Mets360 MLB Project: Being Billy Beane

When the MLB Project was being discussed at Mets360, I agreed to do so immediately. The chance to actually GM a team was something that couldn’t be passed up. When I was assigned the Oakland Athletics as my franchise, I found that kind of serendipitous.

As a lifelong Mets and Baseball fan, I’m well aware of Billy Beane’s past and present connections with the Mets and his status in baseball history. As the purveyor of “Moneyball”, Beane has been able to keep a financially strapped franchise relevant since being named General Manager of the Athletics in 1998.

When you add in the fact that Beane was a former Mets first round pick and the protégé of current Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson, it felt right to attempt to step into his shoes.

As a part of the project, payrolls were assigned for each team, arbitration rules were set up and a set amount of trades were agreed upon. My assigned payroll was 91 million, which is higher than most Athletics payroll’s, but that was part in parcel due to the set standards we placed on arbitration raises. It also gave me the opportunity to make moves that a certain Mets general manager might take some pointers from as a 91 million dollar payroll is closer to what the Mets have been working with recently than the Athletics.

With payroll in hand, I began to analyze the Athletics roster and noticed a few things:

1. The Athletics, like the Mets, have very little money invested in guaranteed contracts. They only have five players on guaranteed contracts next season.
2. Beane really went for it in 2014. The acquisitions of Jon Lester and Jeff Samardzija during the season, as well as deals with the Rangers and Padres in the previous off season, left the team without a lot of high level prospects that were ready to help in 2015. Unfortunately, all of those moves did not result in anything more than a play in playoff game and what amounted to an extremely disappointing second half of baseball.
3. Beane’s Money Ball plan has revolved around both bringing in cheap talent that, Sabermetrically are more valuable, and bringing in players in their pre-arbitration or arbitration years. This roster is full of such players, providing a nice blue print for other low income teams about how to keep an organization successful despite not having the money the Yankees or Red Sox have.
4. This team is totally lacking in serviceable, starting major league talent at second base and short stop.

So, I set about making a plan. Part one involved looking at the arbitration figures and seeing if any of the teams many free agents would be feasible to bring back. It quickly became evident that to keep the core of the team together and bring in players to improve the club, that players like Jed Lowrie, Luke Gregerson, Jon Lester, Jonny Gomes and Alberto Callaspo just weren’t in the cards. It also became apparent that the arbitration raises of the players could cause issues with the salary cap, making it very difficult to improve the roster.

With this in mind, the following decisions were made:

1. All of the free agents wouldn’t be pursued as the Athletics just didn’t have the payroll room.
2. Samardzija was going to be shopped, followed also, potentially by Scott Kazmir
3. I was going to be open to most offers regarding my players.

Then we got started and right off the bat, I was able to make what I felt was an important move for the roster when I dealt Samardzija to the Indians for Nick Swisher and Francisco Lindor. Although Swisher is owed significant money over the next two years (15 million per) and really struggled in 2014, I felt good about the trade because it brought me my shortstop of the future, essentially trading spots with Addison Russell, who was dealt for Samardzija. Swisher also gave me a veteran presence that was known as a good clubhouse guy, is a switch hitter than can play both corner outfield positions and first base and had excellent success in the past in an Oakland uniform.

I knew though, that this was just the beginning as I still needed a shortstop to replace Lowrie, despite Lindor’s presence. My conception of the roster was that Lindor would start the year in the minor leagues, with the thought that he would be able to contribute later in the year, thus maximizing the control Oakland had over him long term.

My first attempts to get a major league short stop were with the Dodgers as I put in an offer to attempt to get Dee Gordon and Scott Van Slyke in a multifaceted trade for Scott Kazmir. The Dodgers and I were far apart in terms of how we valued players, so those talks didn’t get that far. Then the Mariners contacted me about middle infielders and I jumped. Very quickly a deal was cut, sending Brandon Moss and cash to the Mariners for Brad Miller and Jesus Montero.

Moss was due to make a significant raise in arbitration, which was why the extra money was thrown in. I figured that with Swisher on the roster, along with Stephen Vogt, John Jaso and Nate Freiman, that I had enough players to handle first base. Montero also saw time at first base in the minors last season, providing another first base option. The deal also freed up a lot of cash as both Montero and Miller are pre-arbitration players.

Miller was the key though. Miller had a down sophomore campaign, but he was at least a perfect replacement for Lowrie, and at best, a huge upgrade at second base when Lindor got called up during the season. A risk was taken with Montero of course, as his time in the big leagues has not matched his minor league statistics, but this very much felt like a Beane move as he has been known to give players who have not been successful on other franchises second chances, the perfect example being Moss. Even if Montero produces offensively the way he did in 2012, that will be an upgrade at the designated hitter position.

With those two deals down, the Brewers contacted me about Josh Donaldson, but we didn’t match up well in negotiations. My roster though was in such a place that I had enough cap space to add a decent, middle of the rotation pitcher. Yet the roster felt incomplete and unbalanced in certain areas. I had far too many catchers and not enough at bats at DH, first base and catcher to accommodate them all. John Jaso to me was a player that could be moved due to his left handed bat and because Vogt had more position flexibility, which this roster needs.

So, I kept looking at other rosters and found a match with the Nationals. My focus was on Tyler Moore as another cheap reclamation project who could play left field and first base, but quickly the negotiations became about Doug Fister, a pitcher I needed to keep my rotation solid. Soon, the following deal commenced. I sent Jaso, Craig Gentry, Danny Otero, Drew Pomeranz and cash to the Nationals for Fister, Moore and Nate McClouth.

Again, this deal is a bit of a risk. Otero was a key member of the Athletics bullpen and Pomeranz could very easily have been the teams’ fifth starter in the upcoming season. Fister is a terrific upgrade behind Sonny Gray and Kazmir in the rotation, but now a fifth starter and bullpen arm are a necessity. McClouth is the wild card in this trade. He provides more offensive ability than Gentry, if healthy, and right now would be penciled into a platoon situation in left field, while providing some relief to Coco Crisp in center field. That means he has to return to his 2013 form and not his injury plagued player we all saw in 2014.

A can still happen as our truncated offseason ends on Sunday, 10/26. We’ve all put bids in for free agents and I’m hoping that I landed the three pitchers I targeted at bargain basement prices. After that, trades can still occur and players not claimed as free agents can be brought in as minor league deals with spring training invites. In terms of trades, I’ve been in contact with several teams about everything from minor deals to monumental blockbusters, but things are currently on hold as we wait on who got what free agent.

So, this is part one. After all of the transactions are completed and my 25 man Oakland Athletics roster is finalized, I’ll write part two, with in depth analysis of how my roster compares to the 2013 one and if I’ve achieved my goals. Of course, if a blockbuster deal that will land me a multitude of prospects comes my way, I may just decide to gut the whole thing and build for 2016 instead of 2015. Who knows what will come. It’s been a fun ride though.