"Billy Beane wrote the book on being a general manager. Now bring on the video game.

Yes, we understand Beane didn't actually write Moneyball. It just seemed like he did. But now he has signed on to help gamers act out his job in MLB Front Office Manager, a video game out this winter for Xbox 360, Playstation and PC.

"I cannot think of any part of the job that has been left out," he said, promoting the product as his A's were closing out the season in late September.

It is Fantasy Baseball for the offseason, really. (Unless you are really an addict and have formed AFL (Arizona Fall League) or DWL (Dominican Winter League) Fantasy League with your buddies.)

It is the exact thing Beane said he dreamed about having available to him as a kid. You know the feeling ... especially if you were like this writer who was hooked on Nintendo's Baseball Stars almost a generation ago.

That same passion followed Beane after he was drafted by the Mets in the first round of the 1980 draft. In his first year as a pro, he was in the locker room seeing then Mets GM Frank Cashen walking around in a suit. He actually wasn't as anxious to play for him as he was hopeful to someday take his job.

"That is the guy we should want to be," he remembered telling his buddy in the locker next to him.

Beane doesn't actually play Fantasy Baseball, but he does admit to being a stratomatic addict as a kid and is competing in a celebrity Fantasy Football league on website inferior to CBSSports.com -- which shall remain nameless.

As for why he won't play Fantasy Baseball against us or with us?

"I don't want to deal with getting beat. I couldn't accept it."

What Beane can and has had to deal with is public perception. It is one of the variables in the game that he likes best. He said owner's confidence factor was a "brilliant" addition that adds realism to the game, because, as he said, "In my own job as GM, I have to deal with managing up."

He also likes how "there is a price you pay for every decision you make." You have to allocate your resources, scouting East vs. West.

And, as for what he made sure they didn't leave out is randomness. You know, the same randomness he explained in Moneyball that he didn't care to plan for in baseball's real postseason. For instance, if someone is lifetime 4-for-10 off a pitcher and has gone 0-for-6, it does not mean he will get four hits in his next four at-bats.

"Randomness comes into play in this game," he said. "There is room for randomness in a world of statistical probability."

Just 20 minutes talking with Beane got us right down to that minutia, the smallest of details in a video game that mean so much."