The Extra 2%

…in his Monday Morning Quarterback column:

Jonah Keri’s The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League baseball Team from Worst to First (ESPN) was fascinating to me as a follower of the Red Sox. I’d wondered about Tampa Bay’s strategy of spending a fifth of the Red Sox and Yankees, yet competing with them evenly … and this book was revelatory in explaining it.

The Rays valued defense more than most teams. They began talking with Evan Longoria about a half-a-lifetime contract when he was still in the minor leagues, and what resulted was a nine-year deal worth up to $48 million, which today looks like an incredible bargain. Could it have backfired? Certainly, if Longoria stunk the place up. But if the Rays did nothing, Longoria surely would be gone when he could first test free agency.

Very smart book, and well set up with history about how incompetent the franchise was for years. I’m not smart enough to see how it translates to other businesses, but there have to be some allegories about how Alamo competes with Hertz, etc.