Crunch Time

Foreword

It’s well documented in Moneyball that we (the Oakland A’s of the late 1990s and early 2000s) were going to great lengths to rethink all aspects of baseball: how it is managed, how it is played, who is best suited to play it, and why.

The gap between the rich and the poor was growing wider than ever. To some, especially baseball traditionalists, having the second lowest payroll in baseball might be viewed as a threat. A threat to landing talent. A threat to winning. A threat to keeping our jobs. For us, it was the opposite; it was liberating. We could break the rules and take chances bigger payroll teams wouldn’t dream of taking. It gave us the opportunity to explore new frontiers in every area of the game.

I knew bringing Rick Peterson ...