mannc Posted April 7, 2017 Share Posted April 7, 2017 I read it (a long time ago) and I remember them obsessing over Youkilis for half the book, God of Walks, or something like that. OPS was the super-stat, if I remember correctly, and the key was valuing players by sabremetrics over old fashioned stats. Good read. Yes, and unfortunately the obsession with walks and "working the count" caught on around the league and is now a major contributing factor to three and a half hour baseball games, which are now the norm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LI_Bills Posted April 8, 2017 Share Posted April 8, 2017 Yes, and unfortunately the obsession with walks and "working the count" caught on around the league and is now a major contributing factor to three and a half hour baseball games, which are now the norm. Probably true but it's made worse by batters stepping out of the box to scratch themselves between every pitch. In football the game is moved along by the play clock, but the commercials drag the game out. Not sure how others feel but for baseball I never feel like commercials are the problem with long games, it's more the pace of play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave mcbride Posted April 8, 2017 Share Posted April 8, 2017 I've read about and studied the so-called Moneyball approach. In a nutshell, setting the poor terminology aside, it is about exploiting market inefficiencies, and tapping into undervalued resources ignored by traditional measures. The term is now throw around I believe, to emcompass the use of big data to run a sports franchise. It means nothing about small vs. big market now. It has now become a maven of every academic who wants to be involved in pro sports and loves numbers. There is a problem in that this is old now. At one time you could exploit things in baseball like OBA being more important than BA in the big picture. How do you gain an advantage now when it is the status quo? It reminds me of people who think they have the latest stock tip except the market has already corrected. It appears to me that now all organizations use statistical data in decision making. The difference is that modern scouting is also integrated into the decision making process. And, we no longer have a scouts vs. stats dichotomy. This is true, but if there is an inefficiency to be exploited in the NFL, it is contempt for moneyball approaches by teams not named the Patriots. DePodesta has a ton of picks over the next two seasons, and it's a three-year program. It is WAY too early to judge. Here is a decent read on how he is approaching things -- http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/04/03/cleveland-browns-paul-depodesta-nfl-draft-peter-king . The A's didn't win a damn thing under Moneyball, would have finished 3rd at best in the AL East for all those years. I'm old enough remember the dynasty the A's built in the 70s and late 80s, so there's no sympathy for the team for losing. And they were the biggest bunch of jerks as well for both squads. Moneyball works for people who don't pay strict attention to baseball, it's a just-quite-so story, but for fans who watch the game daily and know the ins and outs it is a total crock. Like a movie about Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier by putting his plane into reverse at just the right time... What are you talking about? They went to the playoffs 5 times in 7 years and won over 100 games twice! And please don't being up the world series--playoff series in baseball are total crapshoots and teams should be judged on the 162-game seasons they play. The regular season and postseason in baseball are different animals and losing 5 series 3-2 does not diminish the greatness of those A's teams. They were phenomenal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Turk Posted April 8, 2017 Share Posted April 8, 2017 Is OBD committed to a Moneyball approach like the Browns? I'm still trying to figure out what the Browns are going to do with Osweiler. Might keep him just because they need to hit the salary floor. Other than that probably will cut him. They didn't want him, just did it to get a 2nd round pick from Houston. This is true, but if there is an inefficiency to be exploited in the NFL, it is contempt for moneyball approaches by teams not named the Patriots. DePodesta has a ton of picks over the next two seasons, and it's a three-year program. It is WAY too early to judge. Here is a decent read on how he is approaching things -- http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/04/03/cleveland-browns-paul-depodesta-nfl-draft-peter-king . What are you talking about? They went to the playoffs 5 times in 7 years and won over 100 games twice! And please don't being up the world series--playoff series in baseball are total crapshoots and teams should be judged on the 162-game seasons they play. The regular season and postseason in baseball are different animals and losing 5 series 3-2 does not diminish the greatness of those A's teams. They were phenomenal. They were pretty good teams from what I remember...always competitive despite their payroll limitations. We will soon find out if Moneyball can effectively be applied to football or not, and to what degree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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