Very well-written. And being a Bill Jamesian (and not an Ellen Jamesian), I'm happy to discuss the book.
The only downside, if you want to call it that, is that I read that none of the players Beane drafted last year and setting the world on fire in the minors yet. Not even the fat catcher from Alabama.
In honor of the all-ABA Finals, Ladies and Gentlemen, your Virginia Squires!
Glad you started a thread on this. I started on last week, but when I hit "submit," either the W was down or my connection was down, and I lost the whole post.
I'd personally never read James before, and my only experience with sabermetrics was whatever Neyer or Gammons would throw into their columns at ESPN.com.
That said, I found the book fascinating. It's just plain common sense, but it's amazing how many people don't see it. It strikes me as natural that numbers are better than the naked eye, and I am amazed that more baseball teams don't see it that way.
We've got Bill James working for the Sox now, so I'm pretty excited about the whole experiment.
They printed a chapter of the book in SI a few weeks ago, and it was flatout awesome. Definitely going to track this one down.
Over 1450 posts and still never a Wiener of the Day!
Oliva: You are the weakest link! Goodbye!
Stewie: Ahahaha. Oh God, that's funny. That's really funny. You write your own material? Do you? Because that is so fresh. 'You are the weakest link. Goodbye!' You know I've never heard anyone make that joke before. You're the first. I've never heard anyone reference that outside program before. Because that's what she says on the show, right? Hmmm? 'You are the weakest link. Goodbye!' And ye...ye..yet you've taken it and....and used it out of context to insult me in this everyday situation. What a clever, smart girl you must be. To come up with a joke like that all by yourself. Mmmmm...that's so fresh too. Any Titanic jokes you want to throw at me as long as we're hitting these phenomena at the height of their popularity. Mmmm? Cuz i'm here God you're so funny!