Eric Neel of ESPN.com scribed this article about Billy Beane and the A's philosophy of stat-driven scouting along with a heavy preference for college players. The piece contains many quotes from other GMs, including a few other "small-market" guys like Terry Ryan of the Twins and everyone's favorite flogging boy, Allard Baird of the Royals. (Nobody mentions J.P. Ricciardi or Keith Law, but we know their philosophies.) The astute BB cabal has discussed many of these issues, and I -- and others, of course; I didn't come up with this notion -- have maintained the absolute key to the A's success is Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito. I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it: those guys aren't around, we're not talking about Beane quite so much.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030515025619999