Useful Idiot

BTW, Former Cubbie pitcher, former Cubbie shortstop, I felt the ground rumbling before the bottom of the 9th even started. JUST HAD TO SAY IT.

Oh noes, that sounds just awful!! What'll I do? 😂 Does this mean if he still suxx at the end of this season you all will bow to my prescience?? I doubt there will be much occasion to get all backslappy this season, anyway.

The world is bigger than just here, if I mislead you to believe that I was saying that happened here, then I'm sorry that I was not more clear.

Careful now!! That means you would have been supporting me. Are YOU REALLY prepared to go to that extent? 😃

Lee was contemplating a "sabermetric kind of person" and I was just editorializing how "once started", they seldom turn it off. It becomes alpha and omega for them, when it shouldn't....that was what I was thinking.

Well, we see the same sort of dik measuring contests right here. Someone says "I prefer player XYZ for left field" and another forum member who prefers player ABC instead sifts out whatever obscure stats they think with support their argument, and flaunt them as THE "superior" choice. it's mostly a dik measuring contest, just using analytics as the media. That's the kind of opposition I was running into with people "proving" to me that neither the Braves nor stros had a chance.

And once Baez finally shows up, I promise to appreciate it. Think about it another way. You know how teams believe that the fans they lose while tanking will be right back In the beachers once the team returns to winning ways? I'm just taking that philosophy down to the player level.

I really don't want to make an enemy of you by arguing everything between us, but TO ME since I didn't feel like Grossman was being sold to us as a permanent solution (By The con-man AL Avila) consequently his shortcomings did not seem worth my time to complain about. In contrast, AL was taking bows and seizing the spotlight over Javy, so I felt entitled to vent my disappointment. I'm not fighting you in saying this, I'm just stating my position. You can ask Gehringer, last season I was mocking the way Grossman mad dogs the pitcher all the way to the dugout after striking out....I've only got so much venom to go around

I was wrong about the Red Sox being eliminated in the round they were eliminated in, and I got the Giants/Dodgers wrong. Other than that, I had it pretty solid. I'll tell you what I really think...I believe the PC aspect had a lot of people in denial, they didn't want to concede any level of respect to two teams they had philosophical objections to. SO THEY SIFTED THROUGH STATS trying to justify their heart felt position. Which I believe happens far too often. That "confirmation bias" aspect I mentioned earlier they find stats that support what they prefer to believe, and from that point on it's mostly a matter of who is most stubborn in their determination of which stat matters most. I picked the Braves mostly because I admired their willingness to step up and get replacements to fill the voids that opened up for them

I never really got the impression that Grossman was being billed as part of our long term success formula. He's more or less a place holder until a future solution is implemented....so not really in my crosshairs I did mention that I believed that Reyes would have caught that drive by Sano in Minnesota a short while back (that Grossman muffed) but I'm sure that lacked the proper stats to back it up...so it was not a popular observation?

I'd say that is a self-serving interpretation on your part.

I suspect for many of you, there is the supposition that being "supportive" makes you a superior fan? I'm sure Javy will appreciate your faithfulness, might even invite you to his party? Let me know how it all goes.

Still on the defense!! I love it! 🙂

I thought it was cool last post season, before the first playoff pitch was thrown, I picked the Braves and Stros for the world series, with the Braves ultimately winning. Yet the sabermetric braintrust was certain I was completely clueless...because THEY POSSESSED THE SECRET SAUCE...etc Analytics is not the alpha and the omega, it is merely a key to understanding.

You've always been a decent guy, so I'm going to give it to you straight. Both were(are) disappointments at the plate as Tigers....that really is similarity enough for me. The (additional) fact that both were(are) shortstops, as well as former Cubs is just icing on the cake. I don't care if goober wants to argue that one was an eagle scout while the other skipped school, or any other incidental differences they can dredge up to plea their case.... to me the significant similarities take precedence. Javy will continue to remind me of Neifi, until he starts to hit...it's really just as simple as that. I don't care what stat anyone cares to pull out of their.....hat...(lol) to contend otherwise. Silly me, I just don't believe that I need anyone's approval to make that analogy. I'll tell you what I've come to believe in just the past 24 hours...I believe I've struck a vein. If I had, for example, claimed that Miguel Cabrera was Neifi Perez, or that Alan Trammel was Neifi Perez, I believe that most members here would have just discounted my claim as pure nutso, and that would have been the end of it. QUITE IN CONTRAST, just based upon the response I have been able to stimulate, I suspect that the allegation seems just plausible enough to require defense against.....as Stewie Griffin might say "Victory is Mine!!"

Well I've heard before arguments by starstruck fans trying to extrapolate stats into a convoluted argument that they alone have the "secret sauce".... yada yada .....often enough to recognize the echo

I'm not "anti stat" I'm anti stat abuse. Metrics are great for figuring out what happened yesterday. But the way many seem to try to use them as tea leaves that can predict the future....well. the term "self abuse" comes to mind.

(All figures do not include today's game) Baez is actually showing some improvement in his strikeout rate since becoming a Tiger, compared to what he accomplished as a Cub With the Cubs he struck out 900 times in 3096 plate appearances, or once every 3.41 plate appearances As a Tiger he has struck out 31 times in 123 plate appearances, or once every 3.97 plate appearances. In contrast Neifi Perez With the Cubs he struck out 74 times in 922 plate appearances, or once every 12.46 plate appearances As a Tiger he struck out 12 times in 141 plate appearances, or once every 11.75 plate appearances. So, I guess you could say that Javy is over 3 times more likely to strike out as Neifi? Further, I see that as a Tiger Neifi Perez grounded into a double play 4 times in his 141 plate appearances as a Tiger...or once every 35.25 plate appearances. While Javy Baez also grounded into a double play 4 times in his 123 plate appearances, or once every 30.75 plate appearances. I just offer these to you as testimony that the motivated fan can sift out statistics to support whatever story they want to tell.

That's pretty much in order with my motivations. The way I see it, when a team's winning percentage is .667 or above....there is nothing worth complaining about. When a team is .333 or below...then there is nothing that is defensible. I muzzled my misgivings about Baez until we slinked below 333 just prior to the Baltimore series. Are our failures entirely his doing? No, but I'll get around to the others eventually

Ohhhhh, so THAT is what your little snit is all about? You think that my comparisons are diss'n Neifi..... I hadn't thought about that angle...my bad.

In total sincerity...I thought it was a thrift-driven mistake the moment we signed him. BUT I REMAINED supportively silent right up until this past week....Hoping for the best. But now I feel as though I have invested all the patience that the situation merits.

But it feels good. Okay okay.... I swear...., when Baez stops sukking, I'll stop the analogy

What is this, some kind of donald trump owned pageant? Where self appointed elites decide what others are allowed to think? Shortstop, former Cub, decent glove, anemic bat....don't see much difference worth noticing. Neifi is, is Neifi does. OHH YEAH one has an ego and struts like a peacock...I guess there ARE vague differences.

And I'm just as impressed this time as the first. 🐵

Oh, so I said something, and YOU DON'T APPROVE? Well gee, that's a real freaking shame. Imagine me, abusing YOUR internet that way. Tell ya what you should do...call the internet police, and have me arrested