Maybe White Sox
fans are unhappy by nature; much of what I have to say about the team would
seem to point in that direction. Or
maybe baseball fans are just GM wannabes.
Or both.
Anyway, I ran
across a number of complaints online last week after the Sox signed first
baseman Jose Abreu to a three-year, $50 million deal. The Twitterverse complained that Abreu’s WAR
the past few years didn’t justify the move and his signing would impede the
development of top prospect Andrew Vaughn, also a first baseman. Holy Rick Hahn.
Abreu isn’t the
only player in town to run afoul of the analytics crowd. Among others is Cubs’ catcher Willson
Contreras, for his poor framing skills.
To frame or not to frame, that is the question, and anyone who doesn’t
gets run out of town. Also joining
Contreras in the poor-framing club is James McCann. Buy these two bums a one-way ticket to Podunk,
or so the analytics would dictate.
Leadership? Can’t measure it, so it doesn’t exist. Clutch hitting? Can’t attach a number to it, so it can’t
matter. Calls a great game? Not if he can’t frame pitches. And on it goes, until someone puts analytics
in its place.
That would be
me, if only I ran a team.
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