In Billy We Trust.....

Over at Athletics Nation, Tyler Blezinski lands another interview with Billy Beane and gets some very good quotes from him. If you are a baseball fan, check it out. Its in two parts, so you need to scroll down to the bottom for the first part.

To the question of the decision on signing Chavy over Tejada:
Beane: First of all, we signed Chavy during last spring training. Then he goes out and wins another gold glove, leads the league in walks, misses six weeks and hits 29 home runs. So no one writes anything then. What they do is they take, out of context, two months of struggling. We've always said Miguel is a spectacular player. It would take too long to explain, but the revisionist history of what went on is just wrong. The fact of the matter is that I'm happy that we have Chavez at third and Crosby at short. That's my choice. It will be my choice. I have absolutely no doubt that it will be the right choice. But Miguel is a marvelous player and who wouldn't say that? There was never a choice given at the time.

To the question of the Hudson Trade:
Beane: I guess I would reverse it and say, would we be better in that situation if we still had Tim right now? That's the question I would pose. Would we be better had we not done those trades? The trades weren't made to be judged every single day. Again, two marvelous players, two marvelous talents and two marvelous individuals. But those trades were made because we had to make those trades. Everyone seems to want to cover it daily, but we're still pleased. We have the benefit of having an extended amount of time to judge these deals. The fact of the matter is with younger players you aren't going to get immediate satisfaction. That being said, I'm pleased with the way Danny Haren is throwing. I couldn't be more happy with Daric Barton's progress. I'm very happy with what I see out of Kiko Calero. Charles (Thomas) is down in Sacramento and he's tearing it up in Sacramento. He didn't really get the opportunity to play here, but we knew that was a possibility that might happen initially. Dan Meyer's season has been very frustrating, but he's 23.
Blez: The thing about it is that, I think it was after 27

On the question if Zito's health was a factor of him not being traded:
Beane: It's important. As you see, with a club like ours, we just don't have that replacement. Z's performance has been very good and his durability has been something that is just so crucial to us.
Beane: Yeah, we have no intention of trading Barry. Barry is 27 years old and such an important part of this team.

On the Kotsay situation:
Beane: Exactly. I just think we need to see how it goes. That being said, we're also going to make sure we have the best baseball team and we're going to do that within the confines of what we have to operate with now. I've said this many times, economically, we're in a position that sometimes keeps us from making bad baseball decisions. If we signed everyone's favorite player here, every year they came up, we'd be in big trouble right now. As a fan, you can look back and say, wow, good thing they didn't do that. But we don't have that luxury here. We can't go "oops" and then just erase the mistake. So in many cases, we're prevented from making a bad baseball decision. You want to be in a position where you can make some really good ones. Miguel is a great example. He's a great player. Who wouldn't want him? Baltimore has a great player. We need to get ourselves in a position where we can make those good baseball decisions and have the financially ability. But there are some where we just aren't allowed to because we just don't have the ability to.

On the risk of running a team by paying for future performance:
Beane: Of course, but there's risk in running a small market. It's a must. We're one of the lowest payrolls, we're sharing a market, we've got a stadium that leaks.Well, it's a fact. We share a stadium with another team. And especially for anyone who used to watch games here before they built that monstrosity in center field, they already know it. But as for paying for what a player will do, we have to. If we're paying for past performance, we're destined to have a bloated payroll far beyond our means. Now there are risks, as you are saying, because you're trying anticipate future performance by investing in it. Other teams are also in that boat. The Cleveland Indians are also kind of there. The Kansas City Royals. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays. There are a number of teams now that aren't in the position to pay for the premium, premium players. It's a function of our situation right now. Hopefully that will change.