anybody picking up cansecos book?
- Thread starter askG
- Start date
^^^from what i heard, he said basically that Tejada is the perfect example of how steroids can be beneficial, one because nobody sees him as being a user, and 2, because its never deteroriated his playing ability.
but i like how like three players have already come out and said that hes wrong for saying that used steroids...i know brett butler said it, and juan gonzalez...im blanking on the other one.
but i like how like three players have already come out and said that hes wrong for saying that used steroids...i know brett butler said it, and juan gonzalez...im blanking on the other one.
^Yup
Aces will be good too (comes out next month,) probably not as interesting to non-A's fans as Moneyball though.
Aces : The Last Season on the Mound with the Oakland A's Big Three: Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito
by Mychael Urban
NEW BOOK TELLS OF BIG 3'S BREAKUP
By John Ryan
Mercury News
It wasn't just a figure of speech. The trades of Tim Hudson and Mark
Mulder really were the final chapter.
``Aces: The Last Season on the Mound with Oakland's Big Three'' is
available for pre-order. It should be in bookstores by opening day, now
that they've changed the subtitle and added an epilogue.
The author is Mychael Urban, a longtime A's beat writer for MLB.com. He
said the book benefited from the trades, just as each pitcher's
struggles in 2004 made their stories more compelling.
``I knew the last chapter would be the guys talking about the very real
possibility they would be broken up after 2005,'' Urban said. ``They
were already talking about that. Then when the trades happened, that
was a perfect ending.''
Urban's favorite sports book is ``Ball Four,'' by then-big league
pitcher Jim Bouton, which was so revealing and risque that he got the
cold shoulder from teammates.
Urban did not have that kind of insider access. But after he struck up
a friendship with pitcher Erik Hiljus, he became such a part of the
social circle that players called him ``The Sixth Starter.''
After Hiljus was demoted, Urban recalled, ``Zito came to me and said,
`My top running partner just got sent to Triple-A, and he highly
recommends you.' '' So began their friendship, and he grew equally
close to Hudson.
The book avoids lurid details. But it goes behind the scenes on plenty
of topics, such as:
• The trio's shared distaste for the soon-to-be ex-owners. Urban
believes that Hudson would not have re-signed with Oakland no matter
what, because Hudson was tired of management counting on the Big Three
to bail the franchise out of its own shortcomings.
• Ambivalence toward the scientific teachings of former pitching coach
Rick Peterson, who Mulder says took too much credit for any success.
• Zito's relationship with actress Alyssa Milano, which Zito tried to
deny last season but Urban saw firsthand.
• Hudson's take on the Boston bar fight and his subsequent
injury-shortened start in the 2003 playoffs. Hudson junks his previous
claims that it was only a verbal altercation. But he says that last
season's medical report proves the injury ``wasn't because of the
brawl, it was because I have a bad hip.''
It's enough to make an A's fan pine for the old days, and understand
why they could not continue.
Aces will be good too (comes out next month,) probably not as interesting to non-A's fans as Moneyball though.
Aces : The Last Season on the Mound with the Oakland A's Big Three: Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito
by Mychael Urban
NEW BOOK TELLS OF BIG 3'S BREAKUP
By John Ryan
Mercury News
It wasn't just a figure of speech. The trades of Tim Hudson and Mark
Mulder really were the final chapter.
``Aces: The Last Season on the Mound with Oakland's Big Three'' is
available for pre-order. It should be in bookstores by opening day, now
that they've changed the subtitle and added an epilogue.
The author is Mychael Urban, a longtime A's beat writer for MLB.com. He
said the book benefited from the trades, just as each pitcher's
struggles in 2004 made their stories more compelling.
``I knew the last chapter would be the guys talking about the very real
possibility they would be broken up after 2005,'' Urban said. ``They
were already talking about that. Then when the trades happened, that
was a perfect ending.''
Urban's favorite sports book is ``Ball Four,'' by then-big league
pitcher Jim Bouton, which was so revealing and risque that he got the
cold shoulder from teammates.
Urban did not have that kind of insider access. But after he struck up
a friendship with pitcher Erik Hiljus, he became such a part of the
social circle that players called him ``The Sixth Starter.''
After Hiljus was demoted, Urban recalled, ``Zito came to me and said,
`My top running partner just got sent to Triple-A, and he highly
recommends you.' '' So began their friendship, and he grew equally
close to Hudson.
