenses and keep scoring going, and they usually just implement something new right away and tell the players to deal. Sure, unions and collective bargaining positions in the two sports are very different, etc. etc. etc., but that's at least part of the reason the NFL continues to prosper year after year. (Not all of the reason, obviously, but it's part.)
Baseball's leadership has to be more proactive to restore movement in the game. Not necessarily more offense, but movement. The bigger bases have helped that. Now find a way to make contact matter again and keep the game in motion - and motion other than a player walking to the dugout or first base or jogging around the bases.
