Time for a little book review. While I was out in Santa Barbara on business I started and finished a book called "Chasing Steinbrenner: Pursuing the Pennant in Boston and Toronto." I've never written a book review before but I'll share my thoughts as best I can with you.

When I heard this book was coming out I was really pumped as I had recently finished my 2nd reading of Moneyball and reveled in the chance to read a similar book on the man running the ship of my favorite team, JP Ricciardi. The book more or less follows JP and new Boston GM Theo Epstein around as they prepare for the 2003 season. I had several other books I wanted to read but due to the subject, I put this one first and foremost on my list. I dove into it with nothing but the highest hopes.

To my disappointment though, the book did not live up to expectations. I was really hoping for a back room look at the two teams and the author (Rob Bradford) never provided it. He explores several characters but none of them too deeply. The best chapter was no doubt Epstein's pursuit of Jose Contreras. There were some things in that chapter I hadn't heard about and in terms of drama it was the one piece of the book that kept me reading. Everything else was kind of dull. It was more of a recount of how the season unfolded (which both teams already know about) vs the in's and out's how the two GM's run their teams.

From a Blue Jay perspective the story was more about the Red Sox and Theo then JP and the Jays. I really didn't learn all that much about how the Jays work as the book only seemed to scratch the surface of what the baseball operations department does. The author did try and give us something when he talked about the pursuit of first round pick Aaron Hill but even that story never really takes you deep into the process. Bradford just tried to hit too many topics vs picking a couple and fully developing them.

This book will evidently be compared with Moneyball, and to me, Moneyball is the clear winner on two fronts. First, I think it is a more entertaining read. I'm not one of those people who forgets the fact that Moneyball author Michael Lewis was trying to sell a book and may have exaggerated the facts a bit. Second, Moneyball gave a much deeper look into how an organization is run. You really got to see how trades happen and what goes on in the draft room.

As a Jays or Sox fan I think Chasing Steinbrenner is somewhat interesting as you do get some additional info on both GM's but if you're not a fan of either team I wouldn't recommend it.