Quote:
Originally Posted by Reality
You can make the argument that every high payroll team uses Moneyball. As I said, the term "moneyball" was coined to get big payroll return out of low payroll teams. The Red Sox do not qualify for that and neither do the Yankees or Dodgers. There are small market teams like the Marlins, Pirates, etc. that could benefit from the moneyball philosophy.
Spending $150+ million in salary is not moneyball .. it's simply buying the best. The Red Sox won the World Series because they opened their wallet and paid for it. Maybe they signed only high stat players, but they still paid for players that small market teams like the Pirates could never afford.
/reality
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The Red Sox used Moneyball religiously. They signed guys like Bill Mueller, Mark Bellhorn, and Mike Lowell because they were high OBP type of players. They initially tried to not spend money on a closer and instead rotate relief pitchers as closers...straight out of the Bill James handbook.
Their spending was often done to keep key players like Ortiz, Martinez, Garciaparra, Ramirez, Varitek, Schilling, etc...because they all fit into Moneyball favored metrics. Even Johnny Damon wasn't bad metrics wise and they could afford to overpay him.
YR