Murray Chass on the Twins
Here's former New York Times baseball writer Murray Chass gushing over the Twins system in his recent conversation with Terry Ryan, which is interesting because of that. Of course, it wouldn't be a Chass piece without him showing some contempt for the "Moneyball" method:
Quote:
Terry Ryan is one of the reasons I never liked the book “Moneyball” and have refused to see the movie. I have always felt that the Michael Lewis book glorifies Billy Beane, the Oakland general manager, whom I also like and respect, at Ryan’s expense when in reality Ryan has been at least as successful as Beane, winning despite small payrolls.
The difference between them has been their methods, Beane building the Athletics through statistical analysis and Ryan the old-fashioned way, through scouting. My preference is for scouts, for whom I have great respect, over computers.
If I've said this once, I've said it a million times: It's not an either or situation. It's both. Every organization should strive to be top of their class in both scouting and statistical analysis, not choose one over the other.