By the time Billy became the A's general manager in 1997, he had read all 12 of Bill James' Abstacts. James had something to say to Billy specifically: You were onthe recieving end of a false idea of what makes u a successful ballplayer.
By June 4, 2002, the day of that years amateur draft, there were still big questins about baseball crying out for answers, a baseball diamond was still a field of ignorance. No ne had established the mostefficient way to use relief pitchers. Someone came to a conclusion that college players were better than high school players by a huge, huge, laughably huge margin.
Billy arrived at the Coliseum earlier than usual and took the place he had held for theprevious seven days. At dawn the room seemed more glaringly impersonal than usualits cinder block walls were the bright white of an asylum cells. The only hint pf reality outside were the four cheaply framed posters of former A's stars. Ricky Henderson, Mark McGwire, Dennis Eckersley, and Walt Weiss.
Its against Major League Baseball rules to negotiate with players before the draft, but every team does it anyway. The scouts trickile in, one by one, to report their savings. It was about an hour before the draft.
