Right now, I'm not a popular guy at The Athletic, at least among commenters. I see the silver lining, they see Sturm und Drang. "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" And maybe they are right, but they haven't convinced me yet, I just see the same recycled crap I saw 10-15 years ago.
I'm just really tired of the name calling and lack of discussion. They know what they know, and any facts I bring up, well, appears to be "Whoosh", over their heads, or just not being read, because I end up back to their same argument, even though they seem to understand in the beginning. And that's fine, I'm realizing, I'm learning I should just let things go more. Really reminds me of my time at MCC from 2007-2010 (or 11, been so long I was a regular). To quote Lethal Weapon, mixed with The Good Place, "I'm too old for that shirt".
I need to learn, too, as I'm just wasting my time and energy there. So I'm pushing myself to dig into analyzing the draft again with NextGen data, courtesy of the great Baseball-Reference.com website.
I probably made the stupid decision to note my blog, here and there. That recent comment, probably from one of them, though in terms of what I've run into there, very mild, and thus not really what triggered this post, other than the fact that I realized that now maybe I'll be seeing more "enlightening" comments.
So, should I start moderating? Or keep my blog open as I had always intended? It's not like I wouldn't post almost anything that gets commented on, I've let a lot of skeevy comments go through anyway, like Grant's. But some things just don't represent opposing opinions, they are just name calling and other crap that I don't want to deal with, other than to delete them at my leisure. Put your comments, if you care.
Keep on posting your truth. Just remember, it is not about you.
ReplyDeleteThey'll go away. And it's not like they have 'better ideas.'
ReplyDeleteFirst, apologies for not making myself clear: I'm not saying that I'm stopping posting my crap. :) I'm going to post my stuff, come hell, come high water, if that's what I see based on research and analysis. I still appreciate the king comments, though.
ReplyDeleteMy worry is that they will come here and say "stuff", and thus I'm wondering if I should change my policy from "letting anyone and everyone comment" to "I'm going to moderate who gets to post comments here".
Hope that clears up things.
Ugh, thanks for the kind comments, not king... I'm not aging well :)
DeleteTo reiterate, that's partly why I've blogged, as I've spoken to the truth that I've seen that I don't see others promulgating at all, as well as to share what I've learned from other research.
I believe I'm right, until I see evidence to the contrary. And I don't just post things just because it supports my thoughts, I make sure that it makes sense with what I know about baseball before I post.
And that's what I'm realizing is a key difference right now. I just met someone at TA who said that he has zero worries that what he says today will look totally wrong a year from now.He has been making a big fuss across the Giants comment streams, and he and others rage for complete changes. Yet, he does not care if he'a actually wrong with what he's advocating.
Conversely, I've spent most of my decision making years, stressing and worrying that I'm saying the right things. It kills me to know that I might be wrong (though I'll admit that I've gotten comfortable with the fact that I'm likely to be wrong), and so I give myself a high bar before I'll blog and comment on my thoughts.
I know everyone's different, but I can't live with myself if I tried to live that philosophy.
So, don't worry, I'll always tell my truths, as I see them, I know you all are intelligent enough to take what works and what doesn't. And to speak up if I'm saying anything really stupid or nonsensical.
Still, that's an interesting philosophy. I guess that's essentially what I'm doing, I don't KNOW that I'm right. But with that admission, he just seems to be just flinging it out there, and he doesn't care (or perhaps believe) about the research I've found, he's "right" and I'm "wrong".
I promise not to fling things out there, I will stress over every sentence I put out here, and while it will never make what I say the definitive right answer, at least you know that I'm putting thought and logic behind every statement I put out there.
I remember protesting some idiocy on MCC a year or two ago, and having the poster of said idiocy protest in turn, “Hey, it’s the Internet!” One would have hoped that as actual information became available, via Baseball Reference, Fangraphs, and research such yours, ogc, the quantity of slapdash nonsense and namecalling would decrease; but not so, here as in other areas of American life. You know, I hope, that some of us (even if we do not share your sanguine temperament) look forward to reading what you say, and give short shrift to the thought-free, low-data, ipse-dixit observations of those who scoff at thought, care, and logic.
DeleteThanks campanari!
DeleteThough, I was not doing this to get such comments, I was hoping to resolve whether I should moderate my comments or not. I was wondering if that would bother anyone, and so far, nobody has said anything about this, either way. So maybe I'll switch and see if anyone complains.
DeleteI find myself to be more than crankier than before and less willing to put up with crap. Not that I wasn't cranky before and sometimes trigger happy, just that I'm more so today.
Perhaps it's the times, though it is not like I haven't seen this type of comments and behavior in the past. Perhaps it's the harsher tone and volume than in the past. Perhaps it's because it's happening all over again, in spite of 3 in 5. Perhaps it's because they are blind to the reality that the draft is a bigger crapshoot than they realize, but don't really care when I bring up that fact, they want to get their pitchforks and fire the guys that they never really believed in, in the first place, Naysayers to the core.
Maybe it's because I'm realizing that I'm the rat in the cage, running around in a circle when I thought I was adding something to the discourse.
And I didn't intend to imply that I was going to stop with what I do, it was more that I was going to stop even trying to engage people socially anymore, because they believe what they believe, and anything I say is not going to change their minds.
I guess part of it is sadness on my part, there are people I follow on Twitter, who I thought felt the same as I did, but they have joined the pitchfork crowd, either calling for Sabean's head or, at least, are unhappy that Sabean is part of the decision making process of finding the next GM/leader.
I'm glad he's part of the group of interviewers, part of the influencers. I'm also glad that he's not making the decision, I'm okay with Baer being the decision maker.
I think he's been pretty good at identifying talent. I think my draft studies shows how hard that is, and the unfortunate thing is that the odds are so low that even someone good at identifying talent, will have down periods. So I want him interviewing, and seeing if the new hire had that type of talent.
This is a key ability you want your GM to have, being able to identify talent when he sees it. You don't want the GM relying on others, because that type of talent will be lured away at some point, leaving the GM short on advisors then.
I'm also glad Sabean doesn't have the final word. As good as he is at identifying talent, he's not good at the subtleties of the GM job, being sociable, glad handing others, being able to shoot the bull with other GM's, while digging into the other person's head, pulling out what they know, how to negotiate in these ways. That's something Baer is good at, and probably good at shushing out of the new hire.
The new hire has to be a combination of the good baseball scouting sense that Sabean brought to the job, the good administrator that Evans brought to the job, and add to all that, the good analytics, next-gen knowledge, that is the bleeding edge in baseball today. I think Baer, combined with input from Sabean, can find that right mix of skills in the new hire.