nrockway

He clearly knew better. You don’t get “tricked” into that. I’m not going to harp the point especially considering my point is about the toxic reputation and not the alleged criminal act. Chill out.

Wasn’t it posted about on this board that Clev is buds with one of the failson minority owners? That’s the only logic I can see as to why he constantly has a job with this org. Something changed with ownership specifically in the recent past, it used to be “high character guys” to a fault for both the Bulls and Sox. Clevinger and Giddey would not be on these teams a decade ago I feel. Maybe neither one of those guys did what they’re accused of, but there’s clearly something there, and they have a reputation that other teams refuse to deal with. It’s like, the Reinsdorf teams are garbage anyway, and then they acquire guys you really don’t want to root for who don’t even begin to move the needle. What’s the point? To piss us off? They didn’t want south side hit man posting on soxtalk anymore? it’s sort of like that Deshaun Watson signing blowing up in Cleveland’s face. It’s funny it didn’t work, karmic perhaps, but then he’s still getting paid like a hundred million dollars. Sox are entering Browns territory, maybe they’ve already been there and I’m just a naive homer.

fucking hell. remember when all that stuff came out and the Sox were like "oops, we totally didn't know, we wouldn't have signed him" then they sign him like 8 more times

Chinese innovation…I won’t touch on that but they seem to be doing good work. Still, I don’t think the Sox are buying a supercomputer. Wouldn’t need it for baseball, it probably wouldn’t actually be computationally challenging, I could’ve left that out. NVIDIA is screwed because all they focus on is video games. Apple is improving in this field, I don’t know how their stock reacted to the nvidia drop. Interesting post, I think you might’ve combined two.

Go look at the staff directories on mlb.com and check the “data analysis” roles and look at their backgrounds. I only did it for two teams I think have good analytics staff. They don’t have quant backgrounds. They’re dudes like us, frankly. If they’re doing “big data” analysis, I wouldn’t necessarily trust the results. They do it in geography, the field of my interest, and I wouldn’t totally trust the results. I’m interested in the applications, but I think hiring a staff poet might have more impacts on winning baseball games.

That’s just regular ol analytics. The topic was “big data” and it drew my interest. I’m not saying nobody understands it. I’m saying “big data” doesn’t exist in sports. It could, it might be interesting.

That isn’t close to what I said. First of all, they’re not creating the data, the players create the data. They’re analyzing it. And data analysis is hard, expensive, and computationally challenging. And the analysis might be wrong. Most people refer to a giant body of academic literature when deciding which statistical model to use. There’s no such body of work in baseball, it’s uncharted territory. Which I think is really cool but no one is gonna spend money on it. People might work on it for free but they’re not gonna buy the data, if they can even access it. They’ll spend it on finance and real estate, things that are clearly profitable and you need an edge and the statistical edge is quantitatively proven. no one is “stupid” but the models I’m thinking of haven’t been applied to baseball, it will spit out a result, you can interpret it, but will it be truth and will your interpretation be accurate? I want to see the sport applications but nobody will invest in it because winning isn’t that important or profitable. It might not work. And scouting is probably just a better investment, it’s tried and true and it works.

My thinking is that the sort of math and programming background required to do anything interesting with "big data" specifically is outside the budget and scope of any professional sports team. Like, if you have that skillset, some quantitative trading firm is paying you a lot more than even the Dodgers will. And you probably aren't making slideshows and giving presentations except to other nerds. You would have to hire an entire department of well-paid employees to see any kind of result in a timely manner. at least two phd statisticians, a sql developer, and a fourth person who knows how to talk to people and probably has a minor in physical education. You invest all that and will it even help? The proof is sort of in the pudding when it comes to finance, there's a track record, there's a body of literature, but that doesn't exist for professional sports that I am aware of. It could be groundbreaking. Also I'm looking at the Dodgers and Rays staff directory of people who work on data analysis, and they're just some dudes. I'm trying to make the point that data analysis and big data analysis are different. The costs are certainly different. You get no argument from me if the Sox just hire some dude to do regular ol data analysis and cook up some hotspot maps. But all that really is is having an enterprise subscription to Statcast and having some person who can, like you say, turn it into a pdf and email it out lol. Boring to me. it's not being a Luddite, it's a question of "does it even matter if no one can interpret it". or what's the point of a theory with no practical value? lots, I think, just maybe not in this context. or maybe it is.

I'll listen to this this tonight but the headline is sending me. To where? I'm not sure. I think society has a "big data" problem. I have a "big data" problem. It's not interesting. I keep hoping it might be, but it never is. I think it would be interesting if I could have access to everyone's google maps data. But I don't. There are probably a few interesting (as in novel, recent, not publicly available) "big" baseball sets but I sort of think they only apply to pitching. Like, teams definitely have the x,y,z coordinate positions of millions of pitches and the batter's response to it, the spin rate, the count, a bunch of other columns. You could definitely take advantage of that to learn something about pitch sequencing...but then how do you translate it into practice? Some egghead tells the coaching staff what she's found, the coach relays it to the player, and the player perfectly absorbs the information and nothing gets lost in translation? what if Jairo has some questions, is Ethan Katz going to be able to explain it? And when he can't, don't the coach-player just default to whatever they were doing before? It might be too big to be practical or useful in any way. Maybe it's useful solely on the organizational level when it comes to evaluating talent -- but again you still have to communicate your findings to a bunch of people who might not be math savvy. And what if you made a mistake in your weights matrix and Chris Getz doesn't remember that much from his linear algebra course and then your terrible, wrong ideas get made real and hurt the team? Maybe it's useful for distilling players' tendencies, but if you abstract too much is it even useful anymore? "That guy throws a bunch of pitches that are hard to hit, be mindful up there".

