Jonah Keri’s “The Extra 2%,” is a book about the Tampa Bay Ray and how they used Wall Street strategies to take the team from last place to a contender. It is a fine, brisk read, a more intellectually honest version of “Moneyball.” You’ll be smarter for having read it. It should on your short list of baseball reads this spring and it hits the shelves today.
GQ has an excerpt. Dig it…
I'm sure it's a great book, but I don't get the "Wall Street Strategies" part. Did the Rays figure out a way, in the context of MLB to be highly leveraged with the actual burden of the risk on someone else's shoulders?
[1] I have the same question. It seems to me as if the Rays stockpiled high draft picks that resulted from being so terrible for so long and then mixed in a a couple of savy trades, which kind of seems like the typical, cyclical nature of small market teams.
I haven't read the book, but it seems like this is an attempt to build on the "market inefficiency" principal established by Moneyball (and perhaps gain the same level of prominence in the baseball world). I am not sure if I'll read it because the topic seems a little contrived, but I look forward to at least reading some other reviews.
there's also a great excerpt about the D-Rays not drafting Pujols at their area scout's behest, over at the 4-letter network...
4) The guys who run the Rays are all Wall Street guys, and baseball outsiders...
[4] I know that, but does that mean Steinbrenner used Ship Building techniques to build the Yankees?
In our attempt to define success, I think we sometimes ascribe qualities that really don't imply. Again, I don't want to criticize the book without reading it, but from my own observation, I don't see where "Wall Street Strategies" have come into play.
[4] OK, I get it. I agree with william [5].
Maybe if Mark Cuban used Wall Street Strategies instead of Internet Billionaire Strategies, Chief Bud would let him in the club.