The book avoids lurid details. But it goes behind the scenes on plenty
of topics, such as:
• The trio's shared distaste for the soon-to-be ex-owners. Urban
believes that Hudson would not have re-signed with Oakland no matter
what, because Hudson was tired of management counting on the Big Three
to bail the franchise out of its own shortcomings.
• Ambivalence toward the scientific teachings of former pitching coach
Rick Peterson, who Mulder says took too much credit for any success.
• Zito's relationship with actress Alyssa Milano, which Zito tried to
deny last season but Urban saw firsthand.
• Hudson's take on the Boston bar fight and his subsequent
injury-shortened start in the 2003 playoffs. Hudson junks his previous
claims that it was only a verbal altercation. But he says that last
season's medical report proves the injury ``wasn't because of the
brawl, it was because I have a bad hip.''
It's enough to make an A's fan pine for the old days, and understand
why they could not continue.
what exactly is moneyball about?
isnt about how to put the perfect team based on stats?
i dont care to know how a player batting .320 w players in scoring position during the 7th inning w the dh on deck of a double header is going to improve my teams overall ITPGCH% or whatever the fuck...i mean i aint no GM, why the fuck would i want to know all these numbers.
well actually, ill read it if i want to always exit during the first round.
isnt about how to put the perfect team based on stats?
i dont care to know how a player batting .320 w players in scoring position during the 7th inning w the dh on deck of a double header is going to improve my teams overall ITPGCH% or whatever the fuck...i mean i aint no GM, why the fuck would i want to know all these numbers.
well actually, ill read it if i want to always exit during the first round.
^^^^hahahhahahaha, NO. again, why dont u do some research before u say something based on what u heard? u sound like all the commentators and people around the league who said it was a Billy Beane biography, lol...anyway, one of the things its about is how a small market team, one of the smallest, was still able to have the best record in baseball over 3 years, because typically, that doesnt happen. and one of the things that Michael Lewis talks about is how theyre able to do it, just that they look for different statistics rather than pure scouting when drafting people. BECAUSE they dont have enough money to just buy ur giambi's and a-rods, they will go for signing someone like hatteberg, or get durham for 6 months...maybe u should try reading it, and learn a thing or two about baseball. TRUE BASEBALL.
Hey there, homeboy,
Nice little graphic, by the way. Here's the thing about moneyball. I don't blame you for getting the wrong idea. There's a lot of misconception and a lot of lies floating around about this book, the first among them is that the A's believe in building a team solely based upon stats. You used an example to show that you don't really care how a hitter does in some obscure situation. Neither do the A's. They detest small sample sizes, so maybe you already agree with Billy Beane more than you think.
As for the playoffs, the A's understand that the playoffs are almost purely about luck. Do you really think that the A's have a philosophy that can easily win two games in a five game series, and then get to the last pitch of the last at bat, in the last inning of the last game, before failing miserably? The A's don't have the option of building a team of the sort that one traditionally thinks of as being competitive in the playoffs. They can't afford Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez or Mariano Rivera. All they can afford is a mixture of declining veterans and unproven youth on the rise.
And that, in short, is what you haven't heard about Moneyball. It is not a book written about how to make the perfect team with statistics, but it is actually a book on how to win baseball games with a budget about 1/4 that of the New York Yankees.
Peace,
~Logan
Nice little graphic, by the way. Here's the thing about moneyball. I don't blame you for getting the wrong idea. There's a lot of misconception and a lot of lies floating around about this book, the first among them is that the A's believe in building a team solely based upon stats. You used an example to show that you don't really care how a hitter does in some obscure situation. Neither do the A's. They detest small sample sizes, so maybe you already agree with Billy Beane more than you think.
As for the playoffs, the A's understand that the playoffs are almost purely about luck. Do you really think that the A's have a philosophy that can easily win two games in a five game series, and then get to the last pitch of the last at bat, in the last inning of the last game, before failing miserably? The A's don't have the option of building a team of the sort that one traditionally thinks of as being competitive in the playoffs. They can't afford Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez or Mariano Rivera. All they can afford is a mixture of declining veterans and unproven youth on the rise.
And that, in short, is what you haven't heard about Moneyball. It is not a book written about how to make the perfect team with statistics, but it is actually a book on how to win baseball games with a budget about 1/4 that of the New York Yankees.
Peace,
~Logan
But don't you think it's remarkable that the A's went to the playoffs so many years on such a low budget? The playoffs are about good luck, but the regular season shows how well a team is built, and in the last several years, the A's have been as good at doing that as anyone. In fact, dollar for dollar, they've been better.