For a bunch of guys who all love sitting around on their computer typing to strangers about a team that nobody has ever heard of, you sure don't seem to like each other very much. It's a pretty specific interest I say reserve the bad blood for Cubs and Orioles fans talking about their teams on tiktok or reddit. Especially reddit.

What metrics? I don’t understand metrics. He has, like, a honing beam for the ball. The ball comes off the bat and he’s already there. He’s stealing balls from the other guys, whatever, but what a brain for the position.

That seems unfair. I don’t think it’s either. I think we are all confused about the status of Luis Robert. I want him to be a Sox for life. I assume management must feel a way about that. Was the going rate for Luis Robert much better in 2023 than it is now? Yes. But what was the value? Worth trading him? I’m not so sure. He’s excellent at his position and occasionally hits the ball.

For someone seeking to depict the White Sox as up-to-date and even forward-thinking, it was a moment to demur, rather than to embrace nostalgia, or reveal if he has a “What Would Roland Hemond Do?” poster in his office. very clever. what button do I press to block quote?

This guy is too good for sports. Write speeches for rich people, man.

greg, you say some awesome s%*#. I don’t agree with many of the remarks, including this one, but keep up the good work. I think your perspective is an aged one. I think older fans are less keen on “writing off seasons” so to speak. I think you have to write off a season to produce success. Maybe I’m wrong. I wish the bulls would rebuild.

See, my memory of Dom in CF is him “oops”ing that easy catch into a home run with crochet pitching. Affected the era and maybe his trade value. He’s too slow and short. Good mind for the position. Not the athletic talent. No Luis. Not even Taylor.

Martin said. “You look at team control from a GM side of things, all these guys, we could be together for a while. I think we have a great camaraderie, we have a great competition within ourselves. The best thing is we want the best for each other. It’s not a toxic environment.” pretty interesting quote too. I like this guy. I hope we don’t trade him.

Great article. Fegan is an excellent writer. I canceled my nyt subscription when they canned him. He should pick a new game honestly. So much money in sports but not for the writers.

This is my commentary on the signing. I’d only add: “Awesome. Fucking awesome bro”. I might even add “sick dawg”.

Love this signing, even if it doesn't move the needle, this guy is one of my favorite players. He can actually play CF, I suspect he can still play the position well in his "advanced" age. Can he hit the ball anymore? Doesn't seem like it. Thought we should've signed him as a fourth outfielder last year. He still put up 0.9 WAR last season, that's probably our best position player right? I think he could still ops for .700ish and he's not going to make a fool out of himself on the defensive end. Was halfway interested to see if Fletcher could figure it out...but I doubt it so I'm not mad about it. I'm always skeptical of signing minor league/low value contracts for the "potential trade value" (see robbie grossman) but I think Taylor is a guy who could actually still turn it on and be a useful piece to a team trying to make the playoffs, otherwise I'm happy to watch him play CF after a Luis trade. I'm also back on the 'keep Luis' bandwagon.

that sucks. thought he had a chance at making the starting 5. good to have depth I guess, maybe he comes back with higher velo....that happens sometimes, right?

You're probably right but I'm sure there's precedent in guys stinking it up at AAA and then doing fine in MLB the next year. I think this was discussed on this board before...definitely was because Jackson Merrill is the comp in a lot of ways...only Jackson stunk it up in AA and A+. Also think there's value in him being around the new manager and just, in general, being in Chicago. Again, you can always send him down. I might have a different opinion after Spring Training. I guess that's the true test. But he'll have to be pretty bad. He makes the team on vibes alone and I'm sticking to that.

maybe it'll come out that he was gambling. just kidding but this makes me think of popeye

just my opinions. I think it's demoralizing to everyone, team and fanbase, if he doesn't get the job. I feel like he earned it simply by playing his way into his prospect status and already having done a year at Charlotte. You shouldn't make him start the year in Charlotte (though the weather is probably better). The team is bad anyway, he can learn against MLB pitching with the revamped MLB coaching staff. to your second point, I'm exaggerating, just talking about all the pitcher signings. yeah that's largely my point but I don't know why that's the classic Rick Hahn thing. you can't say Colson is being rushed. He's been around a long time. I don't know that he clearly needs more time in the minors, I know he has to improve, but why will he improve in Charlotte but not Chicago? you can always send him down. are we trying to win games? don't you want to go to opening day and see Colson and not, I dunno, some guy? if so, why isn't that guy ha-seong kim? edit: actually I feel like the classic Rick Hahn move would be to ignore the human element entirely. that guy's a robot.

It's Colson and it's not up for debate. Is he good enough? I dunno, unlikely. Did he earn it? Absolutely he did. You're stunting his development by not making him the opening day SS. You're giving a middle finger to every prospect in the system (they're already doing that to the pitchers). This is the worst team of all time, right, and you have a "shortstop" who a lot of people consider to be one of the top young players yet to play in the MLB...so why would you play "some guy" over him? To help him develop? He doesn't need any more time in the minors. He was Rule 5 eligible, that's a sign it's time to join the major league roster. Starting him in Charlotte is just a vibe killer for the entire organization.