Moneyball

I had the privilege of seeing a sneak preview of the new movie Moneyball earlier this evening. When I first heard they were turning Michael Lewis' book Moneyball into a movie starring Brad Pitt, I was skeptical. It just didn't seem like that great of an idea. The trailers I had seen looked promising, so I was cautiously optimistic.

I can now safely say that my initial impressions were wrong. Moneyball is a fantastic flick.

The movie takes place in 2002 and centers around Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane and his efforts to rebuild the team after a crushing Game 5 loss to the New York Yankees in the 2001 American League Divisional Series in which the A's blew a 2-0 lead in the series. That A's team featured Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon. However, Oakland operated on a shoestring budget and a miniscule payroll, and both Giambi and Damon were free agents. There was no way Oakland could afford to keep them, especially with big market teams offering more money in free agency. Giambi signed with the Yankees while Damon went to the Red Sox.

Beane knew he needed to do things differently in order to compete with the big spenders. With the help of Peter Brand, a Yale grad with a degree in economics, Beane ignores conventional wisdom and turns to statistics in an effort to build a championship team on a shoestring budget. The key statistic is on-base percentage. Beane concentrates on finding players who traditional scouts don't like for whatever reason (age, body type, etc.) but who excel in reaching base.

While the message of the movie is debatable (having starting pitchers Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito pitch 30-35 times a year each probably had more to do with their success than statistical analysis), there is no denying that the approach used by Beane and Brand changed the game and how players are evaluated. Statistics play a vital role in current baseball front offices. Theo Epstein, General Manager of the Boston Red Sox, has constructed two World Series championship teams using a similar approach to that of Billy Beane. Indeed, Kevin Youkilis, the "Greek God of Walks" and a mainstay on those Boston teams, is highlighted in the movie as the ideal "moneyball" player.

Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill give terrific performances as Billy Beane and Peter Brand (who is actually a fictional character based on Paul Depodesta), respectively. Moneyball features some outstanding dialogue, too. There are some great one-liners, and the interaction between the characters is fantastic.

Moneyball is a great movie for baseball fans and offers an interesting behind-the-scenes look at how baseball front offices operate. It features a great cast and has a lot of humor. However, people who aren't fans of the sport probably won't enjoy it.