A few months ago we told you about Scott Freedman, the MLB extern who was loaned out to the Phils to explain to Ruben Amaro what on-base percentage means. Well, it seems Amaro understood and was so enthralled by what Freedman told him that the team decided to bring Freedman on full-time.
From Jerry Crasnick’s sad State of the Phillies article on ESPN.com:
Amaro, by his admission, is most comfortable evaluating talent through the instincts that he developed as a player, along with the input he receives from a kitchen cabinet that includes Gillick, Dallas Green, Charlie Kerfeld, Benny Looper and Gordon Lakey. He’s particularly skeptical of some new defensive metrics that fuel front-office decisions, and he isn’t shy about sharing that opinion. The Phillies recently took a step forward with the addition of analyst Scott Freedman, who has a mandate to hasten the transition to statistical enlightenment. Freedman joined the organization from the commissioner’s office in November on a sort of trial-internship, but the Phillies liked what they saw enough to add him to their staff as a full-time hire several weeks ago.
The Phillies signed one player with a WAR – a controversial but relied upon SABR stat that values a player’s wins above a replacement level player – over 1.1 this offseason– Byrd, 4.1.
Perhaps had Freedman been around in 2012, he could’ve told Amaro that Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence were the wrong players to part ways with. Last season, they were 15th and 17th in Major League Baseball with WARs of 5.6 and 5.4, respectively.
18 Responses
Thank-you Almighty Power of the Universe.
Victorino and Pence played out of their mind last year. Def wouldn’t have done that for the Phils. Shaneo joined a stacked Boston Lineup and likely saw better pitches. With how bad the Phils are (and were) it was painful to watch these 2 hack at clear pitches that were balls for pretty much every at bat.
Now if they could have only gotten something in return for them…….. Thanks Rube.
Looks like your average, everyday, run of the mill, head-nodding, dick-nuzzling, corporate stooge, yes man to me.
Abe, this was classic! I laughed like hell, great description!!
Yes, but can he fill the 3rd spot in the Starting Rotation?
Shut the fuck up, Donnie.
it seems they’ve been listening to his recommendations too…only problem is, the guy must be using data from like 4-5 seasons ago.
The worst part of the Phillies is that there isn’t even hope for hope, not even a future, until Amaro’s gone. And that could be years away.
They’re years away from being years away from contending.
The Phillies will never win until Amaro, Montgomery and the Bucks are gone. Not likely after Comcast bought the air rights with mucho deniro and assuring that winning is now secondary to profits. Any fan in his right mind would stay away this year to protest the garbage that will be placed on the field. The management, however, knows the lemmings will come out and the business entertainment group will assure the boxes are full as the taxpayer will pay for it as corporate America puts the tab on the taxpayer for their so called entertaining. And for the kiddies, lest we forget the Pfanatic will be frolicking on the field diverting attention away from the fact that this is one lousy team. As to Ryan Howard, his Achilles rupture was a career ending injury two years ago. Pitchers know how to get him out with off speed junk and a infield shift that shuts him down. Without Howard, there is no offense. What the Phils are selling about his being healthy may be true, but he is over the hill fat catted with a big contract similar to Utley’s and Rollin’s.
The 10,000 loss Phillies with only two World series wins in 135 years. The tradition continues. To the Phillies, the fan base are suckers who will buy any B.S. line given
If you show up to watch this circus, shame on you. You are an addict with the dealer serving you a water downed high.
Wow! Have a bad day at work or what?
Bad day or not, we need to make Senior Citizens Bank Park stick. That’s perfect.
This team is a fraud they have 10 different owners not one of them have a dime. the one is is worth 3.5 billion won’t give a dime of his wad for the sillies (Middleton) and Giles even came out and said Middleton is choking his chicken over his wad. And the tv deal they got with Comcast they got smoked like a spliff. they will not spend another. Dollar until these contracts are up root for the braves in the future
“The Phillies signed one player with a WAR – a controversial but relied upon SABR stat that values a player’s wins above a replacement level player – over 1.1 this offseason– Byrd, 4.1.”
Although it’s a good indicator of being an above average player, this was his highest WAR result of his career and i would NOT expect him to be able to put up the same numbers ever again. He is 36. We should all be happy still when he posts his usual 1-3 WAR. I’m no saber-metrics head, but I understand most of it. I would NOT have let the Hawaiian walk.
I’m glad to finally see the Phillies use actual baseball game results about player value to help shape this team. The teams that are the best at this seem to float to the top many seasons, the results are there.
First day back after 3 days off and Kyle manages 3 whole posts. Keep killing it as usual buddy!
Give the guy a break and change your headline. He was never an intern. He was a Manager at MLB when they loaned him to the Phillies. I know it helps the LOL Phillies value, but at least be accurate.
Less we forget there is a 50th anniversary this year, and I am not talking about the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. This marks the year of the greatest collapse in all of sports. The Phils ten game losing streak depriving them of the N.L. pennant. I am sure the Phil’s when they are 20 games under 500 in September with Howard in rehab again will reminisce about those two weeks that will forever live in infamy. I remember once they assured their fate, they won the last two games of the year.
Wait, didn’t the 2007 Mets collapse surpass the ’64 Phillies?
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I think these comments have pretty much confirmed the stereotype of Philadelphia sports fans as being psychotic.
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