What If ……………Is Back
With the recent firing of Jim Hendry as the Chicago Cubs general manager, there has been much talk as to who will replace him in the Cubs front office.
One name that has jumped to the top of the speculation list is Oakland GM Billy Beane. Depending on your point of view, Beane may or may not be what the Cubs need.
It wouldn’t be the first time that Beane’s name has been linked to a new team. In 2002 the Boston Red Sox tried to hire Beane away from Oakland. Billy decided to stay with the A’s and Boston eventually went with Theo Epstein.
Beane is the main subject of the book Moneyball, as well as the upcoming movie of the same name.
And while wondering what Beane might do if he gets the job is interesting, I thought this would be a good time to bring back a Wrigley Regular feature that I haven’t used in a couple months, What If…….
The idea of What If is to take an event, alter that event, and then see what 5 things would be different because of the change. So with that in mind, let’s play What If.
What If…..… The Cubs had hired Billy Beane as their General Manager in 2002 instead of Jim Hendry?
1) Instead of signing with the Oakland A’s in 2002, Beane gets Scott Hatteberg to sign with the Cubs to be their starting catcher. Hatteberg becomes an instant team leader and pays off huge in 2003 when….. instead of having Paul Bako behind the plate in game 6 of the NLCS, Hatteberg goes out to the mound and settles Mark Prior down after Alou doesn’t catch a pop foul down the left field line. Prior then strikes out Ivan Rodriguez and Miguel Cabrera grounds into a 6-4-3 double play started by Alex Gonzalez. The Cubs win the game 3-0 and go on to win the 2003 World Series.
2) In 2004, Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball hits the books stores. White Sox general manager Kenny Williams is unhappy about the way he is portrayed in the book and attempts to out-smart Billy Beane in a trade. That fall Williams trades overweight rookie pitcher Booby Jenks for catcher Michael Barrett. With Barrett behind the plate, the Sox don’t go out and get AJ Pierzynski in 2005 and use Damaso Marte as their closer. The White Sox don’t win the World Series and both Williams and Ozzie Guillen are fired after the 2006 season.
3) In the fall of 2006, several top free agents hit the market, including Alfonso Soriano who had just completed only the 4th 40/40 season in baseball history. But because Beane is fixated on on-base percentage plus slugging, he scratches Soriano and his then .820 OPS off his want list and targets JD Drew. Beane gets Drew and his .904 OPS for half the price of what the Angels pay for Soriano. In the five years after the signings, Drew plays 130+ games or more only once and is seen as a drag on the Cubs roster, meanwhile Soriano is a 5 time All-Star for the Halos at the DH position and wins the AL MVP in 2009 after leading the Angels to a World Series victory.
4) In the June 2007 Amateur Draft, Billy Beane and the Cubs select Jason Heyward with the number 3 overall pick. Heyward moves up through the minors quickly and wins the 2010 NL Rookie of the Year award. The Atlanta Braves get Josh Vitters with their first round pick. Vitters is still in the Atlanta system waiting for Chipper Jones to retire.
5) In the fall of 2011, Billy Beane is played by Brad Pitt in the movie version of the book Moneyball. Beane is able to see the movie as many times as he wants because he has nothing else to do after being fired in the middle of the season as Cubs GM. Chicago hires Jim Hendry as the new GM sighting the need to get back to “old school”, “I know talent only if I see it” type of scouting. The Cubs go at least another 20 years without winning a World Series.
Read my previous What If’s …. Here and Here.
If you have a What If that you would like answered, send it to WrigleyRegular@Comcast.net
Or add it to the comments below.
What If……..
Several weeks ago I wrote a post called “What If…..” Read it
here.
I would take one event in time and suggest five things
that would be different now if that original event had changed or never
happened. I asked you to send me your what if’s and I would answer them.
Here is your first reader requested ‘What If’
———————————————————————————
What If……………………………… “Bob Short
had left the Senators in DC instead of moving them to Texas to become the
Rangers?”
Submitted by: World Series 41, Rangers Fan 1
1- The Senators would still be playing in Washington, but
now they would be in the NL East after having switched leagues in 1998 instead
of the Milwaukee Brewers. Playing in the AL Central, Milwaukee wins the
division five times in the last 10 years.
2- Ted Williams continues to manage the Senators through the
mid seventies. When the 1973 draft takes place, Williams insists on taking an
outfielder. With the number 1 pick overall in the draft the Senators select U
of Minn outfielder Dave Winfield.
Winfield is rushed to the big leagues and his swing is ruined by Ted
Williams after he requires Winfield to hit the ball the opposite way in search
of a high average over power. Winfield
plays parts of 7 more years in the league as a fourth outfielder and never becomes
a full time player. David Clyde is drafted by the Padres, wins 314 games and is
inducted into the HOF in 2001.
3- In 1993 Major League baseball expands to 28 teams.
Joining the Florida Marlins as one of the two newest NL expansion teams is the
Texas Drillers. The Drillers are owned by a business group headed by George W.
Bush. Bush owns the team for the next 14
years during which time the Drillers never finish higher than 3rd
place in the NL West.
4-In 2001 the Chicago Cubs sign free agent Alex Rodriguez to
a 10 year $200M contract. The Drillers drop out of the bidding for ARod and
instead sign pitcher Mike Hampton to an 8y/$120M contract. Hampton blows out
his arm during the ’01 season and only wins 50 games over the next 10 years. The
Cubs make the playoffs that year and then again in 2003 against the Florida
Marlins. In game 6 of the 2003 NLCS the Cubs are just 5 outs from going to the
World Series when Steve Bartman touches a foul ball down the left field line.
On the next pitch Miguel Cabrera hits a grounder to shortstop. Arod fields the
ball and starts a 6-4-3 double play. The Cubs win the game and go on to win the
World Series.
5- In 2008 George W. Bush runs for President of the United
States. He claims that the tax policies of the Gore administration which have resulted in 10 straight years of federal budget surpluses are stifling the
economy and have led us into the Great Recession. Bush wins the election in a
landslide. In March of 2009 the Bush administration signs into law a spending
bill which helps put the brakes on the collapse of the economy. From March of
’09 til today the stock market climbs nearly 6000 points and President Bush is
considered a lock for reelection. In baseball, the 2010 Texas Drillers win the
NLCS against Washington Senators but lose the World Series to the Milwaukee
Brewers.
If you have a What If…. that you
would like answered, send it to WrigleyRegular@comcast.net
WrigleyRegular
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