JAMES HARRINGTON
FRENCH COLUMN

"Guys, you’re trying to replace Giambi. I told you we can’t do it. Now, what we might be able to do is recreate him. Recreate him ‘in the aggregate’."
That’s a line from Oscar-nominated baseball drama Moneyball. You may have seen it. It’s based on the true story of Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s efforts to build a competitive squad for the 2002 season on – in baseball terms – a shoestring budget, picking up a ragtag team of misfit players based on stats and data.
In the scene, Beane explains to a roomful of unimpressed scouts that the A’s could f...