While watching the Braves/Astros Spring Training game today, John Kruk went on a good ol' fashioned anti-sabermetrics rant. He kept repeating, "Baseball players" as though it was a mantra of some sort.
Because numbers tell you NOTHING about how a baseball player plays baseball. Derek Jeter is apparently a baseball player. Never mind that he has been called the worst fielding shortstop in baseball (Link!). He's got grit and heart and stuff.
Guys like Jimmy Rollins. They're baseball players. I mean, statistics say he's good, but it's the heart and guts and stuff that REALLY make him good.
A-Rod...he's not clutch. Statistics say that he's the best player in baseball. But he doesn't have heart and guts. He's crap. Shouldn't even be in the league.
Look, to deny that there's a psychological aspect of the game is stupid. Plain, outright, stupid. But it's just as stupid to think that there's some sort of quotient for heart. If a guy's good at baseball, why complain that numbers indicate it? Who cares what he looks like? *sigh* I miss the Fire Joe Morgan guys. They could have done this much better than me.
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