Analyitics

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Bill James and the Red Sox

Hardballtalk notes that Paul Henry wants to give Bill James more power in the Red Sox organization moving forward:
...as Henry informed the Herald, James had fallen “out of favor over the last few years for reasons I really don’t understand. We’ve gotten him more involved recently in the central process and that will help greatly. He’s the father, so to speak, of baseball analysis and a brilliant iconoclast who looks at things differently from everyone else.”
Two quick thoughts:

  1. I wasn't even aware that James was still with the team. It's good to hear that he's still around!
  2. I wonder if his lack of influence led to the FO losing its way with the Lackey and CarlCrawford signings. I'm curious to hear what exactly his input was over the last few years.
  3. This is another good sign that the Sox are committed to James' typical method of building up their own talent and finding free agents in the rough.
Update: Over the Monster writes more eloquently about this announcement: "For John Henry to say that James had been marginalized in some way these past few seasons strongly implies that this upcoming rebuild will truly be a return to what Rob Neyer (James’ former research assistant) recently called "first principles"- namely payroll flexibility, a strong farm system and avoiding long term free agent contracts."

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