Welcome to the MLB edition of the continuing tjhreads with John Ryan. As has been the case with my other threads, I hope that we all can develop and learn more about the game of baseball and all of the infinte handicapping techniiques for this sport. I can't think of another sport that has so many different statistical results and subsequent and dependent rankings.
Love the movie Money Ball and they should have won at least one Oscar for their efforts. It may be interesting to learn what Bill James had told all of us a long time ago and how it was followed and extended by Billy Beane. I think it is still used to this day, but not made public..
Bottom line is,and I have seen this, experienced this, there is absolutely NO WAY any scout can profject that a player under the age of 20 possesses all five of the scouting traits. That was the case with Billy and you can see throughout the movie how he thought back adn wondered what if I had gone to Stanford.
I do beleive baseball at all levels of play requires more team chemistry and managing and blending of personalities than in any other sport. It is far more subjective sport regarding how scouts look at ball players... There are 60-year dash times and pop-times, but there is also the unknown factor of how a young man handles failure. In no other sport are the best players failing 70% of the time, but in MLB the best hitters in the world do exactly that.
Welcome and any thoughts about your favorite teams and theior prospects for a strong year is a great way to get started. Thanks