Billy Beane hasn’t spent better part of the last two decades ruing a missed opportunity.
The Oakland Athletics vice president of baseball operations told The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham last week he doesn’t regret turning down the chance to lead Boston Red Sox baseball operations in 2002. He had built the A’s’ roster on a shoestring budget and led them to three consecutive postseason appearances between 2000 and 2002, making him perhaps the hottest commodity among baseball executives when Boston offered him a multi-million-dollar contract to bring his methods, later dubbed “Moneyball,” to the Hub. However, he surprised many by saying “no.”
Beane explained to Abraham why he rejected the Red Sox in order to remain in charge of the A’s.
“I don’t, and people don’t believe it,” Beane said when asked whether he wonders what might have been. “Boston ended up getting the right guy, they got Theo Epstein. Two world championships with Theo, they had an amazing run. Things turned out fantastic for the Red Sox, and for me, I feel the same.
“My whole family was in California. I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. Boston is a great city. It’s an amazing sports town. But my life’s in California and I’m happy here.
“I was 40 at the time. I wasn’t planning on failing. But the process led to the right guy for them and things turned out great for me.”
Oakland remained a playoff-caliber team for the four seasons that followed Beane’s decision to remain in place. However, the A’s never reached their ultimate goal, and he had to rebuild the roster. The team spent five years in the wilderness before returning to the postseason for three consecutive seasons between 2012 and 2014. Three losing seasons followed that fine stretch. Then, last season, Oakland turned thing around, again, and returned to the playoffs.
The Red Sox won World Series under the leadership of Epstein in 2004 and 2007 and his successor Ben Cherington in 2013. Dave Dombrowski led the team to glory in 2018.
Beane is content with his Major League Baseball fortunes, and no one in Boston laments the fact he just wanted to stay close to home.
