The second trailer for Moneyball. Objectively speaking, I think it looks pretty decent. Of course,...

The second trailer for Moneyball.

Objectively speaking, I think it looks pretty decent. Of course, I find it awfully hard to be objective about it. I read Moneyball when it first came out, and even if it's not the be-all, end-all of anything, and even if it's not really about what people think it's about (or is it?), it was still a pretty important milestone w/r/t how we watch baseball and what we do here at Amazin' Avenue.

What do you guys think?

10 months ago Eric Simon 39 comments 0 recs |

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Billy Beane should have made a better movie

What Would Matt Szczur Do?
Fact on Villanova Sports

by Hoyadestroya85 on Aug 3, 2011 9:56 PM EDT reply actions

Billy Beane wouldn't have casted Brad Pitt

He’s too expensive. Billy Beane would have gone for someone who is slightly funny-looking and unknown but who is surprisingly good at acting. That’s the moneyball way.

by AJ H on Aug 3, 2011 9:58 PM EDT reply actions

who should of played billy beane?

why does billy beane get credit for helping the athletics for two years

by jadedeed2327 on Aug 4, 2011 2:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Best Picture

by James Kannengieser on Aug 3, 2011 10:33 PM EDT reply actions

Oh please

You know it’s gonna be excruciating.

by sturock on Aug 3, 2011 10:44 PM EDT reply actions

x

My magic 8 ball says: Without A Doubt

"Dont blame me, I was given this world, I didn’t make it."
-Tupac Shakur

by NetsMets4Life on Aug 3, 2011 11:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Very possible

But I remember thinking the same thing about a Facebook movie

by James Kannengieser on Aug 3, 2011 11:13 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

When is the Amazin Avenue movie coming out?

A deadline has a wonderful way of concentrating the mind.-Professor James Moriarty
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.- Former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan

by Blame-everyone-else on Aug 3, 2011 11:56 PM EDT reply actions 4 recs

Starring

Zach Gallimimus, Paul Giametti, Michael Cera, Jason Schwartzman and Christopher Mintz-Plasse

by deadspy3 on Aug 4, 2011 4:05 AM EDT up reply actions

All appearing in Dickey face

by Ownbey4Mex on Aug 4, 2011 5:51 AM EDT up reply actions

Who the hell is Zach Gallimimus?

Do you mean Galifanakis?

by Evan_S on Aug 4, 2011 10:28 PM EDT up reply actions

If you google search "Zach Gallimimus"

the first result is to this page.

"Dont blame me, I was given this world, I didn’t make it."
-Tupac Shakur

by NetsMets4Life on Aug 5, 2011 2:07 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah

I was being silly, but (as below) also unique, apparently!

by deadspy3 on Aug 5, 2011 3:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Amazin Avenue the Movie: This Should Be A FanShot

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 453 posts (10/03/10)
3rd Place- 2011 AAOP Contest

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Aug 4, 2011 8:51 AM EDT up reply actions 3 recs

AA the Movie: This should be an animated gif

In lobby for: Jaime Cevallos, Zack Lutz, orange unis and Rickroll as the 7th inning song.
The Unwritten Rules of AA

by Michkin on Aug 4, 2011 10:21 AM EDT up reply actions

I almost did a spit take on this

LOL

Dear friends, please temporarily stop your footsteps To our website Walk
around A look at Maybe you’ll find happiness in your sight shopping heaven and earth You’ll find our price is more suitable for you.

by Coolpapabell on Aug 4, 2011 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions

That would be the sequel

by Evan_S on Aug 4, 2011 10:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Amazing Avenue the Movie: Where the Freaky Trolls

One day, this team is going to kill me.

by fxcarden on Aug 4, 2011 3:36 PM EDT up reply actions

I work for Sony pics

I havent had a chance to watch it yet – I was supposed to last week – but the people I’ve talked to who have seen it absolutely love it. But those people work for the company that made the movie so take that for what it’s worth.

by Mike Clemente on Aug 4, 2011 2:07 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

Yeah

Company screenings are all ass sniffing events.

I went to one last year for Jackass and some 50 y.o. exec presented the movie. He went on to say how much he actually enjoyed the Jackass franchise’s comedic sense. Its important to note that the guy looked like he has done his fair share of shoveling to send his kids to private school.

So I will take that with the finest grains that can be had.

by Coolpapabell on Aug 4, 2011 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions

It looks really really good

by Evan_S on Aug 4, 2011 10:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Meh, moneyball hasn't aged well at all.

Most of the young players they tout in that book didn’t turn out to be much of anything. A lot of the guys they looked down on turned out reasonably well (Bonderman, Sheets, Kazmir). The whole draft college players and emphasize college stats thing turned out to be bunk. The only thing that book got right was that you could use stats to build a better ball club and that Kevin Youkilis was going to be really good. I’m still a bit baffled that they decided to turn it into a movie.

by Zilviking on Aug 4, 2011 4:42 AM EDT reply actions

Having read and finished Moneyball a few weeks ago

I don’t think it’s that they looked down on certain players, but that they saw how the market for them was inefficient, based on what they thought a team needed, and what the general baseball establishment said. Looking down on certain stats is a better way to put it, I think. Beane and the A’s wished they coulda drafted Jeremy Guthrie, for example, but they didn’t have the money. I don’t think any team would pass up the opportunity to sign a stud prospect, but if he’s too expensive to sign, you gotta adjust your priorities and what you’re looking for.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 453 posts (10/03/10)
3rd Place- 2011 AAOP Contest

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Aug 4, 2011 8:56 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

This, this and this.

