Comments on: More good news for Cardinals fans http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/06/25/more-good-news-for-cardinals-fans/ Media, Baseball, Boston, the Red Sox, Music, Literature, and Mnookins Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:27:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Nordberg http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/06/25/more-good-news-for-cardinals-fans/#comment-53 Nordberg Mon, 26 Jun 2006 17:04:10 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/06/25/more-good-news-for-cardinals-fans/#comment-53 Here's what I remember: When McGwire got hurt and subsequently retired, the Cardinals fretted over who would replace him at first base. They were caught off guard. Then this kid Pujols comes out of nowhere and has a phenomenal rookie year. I don't remember LaRussa or Jocketty saying they'd be fine and that they had a rookie who would take the job. I remember them being very worried. I think even they were surprised at the power Pujols showed. He was a 13th round pick and spent one year in the minors. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm ... Here’s what I remember:
When McGwire got hurt and subsequently retired, the Cardinals fretted over who would replace him at first base. They were caught off guard.
Then this kid Pujols comes out of nowhere and has a phenomenal rookie year. I don’t remember LaRussa or Jocketty saying they’d be fine and that they had a rookie who would take the job. I remember them being very worried.
I think even they were surprised at the power Pujols showed.
He was a 13th round pick and spent one year in the minors.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm …

]]> By: 941827 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/06/25/more-good-news-for-cardinals-fans/#comment-50 941827 Mon, 26 Jun 2006 14:04:25 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/06/25/more-good-news-for-cardinals-fans/#comment-50 In order to sell his book as the "anti-Moneyball", Buzz Bissenger included a sour grapes rant about sabremetricians ruining baseball in the introduction. This was a direct attack on Theo Epstein (who's Sox had just swept the Cards to win the WS), Paul DePodesta and others. He then went on talk show after talk show ranting about sabremetricians. All of this ranting ignored that (1) LaRussa relies upon numbers extensively when making managing decisions and (2) LaRussa is a manager, so comparing his use of numbers with the use of numbers by GMs is just silly. I wrote Bissenger off as a sell-out who was ignoring the facts in order to sell his book, ranted about him on SoSH a bit, and moved on. In an ironic twist, it now turns out that Bissenger's beloved Mr. LaRussa was at ground zero of the steroids era. He was the manager for McGwire and Canseco. He's the manager of Pujols. Yet now, given an opportunity to admit that steroids -- not sabremetrics -- severely injured the game of baseball, and given the further opportunity to explain how the great Mr. LaRussa, who allegedly is so close with his players, managed to miss the fact that at least two of his players were doing massive amounts of steroids, Bissenger blames "the owners" for letting steroids into the game. Pathetic. In order to sell his book as the “anti-Moneyball”, Buzz Bissenger included a sour grapes rant about sabremetricians ruining baseball in the introduction. This was a direct attack on Theo Epstein (who’s Sox had just swept the Cards to win the WS), Paul DePodesta and others. He then went on talk show after talk show ranting about sabremetricians. All of this ranting ignored that (1) LaRussa relies upon numbers extensively when making managing decisions and (2) LaRussa is a manager, so comparing his use of numbers with the use of numbers by GMs is just silly. I wrote Bissenger off as a sell-out who was ignoring the facts in order to sell his book, ranted about him on SoSH a bit, and moved on.

In an ironic twist, it now turns out that Bissenger’s beloved Mr. LaRussa was at ground zero of the steroids era. He was the manager for McGwire and Canseco. He’s the manager of Pujols. Yet now, given an opportunity to admit that steroids — not sabremetrics — severely injured the game of baseball, and given the further opportunity to explain how the great Mr. LaRussa, who allegedly is so close with his players, managed to miss the fact that at least two of his players were doing massive amounts of steroids, Bissenger blames “the owners” for letting steroids into the game.

Pathetic.

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