Hahn addresses TWTW vs. Stat-Geeks...

[Lip Man 1]

Wants a balanced approach between the two (which sounds reasonable to me...) Says Hawk's comments are "entertaining":

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...k_cws&c_id=cws

Lip

[SephClone89]

Virtually everybody who actually works in baseball believes in a balance between statistical analysis and traditional scouting. How many times do we have to go over this?

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by SephClone89

Virtually everybody who actually works in baseball believes in a balance between statistical analysis and traditional scouting. How many times do we have to go over this?

Uh, yeah, but uh Stat-Geeks, and uh, Will to Win, and uh, bareknuckle boxing...

[CoopaLoop]

The thing I love most about that MLB interview is Brian Kenny got to start talking maybe 4 minutes in. There was never going to be a debate, just Hawks spouting off nonsense about what wins baseball games.

[TaylorStSox]

I'm as anti-Hawk as they come. I was pretty adamant about refusing to watch Sox broadcasts if he ran Stone off the air. With that said, did anybody get the feeling that they were trying to pick on the old guy? I really don't have a dog in the SABR fight. I see value in traditional and new age evaluation, but trying to upstage a guy as old as Hawk is bush IMO.

[Shoeless]

Originally Posted by Lip Man 1

Wants a balanced approach between the two (which sounds reasonable to me...) Says Hawk's comments are "entertaining":

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...k_cws&c_id=cws

Lip

He can say whatever he wants, but Rick Hahn didn't get to be such a sought after gm candidate by any of the nonsense Hawk talks about.

[spongyfungy]

This is beyond embarrassing. although I do like the fact that twtw will make Bernstein's head explode

[Milw]

Originally Posted by CoopaLoop

The thing I love most about that MLB interview is Brian Kenny got to start talking maybe 4 minutes in. There was never going to be a debate, just Hawks spouting off nonsense about what wins baseball games.

Brian Kenney has an hour a day five days a week to spout his opinions. Giving his invited guest the floor for four minutes is what's commonly known as "courtesy."

[Stanley]

I don't feel sorry for Hawk for getting some rough treatment by Kenny, and I don't think Hawk gives a flip either because he acknowledged that he's aware that Kenny and others have come down hard on him over the SABR debate.

But even if they were a little edgy with him, the way Hawk presents himself and his argument on the SABR stuff (like a bare knuckle street boxer?) means that it's only fair if it's given back to him a little bit.

There's a good article on Espn about Konerko. This is one snippet: "Because the question Konerko's late-career development challenges us with is this: How much of what a player does is within his own control? As Paul Konerko reminds us, all of it. Even when it defies what we think we know."

[wassagstdu]

TWTW? I can see that among many of the pitchers (Peavy, Sale, Quintana, Axelrod, Reed), but I see more FOF (fear of failure) and FOMPN (focus on my power numbers) among the position players.

[shingo10]

Balance is key in anything you do.

If you watch the Hawk/Kenny debate you'll notice that Hawk mentions multiple times that there will be a time and place for sabermetrics in baseball but only when more categories can be quantified.

Yes I know that they are already here to stay but I never thought anything Hawk said was so extreme or radical. Just an old school approach.

I think we could look at it like this: Kenny Williams used TWTW approach to help bring us a world series trophy by getting rid of guys like Carlos Lee and bringing in guys like Carl Everett. "Grinders" as they were called back then. Nothing novel about it, just a clever name given to it by Hawk.

[skobabe8]

Originally Posted by shingo10

I think we could look at it like this: Kenny Williams used TWTW approach to help bring us a world series trophy by getting rid of guys like Carlos Lee and bringing in guys like Carl Everett. "Grinders" as they were called back then. Nothing novel about it, just a clever name given to it by Hawk.

Interesting point.

I'd like to see the key SABR values of the 2005 team.

[Brewski]

Originally Posted by skobabe8

Interesting point.

I'd like to see the key SABR values of the 2005 team.

Same as the anti-Beane argument. 2005 was all about the pitching catching fire. Moneyball depended on three great starting pitchers.

This Was The Week That Was once was a Friday night TV show. An adaptation of a British show, IIRC.

[34rancher]

Originally Posted by Brewski

Same as the anti-Beane argument. 2005 was all about the pitching catching fire. Moneyball depended on three great starting pitchers.

And yet still did not win. Seph said it and I agree, balance is the key. Everyone knows that. Stats don't matter squat in the bottom of the 9th and your need a hit to win. A .100 hitter (God, we hope) and a .400 hitter could both get that hit or strikeout. It's all about wins though in the end. If we don't win, none of the states matter , except to make excuses why we didn't in hindsight.

[Bob Roarman]

Originally Posted by 34rancher

And yet still did not win. Seph said it and I agree, balance is the key. Everyone knows that. Stats don't matter squat in the bottom of the 9th and your need a hit to win. A .100 hitter (God, we hope) and a .400 hitter could both get that hit or strikeout. It's all about wins though in the end. If we don't win, none of the states matter , except to make excuses why we didn't in hindsight.

The A's idea behind this was to be as competitive as they could be with a limited budget, not build a dynasty. This continually gets overlooked when these debates arise.