Column: Money: 2009's real winner

This World Series has yet to be played, but the winner has already been decided. In 2009, money won.

Five of eight playoff teams were in the top 10 in payroll, with the Cardinals, Rockies and Twins being the exceptions. But there was no team like the Rays to surprise everyone, the Marlins couldn't live up to lofty expectations and the Oakland Athletics didn't show up in 2009, making GM Billy Beane disappointed.

Speaking of Beane, his offseason acquisitions of Jason Giambi and Matt Holliday did not work out; both were gone before the end of the season, and the A's had their third consecutive losing season. The system Beane was once so famous for using is now being questioned. He looks at things differently; he has a way of thinking that is perfect for small-market, low-budget clubs. Michael Lewis's 2003 book, "Moneyball," chronicles the 2002 A's team that won 103 games while dissecting Beane's approach. In a nutshell, the approach consists of a few elements. Oakland's strategy was simple: fire scouts, hire Ivy League statisticians, study statistics of college players, draft them and sign only free agents considered to be Major League outcasts. The fascinating concept's background came from writer Bill James and his study of statistics, called sabermetics. Throwing out stats like RBI's and only looking at walks and OBP, among many other variables. The strategy thrived in Oakland, and the book had such a profound effect that many teams have now hired sabertric analysts. Up until this year even a movie was in the works, starring Brad Pitt as Beane.

But, the characters in the book have since panned out. Besides 2006, Beane has not produced as successful a team as he did in 2002. Beane's right hand man, J.P. Ricciardi, was Oakland's Director of Player Personnel until 2001. He left for the GM job in Toronto and this fall was fired after eight tumultuous seasons north of the border. An early season success story in 2009, the Blue Jays once again faltered against the Red Sox and Yankees, causing players to be dealt and Ricciardi to be ousted. Paul DePodesta, one of the Harvard graduates Beane hired, is now an assistant with the Padres after being the Dodgers' GM from 2004 to 2005. DePodesta was practically run out of town after disastrous decisions in the front office. "Moneyball" in 2009 came to a climax, and it ended in failure.

Other low budget teams had the same woes as the A's in 2009. The A's were an early season prediction to surprise baseball like the Tampa Bay Rays did in 2008. The Rays of '08 will be hard to forget, and their 2009 performance made it easier to dub them a fluke. The Rays did not repeat as AL East champs, and didn't even make the playoffs. Their payroll was sixth lowest in the league, $1 million above the A's. The team that dethroned the Yankees and Red Sox in the AL East could not compete with the high-market Northeast teams in '09, and was a disappointment.

The Florida Marlins were World Series champions in 1997 and 2003. Immediately after winning both titles the team had a fire sale of their star players. The strategy worked but management is starting to take a different approach. The Marlins were comparable to the A's; low payroll, low attendance and playing baseball in a football stadium. But the Marlins have since changed their mindset. The Marlins rewarded shortstop Hanley Ramirez with a $70 million extension last spring, and broke ground on a new stadium at the old Orange Bowl site. Owner Jeffrey Loria did something unheard of in South Florida, but Ramirez, the face of the franchise and a new stadium will slim Loria's wallet. It should give him spending money down the road. Although in 2009, Florida's payroll was dead last in baseball, they were expected to be legitimate contenders. After being competitive for most of the year, they fell out of the playoff race, causing manager Fredi Gonzalez to come under fire and the team to ponder off-season moves.

The Minnesota Twins snuck in the playoffs and were quickly ousted by the Yankees. Their payroll was about $2 million above Tampa Bay. As the most consistent low-budget playoff participant of our time, it is hard not to root for the Twins. Look for that outlook on the Twins to change. The front office's refusal to hand out fat contracts and let talent leave the Twin Cities for greener pastures may be reversed. The Twins will trade the plastic bag and football seats they call a wall at the Metrodome for a corporate sponsored outdoor ballpark, Target Field, in 2010. The new park may attract free agents that at one time never dreamed of playing in the land of 10,000 lakes.

There probably will never be parity in baseball. It's impossible for teams to compete because money still talks. The Pirates and Royals will always have a hard time competing financially with teams like the Phillies and Yankees. But Beane and others have provided some hope that any team can have a surprise season. In 2009, we may have seen the end of Beane's revolutionary system to cheat the current system. He may have lost his touch in finding talent no one else discovered. He has even started taking chances on high school players, something that used to be taboo. Michael Lewis's masterpiece is timeless, but every low market team has an ever-closing window to overtake money driven franchises. Next year, poor teams may once again turn the tides, but for some the window may have already closed.

Good thing no movie was ever made. It wouldn't have been a happy Hollywood ending.