Billy Beane to leave A's as part of blockbuster merger

[Fenway]

Billy Beane reportedly set to leave Athletics in Fenway Sports deal | Boston.com

It appears John Henry will finally get to work with Athletics executive Billy Beane.

If the merger between Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Red Sox, and RedBall Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company that Beane is a co-chairman of, goes through, Beane will leave his role with the Athletics to avoid the conflict of interest, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Beane will not take a role with the Red Sox front office, according to the Wall Street Journal. If the merger is completed, Beane will work on Fenway Sports Group’s European soccer portfolio.

Last Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that RedBall would purchase less than 25 percent of Fenway Sports Group, valuing it at $8 billion, and making Fenway Sports Group a public company.

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[Terry Yake]

appreciate all the work BB has put into the A's for the last 20+ years and keeping them a playoff contender for the majority of that time without ever having to go into lengthy rebuilds

but i'd welcome a change with open arms. it'll be interesting to see what direction this franchise goes without him

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

Henry has been trying to get Beane for 2 decades. Ass.

A's will continue to do what they do in large part to Billy and his staff. They'll miss him but they'll move on.

 

[Voight]

Henry basically buying Beane since hes had no desire to actually leave his job and work for the man.

AT least by this point Beane has mentored and trained a lot of FO people so A's should survive just fine.

 

[Terry Yake]

Henry has been trying to get Beane for 2 decades. Ass.

A's will continue to do what they do in large part to Billy and his staff. They'll miss him but they'll move on.

beane's main focus hasn't been on baseball for a while. ever since he got into soccer, he's had one foot out the door in oakland

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

beane's main focus hasn't been on baseball for a while. ever since he got into soccer, he's had one foot out the door in oakland

Forst has run the roster ever since Beane got Ownership stake with the A's. People have put Beane's name on a lot of decisions over the past few years, but he's hardly had the control and say he used to.

 

[Terry Yake]

Forst has run the roster ever since Beane got Ownership stake with the A's. People have put Beane's name on a lot of decisions over the past few years, but he's hardly had the control and say he used to.

beane was still the one signing off on every move, but yeah he hasn't been as involved as he used to be for a while now

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

A's will be better to finally move on from Beane

He has always been overrated and never built a winner

Teams with far less financial means have built winners or contenders consistently so the claim that A's were held back by finances are always laughable

 

[Terry Yake]

A's will be better to finally move on from Beane

He has always been overrated and never built a winner

Teams with far less financial means have built winners or contenders consistently so the claim that A's were held back by finances are always laughable

aside from the rays, what other team with a bottom 5 payroll has made the playoffs as much as the A's have since 2000?

i'm not sad over him leaving, but he's managed to get the A's into the playoffs 11 times since 2000 without ever having to go through a lengthy rebuild and that's pretty impressive when you're not spending any money

 

[Vamos Rafa]

Honestly, once the A’s get their new stadium, I hope they become big spenders. It would be nice if the Giants had a little more competition in the free agency market.

 

[darko]

A's will be better to finally move on from Beane

He has always been overrated and never built a winner

Teams with far less financial means have built winners or contenders consistently so the claim that A's were held back by finances are always laughable

What teams are they?

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

- A's doppleganger the Twins have been competitive with financial limitations thru years (Especially in early 00's)
- Rays as pointed out have had success with even more limited budgets , etc
- Marlins won a WS with a lower payroll then A's that year
- 2007 Rockies went to WS with far lower payroll then A's of that year
- 2014 Royals payroll was not much larger then A's when they lost WS in 7 games
- 2016 Indians payroll was slightly higher then A's when Indians lost WS in 7 games and Indians have had success in playoffs without being big spenders

The Beane fanboys throw out salary excuse for every Beane failure

Reality is his teams underperformed with talent (Especially early 00's teams)

 

[Terry Yake]

- A's doppleganger the Twins have been competitive with financial limitations thru years (Especially in early 00's)
- Rays as pointed out have had success with even more limited budgets , etc
- Marlins won a WS with a lower payroll then A's that year
- 2007 Rockies went to WS with far lower payroll then A's of that year
- 2014 Royals payroll was not much larger then A's when they lost WS in 7 games
- 2016 Indians payroll was slightly higher then A's when Indians lost WS in 7 games and Indians have had success in playoffs without being big spenders

The Beane fanboys throw out salary excuse for every Beane failure

Reality is his teams underperformed with talent (Especially early 00's teams)

none of those teams you mentioned have been consistent playoff contenders with the exception of the twins since 2017 and the rays. the indians have never had a lower payroll than the A's so they don't count

marlins, rockies, and royals were all one or two year wonders before they went back into the basement. meanwhile, the A's have made the playoffs more consistently than any of those teams and without having to rebuild. i'll give beane credit for that

 

[Cas]

Playoffs are a crapshoot.

 

[sjsharks92]

A's will be better to finally move on from Beane

He has always been overrated and never built a winner

Teams with far less financial means have built winners or contenders consistently so the claim that A's were held back by finances are always laughable

What in the world are you talking about?

 

[sjsharks92]

This is such a massive loss for the A's. Dark times are ahead for this franchise with Semien, Olson, and Chapman all likely gone in the next couple seasons. It's been Beane who has shrewdly restocked the cupboard every couple years to keep them competitive.

This honestly might force John Fischer to finally sell the team. Without a GM to help him turn a profit on such a pathetic budget, he may no longer view the A's as a smart investment. For A's fans that would be fantastic. For those hoping to keep them in Oakland, it might not be.

 

[darko]

- A's doppleganger the Twins have been competitive with financial limitations thru years (Especially in early 00's)
- Rays as pointed out have had success with even more limited budgets , etc
- Marlins won a WS with a lower payroll then A's that year
- 2007 Rockies went to WS with far lower payroll then A's of that year
- 2014 Royals payroll was not much larger then A's when they lost WS in 7 games
- 2016 Indians payroll was slightly higher then A's when Indians lost WS in 7 games and Indians have had success in playoffs without being big spenders

The Beane fanboys throw out salary excuse for every Beane failure

Reality is his teams underperformed with talent (Especially early 00's teams)

Marlins - 1 year wonder
Royals - in 2014 and 2015 their payroll wasn't even bottom 10. They forked out money to keep players and made a 2 year run (won once)
Twins - more successful than A's. Talk to me when they make it out of DS.

Rays are the only example.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

Twins are 0-18 in their last 18 playoff games, including getting swept by the A's. In what world have they been better?

A's showed to themselves they can win in the playoffs, especially in elimination games. Teams like the Twins and White Sox still need to.

 

[Terry Yake]

This is such a massive loss for the A's. Dark times are ahead for this franchise with Semien, Olson, and Chapman all likely gone in the next couple seasons. It's been Beane who has shrewdly restocked the cupboard every couple years to keep them competitive.

This honestly might force John Fischer to finally sell the team. Without a GM to help him turn a profit on such a pathetic budget, he may no longer view the A's as a smart investment. For A's fans that would be fantastic. For those hoping to keep them in Oakland, it might not be.

beane's still had the final say on moves but he hasn't been as involved as he used to be ever since he got promoted

forst/owens and the people there will continue running the team using beane's blueprint. semien is gone and hendriks most likely too, but chapman/olson are both under club control for another three seasons, and i expect the A's to be playoff contenders during that time. but it'll be interesting to see what happens after that

 

[Vamos Rafa]

Moneyball is suddenly on Netflix

 

[Voight]

Marlins - 1 year wonder
Royals - in 2014 and 2015 their payroll wasn't even bottom 10. They forked out money to keep players and made a 2 year run (won once)
Twins - more successful than A's. Talk to me when they make it out of DS.

Rays are the only example.

Its as if the Royals didn't go out and get Cueto + Zobrist at the deadline. Or gave Morales, Infante & Volquez free agent contracts.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Playoffs are a crapshoot.

Yep, the As built some very good teams that had some very bad luck in winner take all games.

 

[darko]

Moneyball is suddenly on Netflix

What's your biggest fear?

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

Yep, the As built some very good teams that had some very bad luck in winner take all games.

3-1 this postseason in elimination games after being 0-9 in their last 9. The core proved to themselves that they can have big moments and win big playoff games. Now they need to add a front line starter and they'll have a real shot next year. They weren't getting past these Rays even if they beat Houston.

 

[sjsharks92]

What's your biggest fear?

The baseball being hit in my general direction.




Well good luck with that!