Newly ensconced Diamondbacks Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa (above) told a Phoeniz radio station that clubs who rely too much on statistical analysis, “are making a big mistake”. Indeed, because as we’ve all learned, you cannot measure heart, unless of course, you’re referring to a human heart that’s been enlarged due to years of PED abuse (which Mr. La Russa would never, ever tolerate on his which, not even under multiple managerial tenures). From Arizona Sports’ Vince Marrotta :
“My opinion is that it’s a valuable tool, but mostly a tool to help you identify talent and then prepare the talent,” La Russa told Burns and Gambo Monday on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “I think the biggest problem I see is there are teams that have gone way overboard and they are really interfering with the way the managers and coaches conduct strategy during the game by running the analytics and forcing them into it.
“I would definitely say I think that’s a bad idea, so I think my attitude, and I’ve talked to Derrick (Hall) and Ken (Kendrick) about it, is there’s an important place for it, but if you don’t stop and recognize the tradition and history of how you play and how you get coached and managed, and the contributions you can make, a computer analysis is never going to be able to replace that.”
La Russa went on to recall George Kissell, who spent nearly 70 years in the Cardinals organization as a player, manager, coach, instructor and scout.
“If we allow the metrics to do the exaggerated claims that they want to do, guys like Kissell are a relic and irrelevant and that’s a mistake,” he said. “What you do is you take that basic premise about the way human beings compete and how they need to be coached and managed, especially during a game as conditions change, and you don’t mess with it.”