MLB Trade Rumors: Is It Time for Oakland Athletics to Abandon Moneyball?

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From 1999 up until 2006, the Oakland Athletics were a team that always contended.  They didn't always make the playoffs (thanks a lot, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim), but were sure to make a run for first place in the AL West year after year.  This was thanks to team GM Billy Beane's (pictured) approach to scouting, focusing more on players who could get on base instead of those with overwhelming talent.  This system came to be known as Moneyball.

Yet, although the Athletics did make the playoffs consistently for a few years with their moneyball teams, they never got further than the American League Championship Series, and they only got that far once, in 2006.  The other times (2000-2003), they only made it to the Division Series.  Since 2006, the team has not made the playoffs once and has never finished higher than second place.

Despite the team's underachievement, Beane continues to put together teams with this approach.  Oakland's pitching may have come together with a core featuring Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez and the currently injured Dallas Braden and Brett Anderson, but the offense has yet to click.

That all being said, why does Beane continue to use Moneyball?  It didn't bring a World Series Championship to Oakland when it was first introduced, and it doesn't appear to be working now.  Why continue to use a system that has basically failed the team in the past?

One aspect of Moneyball I forgot to mention earlier is that it often means not spending any money on top players already on the team, basically letting them walk once free agency begins.  This means that Moneyball teams are in a constant state of rebuild.

I'm not saying that Beane has to abandon Moneyball completely, but rather that it needs some tweaks.  Instead of letting top players leave via free agency and discussing the possible trading of power threats like Josh Willingham, Beane needs to put some of the team's money back into the team, like George Steinbrenner did with the Yankees.

Otherwise, Oakland will forever be a team with a chronic case of "almost."  They "almost" got to the World Series, "almost" got to the playoffs, etc.

That would be a sad fate for a team with so much history already.

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