AN interviews Billy Beane

[oaklady]

Part I last nite, Part II tonite, Part III, tomorrow night. Part II much more informative than Part I. He talks about Barton, Buck, Windsor, Meyer. Kennedy is the odds on favorite to win the 5 spot and Windsor likely in the pen. He also talks briefly about Meyer. Anyway, enjoy.

Athletics Nation :: An Oakland A's Blog

[whobob]

What he said about the new hitting coach was interesting:

As we were putting together a list of potential hitting instructors, we put his name on the list because we'd heard his name in several different places who all rave about this guy. So I knew the first indication that we'd hit on something when I called Assistant GM Ken Forsch and I said, "Ken, I'd like to ask for permission to speak to Ty Van Burkleo for our major league hitting job." He just groaned like I was afraid you were going to say that. To me that was a validation of what their own organization thought about him and the last time that someone had that reaction when I called to ask about another person is when John Hart had that reaction when I called about Paul DePodesta. His reaction and John's and the fact that Paul ended up being as great as he was, I figured we hit on the right guy.

[oaklady]

Yeh, whobob, I forgot about his comments re the hitting coach. I found them interesting, too. Considering how many hitting coaches this team has gone through, now it's really apparent to me that he looks upon the position as a crapshoot.