Before delving into the topic at hand I want to make a few things pre-emptively clear. I think highly of the front office and every day I am grateful that they, not I, make front office-y decisions for the Oakland A’s. I also fully recognize that not only do these folks have access to a ton of proprietary information, they cull their information carefully and make decisions based on careful and thoughtful analysis.
They are also the same people who, while making a truckload of excellent calls, intentionally hired Bob Geren and retained him for 5.5 years, thought through the Josh Donaldson trade and judged it to be a good move, and so on.