Vega Magnus
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As a baseball fan, I'm very interested in that movie. It seems to be fictionalized a bit, as most true story based films are. In reality, Billy Beane actually did do a lot to change baseball, but to say that his good A's teams of the early 2000s were made up of players comparable to "misfit toys" is an exaggeration. There were some very good players on those teams, specifically their trio of ace caliber starting pitchers. (Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, and Mark Mulder.) The A's never won a World Series during those years, but the mere fact that they were contenders with their microscopic payroll is remarkable.
The most notable thing that Billy Beane did was popularize the use of Sabermetrics, also known as advanced statistics. Advanced stats like on-base percentage and slugging percentage were practically unheard of at that time, but since then, they, and many other advanced stats, have become commonplace among baseball circles.
In more recent times, Billy Beane hasn't done nearly as well. The A's have been stuck in mediocrity for years, and Beane himself has made plenty of mistakes. While the A's still have brilliant pitching, their offense is awful, partly because they play in a huge ballpark, but also because Bill Beane grossly undervalues traditional offensive players. You see, his reliance on advanced statistics has lead to not only his success, but also his failures. He frequently overlooks traditional good hitting players because they don't look as good in advanced stats when in reality, they are good players. He has also made some outright awful trades recently, including two that saw Oakland trade two players who went on to become the star players of their new teams, (Andre Ethier of the LA Dodgers, and Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies.) and one that, while slightly less egregious, saw them trade a really solid traditional power hitter (The exact sort of guy that Beane doesn't like.) in exchange for a guy who looked better in advanced stats. That traditional power hitter, Brett Wallace, is now a very good first baseman for the Houston Astros, but the guy that Oakland got for him has stalled in the minor leagues. Also, all of the young non-pitcher players that the A's have, with the sole exception of second baseman Jemile Weeks, have been failing left and right this season. There are some minor league players they have that project to be very good, but it won't be enough if the young players on the major league team fail.
So, when you watch Moneyball, keep in mind that the A's never won anything and that Billy Beane is not a super-genius general manager.
Oh, and if you want to know more about the A's, or any baseball related topic, feel free to ask. I love talking about baseball.
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Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci, Zachary Quinto, Kevin Spacey, Simon Baker and Jeremy Irons!
