or to join or start a new Discussion

18 Comments
Article Rating     Not Rated Yet

Moneyball For Football

Any ever seen that movie or read the book? I haven't read the book yet but the film is great.

Anyway, it's the true story of a baseball general manager who lost two superstar players and decided, after finding he had very little money to spend on replacements, to turn to a clever young economist who had found a way to rate each player by crucial attributes required for the position they'll play. The result was an amazingly cheaply assembled team of one-dimensional misfits who went on a record matching winning streak and made the play-offs..

Could this work for football?
If so, what would be the attribute by which you score, say, a playmaker, a striker, or a winger?
Who would score the most highly?

Could you end up with a winning side or just another Stoke?

posted on 24/5/13

Football is a lot more fluid than baseball. Positions are less fixed. I think you do reasonably well with that method in football, but I don't think it'd work as well.

posted on 24/5/13

Thanks, manfrombelmonty, maybe the less controlled and more chaotic nature of football just means the depth of field required of analysis is deeper.We have so many ways of separating the great from the good in football that a lot of times the defining characteristic is something that isn't even relevant to the role.
How many times do good strikers get aggrandized for tracking back, or defensive midfielders for setting up goals. Good things, but they don't amount to those positions being played well.
A good evaluation for a position would need to be very carefully thought out and then executed ruthlessly

posted on 24/5/13

What Ayre was sayign really does sound lik common sense to me. Basically, use all the tools at your disposal to assess and make the best decision.

also, don't trust Commoli.

posted on 24/5/13

Did it it actualy ever work in Baseball either?
You know, to create a winning side - rather than a " competitive on a budget " side.

http://www.silive.com/opinion/columns/index.ssf/2011/10/moneyball_is_filled_with_error.html


Interesting read.

posted on 24/5/13

Did it it actualy ever work in Baseball either?

---------------------------------

For some it did, for some it didn't. There's only one prize to be won in baseball really, so if the measure of success is winning the title then it's easy to point at say, 10 teams who used the moneyball approach, and one of them won the world series, then its easy to say 'look at those 9 teams that failed using moneyball.'

posted on 24/5/13

I think that was the most dreadful sentence I have tyoed, but i'm sure you get the gist.

posted on 24/5/13

I do, cheers
The thing about it is though - in the film a big thing was made of the Red Sox breaking the hoodoo and finally winning the World Series again by using Sabremetrics.
But the RedSox are a very wealthy team anyway. It was going to happen.
I also found the downward trajector of the Oakland A's interesting in the aftermath.
Given they already had Baseball's MVP for that particular on their staff before the intoduction of the sabremetrics and what not.

posted on 24/5/13

I haven't seen the movie or read the book, but I know a little seeing as i live in Boston. The thing with the red sox was that they were very poorly run for many years. FSG took over, changed the scouting approach, helped hugely increase revenues and found success. The moneyball approach was just one small piece of the puzzle, just like Ayre said it is with LFC.

Oakland on the other hand doesn't have the same financial power as the Sox, so they seem to have been more dependent on the moneyball approach. Their problem is that having one of the smallest pay rolls in baseball, once a top player's contract has run down a rich team can easily tempt them away.

posted on 24/5/13

Comment Deleted by Site Moderator

comment by 8bit (U2653)

posted on 24/5/13

Moneyball is a great film. Billy Bean's idol is Wenger

Sign in if you want to comment
RATE THIS ARTICLE
Rate Breakdown
5
0 Votes
4
0 Votes
3
0 Votes
2
0 Votes
1
0 Votes

Average Rating: 0 from 0 votes

ARTICLE STATS
Day
Article RankingNot Ranked
Article ViewsNot Available
Average Time(mins)Not Available
Total Time(mins)Not Available
Month
Article RankingNot Ranked
Article ViewsNot Available
Average Time(mins)Not Available
Total Time(mins)Not Available