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Thursday, August 03, 2006
Please Don’t Hurt My Feelings
It’s always amusing to me that we have to consider the feelings of the incumbent, and simply treat the newcomer as “lucky to be here”.
For example…
Andruw Jones is reportedly on waivers. We know he ain’t going anywhere, but for the sake of argument, he goes to Padres (Cameron), Cardinals (Edmonds), Indians (Sizemore), or Yanks (Damon). Where does he play? If you were to poll the fans of those teams, the percentage who want him at CF are: 10%, 20%, 30%, 50%.
Now, let’s reverse it. Make one of those players part of the Braves roster instead, and Andruw still there. Where do you play them? If you ask a Braves fan, the percentage who want to keep Andruw at CF are: 80%, 100%, 90%, 100%.
See that? The incumbent gets a huge bonus, and it requires someone to be clearly much better to move him out. Same applies to Jeter/ARod. ARod to Yanks? Move him to 3B. Jeter to Rangers? Move him to 3B or OF.
The decision isn’t made for what’s best for the team. It’s the typical, I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, so I’ll hurt the guy who doesn’t know me.
One interesting anti-case was when the Mets got Beltran, and moved Cameron to RF. In this case, the Mets were thinking ahead. Even if Cameron is a bit better than Beltran at CF, Beltran was going to be around for 7 years, and Cameron was going to be there for 2 at most. Why move Beltran out of position, and then bring him back to CF, when you can move the other guy out of position, until he leaves.
Ichiro should be in CF.
What would it take to get Junior out of there?
Notice how noone complained that Bernie was taken out of CF? Because everyone knew. There was no doubt. But, if you make a decision when there was absolutely no doubt that he should go, shouldn’t you have moved him out at least 2 years earlier, when you only had a smidge of a doubt that he should go, or 4 years earlier, when you had some doubt that he should go?
The risk aversity actions of baseball management is truly interesting. I suppose it’s the singular focus on the manager or GM, by millions of fans. I’m glad I’m not them.