Editing Bill James (section)

==Acceptance and employment in mainstream baseball==
[[Oakland Athletics]] general manager [[Billy Beane]] began applying sabermetric principles to running his low-budget team in the early 2000s, to notable effect, as chronicled in [[Michael Lewis (author)|Michael Lewis]]' book ''[[Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game|Moneyball]]''.

In 2003, James was hired by a former reader, [[John W. Henry|John Henry]], the new owner of the [[Boston Red Sox]].

One point of controversy was in handling the relief pitching of the Red Sox.<ref>[[#prospectus2005|Baseball Prospectus 2005, pp.69–70]]</ref> James had previously published analysis of the use of the [[closer (baseball)|closer]] in baseball, and had concluded that the traditional use of the closer both overrated the abilities of that individual and used him in suboptimal circumstances. He wrote that it is "far better to use your [[relief ace]] when the score is tied, even if that is the seventh inning, than in the ninth inning with a lead of two or more runs."<ref>[[#prospectus2005|Baseball Prospectus 2005, p.66]]</ref> The Red Sox in 2003 staffed their bullpen with several marginally talented relievers.<ref name=prospectus2005_69>[[#prospectus2005|Baseball Prospectus 2005, p.69]]</ref> Red Sox manager [[Grady Little]] was never fully comfortable with the setup, and designated unofficial closers and reshuffled roles after a bad outing. When Boston lost a number of games due to bullpen failures, Little reverted to a traditional closer approach and moved [[Byung-hyun Kim]] from being a starting pitcher to a closer.<ref name=prospectus2005_70>[[#prospectus2005|Baseball Prospectus 2005, p.70]]</ref> The Red Sox did not follow James's idea of a bullpen with no closer, but with consistent overall talent that would allow the responsibilities to be shared.<ref name=prospectus2005_69 /> Red Sox reliever [[Alan Embree]] thought the plan could have worked if the bullpen had not suffered injuries.<ref name=prospectus2005_70 /> During the 2004 regular season [[Keith Foulke]] was used primarily as a closer in the conventional model; however, Foulke's usage in the 2004 postseason was along the lines of a relief ace with multiple inning appearances at pivotal times of the game.<ref>[[#prospectus2005|Baseball Prospectus 2005, p.64]]</ref> [[Houston Astros]] manager [[Phil Garner]] also employed a relief ace model with his use of [[Brad Lidge]] in the 2004 postseason.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://blog.chron.com/unofficialscorer/2008/03/sabermetrician-bill-james-on-cbs-60-minutes/ |title=Sabermetrician Bill James on CBS' '60 Minutes' |first=Zachary	 |last=Levine	 |newspaper=[[Houston Chronicle]] |date=March 31, 2008}}</ref>

During his tenure with the Red Sox,  James published several new sabermetric books (see [[#Bibliography]] below). Indeed, although James was typically tight-lipped about his activities on behalf of the Red Sox, he is credited with advocating some of the moves that led to the team's first [[World Series]] championship in 86 years, including the signing of non-tendered free agent [[David Ortiz]], the trade for [[Mark Bellhorn]], and the team's increased emphasis on [[on-base percentage]].

After the Red Sox suffered through [[2012 Boston Red Sox season|a disastrous 2012 season]], Henry stated that James had fallen "out of favor [in the front office] over the last few years for reasons I really don't understand. We've gotten him more involved recently in the central process and that will help greatly."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/05/bill-james-to-assume-a-more-prominent-role-in-the-red-sox-front-office/|title=Bill James to assume a more prominent role in the Red Sox front office|work=HardballTalk|date=September 5, 2012}}</ref>

On October 24, 2019, James announced his retirement from the Red Sox, saying that he had "fallen out of step with the organization" and added that he hadn't earned his paycheck with the Red Sox for the last couple of years.<ref name=Anderson /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/10/24/red-sox-front-office-bill-james-departs-after-falling-out-out-of-step-with-the-team/|title = Bill James departs Red Sox after falling 'out of step' with team|date = October 24, 2019}}</ref>  During his time with the team, Bill James received four [[World Series ring]]s for the team's 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018 World Series titles.<ref name="tht-interview" />