A great interview with Bill James

[southsider2k5]

http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/bill-jame...cal-revolution/

[Chisoxfn]

Great stuff in there.

[iamshack]

That was fabulous...I hope some of those who think they know everything will take this to heart a bit.

[greg775]

Bill James is THE BEST. He'll eat the Sabes people alive cause he is THE expert on real Sabes.

I've met him and love the guy. He will not tolerate stupidity and recognizes ability.

[Dick Allen]

Bill James is THE BEST. He'll eat the Sabes people alive cause he is THE expert on real Sabes.

I've met him and love the guy. He will not tolerate stupidity and recognizes ability.

I like that he says even most of the crap he came up with is BS. Everything is. There is no formula. As much as people want to laugh and rip at Hawk for his anti-SABER stuff and his will to win, they should also laugh at Brian Kenney who works for MLB Network and still can't tell you if a player is any good even if he has seen him play 1000 times without consulting Fangraphs. As is the case when there are 2 sides to a story, the truth is usually somewhere in the middle.

Edited October 29, 2014 by Dick Allen

[Balta1701]

I like that he says even most of the crap he came up with is BS. Everything is. There is no formula. As much as people want to laugh and rip at Hawk for his anti-SABER stuff and his will to win, they should also laugh at Brian Kenney who works for MLB Network and still can't tell you if a player is any good even if he has seen him play 1000 times without consulting Fangraphs. As is the case when there are 2 sides to a story, the truth is usually somewhere in the middle.

Interesting how I was reading James talking about BS and hearing statements by Hawk.

[iamshack]

Interesting how I was reading James talking about BS and hearing statements by Hawk.

Especially the part about all teams winning 50 and losing 50, although Hawk uses 60.

[witesoxfan]

What I like most is Bill James' approach to leadership and chemistry. People question Ventura a lot, especially his in-game decisions (which are absolutely warranted), but frankly what's most important in a manager is how he handles the clubhouse and if the clubhouse respects him. If he cannot lead and there's no respect for the manager, he should no longer be managing. That, more than anything, is why I think a guy like Grady Little was fired by the Red Sox after 2003 - after the way he mismanaged that debacle of a game, it was going to be impossible for him to come back to that clubhouse the following season.

 

Baseball is much different in that way than any other sport. In football, basketball, hockey, soccer, and whatever else, you can set up plays and even if the guy is the perfect leader, they can fail (and fail miserably too) if they don't have the proper scheme in place. It's how a guy like Byron Scott still keeps getting jobs even after he's had multiple failures, but I would say there's an incredibly good chance he's going to fail this time around too. In baseball, you don't run set plays where the manager has much of an effect on the players in the field. You primarily need someone who can be a general and will lead and run his team properly.