I'm sick of hearing all about "Moneyball," the new Brad Pitt movie, already.
I think the whole concept of applying mathematical formulas to baseball and sports in general is a crock.
What about computing human emotions? Who computes whether a player will perform well in a pennant race or with the game on the line in the bottom of the ninth?
Forget the Oakland A's, a sorry excuse for a baseball team these days. The A's were a strong team TEN years ago when the team boasted a front line of Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, and Tim Hudson, all of them All-Star caliber starting pitchers in their prime.
Since they left the A's, the team has been awful, pure and simple. None of General Manager Billy Beene's computations could save the team by then.
And what about the Boston Red Sox, a franchise which swears by the principles of "Moneyball?"
Last I looked, the Red Sox were on the outside, peering in at the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays for a playoff spot.
It seems that the Red Sox blundered horrendously by paying big money to outfielder Carl Crawford and starting pitcher — and aptly named — John Lackey.
These two were the main reasons why the Red Sox didn't get better in the past year and ended up staging one of the greatest collapses in baseball history. The team went something like 7-21 in September and blew a nine-game advantage to the low-budget and battle-tested Tampa Rays.
So, don't tell me about the virtues of "Moneyball." The playoff teams this year — Yankees, Phillies, Brewers, D-backs, Cardinals, Rangers, and Rays — are doing just fine without any of that wonky nonsense.
Jon Friedman writes the Media Web column for MarketWatch.com. Click here and read his latest column.
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