Guys, you're just talking. Talking, "la-la-la-la", like this is business as usual. It's not.
Grady Fuson We're trying to solve the problem here, Billy.
Not like this you're not. You're not even looking at the problem.
Grady Fuson We're very aware of the problem. I mean...
Okay, good. What's the problem?
Grady Fuson Look, Billy, we all understand what the problem is. We have to...
Okay, good. What's the problem?
Grady Fuson The problem is we have to replace three key players in our lineup.
Nope. What's the problem?
Pittaro Same as it's ever been. We've gotta replace these guys with what we have existing.
Nope. What's the problem, Barry?
B Barry
We need 38 home runs, 120 RBIs and 47 doubles to replace.
Ehh! [imitates buzzer] The problem we're trying to solve is that there are rich teams and there are poor teams. Then there's fifty feet of crap, and then there's us. It's an unfair game. And now we've been gutted. We're like organ donors for the rich. Boston's taken our kidneys, Yankees have taken our heart. And you guys just sit around talking the same old "good body" nonsense like we're selling jeans. Like we're looking for Fabio. We've got to think differently. We are the last dog at the bowl. You see what happens to the runt of the litter? He dies.
Grady Fuson Billy, can we talk?
You're unhappy Grady. Why?
Grady Fuson Wow. May I speak candidly?
Grady Fuson Major League Baseball and its fans...they're gonna be more than happy to throw you and Google boy under the bus if you keep doing what you're doing. You don't put a team together with a computer.
Grady Fuson No. Baseball isn't just numbers. It's not science. If it was anybody could do what we do, but they can't cause they don't know what we know. They don't have our experience and they don't have our intuition.
Grady Fuson Billy, you got a kid in there that's got a degree in Economics from Yale. You got a scout here with 29 years of baseball experience. You're listening to the wrong one. Now there are intangibles that only baseball people understand. You're discarding what scouts have done for 150 years, even yourself?
Grady Fuson This is about you and your shit, isn't it? 20 years ago some scout got it wrong. Now you're gonna declare war on the whole system.
Whoa! Ok! Ok! Ok! Ok! My turn. You don't have a crystal ball. You can't look at a kid and predict his future any more than I can. I've sat at those tables and listened to you tell those parents "When I know, I know. And when it comes to your son. I know." And you don't. You don't.
Grady Fuson [sighs]
Ok. I don't give a shit about friendships, this situation or the past. Major League Baseball thinks they way I do. You're not gonna win. And I'll give you a nickel's worth of advice, you're never gonna get another job when Schott fires you after this catastrophic season you're about to set us all up for. And you're gonna have to explain to your kid why you're working at Dick's Sporting Goods.
I'm not gonna fire you, Grady.
Grady Fuson **** you, Billy.
Guys, you're still trying to replace Giambi. I told you we can't do it, and we can't do it. Now, what we might be able to do is re-create him. Re-create him in the aggregate.
Grady Fuson The what?
Giambi's on-base percentage was .477. Damon's on-base, .324. And Olmedo's was .291. Add that up, and you get... [snapping his fingers and pointing at Pete]
When I point at you, yeah.
[snapping]
Divided by three.
That's what we're looking for. Three ballplayers... three ballplayers whose average OBP is... [snapping]
RD Radio DJ #1
Alright we got Grady Fuson on the line, former head of scouting with the Oakland Athletics. And, Grady, can you interpret for us what's going on?
Grady Fuson They call it Moneyball.
RD Radio DJ #1
Moneyball?
Grady Fuson Yes, and it was a nice theory, and now it's just not working out.
RD Radio DJ #2
Billy Beane has built this team on the ideas of a guy, Bill James who wrote an interesting book on baseball statistics. The problem is that Bill James never played, never managed. He was in fact a security guard at a pork-and-beans company.
RD Radio DJ #1
Do you see this as a decimation of the organization?
Grady Fuson I think that he bought a ticket on the Titanic.
RD Radio DJ #2
He's tried to come up with a new approach. My hat's off to him. It won't work.
