OK, this piece isn’t really about Money ball, just about the A’s.  But, isn’t in interesting that the team that is most closely associated with the term “money ball” and veered away from non-productive outs, such as the failed stolen base, now seems to be building a team that can steal bases?

Since the steroid era ended, or at least since testing has begun, few teams are being built to just simply out-hit their opponent. (The Rangers may be the exception.)  Few team can be built that way really.  Baseball is returning to that old axiom of pitching and defense.  And ’small ball’ is coming into fashion again.  The A’s are right smack dab in the middle of that trend too.  Here is a quick link to the Susan Slusser piece about the signing of Coco Crisp by the A’s.  Here is a quote from the piece from GM Billy Beane, where he all but outright says “I love the stolen base”:

“When you’ve got speed guys at first base and second base, it changes the whole dynamic of the game,” Crisp said. “You get into the pitcher’s head, the catcher’s head, the manager’s, they have to change defensive schemes, move outfielders in. With our legs, we can definitely put pressure on opponents.”

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/23/SP3R1B8VIU.DTL#ixzz0acD7GmNz