Remember this quote from Billy Beane?

[Angelsjunky]

From an article about Mike Trout from last year in Sports Illustrated:

 

So it was that I broached the subject of Trout with Beane, who is the general manager of one of the 21 clubs who passed on him, as his A's used the 13th pick in '09 on a highly regarded USC shortstop named Grant Green. Beane's demeanor is almost always courtly, and our conversation in his spring training office in Phoenix had been breezy, until I mentioned Trout. Then I saw the first licks of the fire that burns beneath his calm exterior, which has been documented on both page and screen.

 

"He was one of our guys, actually," Beane said. "He was one of the three guys we were talking about drafting -- Trout, Green and Mike Leake." Leake, a pitcher from Arizona State, went eighth to the Reds, and is now 23-19 through 69 big league starts. "That's why I flew out to New Jersey to watch him. I'm not going to make a trip to a high school in New Jersey unless I thought he was the real deal."....

 

Beane declined to share the reports. I inquired how it was, then, that they ended up with Green -- who is hitting .289 in Triple-A, and who has still not made his major league debut -- and not Trout. Beane's speech accelerated even more. "Grant was a shortstop at a major university, a high profile kid. He was predicted to go ahead of us. We'd seen him a lot more, California kid, seen him since high school. It was a position of need in the organization. We're happy with Grant. I would expect both of them to be the real deal. Just like Leake turned out to be the real deal."

-----------------------

(I added the bold-face).

 

So now the Angels have both players, and presumably Billy - one year after the above interview - is no longer happy with Grant.

[austin724]

I think Grant is going to be a good player.  Beane messed up on that trade. It hasn't helped the A's at all.

[vlad27]

I think Grant is going to be a good player. Beane messed up on that trade. It hasn't helped the A's at all.

that seems like a good deal for us Callaspo is no loss

[Vernster52]

So Beane doesn't speak in bold face?

[SoWhat]

Green went 2-4 in his debut, while Callaspo is still hit less since being traded. Trade won!

[Toby Ziegler]

Beane declined to share the reports. I inquired how it was, then, that they ended up with Green -- who is hitting .289 in Triple-A, and who has still not made his major league debut -- and not Trout. Beane's speech accelerated even more. "Grant was a shortstop at a major university, a high profile kid. He was predicted to go ahead of us. We'd seen him a lot more, California kid, seen him since high school. It was a position of need in the organization. We're happy with Grant. I would expect both of them to be the real deal. Just like Leake turned out to be the real deal."

 

Another glaring example of regional bias from scouts and organizations. Thanks for digging this up. Going in the book.

[Kenny]

I'm not gonna make a Puig out of him, but I like what I saw last night.

[Halos of Anaheim]

Beane is human. But he definitely has a huge ego.

[seenoevil]

That is why they call him money ball,  He was on the money there

[Stradling]

Another glaring example of regional bias from scouts and organizations. Thanks for digging this up. Going in the book.

It's not regional bias it just is what it is. They are a California team you will see California players much more often. It's also just a natter of resource allocation.

[Toby Ziegler]

It's not regional bias it just is what it is. They are a California team you will see California players much more often. It's also just a natter of resource allocation.

 

The resource allocation needs to be modified. Also going in the book. Contrary to popular belief, there is not a huge disparity of talent between the West Coast, the Midwest, and the East Coast.

[ettin]

The resource allocation needs to be modified. Also going in the book. Contrary to popular belief, there is not a huge disparity of talent between the West Coast, the Midwest, and the East Coast.

That is probably true about the lack of disparity in talent level but baseball is played more prolificly in California, Arizona, Florida, etc. Then it is a numbers game where you have thousands of players in those states to scout where you may only have hundreds in states that don't have a strong baseball system.

 

Then it does become about resource allocation for MLB teams as they want to scout more heavily in the larger populations of players. I do agree that they should broaden their horizons more (and in fact they are expanding into countries like China, Phillipines, etc.) but until those areas develop more advanced baseball leagues and systems, the teams are putting their resources into the known commodity areas.