I worked for hours on an article discussing why Billy Beane's signing of Eric Chavez instead of Miguel Tejada was a colossal mistake. Not just in hindsight, but for reasons that were apparent at the time.  It whirled out comparisons of fairly normal stats like OPS, even the rudimentary entry-level fodder like home runs, batting average, etc., and looked at the more esoteric and accurate numbers like VORP and eQa (slight advantage to Tejada in the former pre-move-from-Oakland, slight advantage to Chavez in the latter).

Unfortunately, due to an annoying computer snafu, the article has been lost. After due consideration, I don't love any of you enough to reconstruct it. So I'll summarize.

Billy Beane made a mistake that no competent owner of any fantasy keeper team would ever make. I'm not going to rebuild the statistical comparison, so take my word for it: Chavez batted left-handed, was slightly better in slightly more statistical categories, but the two were pretty darned close. If there's a big advantage to be found anywhere, it would be in batting average, which we all know can be a complete mirage. Tejada, at the time, was about 18 months older, but both were entering their final year. The A's won, IIRC, 96 games, and of course did nothing in the playoffs.

SIDETRACKED:

The A's seem a bit cursed, don't they? Not so much as the San Francisco Giants, their brethren across the Bay, who have never won a World Series in San Francisco despite an endless stream of Hall of Fame talent, but they only won one championship with near-All Star rosters in the late eighties and early nineties, and whether it was Jeremy Giambi forgetting to slide, idiots wandering off third, or the Yankees brushing them aside, didn't do much with the Mulder/Hudson/Zito teams, either.

BACK ON TRACK:

Beane basically went for it. He didn't trade either, despite the fact that he could have gotten a pretty good return, and let Tejada walk at the end of the year. I'd say that was mistake number one. Beane should have realized that the playoffs are a crapshoot and done what he could to maximize his return. How can you just let a player like Tejada walk, no matter how well your team is doing that year? But, at least it's understandable.

What isn't understandable is his failure to understand the concept of position scarcity. Sure, Bobby Crosby was waiting in the wings to replace Tejada -- how well did that work out? -- but the A's had Mark Teahen, who they let go, in their system who might have been able to replace Chavez. Although it was completely possible that they could have traded Chavez for a bunch of players, including a third baseman. Every fantasy owner knows that if you have two players of roughly comparable value, but one plays a corner infield position, and the other is a shortstop, you keep the shortstop!

I've always wondered if the real reason Beane handled the situation the way he did wasn't due to performance on the field or position scarcity analysis, but if he figured Tejada was on drugs, or was substantially older than he was. Even though both of those are true, it still turned out to be one of the worst mistakes of his tenure, and it is one that I questioned not just now, but when it happened.

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