Billy Beane

Co-author Alan Hirsch was kind enough to answer and respond to questions and criticisms of his new book, The Beauty of Short Hops: How Chance and Circumstance Confound the Moneyball Approach to Baseball.

Q: Billy Beane didn't/doesn't watch A's games because, in your words, "He can’t bear seeing the damn players muck up what should be a perfectly predictable contest." 

Pitchers and catchers report next week, which in theory means the biggest offseason moves have already been completed.

Billy Beane and the A's have already made a flurry of moves, from bolstering the bullpen, adding candidates for the fifth starter spot and adding pop to the lineup.

Lets take a look at the top seven moves made by Billy Beane and the A's so far this offseason.

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After a very busy off season, the Oakland A’s are poised to make some noise in the American League this year, and for once they won’t go unnoticed. At least this is what the A’s are counting on.

The A’s busy off season has landed them star players through trades such as David DeJesus and Josh Willingham, to go along with free agent signings: Hideki Matsui, Grant Balfour, Brian Fuentes, Brandon McCarthy, and the return of Rich Harden.

This was going to be the topic of the 10/25 Monday Mania, but after thinking about what I wanted to say during my first class today, I decided that so much information and thinking that goes into this topic that it truly deserved its own article.

Which leaves me without a topic of debate for Monday Mania, but in the wide world of sports, something always presents itself.

Anyway, "Onward and upward," as the Romans said.

In 1995, the owner of the Oakland Athletics, Walter Hass Jr., died. Successors Stephen Scott and Ken Hofman had watched Hass spend an abundant amount of money on players, and they wanted to go into an entirely different direction.

Moneyball is a baseball film starring Brad Pitt and Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, and it's set to open sometime in 2011.

Hoffman will perform as former big league manager Art Howe, and Pitt -- one of the most famous people in the universe -- will be playing Billy Beane, the "mastermind" general manager of the Oakland A's.

Billy Beane is notorious for deadline deals. He has a quick trigger finger and seems to always be shuffling players in and out of the Oakland clubhouse. However, the 2010 trade deadline was different, as Beane and the Athletics just sat back and watched from a distance.

The Oakland A's did nothing at the trade deadline and by doing this general manager pretty much said "screw you" to Oakland A's fans. This year will be another wasted season for the A's. 

What's sad is if Beane had gotten some deals together the A's could have made a run at the Texas Rangers even if the Rangers went out and got Cliff Lee, Bengie Molina, Cristian Guzman, and Jorge Cantu. 

As the July 31st trading deadline passed with a flurry of excitement over the last week, it was all quiet on the western front. Specifically, in Oakland. The unusual and abnormal lack of movement was the focus: for a change, the A’s did not trade away their players—veteran starters or minor league prospects. This is surprising news for the organization, because traditionally around this time of the season, the Athletics rid their roster of salaries and stock up on loads of minor leaguers.

This day came a little earlier than I supposed it would. Ben Sheets' season is now officially over. Possibly his career. Twice at the quarter season and half way points, I have given Sheets an overall grade. Now, instead of having two more reviews, I am forced to give my final one with his season ending surgery.

Sheets plans on having flexor-tendon surgery, mostly so that he can pitch again if he would like to; but he stated: "If I came back, I would have to feel a lot better." (San Francisco Chronicle).