Go to sleep, Mac. It's past your bedtime, which i...

2008-03-03T00:50:00.000-05:00

Go to sleep, Mac. It's past your bedtime, which is 5, 8, and 11 PM, and 2, 5, 8, and 11 AM, and then 2 PM.

Reader James points out several good things:

In the chapter profiling Brown, it lists him as being part of Billy Beane's "top 20" -- the 20 people Beane would pick if money and competition were not an object. Lewis identified a couple of the people on the list as being unaffordable. Jeremy Brown was on that list, and I think it was fair to say that, based on the A's method, they thought Brown was one of the best ten picks in the draft. I'm sorry I don't have the book on me now to link something, but I do think Beane thought Brown was better than the 35th best pick.

I've seen a bunch of the criticism of Moneyball/Beane because of Brown, and I've often wondered how the pick compares with others. That is... how did the pick do relative to other picks? Well, it's not really much of a sample, but the Braves picked Dan Meyer immediately before Brown... Dan Meyer's pitched all of 6 innings in the majors, and is now, oddly enough, with the A's. The Cubs, with the pick directly after the A's, picked Chadd Blasko. Blasko was released by the Cubs last year, and from what I can tell, never got above the AA level.

From that, my sense is that the A's did about as well as could be expected with that pick. Expecting Jeremy Brown to be a superstar, or even what Nick Swisher is now, is unrealistic. (Hey, even the top pick of that draft, Bryan Bullington, has barely sniffed the majors).

My father, Captain of the Goddam Grammar Police.Yu...

2008-03-01T23:54:00.000-05:00

My father, Captain of the Goddam Grammar Police.

Yup. These next 18 or so years are gonna be a real good time.

Comments on FIRE JOE MORGAN: Hate the Player, Hate the Game, Hate Everything

Go to sleep, Mac. It's past your bedtime, which i...

My father, Captain of the Goddam Grammar Police.Yu...