By Ryan McGowan
Like my colleague Trevor Freeman, Michael Lewis’ Moneyball is one of my favorite books. For any baseball fan, the inside story of Billy Beane’s quest to change traditional thinking and manage a baseball team based entirely on analyzing statistics and turning the conventional wisdom upside down is a fascinating read. Looking at the 2006 season up to this point, I have chosen a 25-man American League All-Star team that accomplishes the major goals of any team driven by a Moneyball philosophy.
In no particular order, these goals are:
1. Find players who get on base (high on-base percentage, or OBP) and hit for some power (the combination of the two produces a high on-base plus slugging, or OPS, the golden statistic of Moneyball).
2. Pay no attention to fielding statistics.
3. Spend as little money as possible.