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Doc,
I think it is important to remember that all of the pro sports are monopolies.
MLB is not actually 30 different companies competing for the "same" customers. Call it an "Un-distry" if you will. Seattle is actually competing with NOBODY for its fan base. They are literally the only game in town for most of the year.
The "natural" progression in any normal competitive industry is actually to end up with a monopoly. And in non-sports industries, the silent goal of every company is to become THE monopoly.
Sports doesn't play by the same rules. No pro sport can survive if market superiority ACTUALLY puts half the competition out of business.
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But, here's a question. How many GMs and Managers entered profession baseball AFTER the late 90s SABR revolution? What percentage of the baseball people that actually make the final decisions today were raised from childhood with an understanding of OPS+ ... xFIP ... DER ... versus how many were told from the time they were in little league how important HRs are ... and how it's terrible to ever take strike three?
In any normal industry ... if the competition puts out a new ground-breaking device, the penalty for not responding is you go out of business. What is the penalty in Pittsburgh for not developing a robust SABR department AND implementing policy that seriously takes it into account?
And after 2006 ... how many veteran baseball men in organizations throughout baseball stood up and said loudly ... "See, they never made it to the Series, and now they're dogmeat. I told you Beane just got lucky for awhile." How many said ... "Sure, Boston says they are all over these math geeks ... but give me Manny and Ortiz and I'll make the playoffs, too!"?
Did Bavasi start focusing on OBP after Moneyball?
In this forum, we have some of the most math-savvy rational baseball fans around ... and the reality that OBP links much stronger to run generation than slugging is openly challenged routinely. Hey, it's good to challenge conceptions over time ... but to my knowledge nobody has come close to refuting the basic OBP vs. Slugging reality that James started preaching 20+ years ago.
It's easy to call the 2012 Oakland results a fluke. They were only 12th in OBP, yet finished 8th in runs. But San Fran was 4th in OBP, 8th in slugging, (16th in HRs), and nice solid 6th in runs scored.
Yeah, Melky had a drug induced career year. But, in his 113 games he still only managed 11 HRs and 60 RBI. And, of course, San Fran did not collapse after he got suspended. They actually extended their lead from then until year end,
The kneejerk reaction of baseball insiders as well as fans is to support their established beliefs. If you believe a team MUST have 2 or 3 mashers to be "legit", then you will naturally run to any lineup with that feature to support your belief - ignore all the ones that had that trait and failed - AND find ways to dismiss alternative success stories, (like SF), by altering premises or alleging "fluke" results.
San Fran had a perfectly acceptable offense - absent ANY 30-HR bats - and possessing only a single 20-hr bat. But, the top 13 bats - ZERO had an OPS+ below 84 -- and only 3 had an OPS+ below 95. They also won 2 of the past 3 WS. So, they can hardly be characterized as a fluke, (especially since their run production went up even as their HR production dropped significantly).