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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

GM relies on eyes, not statistics.

“In a scene from the film “Moneyball,” a half-dozen A’s scouts sit around a table, tossing out opinions. With their haggard faces and old-school lingo, they are made to look like fools, a bunch of washed-up alcoholics whose time has passed.”

Let the fireworks begin….

The Chronicles of Reddick Posted: October 30, 2012 at 11:17 AM | 23 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: athletics, giants

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1. Hang down your head, Tom Foley Posted: October 30, 2012 at 11:39 AM (#4288258)

The way Billy Beane cut the eyes out of the heads of everyone on the A's now seems silly.

2. Dale Sams Posted: October 30, 2012 at 12:29 PM (#4288321)

Wait wait...I thought it was Philly that spit in the face of SABR, how did the Giants get through them in the playoffs?

3. McCoy Wilfong for Money Posted: October 30, 2012 at 12:31 PM (#4288323)

That's why they are no Ford.

4. Dale Sams Posted: October 30, 2012 at 12:35 PM (#4288332)

When a team wins with scouts that travel only by train, telegraph their reports and use abacuses....you can tell me advanced statistics are worthless.

5. depletion Posted: October 30, 2012 at 12:41 PM (#4288341)

The Giants scouts travel on horse back. They cast bones, like Queequeg on the Pequod, to determine draft choices. Not only do they not email, they don't even talk. They just point to the chosen ones. And they don't work during solar eclipses.

6. Dale Sams Posted: October 30, 2012 at 12:44 PM (#4288346)

And Melky got the black spot.

7. McCoy Wilfong for Money Posted: October 30, 2012 at 12:52 PM (#4288358)

The Giants have their own moneyball guy named Yeshayah Goldfarb who is their director of minor league operations and quantitative analysis

8. 3Com Park Posted: October 30, 2012 at 01:08 PM (#4288375)

This is my second self-imposed moratorium on criticizing Sabean in two years.

He's like Forrest Gump. Life is like a bunch of chocolates.

9. Sleepy supports unauthorized rambling Posted: October 30, 2012 at 01:12 PM (#4288383)

The Giants have their own moneyball guy named Yeshayah Goldfarb who is their director of minor league operations and quantitative analysis

Yeah, here's a good article about him:

link

Anyway, I had intended to make a "at least he has drafted well" comment in Sabean's defense, but this bit FTA is interesting (wish there were more details):

Goldfarb and his cohorts in analytics ... also helped convince officials to draft college stars Lincecum (2006) and Posey (2008).

10. Tricky Dick Posted: October 30, 2012 at 01:14 PM (#4288386)

They all played the game, somewhere along the line, and if you throw a binder full of numbers on their desk, they don't quite get the point.

binder full of numbers....binder full of women...binders are getting a lot of attention lately. And the funny thing is that it's been several years since I actually used a binder to look at data or information.

11. GregD Posted: October 30, 2012 at 01:16 PM (#4288388)

If you don't have eyes, then how do you see the statistics! Didn't think of that Mr. Eye-Hating Beane, did you?

12. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: October 30, 2012 at 01:23 PM (#4288401)

Weren't Buster Posey and Tim Lincecum huge saberdarlings before their drafts?

13. Rickey Fredonia Fudge Duckery Precious Twiddle Posted: October 30, 2012 at 01:33 PM (#4288411)

binder full of numbers....binder full of women...binders are getting a lot of attention lately. And the funny thing is that it's been several years since I actually used a binder to look at data or information.

Trapper Keepers still rule.

14. Bhaakon Posted: October 30, 2012 at 01:41 PM (#4288419)

Weren't Buster Posey and Tim Lincecum huge saberdarlings before their drafts?

Posey was everyone's darling; he was talked up as a possible #1 pick until he came out with a $12M pre-draft bonus demand.

Lincecum, maybe. He fell to the Giant for very scout-y reasons: short stature and unorthodox delivery.

15. TDF, situational idiot Posted: October 30, 2012 at 02:17 PM (#4288445)

Lincecum, maybe. He fell to the Giant for very scout-y reasons: short stature

Isn't height a statistic?

16. Jose Can Still Seabiscuit Posted: October 30, 2012 at 02:24 PM (#4288454)

binder full of numbers....binder full of women...binders are getting a lot of attention lately. And the funny thing is that it's been several years since I actually used a binder to look at data or information.

My boss is a binder fanatic. He actually forbids us from putting things in folders. As annoying as it is it actually works out to be a very very good filing system we have though storage is a pain.

17. Milon de Floss Posted: October 30, 2012 at 02:48 PM (#4288479)

Early in my career we had a saying: "Always award to the guy (whose proposal) is in the crappiest binders". It showed they paid attention to the instruction on not submitting overly elaborate proposals, and our kids got better binders for school projects.

18. BourbonSamurai, vassal of the Harpsburg Empire Posted: October 30, 2012 at 03:22 PM (#4288528)

"wouldn't last five minutes in a ball-talk conversation" would make a good handle for someone

19. The Chronicles of Reddick Posted: October 30, 2012 at 05:38 PM (#4288692)

wouldn't last five minutes in a ball-talk conversation

I assume that Jenkins has spent more than 5 minutes talking about his balls?

20. The Chronicles of Reddick Posted: October 30, 2012 at 05:41 PM (#4288695)

FYI Dallas Braden and Joey Devine are now free agents rather than go back to AAA.

Braden and Devine opt to become free agents.

21. Walt Davis Posted: October 30, 2012 at 11:26 PM (#4288945)

FYI Dallas Braden and Joey Devine are now free agents rather than go back to AAA.

Somebody better send a scout!

22. Bhaakon Posted: October 31, 2012 at 07:14 PM (#4289610)

Isn't height a statistic?

Only in metric. Feet and inches are about as staty as a 20-80 scouting scale.

23. JJ1986 Posted: October 31, 2012 at 07:28 PM (#4289622)

Does Joey Devine have the highest service time/active time of anyone ever? He's at 4.5 years while playing about 10 months (less than 2 years).

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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

GM relies on eyes, not statistics.

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