Moneyball Review: David Justice

One of the main players the Athletics brought in to replace Giambi and Damon was outfielder David Justice. Justice was clearly at the end of his career (he never played after the 2002 season), and the Yankees had declared he could no longer play. As the movie stresses, they even were paying half his salary. What the movie doesn't mention is that the Yankees originally shipped Justice to the NY Mets. Exactly a week later, the Mets shipped him to the Oakland A's for Mark Guthrie and Tyler Yates. Guthrie spent 1 year with the Mets, registering a -2.245 PE in 48 innings, earning a 1.4 WAR (he had a 0 WAR in 2001 with Oakland) and 1286 WASP. Yates didn't get into the majors until 2004, and only appeared in 21 games for the Mets. They weren't good appearances either, with a -1 WAR. This means the Mets got a grand total of .4 WAR in the trade. With the Athletics, Justice produced a 1.4 WAR, .376 OBP, 2.48 PAPP, 1.0 PPG, and 5000 WASP. The WASP isn't good, until you calculate that the Athletics only paid half of his salary, then his WASP is 2500 (below the Halladay Standard). Billy Beane and company took a chance on an aging player mainly because of his OBP, and it paid off.