'Can a computer comprehend feistiness?'

Baseball Prospectus 2008 is out, which can only mean one thing in the mainstream columnist community - cue the Luddites!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-080309-white-sox-rick-morrissey,1,4959285.column

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That's an ironic column, considering in his last one on the White Sox quotes Paul Konerko as saying, ""This isn't a sport where you can talk your way into winning or intimidate people. It's just an everyday thing. You have to have the goods to get it done."

Now he basically writes, goshdarnit, the White Sox REALLY REALLY REALLY want to have a winning season because they were so embarrassed about last year.

 

I don't for the life of me understand why baseball writers are so offended by sites like Baseball Prospectus, Hardball Times, etc., etc. No one is claiming that "heart" and other esoteric measures don't count. It's simply an attempt to look at this stuff objectively and minimize chance. It's just another way of looking at things.

 

Here's another one, with the airtight conclusion that Dusty Baker has more wins as a manager than Bill James:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20080309/COL03/803090373/

It seriously reads like what a sabermetric guy would write as a parody of a crusty old, numbers-hating columnist. It almost pushes too many buttons to seem real.

 

More losses as well. Did they put that in there? He's a career .500 manager, which is saying a lot considering he managed the best years of Barry Bonds' career.

I guess baseball writers fear BP and other new ways of thinking because each time a new way of thinking becomes accepted it shows that some baseball writers know a lot less about what they are writing than they should. I mean this line from that column is idiotic:

"If Dunn walks 30 fewer times this year, he'll drive in 15 more runs."

Whaaaaaaaaaaaa?

 

I fucking love Dusty Baker.

 

Why in the holy hell a GM would let him anywhere near the young talent they have in Cincinnati is absolutely beyond comprehension.

 

Damnit! I was just going to write "Armchair_QB has no idea why his head just exploded."

Alas, it appears A_QB is well into psychotic cackling mode when it comes to Dusty.

Quite frankly, the fact Dusty is back managing in the same division as the Cubs is proof God loves us here at SportsJournalists.com and wants us to be happy and entertained throughout baseball season.

 

The only way I would enjoy this more would be if he was managing the Cardinals.

 

I don't believe Dusty Baker has a track record of developing youngsters -- which is fine, if the entire future of your organization isn't wrapped around developing youngsters.

Let's be mad at Adam Dunn while signing a guy with a career .298 OBP to be the leadoff hitter.

 

Dusty says that OBP is "overrated" and that middle-of-the-order guys who draw walks just "clog the bases." I shit you not. He said this a few days ago, and whatever columnist was writing it (not Daugherty, I don't think) was basically celebrating his folksy baseball wisdom.

 

How many top 30 prospects do the Reds have? Three? Jay Bruce, Joey Votto and Homer Bailey?

And they hire Dusty. Fucking brilliant.