1985. My birth year. The year Super Mario made his debut. The Goonies made famous the "Truffle Shuffle". And the Kansas City Royals won the World Series.
I thoroughly enjoy the wonderful game of baseball and that's saying something for someone who was born and raised as a fan of the Royals. I am exhausted every time I hear about the '85 Championship. It was 26 years ago!!
This desire to pontificate on this particular subject is brought on by a book that I am reading: Moneyball.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the current status of the MLB if you have the ability to spend the most dough then you have a greater chance to make the playoffs. Now while I'm generally a fan of capitalism I like an even playing field in Pro sports. The Yankees 2012 payroll will be just under $200 million (1st in the MLB) the Royals will be just under $37 million for 2012 (30th/last). The Yankees are spending 6 times the amount. How can the Royals compete with that? They can't...at least not head to head in the money game. They would have to take a completely different approach.
This is the problem that Moneyball addresses. The book centers on the Oakland A's GM Billy Beane. Somehow Beane has consistently brought the A's to the playoffs despite always being in the bottom third of the MLB payrolls. He takes a completely different approach as to what he looks for when drafting and signing players. He and his organization put value on attributes that many organizations, to some degree, undervalue. This has led to the A's going deep into the playoffs with (at the time) relatively unknown players.
I could delve deeper into the book and explain more concisely what exactly the A's are doing right. But that's what the book is for. That being said it would please me to no end if the Royals took a risk and implemented a radical new approach to winning baseball games.
I have yet to finish the book and will soon after enjoy the movie, after which I reserve the right to make any addendum's to this blog that I see fit.
Here's hoping that 2012 sees the Royals do something exciting.
I thoroughly enjoy the wonderful game of baseball and that's saying something for someone who was born and raised as a fan of the Royals. I am exhausted every time I hear about the '85 Championship. It was 26 years ago!!
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the current status of the MLB if you have the ability to spend the most dough then you have a greater chance to make the playoffs. Now while I'm generally a fan of capitalism I like an even playing field in Pro sports. The Yankees 2012 payroll will be just under $200 million (1st in the MLB) the Royals will be just under $37 million for 2012 (30th/last). The Yankees are spending 6 times the amount. How can the Royals compete with that? They can't...at least not head to head in the money game. They would have to take a completely different approach.
This is the problem that Moneyball addresses. The book centers on the Oakland A's GM Billy Beane. Somehow Beane has consistently brought the A's to the playoffs despite always being in the bottom third of the MLB payrolls. He takes a completely different approach as to what he looks for when drafting and signing players. He and his organization put value on attributes that many organizations, to some degree, undervalue. This has led to the A's going deep into the playoffs with (at the time) relatively unknown players.
I could delve deeper into the book and explain more concisely what exactly the A's are doing right. But that's what the book is for. That being said it would please me to no end if the Royals took a risk and implemented a radical new approach to winning baseball games.
I have yet to finish the book and will soon after enjoy the movie, after which I reserve the right to make any addendum's to this blog that I see fit.
Here's hoping that 2012 sees the Royals do something exciting.
