Bill James

Sometimes it is best to admire your heroes from afar. Bill James is becoming one of those people for me.
I remember reading some of his stuff in various publications and being impressed. I even bought in to a lot of what he taught. Probably at one time a fan of the sabr movement. But in recent years have started becoming skeptical.

I have been watching the top 10 right now series on MLB. They bring out Bill James and a couple other sabr people at the end to evaluate the "shredder's" choices. And after listening to Bill James some on these shows I am becoming less of a believer.

Top 10 relief pitchers is one example. Bill James multiple times stated he did not like high ground ball pitchers. His reason because ground balls invite errors. It is true an infielder is more likely to make an error on a ground ball than a strikeout. But a ground ball pitcher is more likely to induce a double play. And less likely to give up a home run. One of the stats I would look at closely for all prospects and pitchers I was thinking about signing is GO/FO ratio. The more it leans to ground outs the better.

i'm not sold on the whole W.A.R. thing?

The reasoning for disliking high ground ball pitchers does create a huh? moment for me.
That said, I think Bill James deserves special recognition in the Hall of Fame along with Dr. Frank Job and Marvin Miller. These three transformed baseball without putting on the spikes.

Maxie

I sort of felt the same way about Billy Beane when he said he did not like stolen bases. I can see his reasoning but my reasoning is, I like athletic players who can do a little bit of everything...

Back to Bill James, I understand your beef with him... I wonder is Bill James a nice guy or has all this attention gone to his head and made him a jerk? He has changed the game but SOM players have known most of what he has known for just as long if not longer....

Power pitchers tend to be fly ball pitchers. Power pitchers as a group tend to be more successful than finesse pitchers. I like ground ball pitchers somewhat, but if I'm in a keeper league I go for power pitchers and let the other guy draft the finesse pitchers.

The attention gone to his head theory seems like a good one. Could be he feels pressure to live up to the reputation and say something profound. Kind of like consultants in business pay them too much money and they feel pressure to recommend something. Never will forget the time that guy told me I needed a snot server.

I get power pitcher preference for fantasy baseball as 5x5 leagues care only about strikeouts. But context of discussion was who is the best right now. I too have an affinity for the big strikeout pitcher. Just seems more impressive to watch a guy like Nolan Ryan blow through lineups. But given a choice would take a Greg Maddux type in most ballparks, especially those small ones where every fly ball is a potential home run. One would think someone versed in sabremetrics would take more of an out is an out approach.

Wonder what the percentages are? Errors on ground balls percent verses out percentage verse double play percentage?

I agree with one of the best baseball managers of all times, Chuck Tanner on Bill James, when Bill James was actively campaigning against Dick Allen to make Hall of Fame, not because of his stats but because of his off field behavior.

"He’s full of sh*t, and you be sure to tell him that."

https://dickallenbelongs.wordpress.com/2014/08/02/why-isnt-dick-allen-in-the-hall-of-fame/

Opinions are like bowel movements, guys. Mine are well-formed, but I'm not sure about those of this "Bill James" character.

Bill James can be wrong about one thing or more than one thing and still be a great baseball mind.

That was an interesting read about Richie Allen who I knew next to nothing about as he was well before my time.

Bill james and his like thinkers have created a lot of completely meaningless stats. The ones that make me laugh the most are defensive ratings and stats. You can not measure defense by stats. Range that has got to be the best....does he realize that infielders ( at least the good ones are moving around pitch by pitch according to what is being thrown.) Routinely through the years the best fielders may have more errors that you expect because they get to so many more balls. if anyone plays on astro turf...they don't even know what a bad hop is. I have played on astro turf...you can't make an error if you wanted to other than throwing. So keep your unbelievable stupid stats ...I don't need them to tell me that Brooks at third was the best ever that I saw or that Mattingly and Keith Hernandez were as slick as could be at first base or anyone could possibly track a ball better and throw better than Mays in center.