He’s a stone cold fox! Also nicknamed “Captain Clutch.”
Even a “genius” can make mistakes. Nikola Tesla made bizarre contraptions such as an earthquake machine and a death ray. Thomas Edison wanted to make entire houses out of concrete. Einstein said that the universe was eternal (apparently he thought the Big Bang Theory was hooey.)….and Billy Beane traded Andre Ethier for Milton Bradley.
At the time the trade seemed to make sense. The Athletics needed a big bat and they acquired one in Bradley. All they had to give up was their minor league player of the year and Texas League MVP in Andre Ethier. The trade worked fine for a while as Bradley helped the A’s get to the 2006 ALCS where they were eventually swept by the hated Detroit Tigers. Bradley, however must have forgotten to take his meds the next season as he became the violent schizophrenic that he had been in Los Angeles and was traded to the Padres after only 19 games (with cash…now THAT is desperation) for forgotten relief pitcher Andrew Brown.
head case.
Ethier, on the other hand became the poster boy of Los Angeles. He is one of the most beloved Dodgers to ever put on the uniform and will forever be seen as a heart-throb (right up there with Menudo!) to the female contingent of 20 and 30 somethings in the City of Angels. He is a two-time All Star, won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger award. Ethier also gave the Dodgers 145 career HR’s and 628 RBI’s, compared to Bradley’s 16 and 59 for the Athletics. Ethier is class–personified while Bradley is quite the opposite. The psycho burned every bridge in every city he played in until everyone finally gave up and he wasn’t re-signed after the 2011 season (he even took to wearing earplugs to drown out the heckling fans)….and it didn’t end there. Bradley was facing 13 years in prison for spousal abuse and even threatened to kill his wife on more than one occasion. Strangely enough, she died on September 14, 2013 of unknown causes. (this was swept under the rug…perhaps I might get a notice from a lawyer or 2 after this is posted.)
This was a trade of disastrous proportions and will probably go down in history as one of Mr. Beane’s worse, and to save subjective judgment is diametrically opposed to what “Moneyball” was supposed to be about in the first place. This is but the first installment of “The Billy Beane failure chronicles.”
Coco Crisp's Afro 
If it weren’t for Beane, the A’s would have been eliminated from post season a long time ago. Cespedes is hitting under .250 for Boston with exactly 1 HR in all of September, while Lester is pitching like a Hall of Famer.
All of your points are obvious and were acknowledged in the last post. This however, has nothing to do with Cespedes or Lester. Please try to stay on topic next time you comment.
Whoa, Either isn’t even playing everyday, and usually starts hot then gets hurt. So, yes we don’t have Milton anymore but we don’t owe Either 17 mil or whatever. This trade got us to the ALCS and Milton would have been MVP if we won.
I always trusted the criticism of a country by an upset insider; by someone who roamed its streets and back alleys and really knows what it feels liek to be alone. You being an A’s fan and offering us The Billy Beane failure chronicles. Excellent brilliance my friend! I was hooked by the title and even more hooked by the first three paragraphs in the way you take us outside baseball and the present century; to Edison and Einstein not to mention an obscure reference to Nikola Tesla and the earthquake machine or at least obscure and new and intriguing to me. Great job Gary! I’m not qualified to really comment on the Ethier and Bradley situation in terms of trade value but this article seems to run deeper than specifics. It’s the demolition of blind allegiance that fascinates. Sitting on past success grows stale.
I nominate Carlos Gonzalez/Huston Street for Matt Holliday as BB’s worst trade ever.
look for that one in part 2!