When MLB Owners Hear The Cash Register Ring, Diversity Is Sure To Follow
By Joe Guzzardi
Since my June 27th column, Immigrant Baseball—The Bubble Bursts, I have become fascinated by the numbers of American-born players in Major League http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4458, how they perform versus their foreign-born teammates and how their respective clubs fare in the standings.
During every game that I watch, I have my indispensable Who’s Who in Baseball at my side to check the birthplace of various batters as they come to the plate.
One conclusion is inescapable: the teams with the highest percentage of Americans and the lowest payrolls are the surprise of baseball. Those are the Oakland A’s, Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays and Florida Marlins.
Obviously, the reverse holds true: teams that have spent the most money and have a high percentage of immigrant players have been huge disappointments, relative to pre-season expectations: the New York Yankees, the New York Mets and the Detroit Tigers.Last week the A’s, despite its current success (second place in the American League West) and although being well known throughout baseball as penurious, signed 16-year-old Michel Inoa, a 6-foot-7 right-hander with a blazing fastball who, general manager Billy Beane projects, will dominate hitters for years to come.
The A’s shelled out $4.25 million for Inoa, a lofty sum for a team that has relied on signing players straight off the U.S. college campuses.
In a curious statement, Beane said that signing Inoa reflects the team’s growing commitment to Latin Americans—even though Oakland’s minor league system has nurtured an entire crop of solid if not spectacular U.S. players.
Until he signed Inoa, Beane had defied the conventional approach that holds that big-name, power hitters and young pitchers with rocket arms are the key to diamond success.
Armed with massive amounts of carefully-interpreted statistical data, Beane believed that wins could be had by more inexpensive methods such as relying on hitters with high on-base percentage and pitchers who get lots of ground ball outs.
Although working with a tight budget, Beane built winning teams made up of young affordable players and selective castoff veterans. Beane’s success is the subject of a best-selling book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning An Unfair Game.
Among the “young affordable players” Beane signed are Americans who now lead the A’s: Mark Ellis, Bobby Crosby, Eric Chavez (California), Kurt Suzuki (Hawaii) and Daric Barton.
The A’s have done especially well developing pitchers, among them Justin Duchscherer, Huston Street and Joe Blanton. The team leads the major leagues in earned run average.
Regarding Inoa, what’s done is done.
However, a cautionary note for the A’s: bonus baby busts are a dime a dozen beginning with the very first one five decades ago. In the early 1950s, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed Paul Pettit, a left-handed “can’t miss” pitcher, for the then unheard of sum of $100,000.
In his two-year career, Pettit won one game.
More recent bonuses paid to Latin players indicate that it’s a crapshoot.
http://www.vdare.com/guzzardi/080711_baseball.htm