The next Moneyball?

Looking for the next Moneyball story? Stuart Sternberg might just have it. When the former Wall Street investor, and baseball outsider, became principle managing partner of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2005 the franchise was in shambles with the lowest attendance in baseball and annual last place finishes in the American League East. Sternberg decided to separate from the old regime, put quantitative analysis in place and started running his team like he would anything else on Wall Street. The resulting turnaround has put the Rays in first place, and their front office in the spotlight.

In May of 2004, Stuart Sternberg purchased a 48% share in the (then) Tampa Bay Devil Rays. A little over a year and a half later, he took over as the managing general partner of the team and appointed fellow Wall Street investor Matthew Silverman as president. Silverman then brought in Andrew Friedman as general manager. In October of 2005, Sternberg promised “dramatic change” to the franchise, and that is exactly what he delivered.

Watching the E:60 piece on Sternberg and his management is kind of like reading Moneyball. His first step was to identify value in the market or industry. He didn’t exactly mean players, more like teams. He recognized that the Devil Rays, with the lowest net worth in all of the major leagues, had amazing potential to grow. With the right people and the right plan in place he could make a ton of money (and he has, according to E:60 he has made over S100 million since taking over as principle owner).

It gets even more Moneyball when you here Silverman starts talking about exploring “market inefficiency.” The exact words used over and over again by Billy Beane in Moneyball. Sternberg also brings up a very, very good point that I have always believed in. If you think someone can do a job, why wait? Its like the people who say “Roger Clemens will make the hall of fame, he just has to wait a few years.” I consider that totally stupid. If someone can do a job better than the guy you have in there, if it will improve your team, then you have no choice. Get the guy up to the big leagues, make the trade, whatever. Make your team better and more efficient no matter what.

While ESPN did not cover much of the sabermetric analysis that goes into the decision making its quite obvious they use some. Leading up to the 2008 draft many prominent members on the Rays front office (most notable Friedman) wanted to select Buster Posey, a successful college slugger who by most sabermetric measures was one of the two best players in the draft (along with Pedro Alvarez of Vanderbilt). Though the fact that the scouts won out in the end and selected a high school shortstop by the name of Tim Beckham shows that the Rays aren’t totally Moneyball yet, the fact that they were close to picking Posey shows they are headed in that direction. The Rays could be the next Athletics, the next great analytical franchise in baseball.