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Chapter 7: Giambi’s Hole

This is part seven of the blog for Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis. Feel free to join in the discussion of the book.

Losing Jason Giambi created a deficiency in the Oakland offense. Giambi was to hit home runs, drive in runs, and get on base. He had a good OBP and the A’s could not afford to pay him or replace him. Their approach was that with Giambi and Damon leaving, as well as Olmedo Saenz going to the bench, the A’s needed to replace the aggregate of the OBP leaving. Well, Damon and Saenz brought down that average. Giambi would be replaced by a fraction of his OBP by Scott Hatteberg, a broken down catcher whose catching days were behind him. But his OBP wasn’t. So, Hatteberg, David Justice, and Jeremy Giambi (Jason’s brother) collectively would replace Giambi, Damon, and Saenz.

I thought there would have been a desire to more than replace the missing OBP, particularly since fielding would take such a hit. Perhaps there was discussion of that which Lewis chose not to share. What we see is further evidence that offense is key to the A’s approach of fielding a team. The description of Jeremy Giambi playing left field is quite humorous. So, while the big bat at first had no real substitute, the A’s came out even, as it were when replacing three fielders. It is a most interesting approach.

We also learn another Billy Beane axiom: plate discipline cannot be taught. Interestingly, DePodesta demonstrated how the top half of the A’s line-up was patient and drew walks while the bottom half was not and didn’t. Furthermore, the bottom half represented homegrown talent whereas the top half of the order was all acquired through free agency. Meaning, despite the A’s system, they were unable to teach plate discipline. I am not certain that Miguel Tejada’s stats support that, but it is interesting and something which I would like to explore.

One other little thing is that Michael Lewis points out that Beane didn’t socialize with players. It’s a small point and one which would be expected. Yet, I just happened to read today an interview Beane gave to Blez over at Athletics Nation. In it Beane said:

But I’m not sure I’ll ever have quite the relationship with any players that I had with Huddy and Mark and I now have with Chavy and Z again. Given that I’m aging and the age difference, or maybe I’m just going to be more callous about it. It was pretty tough. I’m very fond of those guys. We’re all fond of them professionally, but I actually knew them personally. I knew Huddy’s wife really well. It was the two toughest phone calls I’ve had to make since I’ve been here.

This would seem to dispel Lewis’ contention. Again, a minor point, but it is stuff like this which goes to question just how inside did Lewis actually get for the book?

And finally, Giambi’s Hole, while referencing the hole in his swing (inside middle) as well as the hole he created in the Oakland line-up when he left, seems to this reader to be a misfortunate title for a chapter.