Thursday, March 1, 2012

Moneyball analysis

Use internet research and class discussion to answer the following questions.


1) What was the “Moneyball”approach that Billy Beane and Peter Brandt applied to the Oakland Athletics 2002 season? Was it an “art” or a “science”? What single statistic did they boil their value consideration down to? (In class research/discussion)
The Moneyball approach that Billy and Peter applied to form an amazing team is the useage of appling the OBP equation in order to calculate any potential player's on base percentage.

2) What is the equation used to calculate OBP? (In class research/discussion)
The equation used to calculate OBP is

OBP = \frac{H+BB+HBP}{AB+BB+HBP+SF}

3) What is design? (In class research/discussion)
Design is the planned construction of an object and or system.

4) Describe 3 situations where movie characters (intentionally or not) applied a step from the PLTW 12 Step Design Process. Explain both the (a) situation as well as (b) how the step is relevant:
1 - When Billy questioned his scout's knowledge on the current problem at hand.

2 - When Peter brought the On Base Percentage equation into the search for replacement players for the Athletics.

3 - When Billy assembled his scouts inorder to discuss the problem concerning finding replacement players for the Athletics with the bare minimum in terms of budget.


5) What is “Leadership”? List the three aspects of leadership that we come up with in class. (In class research/discussion)
Leadership is the process of social influence in which one could enlist the aid of others in order to complete an common task at hand.

1 – Direction:
2 – Alignment:    
3 – Commitment:


6) Describe 3 circumstances from the story where a character exercised effective leadership:
1 – Billy provides a sense of direction when he provoked thought when conversing with his scouts, being very firm on the analysis of the problem.

2 – Peter portrays a sense of alignment when he draws Billy to the mathematical approach to creating a great team.

3 – Billy exerts a clearly audible sense of commitment to the team in that he hired a prestigious Yale student in order to aid him in his search for players. The time invested in the search including many long nights project a sense of resolve to finish what he started. Taking in consideration the minimal budget that was presented.  



7) According to the movie, what was the A’s record at the start of their winning streak? _75__ : _50__

8) What does this ratio simplify to (roughly)? _.000013__ : 1

9) How long was the A’s record setting winning streak? _20__ games won.

10) Given the A’s win/loss ratio at the start of the streak (listed two questions above), what are the odds of winning 20 games in a row? Run the numbers. (In class research/discussion)
1 in 474.83271421975370370 years out of 76923

11) Based on your calculation, do you think the A’s got lucky or was there something to the Moneyball approach?
I believe that the Moneyball approach was a large contributing factor in that it drew out of the dark players with potential. However the players could become ill mentally or physically and that would have an direct effect on the outcome of the game.

12) Did Billy Beane strictly apply the “science” of Moneyball to his management approach? Was there an “art” to his efforts as well? Describe a circumstance where he broke from the Moneyball approach to make a positive change for the team.
 Billy did not just use the science of Moneyball but also applied art to his efforts. Billy strayed away from the Moneyball approach when he let go Giambi even though his hit percentage was excellent. This was due to the poor infulence that he created. However Peter was angry due to his potential.





Bonus Question (look into this if you’ve finished ahead of the class):
Money Ball was originally a book. What author wrote the book? What other books has this author written? Is there a theme to his writing?
The writer of "Moneyball" is, Michael Lewis. Michael in addition to Moneyball wrote the following books: The Big Shot:Inside the Doomsday Machine, Liar's Poker,


It's "Oscar Season", will Moneyball win the Oscar for any of the categories it's up for?
I do not believe that Moneyball will recieve any Oscar awards.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing your perspective on those design steps and leadership moments in the movie.

    ReplyDelete