Please explain Billy Beane's ideas for us....

I've not seen Moneyball but didn't he get young unknowns into his team and they won the league?
What happened then? Did he sell them on or were they retained to progress further?
I wondered if we were starting to follow a similar path.

 

They don't have a transfer system in American sports per se, so the comparison is slightly off but I see your point.

Basically, using a stats based model, he identified young, cheap players who he thought the team needed and they all came together to win the World Series.

 

Did they win the World Series? I didn't think they did.

 

Not seen it myself but I think that’s definitely the path we’re taking, my main concern is whether promotion is a priority or are they quite happy to just carry on finding young players and turning them into a profit

 

To be fair I've no idea I just presumed!

I've just looked him up online and this quote stands out...

"Between 2006 and 2012 Oakland failed to make the playoffs which garnered Beans criticism from some quarters".

It then goes on to say that other teams copied his method and so while the talent pool remained the same, because more people were fishing in the same water, then bargains were more difficult to find.

 

Billy Beane is not my lover
He’s just a boy who thinks spreadsheets are the one
But - the kid must be twenty one.

 

Ooo you’re treading a fine line with Mr Badger, I’ve already been reprimanded

 

He didn't focus on young players, but players who performed well statistically but regarded poorly by scouts. So some aging players who were seen as past their best were also recruited. The only similarities I can see with our system is the use of detailed statistics to identify players who may have gone under the radar. So are therefore affordable when working on a limited budget.

 

If we stayed in the current division then there is every chance that we'll do well, at least some of the time. That being so we'll attract young unknowns who will buy into the "sell on for a profit" regime, or their agents will ! Those players know that hopefully if they fulfil their potential then they'll progress financially.
We then start again with the next batch of "sell for profit" players.... and so on, and so on.
If we got promotion then as we know all costs increase, wages etc. If we don't do well and either bump along the bottom or just survive for a few years then players will not be sold for a profit, as happened last season when next to nobody left in January due to our poor position in the league, thus assuming our players weren't good enough.
However the high costs remain so ideas about profit diminish.
We get relegated and once again hopes are high. Barnsley becomes a big fish again. So long as fans have hope then they will buy into the club, ie season tickets ie money for the club up front, money that we'll not see again.
My initial thoughts are that profit is to be made where we are, always promising to succeed and then falling short due to the influence of the money men.
And then next year we do the same again.

 

They didn't win world series.... if the line in Billons is to be believed ;-)

 

I think we will need another pitcher and possibly another batter or two if our aims are the same.

 

Is he still involved? I'm sure someone told me he'd left a few months back.

 

Reprimanded by the badger. Is that a euphemism ?

 

And this is precisely why myself and a few thousand others have stopped going. Until there’s determined investment in the playing staff and the desire to reach as high as possible in the football ladder then I won’t return to jokewell sadly. The owners intentions are starting to slowly become clearer and clearer in my eyes. If we manage promotion this season I anticipate another season of struggle as the owners clearly haven’t the desire to push-on and invest what is required to succeed in the English football league it seems already to me with our recent departures in the league 1

 

Cryne sold the club to them on the premise that you carry on doing what ive been doing and you will make a nice tidy profit every year. They haven't come here to spend 500m and push us into prem. The happy clappers on here beat down anyone who says anything against the club so you will have a nice easy ride making money. All hail the mighty speadsheet!!

 

And yet the answer to the "policy" is very simple.
Our no. one priority is promotion, so sell a couple and make your profit , i accept but then build the team to help this coach and fans reach this goal by keeping our squad together and adding to it.
Our football is great to watch, i have seen no other team in thus division match.
We the fans are un interested in how much they are worth, just what they can do for our team and how good they are.
Please keep the team together "suits" even from a business propective....if a player is worth £5million now, in the summer he will be worth more in a championship team..its only 4 months.

 

IIRC Beane's system was about which stats made a significant difference to the outcome of games. This, along with buying players who matched up with those stats game, them an advantage until everyone started doing it and then the playing field was levelled somewhat. Football is very different to baseball statistically wise as it's more fluid compared to one on one events than Baseball (or cricket). That said Im sure if you have enough statistical information you can work out certain truisms in football and base player purchases on those strengths (these may or may not match up to traditional beliefs when it comes to scouting and deciding which players to buy). I suspect top clubs are doing this a lot, but quite how far down the pyramid other teams are Im not sure. It's clearly worked so far as I dont remember a time we've had so much 'success' buying good players and flogging them on.

 

IIRC there's a salary cap in baseball which makes a massive difference.