ninth round. Impressed, Beane hires him. Using Brand's sabermetric method, Beane signs undervalued players such as Chad Bradford, Jeremy Giambi and Scott Hatteberg, and also trades for David Justice. The Athletics' scouts are hostile toward the strategy, and Beane fires the head scout, Grady Fuson, after a heated confrontation. Beane also faces opposition from Art Howe, the Athletics' manager. Howe disregards Beane's and Brand's strategy and uses a more traditional lineup. Early in the season, the Athletics are already ten games behind first, leading critics to dismiss the new method as a failure. Brand argues their sample size is too small to conclude the method does not work, and Beane convinces the team owner, Stephen Schott, to stay the course. To get help on defense, Beane trades Giambi to the Phillies for John Mabry and the only traditional first baseman, Carlos Peña, to the Tigers, leaving Howe no choice but to use the team Beane and Brand have designed. Three weeks later, the Athletics are only four games behind first. Before the trade deadline, Beane acquires the relief pitcher Ricardo Rincón from the Indians, and on August 13, the Athletics start a winning streak. Beane, superstitiously, refuses to watch games in progress, but when the Athletics tie the American League record of 19 consecutive wins, his daughter persuades him to attend the next game against the Kansas City Royals. Oakland is leading 11–0 when Beane arrives in the fourth inning, only to watch the Royals even the score. Thanks to a walk-off home run by Hatteberg, the Athletics achieve a then record-breaking 20th consecutive win. Beane tells Brand he will not be satisfied until they have changed baseball by winning the World Series. The Athletics win the American League West but lose to the Minnesota Twins in the American League Division Series, with an unseen baseball analyst explaining that some other tangibles of a player, such as drive and clutch performance, cannot be measured. The owner of the Boston Red Sox, John W. Henry, realizes that sabermetrics is the future of baseball. He gives Beane an offer to become the Red Sox general manager for a $12.5 million salary, which would make him the highest-paid general manager in sports history. In Oakland, Beane discloses the offer to Brand and says their strategy failed. Brand shows a video of a heavyset batter, Jeremy Brown, who hits a home run but does