Brad Pitt? But who gets the Paul DePodesta role?
Brad Pitt is reportedly in line to star in a movie being adapted from Michael Lewis' 2003 book "Moneyball," where the wider world was introduced to the use of Wall Street-style analysis in determining the value of ... baseball players. The book was a huge success, and pointed up a new school/old school divide in the inner corridors of the game, with leathery, intuitive scouts skeptical of the newfangled MBA types, and vice versa.
The "Moneyball" screenwriter is Oscar-winner Steve Zaillian ("Schindler's List"), with David Frankel (the upcoming "Marley & Me") set to direct.
The star of "Moneyball" is Oakland Athletics GM Billy Beane (pictured here), who has managed to keep his low-payroll ballclub in the thick of more pennant races than most would expect, thanks to his embracing of this high-tech approach. One of his top lieutenants in the book is Paul DePodesta, a Harvard guy with a laptop who helped create whatever success Oakland had during his years there.
We all know what happened after that: the Dodgers hired DePodesta as GM, only to fire him two years later. It was on his watch that the Dodgers finally won a playoff game -- in 2004 -- which hadn't happened since 1988 and wouldn't happen again until this season.
-- Steve Clow
Photo: Billy Beane, general manager of Oakland Athletics. Credit: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi / Bloomberg News
