Down with Ration-al..

Everyone knows that I'm down with "Moneyball", and now I'm into "Freakonomics"...Yet, before I can honestly start spewing the advantages of ratinoal choices...I thought I would pass a question from ESPN's Rob Neyer's interview with the "Beast of Baseball Writing", Michael Lewis.

Special thanks to the "Aspen Kid", a.k.a. "BG", Brett Garamella, for passing this one over to me....

Here's the ESPN article..."Examining the Art of Storytelling."

RN: One more question, and then I'll finally let you go ... What about the future of The Idea? I happen to think its spread is inevitable, because it just makes so much damn sense. Do you think I'm wrong?

ML: I think the idea will spread, slowly for a few years and then all at once.

There's a reason even the best new ideas take time to spread. People become overly invested in the things that they think they know, which is usually whatever it was they knew when they were young. The old guys must retire or die before the new ideas gain traction. The problem is especially acute in baseball because the only people who are allowed to introduce new thoughts into a big-league clubhouse are people who played professional baseball.

Having said that, only a fool would buy a baseball team and hire to run it some baseball insider who disdains or misunderstands the Oakland model. Fools sometimes do get their hands on enough money to buy baseball teams, but the odds are against it. And if you step back from American society and ask "What kind of people are getting rich these days?" the answer is increasingly "People like John Henry."

That is, people on the nerdly end of the spectrum, who have a comfort with both statistical analysis and decision-making in an uncertain environment. And these people, increasingly, will demand that their teams be run along rational lines. The price they will pay for this is that the pleasure of owning a team will be somewhat reduced, as there will be a lesser role for their whim, and they will be compelled to cede much of the decision-making to professional management.

****

Here's to "new ideas" and letting professionals do what they do best...

Gettin' Freaky,
IronDog