Not only are the Oakland A’s heading to Vegas, but the film that draws inspiration from their unlikely success in the early 2000s, Moneyball, deserves a sequel with another team.
The film Moneyball is based on the book of the same name about the true story of Billy Beane, who served as the A’s general manager from 1997 to 2015 and vice president since. It is about the incredible successes of the team which participated in the playoffs between 2000 and 2003, in particular with two seasons of more than 100 victories. And all this, while the team had the 28e smallest payroll in the league, just ahead of the Expos.
The film tells how baseball is thought differently by Beane and his team with the use of different statistics to build a good team despite financial setbacks. The A’s had, in 2000, a payroll of $32 million. The richest team was the Yankees with $92 million, that’s 180% times more.
I’m sorry for those who got too attached to Brad Pitt, who played Billy Beane, but what the Tampa Bay Rays are doing is even more impressive.
File photo, Getty Images via AFP
Better than Oakland
The Rays are the team to beat this year. The team that still attracts few people to its stadium has won 48 of its 69 games, which places it at the top in the MLB. The club is likely to make the playoffs for the fifth time in a row, that’s one more than the A’s at the time.
The Rays payroll is $76 million this year. Twenty-six clubs out of 30 have a higher one. At the top are the Mets, who pay $344 million for their players, that’s 348% more than Tampa Bay. The gap is therefore much larger than between the A’s and the Yankees at the time of Moneyball.
I’ve heard GMs freak out when the phone rings and an obscure minor leaguer is interested in the Rays. Teams then proceed to dig everything they can dig up on that player to see what the team might not have seen.
Hidden treasures
That’s key for the Rays. They see things that others haven’t seen.
They picked up Randy Arozarena in St. Louis for not much 3 years ago. He is now one of the best players on the planet.
Their mound ace, Shane McClanahan, was shunned by 30 teams in the 2018 draft before the Rays picked him. He is likely to win the Cy-Young trophy this year and get more than 20 wins. No one who’s been drafted before him comes close to being this dominant.
Their top reliever, Pete Fairbanks, was acquired in a 2019 trade from an outfielder who is still in the minors. Fairbanks was however bad before arriving with the Rays.
Examples like that, there are many among the Rays. It would make a wicked good sequel to Moneyball!