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Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Mike Silva Chronicles - Part 6: Goal?
The advance metric community seems to take offense when I suggest the ultimate goal is to mainstream their theories and perhaps gain more power in the baseball community. From what I understand I am not the first to have this question. No one has ever challenged the math, but the “value” of how these metrics can be used seems to be marginal in my opinion.
I don’t see a question there. If you are asking if each of your sentences is true, then:
1. Yes, it is a bit offensive if you say that is the “ultimate” goal. It’s a byproduct, not a goal. Since this is a hobby for most of us, the ultimate goal is enjoyment. It’s why I blog, it’s why I have dozens of blogs on my Google reader, it’s why people come to my blog. If I wanted “power”, I sure am going about it wrong. So, it’s ok to have a question, but it is incorrect for you to come up with the answer to your own question, or even to infer an answer where you infer the worst in a person or a group of people.
2. As for the marginal value, you are dead wrong. Many teams use sabermetrics, and they don’t think of it as some “marginal” gain, as if it is almost valueless. Ask the Redsox if they’d be ok if Tom Tippett left, or the Pirates if Dan Fox left, or the Indians if their saber staff left, or the Cards if their saber staff left, or the Padres, Mariners, and several others. Just because something may be marginal TO YOU doesn’t make it marginal. There’s a large number of GMs and asst GMs that see great value in sabermetrics.
It’s one thing to say that you don’t understand it, so either you accept it or want to learn more or ignore it. It’s another thing to say that you don’t understand it, and so you will dismiss it as being “marginal” or worse. You have no basis for dismissal. Ignore it, if you must. Dismissing it is out of the question. There’s a huge number of people that find value in it.
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