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So much for Bill James

El Gordo

By El Gordo
in Orioles Talk

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El Gordo Hangout Grand Counsel

El Gordo

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I really don't know what his deal with the Red Sox is, but clearly he is allowed to publish the stuff that appears in billjamesonline.com and in his books. I don't think he'd be giving away a state secret if he simply said whether he thinks that +/- accurately captures the differences that different ballparks present.

In the Fielding Bible voting, James voted Markakis the best defensive RF in the AL. So, he has already stated his opinion on Markakis.

Well at least he knows who Nick is and what position he plays. To bad he doesn't know what team he plays for.
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weams Hangout Grand Counsel

weams

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[video=youtube;XeKjKWXWZOE]

Seriously, though, I'm not sure how you quantify genius, but James changed the way we think about baseball, for the better. He's close enough to a baseball genius that I'm relatively convinced neither you or I is in any place to judge.

I don't judge Genius. I marvel at it. And at Roy. Can you imagine, a Roy Firestone show with Bill James on it ;) Was SuperDave there as well?

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Frobby Hangout Grand Counsel

Frobby

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I don't care what he has done for the game, this answer makes me respect him less.

This is just stupid. There is no other word for it.

Ditto. Bill James charges subscribers like El Gordo $3 per month, and part of the advertised benefit is that is "gives you the opportunity to interact with us—to pose questions for 'Hey, Bill,' to post articles, to comment on articles, etc." He also publishes the Fielding Bible ratings there, and yet he and FB's founder, John Dewan, both disregarded the FB numeric ratings when voting on the Fielding Bible Awards. You'd think he owes a paying subscriber who asks a well-framed question an actual response.

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DrungoHazewood Hangout Grand Counsel

DrungoHazewood

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That's the entirety of his answer? That is just pathetic. Rep to you for trying to address this question with him.

James is James. He's equal parts brilliant, curmudgeonly, snarky, earnest, and about 100 other things. Especially in his "Hey Bill" section you'll get whatever you get depending on what day it is and how you've worded your question. He admits that this section is kind of modeled on a similar thing in (IIRC) Baseball Digest in the '50s where you never know what the answers might be - a single unrelated sentence, or something that spurs a 10-page article.

In terms of +/-, Dewan behind that. James admits he knows little of the specific details, and will often pass on questions like Gordo's.

Gordo needed to ask Dewan the question, not sure how to do that... maybe he should have asked Bill to forward on the question.

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Can_of_corn Hangout Grand Counsel

Can_of_corn

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James is James. He's equal parts brilliant, curmudgeonly, snarky, earnest, and about 100 other things. Especially in his "Hey Bill" section you'll get whatever you get depending on what day it is and how you've worded your question. He admits that this section is kind of modeled on a similar thing in (IIRC) Baseball Digest in the '50s where you never know what the answers might be - a single unrelated sentence, or something that spurs a 10-page article.

In terms of +/-, Dewan behind that. James admits he knows little of the specific details, and will often pass on questions like Gordo's.

Gordo needed to ask Dewan the question, not sure how to do that... maybe he should have asked Bill to forward on the question.

John Dewan appears to be on twitter.

@FieldingBible

Just a thought.

Not a very active account tho.

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DrungoHazewood Hangout Grand Counsel

DrungoHazewood

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Even if he never heard of OPACY before, the context of the question makes it perfectly obvious. It's almost as if he didn't want to answer the question.

Well, yes. Not sure he knew the answer, and you caught him on a bad day. I read that section of his site frequently, and the answers run the gamut. But they're usually interesting.

I have no doubt it was some snarky intern who does his mail. Can't imagine a guy like James taking all the tome needed to answer daily questions from a web site. However he is responsible for how that flunky represents his brand, and alienating a the best message board for any ML team can't be good for that. I did re submit the question making it clear, what OPACY and UZR stood for. We'll see.

I get the impression he answers the mail on the Hey Bill section of the site. Not all of it, just what he wants to answer.

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El Gordo Hangout Grand Counsel

El Gordo

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Well, yes. Not sure he knew the answer, and you caught him on a bad day. I read that section of his site frequently, and the answers run the gamut. But they're usually interesting.

I get the impression he answers the mail on the Hey Bill section of the site. Not all of it, just what he wants to answer.

If there was an Ask Drungo secton of the OH, and you had to respond to all the questions daily, how much of you time would that take up?
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Frobby Hangout Grand Counsel

Frobby

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I applaud you for asking the question, and I agree with what others are saying about James here. One thing I would add though is that the question seems to be based on UZR and James doesn't, to my knowledge, doesn't publish UZR data. Therefore he might not have felt it was his place to answer the question. Of course if that were the case he could have said so.

My suggestion is that you go here and ask the same question.

I used that vehicle to ask Lichtman basically the same question, about two months ago, and got no answer.

I also find it very interesting that fangraphs has not published fielding splits for 2011, though it did for the previous 4-5 years at least. Hmmmm......

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