moneyball n. a derisive name for a sport (especially baseball) in which skill and fans seem secondary to money, esp. a sport in which teams, hoping to secure winning seasons and the resulting broadcasting and merchandising incomes, negotiate expensive contracts with desirable players. Also money ball. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In 1916, a small-town newspaper in Pennsylvania printed a fanciful item about a local gathering with a guest list that included, among others, Miss Ella Vader, Mr. Ray Zor, and other punny names. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Screwball was originally a sports term referring to the looping, irregular path of a ball in games such as cricket, tennis, and baseball. The term was popularized in the 1930s by baseball pitcher Carl Hubble’s corkscrew-like throw that made him a...
With the January 2003 publication of Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball, the word has additionally come to signify a strategy of baseball management, often linked to baseball statistician Bill James and researchers at the Society for American Baseball Research, of stressing traditionally underrated (and thus cheaper) qualities such as high on-base percentage while placing less emphasis on others like speed, runs batted in, or fielding prowess.
Lewis defines “moneyball” as you explain it, but it is not a definition that exists outside of Lewis’ book or discussions related to it. I’ll keep an eye out to see if his new definition for the term will catch on in the wild, but so far, it hasn’t. (I say this as a member of SABR myself.) The last cite above is a discussion of the book, by the way.