The most substantial criticism of Moneyball, both the book and especially the film, is that it ignored the exceptional talent on the 2002 Oakland roster. The lesson of Moneyball is not “cheap is good.” In fact, the most successful application of Moneyball principles came from the Boston Red Sox, who were anything but frugal. The cost-cutting was already occurring due to economic pressures unrelated to analytics or the impact of Moneyball. Moneyball promotes the use of analytics in baseball, thus ruining the sport. The analytics revolution was already underway before Moneyball — the book brought it into mainstream consciousness rather than creating it.