THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Saturday, October 08, 2011

Moneyscout

Looks more like quantitative analysis at the scouting level.  Good stuff.

Helping determine who those players are is a major part of Weisbrod’s job as assistant GM of player personnel. A Harvard University English grad with a fondness for the classics, Weisbrod played hockey, but a shoulder injury ended his minor pro career. He found administrative work in the IHL, where he ran the Orlando Solar Bears. The Bears owner, Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, liked Weisbrod so much he named him president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic.

Unfortunately for Weisbrod, he got off to a bad start with Magic fans. Instead of drafting Emeka Okafor, he went for Dwight Howard fresh out of high school. The result was garbage bags filled with hate mail, a sampling of the hostility that followed when Weisbrod traded Tracy McGrady to the Houston Rockets. For that, Weisbrod received hand-delivered death threats at his home.

“[McGrady] was one of the most talented players in the league, very popular, but I came to the conclusion he didn’t have the internal fortitude to win a championship,” Weisbrod said. “I went to the ownership and said, ‘He can be Robin, not Batman.’ The FBI moved me out of my house to a hotel under an alias [because of the public’s anger].”

Weisbrod resigned in 2005, returned to the NHL and later joined the Bruins, where he was hired as a scout by former Harvard teammate Peter Chiarelli. Impressed by Weisbrod’s résumé, Feaster got permission from the Bruins to talk to him. That was before the 2011 playoffs began. Once the Stanley Cup was secured, Weisbrod listened to Feaster and saw another chance to redefine a franchise.