Moneyball 2011 quotes, page 2

David Justice

Scotty H.

Scott Hatteberg

Yo, what's up, D.J.?

David Justice

Pickin' machine.

David Justice

How you likin' first base, man?

Scott Hatteberg

It's, uh... it's coming along. Picking it up. You know, tough transition, but I'm starting to feel better with it.

David Justice

Yeah?

Scott Hatteberg

Yeah.

David Justice

What's your biggest fear?

Scott Hatteberg

A baseball being hit in my general direction

David Justice

That's funny. Seriously, what is it?

Scott Hatteberg

No, seriously, that is.

David Justice

Well, hey, good luck with that.

David Justice

Why doesn't your boss travel with the team?

Peter Brand

He doesn't like to... mingle with the players.

David Justice

Is that supposed to make us easier to cut?

Grady Fuson

Billy, can we talk?

Billy Beane

Yeah.

Billy Beane

You're unhappy Grady. Why?

Grady Fuson

Wow. May I speak candidly?

Billy Beane

Sure. Go right ahead.

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.

Billy Beane

No?

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.

Billy Beane

Ok.

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?

Billy Beane

Adapt or die.

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.

Billy Beane

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

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.

Billy Beane

I'm not gonna fire you, Grady.

Grady Fuson

**** you, Billy.

Billy Beane

Now I will.

Peter Brand

There is an epidemic failure within the game to understand what is really happening. And this leads people who run Major League Baseball teams to misjudge their players and mismanage their teams. I apologize.

Billy Beane

Go on.

Peter Brand

Okay. People who run ball clubs, they think in terms of buying players. Your goal shouldn't be to buy players, your goal should be to buy wins. And in order to buy wins, you need to buy runs. You're trying to replace Johnny Damon. The Boston Red Sox see Johnny Damon and they see a star who's worth seven and half million dollars a year. When I see Johnny Damon, what I see is... is... an imperfect understanding of where runs come from. The guy's got a great glove. He's a decent leadoff hitter. He can steal bases. But is he worth the seven and half million dollars a year that the Boston Red Sox are paying him? No. No. Baseball thinking is medieval. They are asking all the wrong questions. And if I say it to anybody, I'm-I'm ostracized. I'm-I'm-I'm a leper. So that's why I'm-I'm cagey about this with you. That's why I... I respect you, Mr. Beane, and if you want full disclosure, I think it's a good thing that you got Damon off your payroll. I think it opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities.

Scott Hatteberg

I've only ever played catcher.

Billy Beane

It's not that hard, Scott. Tell him, Wash.

Ron Washington

It's incredibly hard.

John Henry

All due respect to the Coliseum, but this is a ballpark.

John Henry

For $41 million, you built a playoff team. You lost Damon, Giambi, Isringhausen, Pena, and you won more games without them than you did with them. You won the exact same number of games that the Yankees won, but the Yankees spent $1.4 million per win, and you paid $260,000. I know you are taking it in the teeth, but the first guy through the wall... he always gets bloody... always. This is threatening not just a way of doing business... but in their minds, it's threatening the game. Really what it's threatening is their livelihood, their jobs. It's threatening the way they do things... and every time that happens, whether it's the government, a way of doing business, whatever, the people who are holding the reins - they have their hands on the switch - they go batshit crazy. I mean, anybody who's not tearing their team down right now and rebuilding it using your model, they're dinosaurs. They'll be sitting their ass on the sofa in October watching the Boston Red Sox win the World Series.

Peter Brand

It's about getting things down to one number. Using the stats the way we read them, we'll find value in players that no one else can see. People are overlooked for a variety of biased reasons and perceived flaws. Age, appearance, personality. Bill James and mathematics cut straight through that. Billy, of the 20,000 notable players for us to consider, I believe that there is a championship team of twenty-five people that we can afford, because everyone else in baseball undervalues them.

Billy Beane

How can you not get romantic about baseball?

Billy Beane

You get on base, we win. You don't, we lose. And I hate losing, Chavy. I hate it. I hate losing more than I even wanna win.