a700hitter

I think my Dad had a fair bit of knowledge regarding metallurgy. For several years he worked for a business that did electroplating.

And when I see real scientists debating the issue, I will listen. My daughter is a scientist too and so is my niece. Unfortunately, science is not as pure as it should be. Outcomes are not always the result of pure methods because scientists have to eat too. Sometimes the person or entity cutting the check has an agenda. Until now, I have not seen real scientists debating the topic with hard evidence. All of the the dire projections are based on models, and the reliability of models can be debated in the scientific community. All of the public discussion that I see and hear comes from politicians or people with business interests. They don't persuade me as they are professional manipulators and propagandists. That doesn't make me a denier. Not trusting politicians just means that I am not a fool. What year did Al Gore start predicting that the oceans would be dead in 10 years? That was 20+ years ago. It reminds me of the old comedians joke about a doctor giving his patient 6 months to live. The patient didn't have the money to pay the doctor's bill so the doctor gave him another 6 months.

I like hearing and reading different points of view. It makes me think and helps me learn. You keep the discussion civil and respectful, so it is fun to discuss these matters with you.

Smart people with character are at the core of any successful business. All the other tools are on the periphery. The tools are available to everyone, except in those rare instances where the tools are developed in-house and are protected as intellectual property. What defines good people talent differs from industry to industry as different skill sets are appropriate for different industries and professions.

I found your post to be amusing. And maybe I read your intentions incorrectly, but I am pretty sure those were your intentions. You didn't insult anyone or take sides. There is no need to apologize. The balance of world peace is not at stake here on this discussion thread.

I just like to challenge conventional thinking. When you challenge commonly accepted notions, people get upset when they realize that many times commonly accepted wisdom is based on a foundation of quicksand. People also get upset when they are told that the commonly accepted wisdom is not a magic bullett. There is also a desire to believe that every bit of new conventional wisdom invalidates everything that went before it. I don't argue just to argue, but I also do not accept a contrary position just because some tells me that conventional wisdom says otherwise.

As big a business as MLB is, my business dwarfs it. Second, you should find a better source to support your arguments.

But you are not a scientist and neither is Al Gore.

The ones who listen are the smart ones. I am sure that there are others who don't listen who later realize that you actually know something, and then there are those who are convinced that you know nothing and who will continue learning from their mistakes instead of preventing those mistakes by learning from your experience. I call them slow learners.

Any business that is paying for the past is not running their business right or is a union. Experience in certain businesses like mine does get rewarded, but not as a reward for past service. There is a tremendous learning curve and newbies are not hired as they are dead weight for several years. A good employee at my place with 15 years of experience will easily do more than twice the work or someone with 5 years on the job and do it in less time. The veteran gets paid substantially more than the 5 yr person, but a lot less than double. That isn't paying for the past.

We are just talking about relative importance. You would emphasize a different aspect than I would, but both things are necessary to run a successful team or any business. Unlike yourself, others mistakenly think I am making an either/or argument. I am not, but yet they do. Lol!

I think any player conference with a pitcher should be counted as a visit to the mound. After the second meeting, the pitcher must be removed.

A true and ironically funny observation. The only time that I made any money on a bracket pool was in a season where I hardly followed the sport and just picked high seeds and teams that I like.

I have been working for 30 years as an attorney for a Company that was a NY institution for more than 130 years before the U.S. government declared it to be a Systemically Important Financial Institution (aka Too Big to Fail). Of course, you would give more weight to the Juggernaut from a third world country who works out of an internet cafe. LOL!! What I have shared is not merely anecdotal. Of course, we use business analytics, and they are necessary to compete, but the differentiating factor for successful companies is human capital. I"ll paraphrase the statement of our past chairman and CEO who took us public in 2000 after coming to us from Paine Webber. When asked what he knew about running a life insurance company, he said "you need a sales force and an actuary, .... and you can rent the actuary." In our business, the actuary is the epitome of analytics. When that CEO retired from our Company, he was hired by the U.S. Government to save AIG -- the failure of which would have devastated many European banks and economies.

If the analytics which disprove the scouting are the second look, there never would be a need for scouting. Scouting is labor intensive and costly. Analytics are are cost controlled.

Yep, another look is needed, because in the end the visual scouting makes the final confirmation. You said it yourself without using those exact words.

I am sure that is what they are thinking. I was tongue in cheek when I said that he would be the fall guy, but make no mistake, if they do collapse, the fingers will be pointed at Farrell.

Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong in 2014. I really didn't expect the 2014 Sox to be strong contenders for the division title, but I didn't expect the level of futility.

If Buch and Masterson replicate their 2014 seasons, things could go south very fast. Farrell has a track record of several last place finishes-- the perfect fall guy.

Anytime you hand over 3 starting positions to untested rookies, you are asking for trouble. I think a 4th place finish was very foreseeable. The utter futility of the offense was probably beyond most expectations, because in addition to the failure of the rookies, Napoli and Victorino also had terrible seasons.

He needs to keep Farrell in place to be the fall guy.

There's no decrying in baseball.

I fundamentally disagree. Technology and analytics are for the most part "off the shelf" commodities that can be purchased at any time. The Harvard/Wharton MBA consultants will always take your call and show up to train your people. The human talent pool is limited and is not an "off the shelf" commodity. Get the best people with the best skillset for the jobs. The analytics and technologies are not part of the skillset. They are tools like an instrument is to a musician. It's the musician that is more valuable. People tend to be very black and white. I am not at all saying don't use the modern day analytics. Of course, you have to use the tools necessary to do the job. It's a question of emphasis. Not every new business analytic is a winner. Far from it. Once a new method starts to get publicity, it has already been producing some level of success. You don't hear or read about the numerous failures, because organizations don't publicize their failures. That is just a fact. My Company had an investment that was hemorrhaging money -- piling up millions in losses. When the executives went on their traveling road show Town Hall they handed out a nice glossy brochure with bios for each of them including their areas of responsibility for the Company. Curiously, none listed the the losing investment as a responsibility. I guess that business purchased and ran itself. Human capital is the most important and most expensive.

And easily learned and copied so any advantage is short- lived.

I have seen a lot of ideas implemented at my Company that came from Wharton or Harvard MBA consultants that not only didn't add value to or business but that in many ways were detrimental.