Friday, November 4, 2016

Theo Epstein

I've been talking about metrics in baseball since I was aware of them. That's been several years now. I've mentioned in the past that Moneyball is my favorite baseball movie because of its portrayal of saber-mathmatics and the way you can and should position your team and its players by those general rules. Billy Bean does it in Oakland, but it was Theo Epstein who implemented it at Boston based on the work of Bill James.

Theo Epstein has now ended an 84 year drought in Boston AND a 107 year-old "curse" in Chicago by using math tendencies for position players and pitchers.

Of course, everyone can't win using these statistical models, but those that use them best will have an advantage other teams simply don't have. Paul Molitor tries to use them on the field but they need to be used to BUILD your team, to find the right players in drafts and through trades that will give you a better base to start with.

That means no more Nolascos and Pelfreys and their big money contracts just because scouts think they have potential. Base it on the math boys, not the gut.

Theo Epstein took a Cubs team with 101 losses in 2012 and turned them into World Series champs with 103 wins in 2016. He now has a statistical base from which to measure his success. Three championships are now under his belt. He's going to be in the Hall of Fame someday. You can do the math.

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