Another One Misses the Point
Buster Olney writes in his piece today…
“But Boston plays the “Moneyball” style — never bunt, don’t take chances on the bases, sit back and let your hitters hack away and do the work regardless of the game situation, regardless of the identity of the opposing pitcher.”
He cites a situation during Sunday afternoon’s game against the Yankees as an example. What astounds me about people that collect a paycheck writing about sports is that the vast majority of them don’t spend close to enough time on actual research.
Just the previous day, Pokey Reese succesfully sacrificed Gabe Kapler to second in the bottom of the ninth against Tom Gordon.
I find that many would be far more open to sabermetric principles if they actually took the time to understand them. Rarely are there black and white rules like, “you never sacrifice bunt”.
Of course Buster Olney wouldn’t know that. He hasn’t read Billy Beane’s bestseller, Moneyball.