Three Morning Reads
February 5, 2008 by Geoff Young
Filed under Odds and Ends, Stats and Analysis
What am I reading this morning? Glad you asked:
- Bill James Interview (Hardball Times). Chris Jaffe talks to the man who first popularized sabermetrics (and actually coined the term). James on what kinds of issues sabermetrics might tackle in the future:
League-perspective decision making. Looking at decisions based from the standpoint of the league.
Simple example: the wild card. The National League has 16 teams, and four teams make the playoffs. Sixteen is divisible by four. The natural thing to do, it would seem to me, would be to make four divisions and have four division races.
It wasn’t done that way, and if you ask anybody why it wasn’t done that way, they’ll say “they must have thought that there would be more interest in the races if you kept a wild card there.” But is that true?
- Beer Run: How to Defeat a Sabermetrician in an Argument (Catfish Stew). Just when you thought there was nothing more to say about Jim Rice and the Hall of Fame, Ken Arneson comes along and looks at the debate from a remarkably fresh angle.
- Some traditions should get axe, others kept (SI.com). Jon Weisman examines the status quo and finds some aspects lacking. I disagree with Jon’s take on interleague play and post-season start times, but I’m with him on the rest.
Enjoy…
