Dave Cokin’s Hardcore Baseball: Movieball

Just in case you haven’t heard, “Moneyball” is about to become a feature film. The book, authored by Michael Lewis, created quite a stir when it was published, with plenty of hot debate and widely varying opinions, not only about the book, but also about the concept itself.

The book focused on Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane and his philosophy on how to build a contender while working under the constraints of a limited budget. A good deal of the writing concentrated on the tools vs. stats argument when it came to drafting.

The one enduring memory of the commentary on the book was ESPN’s Joe Morgan making a complete fool of himself when he condemned the book, while also admitting he hadn’t read it. A definite Hall of Shame moment for the Hall of Fame player turned analyst.

As for my views on the book and of the “Moneyball” concept itself, nothing has really changed much. I thought it was an interesting read, but it was also crystal clear that the author was completely sold on the argument by Beane.

There were times that I felt I was reading a puff piece on the GM rather than an in-depth study of a very controversial and fascinating approach to building a big league roster and organization.

As for the “Moneyball” concept itself, I’ve never been one of the believers. I’m much more in accord with those who focus on tools rather than stats at the prospect level. While there are other aspects of the plan that make sense to me, this one doesn’t and I have always felt that it was the crucial hole in Beane’s process.

I also disagreed with the idea of focusing almost exclusively on college players and bypassing high schoolers, with the former considered safer selections while the prep players were too high risk.

The fact that the A’s have clearly gotten away from the “Moneyball” philosophy indicates to me that it was a novel and revolutionary concept, but it simply didn’t work. The A’s did have that one memorable 20-game win streak along the way and they did manage to get to the postseason, but they never won a playoff series.

I’m not going to crush the film without seeing it, although I’m absolutely scratching my head as to what would make this must-see material. Some books seem made for the big screen, but I have no clue as to what the grab is here.

But there are some notable people involved with the project. Stephen Soderbergh is directing, and Brad Pitt has signed on to play Beane. So the one thing we know is that “Moneyball” the movie won’t be utilizing the frugal principals of Beane and the A’s.

Sure looks like the producers are taking anything but the small market approach to making the film!