From: spira@panix.com (Greg "Sarcasm Is A Way Of Life" Spira)
Subject: Re: joe carter and others
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 02:18:25 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Boo! 

In <1992Dec12.4235.52095@dosgate> "michael berger" <michael.berger@canrem.com> writes:

>I address this comment to all those devotees of statistical analysis of
>baseball who continually malign joe carter and his signing by the
>toronto blue jays.  I have read many messages which say joe carter is
>not half the player rickey henderson is and other disparaging comments.

The disparaging comments are generally aimed at team executives who 
don't understand how to evaluate talent, not at Joe Carter personally.

>Now these comments may be true and rickey henderson is undoubtably
>blessed with much talent, however I see a problem with these analyses.
>Rickey Henderson is perhaps the most self-centered miserable baseball
>player in history.  I took great enjoyment watching him screw up on
>numerous occasions in the ALCS.  People have said that a team of nine
>Hendersons would outscore nine Carters by some large margin using
>something called RC/27 with which I am not entirely familiar.  Anyone
>who believes this is missing a key truth about teams and all
>organizations.  Their performance is rarely equal to the sum of their
>component parts.  The concept of team chemistry has been the difference
>between the Blue Jay teams of 1992 vs <1991.  Nine Hendersons would not
>score all those runs because the whole clubhouse would be at eachothers'
>throats, chiefly because only one of them could bat leadoff.

How do you know?  Maybe 9 Rickey Hendersons would cause each other to be
extremely competitive with each other, making the team even better, while
the team of Joe Carter would be filled with nice guys who didn't egg each
other on to greater heights.  Besides, it was only two years ago that the
Sporting News called Joe Carter "one of the most selfish players in baseball."

>While I may be exaggerating, my central point is that some players like
>Joe Carter contribute with more than just run production.

How do you know?  Maybe Joe Carter's presence on the team makes other
players play worse.  Joe was traded away from San Diego partly because
the clubhouse was at war and management felt that trading Joe away would
increase the peace.


  What is Devon
>White's value to the pitching staff's confidence beyond the number of
>errors he makes. 

Errors are utterly meaningless.  Devon's value is that he's the
best outfielder in the game.  It's possible that having him there
increases a pitcher's confidence, but considering the fact that the
Jays pitching was mediocre this year, worse than any recent year 
before they acquired Devo, I'm very skeptical.   

 And those statistics about range appear dubious
>considering Roberto Alomar seems to rank at the bottom for second
>basemen.

Range is a bit more complicated, but just because Roberto looks like
a great second baseman doesn't mean he is one.  What counts isn't
how much style a second baseman plays with or even how many spectacular
plays he makes but how well he turns batted balls into outs day after
day after day.  (That being said, Alomar is not Bill Mazeroski but
he has been a very good defensive player)
.

>If you really believe the Jays should not have resigned Carter, name
>their alternative for replacing his production on the team.  Sierra was
>the only run-producing outfielder left and his attitude rivals
>Henderson's.

How do you know what Sierra's attitude is?  How do you know what Henderson's
attitude is?  How do you know what Carter's attitude is, for that matter?
How do you know that Carter really isn't a vile, contemptible person who
knows how to acquire a good image?

I've seen all three of them play, and all I can judge is what they produce
on the field.  And anyway, in my opinion, Henderson plays harder than
almost anyone in baseball.      

>To all those Brewer fans, I will just add that it (the total dismantling
>of your team) could not have happened to a nicer group of people.  Why,
>when you were solidly in contention, were you not selling out your
>stadium.

Maybe Milwaukee doesn't have that many people?  Maybe unemployed workers
there think feeding their families is just a bit more important than
attending Brewers games?  Bashing small market teams for low attendance
is pretty dumb when many draw a greater percentage of area residents
than bigger market teams.

Greg 
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball