Reactions to the Astros' transactions, by the numbers

Maybe it’s just due to getting older, but I’m getting tired of the tone of a lot of the sabermetric bloggers. I’ve been reading Bill James et al. since the early 80s, and I think Sabermetrics is the most interesting thing to happen to my understanding of and enthusiasm for baseball in those 25-plus years, by far. But the blogosphere rhetoric of these guys has a sort of “look at me,” polemics-driven heat that is increasingly tiresome. Of course, that last sentence could apply to all sorts of blogging in other areas nowadays where generally the implicit tenor seems to be something along the lines of: all infobabble is infobabble, so if you’ve chosen to read mine, you must be a part of my choir, etc., and if you don’t agree, you’re obviously an idiot, etc., etc.

Someone was commenting a couple of weeks ago about Joe Sheehan and his tone. I can’t stand watching the guy on TV, or reading him. I don’t care HOW much he knows. That mp3 a week or so ago with Keith Law on the phone responding to those local St. Louis sports-talk radio jocks about his Cy Young vote—gawd, who wants to listen to an arrogant jerk talk down to kneejerk homers? It was like eavesdropping on an eternal conversation taking place in a special little corner of hell. Law was in a position there to do a little educating, bringing people along a bit so that they realize it’s not always “either/or” in sports (i.e., “Carpenter had a great year and is a great pitcher, AND nonetheless he didn’t quite earn the Cy Young IMO, and here are some reasons why”), or nudging them into seeing the sport from the perspective of a broader, less cliche-laden frame of reference—but he obviously is way too important to have to do something as pedestrian as that. How lovely for him. I thought those blowhard sportstalk jocks by and large were pretty civil with him depite his arrogance. Sabr-talk has just changed a lot. Half the reason I so looked forward to reading Bill James every year was because the guy was so damn funny. Remember? There’s no humor in this stuff anymore.

In other words, beating people over the head with information just to prove you’re right and they’re not is to me a pretty sterile phenomenon. True genius is using the information to persuade people, getting them to expand their horizons a bit, which in turn makes other such expansions possible down the road (at least among those capable of such mental perturbations). In the defense of the know-it-alls, I’m sure it gets super-tiresome dealing with the mentally incapable, of which there are plenty in the world of sports fandom. But if you’re in this business to grow awareness of the beauty of baseball, then you need to be patient, and have several different tacks of response ready to switch to on a dime, depending on who you’re talking to/how receptive they may or may not be. Conversely, if you’re just in it for yourself, then go ahead and blow everyone out of the water whenever anyone poses a question that is anything short of fawning. That econ professor that was mentioned—for example, that’s a guy who obviously has spent a serious amount of time over the years (if he’s any good in the classroom) at bringing people along with what he’s trying to get across, and not just browbeating the students over their lack of knowledge. it’s all about wearing your knowledge lightly instead of using it as a blunt-force trauma instrument. You get better results with the former—the ancient Greek rhetoricians figured this out, ohh, about several thousand years ago, right?!;-) The flow of info has changed a lot since then, obviously, but human nature has not. Plus, we are not yet biologically wired for info flow 24/7, even if the technology makes it possible, and we are not going to evolve to that level of efficient info-processing any time soon—maybe in a few millennia?!

Which brings me to my point. (I promise;-) People popping off within minutes and hours, from a 24/7 national perspective, from prefabricated opinions about GMs, etc. and readily accessible sabr-based conclusions about every which transaction, like Mel Kiper extemporizing on the spot about some unexpected draft pick—I mean, WHO CARES what they think? Their perspective is so narrow, and purely of the moment. Running a baseball club is more than a paper exercise based purely on stat-juggling and mathematics-based projections. We can’t get rid of some players or, as was insinuated, MMP would become like the Pirates’ beautiful-but-empty band box. Much as McLane drives me nuts, we have to work things through a real-world scenario of his crafting, whether we like it or not. It’s real, and has to be accounted for—the owner can’t be traded, or compelled to leave the scene of the crime. For someone on a national blog site, none of this is their concern, because: (a) they are not really fans of that team, and (b) they’re in all this for themselves, to make a name for themselves. Their rhetoric is sterile to a significant degree.

The use of sabr-based perspectives on a site like THIS, though, is far from sterile—because we all CARE about the site’s subject matter, and we watch all the games. The opinions of a self-important expert, out to promote themselves, opining about a team they don’t follow day-to-day, is ultimately sterile—some heuristic value, yes, but ultimately sterile. A FAN utilizing such analytical tools to understand THEIR team, in all of its nuances, is a whole different thing—and when they voluntarily share it with other like-minded fans, and ask for our feedback/response!—well, that’s a beautful thing indeed. THAT’S a productive and enlightening use of information, and I’ve learned a lot just by lurking about and reading what you guys have produced. Rany Jazayerli’s rant last off-season about the overspending of the Royals on replacement-player-quality players—that was great to read, because he really CARES about the Royals. It was not sterile, “look at me” rhetoric; he was COMPELLED to write what he did out of true despair and anger, and to apply his understanding of sabermetrics to HIS team. Folks who think they can understand ALL the inner workings of all MLB franchises and aren’t getting paid good bucks to do so need to get a life, IMO. Beyond an occasional, slight bit of heuristic perspective-tweaking, at best provisional, I don’t CARE what they think.

Sorry this took so long—I needed to vent more than I thought, I guess. Thanks for your patience.