Sports is all about finding an edge. And sabermetrics is an edge.

A.) He insulted the subjects in the article for no reason (He called the organization a bunch of rattlers) and;

B.) Didn’t bother to do any research on the said group. If he did, he would know that they have little to do with the advanced statistics being made recently.

You might think the attack is “personal,” but when an editor of a major newspaper is refusing to any basic research on his subject and is insulting them within the article title, than he deserves such criticism for being lousy at his job.

As to your instruction/advice/order/whatever that this is not “an inappropriate forum for pursuing personal grudges against people you actually know,” I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve never claimed to know Posnanski, if that’s what you mean. And if you’re referring to Dwyre/Simers/Plaschke, nowhere in my post do I say I know them personally. I’ve met Plaschke and Simers once each, about 10 years ago, and I’ve never met Dwyre. What I said was that I live in a town where they have substantial control over the dialogue about professional sports–newspaper coverage, talk radio discussions, etc. As such, Dwyre is more than a one-time annoyance for me.

And finally, even if I did know these people, I don’t need you to be my mommy or my personal HBT police. I can decide for myself what is and is not apropos, and if I cross the line, there are blog admins to take care of it. As, for example, halladaysbicepts learned all too well.

I don’t like the fact that you have shared insider info about Joe Po both anonymously and without saying how you know what you know.

Furthermore, I would suggest that this is an inappropriate forum for pursuing personal grudges against people you actually know. (I added the ‘you actually know’ clause so that Gator never stops bashing Scrooge McLoria.)

1. I work for a Los Angeles newspaper (not the Times), and live in Los Angeles, and have been subjected to Dwyre’s and Plaschke’s and Simers’s nonsense for a long time, so I feel entitled to comment.

2. Pointing out that Plaschke (hired 1987) and SImers (hired 1990) began their L.A. Times careers during Dwyre’s tenure (1981-2006) is not “gossip,” it’s just a fact. To borrow from Inigo Montoya, “That word that you keep saying–I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Again, I don’t agree with what Dwyre wrote…I just don’t think it warranted being called an ignorant know-nothing. But whatever…to each his/her own.

A.) He randomly insulted a fairly well respected organization for no reason (SABR) and

B.) He didn’t bother to do even the most basic research before insulting such organization (SABR isn’t even a stat/number crunching group; it’s mostly known for history work and had nothing to do with the stats mentioned in the article).

In otherwords, he is being ripped, by fellow journalists FYI, for being completely unprofessional and lazy at his paid job. Seriously, actually read the articles linked before acting like the superior one.

As a fan, I know that analytics have made me a better fan. Not that I’m the world’s foremost expert. I have a lot to learn. What I like is that as a fan, they’ve forced me to think critically about the game. The more I learn about them, the more I realize that my perception isn’t always reality, that what I thought was gospel as a kid isn’t necessarily true (the illusion of a clutch hitter comes to mind) and that yes, my eyes can deceive. That’s not say I don’t appreciate the human element or narratives in the game. I just try to take a balanced approach.

If I may draw a parallel to my career–in nursing, we call it evidence-based practice. In baseball, it’s called sabermetrics.

( Because all things evil are caused by Republicans, wink, wink )

You disagree with him…OK, that’s fine. No reason to personally bash the guy for an entire blog posting. And believe me…you may not think it was personal, but every sentence Craig wrote above oozes with hate for the guy whether it was a conscious decision or not. And of course every comment oozes with hate for the guy too, although that’s fine because we commenters are not professional writers.

Why not write why you disagree and move along. If enough people feel the way that you do, they will move along as well, and this Dwyer guy will fade away. If enough people don’t feel the way that you do, then he will remain.

Numbers are inextricably linked to the history and enjoyment of baseball. One of the main beefs that the old-timers have with the new numbers is that they can no longer make (false and misleading) apples-to-apples comparisons between modern players and old-timers. I also believe this is at the heart of their anti-roid rage. It’s not as much about the illegality or possible dangers of steroids (see, e.g. “greenies”) as it is about cheating the old guys out of their records.

Dwyer is saying that tool is useless, despite the fact that 29 out of 30 teams have an analytical department and many have hired sabermetricians that wrote online content and independently developed metrics and no teams have hired old-timey baseball writers to help them make better baseball decisions. All Craig is saying is that willful ignorance is unbecoming, particularly for a journalist, for who curiosity is a pre-requisite.

The fact is that more information is better, and better information is better….saying you are anti-information is a view that should be discouraged.

I was kind of heartbroken.

Practically everybody who knows me knows that I am a huge baseball fan.

About ten of them have heard of sabermetrics, and know that I enjoy the analytical side of the business, too.