Chamption of the R.A. Dickey Face contest and "Cromulent Photoshopper Extraordinaire" of Amazin' Avenue!
You might know me as mistermet.

by Steve Schreiber on Aug 4, 2011 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions

My problem with the book after reading it a second time is

that Michael Lewis is so damn imperious. The whole-everyone else is an idiot because they don’t do exactly what the A’s do- was really off putting. The Twinks continue to compete long after the A’s fell into the abyss, but no mention of that success story. It is especially galling when the whole college only drafting model was so emphasized in the book, but in the end it proved so sucessful that the A’s abandoned the college only tact.

Lewis also does a fantastic job of over simplifying. This over simplification is what really exaggerated the splitting of baseball into the two ideological camps. You either are completely stats driven or you are not. You are either all scouting or you are not. He really fails to hammer the point that scouting is very important, and you just can’t reduce the scouting and drafting process to just looking up college stats. The A’s leaned on their scouts, but Lewis’ agenda painted the A’s moving toward a system where their scouting department was transforming into a trading desk.

I have many more things that bothered me, but in the end, my problem is with how Lewis constructed the narrative. Some how I feel that the movie will continue on Lewis’ path. Its important to note that when I first read this six years ago, I thought it was a revelation.

by Coolpapabell on Aug 4, 2011 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions

This is a good point...

I am a Michael Lewis fan although I do have to agree with the ‘us versus them’ sentiment expressed in the book. Maybe this was because the system The A’s were trying was so new that hadn’t had time to experience errors and adapt and make changes (the college over HS thing for example) that they just assumed it would work and was perfect- and since Lewis hung around the A’s so long working on the book that he had drank the
kool-aid and thought they could do no wrong- their confidence rubbed off on him. The success of the team at the time must of only reinforced the idea that Beane could do no wrong.

by MatthewM11 on Aug 4, 2011 12:12 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Using stats to build a better ball club

You said was the only thing the book got right, other than Youklis being a good player. Wasn’t that what the book was about? (besides the broader themes not exclusive to baseball like exploiting market inefficiencies) sure, in the 7-8 years since the book was published Beane’s learned some things and made changes; you learn what works and what doesn’t. These guys were trying something new and they were bound to make mistakes. The book did focus a lot on the draft and made mention of the college over HS thing many times but that was still just one facet of their new approach to running the team. And I think the larger point about the draft that Oakland was doing different was ignoring many of the old scouting methods and prejudices in favor of stat based scouting. They were new to running a team and trying something completely different so mistakes were bound to be made but all in all I think the book holds up, especially if you apply the lessons beyond baseball.

by MatthewM11 on Aug 4, 2011 11:52 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

I think it looks good

It’s going to be a much more realistic story than most of the guff baseball movies so far. Also I love that Hatteberg is Che from the OC.

by deadspy3 on Aug 4, 2011 4:58 AM EDT reply actions

Hatteberg is Andy from Parks and Rec

No one from that show should be associated with lesser programs from their past

by Evan_S on Aug 5, 2011 6:07 AM EDT up reply actions

Ah

I still haven’t seen that. But it’s on my list.

by deadspy3 on Aug 5, 2011 8:21 AM EDT up reply actions

So is the fat guy supposed to be Depodesta?

and Philip S. Hoffman is cast as Art Howe. I think I would have rather seen Hoffman manage the Mets than Art Howe. Its funny how they are at opposite ends of the charisma scale. Way to go casting!

by Coolpapabell on Aug 4, 2011 12:01 PM EDT reply actions

Of course, Jonah Hill decides to drop a ton of weight after portraying a person much smaller than he was.

"Dont blame me, I was given this world, I didn’t make it."
-Tupac Shakur

by NetsMets4Life on Aug 4, 2011 2:21 PM EDT up reply actions

I've read that Beane isn't happy with how

His character is portrayed, if I can find the article I will post it, and there were other things that were changed or exaggerated. Do you think the movie will re-ignite some of the uproar from baseball traditionalists we saw from guys like Joe Morgan when the book first came out? Also, the one trailer they showed during the AS showed a submarine pitcher- obviously meant to be Bradford, who plays him or does he play himself? When I first saw it I didn’t know it was a moneball trailer and assumed it was Ziegler, although his arm slot isn’t nearly as low as Bradford’s was.

by MatthewM11 on Aug 4, 2011 12:02 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

How about that wild pitch the "Bradford" threw in that trailer

It almost suggests that he was like Oliver Perez or something, and not a guy who always had decent control.

by Coolpapabell on Aug 4, 2011 12:05 PM EDT up reply actions

Wasn't there something in the book about him having to learn how to throw submarine

because of an injury? Maybe that’s what’s being shown there, and it’s being misappropriated for the trailer. that would be the first time that happened

Thus Spoke Keith Hernandez

Twitter: ThomasTSKH

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by Thomas Wachtel on Aug 4, 2011 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions

From what I remember

He was a pretty poor over hand pitcher as a kid and starting throwing sidearm pretty early, with great results. He would have catch with his dad but had to stop when he lowered his arm slot because the ball had to much movement on it. According to moneyball Bradford’s arm slot gradually dropped unitentionally and despite decreased velocity he was getting better results. By the time he reached Oakland his slot was so low his knuckles scaped the ground sometimes. I don’t think he threw submarine due to injury, but you might be right. He was injured when Oakland origionally traded for him I think- his back, and that was mentioned in the book.

by MatthewM11 on Aug 4, 2011 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions