Really good article I have to share:

[TURBO]

A look at managing, coaching, or lack of in today's MLB.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/10/06/joe-maddon-tom-verducci-book-excerpt?fbclid=IwAR1cI24SUzvgIh4tKIMz4tfODAxZrnXb6ua9EfQ7qfUkDpj0D1QUVb0ITEc

[Samurai Bucky]

This is a very good article.  I would encourage everybody to read it.

I'm sure this type of "inverted triangle" became en vogue when Billy Beane had success with the A's.

[Nola Beery]

It's actually kind of sad. And it's a reflection of the win-today-now, immediate- gratification and DO SOMETHING, ANYTHING  culture (in and beyond baseball), and especially the delusion that the front office "executives" (typically spoiled trust-fund poop-heads?) know more than they really know.  In fact, the front office types usually seem to know as much about the game as the average collection of fans who post on sites like this.  That's why my (and others') knee-jerk "Fire CC!" posts should be ignored, if not retracted in a moment of sober logic.         

[Axman59]

Interesting article and I'll probably buy the book as I like both Maddon and Verducci a lot.

It seems to me that with many things in life we experience over-corrections for things that need correcting. For scores of decades we had managers who scratched their nuts, spit tobacco juice on the ground, and made decisions based on their "gut."

Now we have Ivy League charlatans who run front offices with reams of data spilling out their ears and little knowledge of how the game is played or how to effectively interact with players and coaches.

I think the right way to operate a team is found in between these two extremes.

[sveumrules]

Yeah, the best teams are the one who combine a mix of scouting/analytics then effectively communicate that to the players for hopefully actionable results.

The Angels have been one of the worst run organizations in all of pro sports for over a decade now. Not sure they’re the best example for anything other than how NOT to do things.

Top 5-10 payroll every year & still can’t make the postseason, already wasted Trout’s prime, now a couple years into wasting Ohtani’s prime.

Poorer teams like the Rays & Indians & Brewers (not to mention richer teams like the Dodgers & Astros) have been employing a collaborative approach between the front office & field staff to pretty great success.

Where are the excerpts from the chapters when Maddon was working with Friedman in TB & Epstein in CHI?

[Oxy]

sucks

[kestrel79]

That was a great read wow.

[SoCalBrewfan]

Quote

Now we have Ivy League charlatans who run front offices with reams of data spilling out their ears and little knowledge of how the game is played 

I mean, there's no sense in letting facts get in the way of a good rant, but Perry Minasian, the Angels GM, doesn't fit that characterization at all.  His dad Zack worked in baseball, Perry was a ball boy at age 8 or something and around the game from his youth.  He played college ball at UT Arlington and worked as a scout.  Two of his brothers are also in baseball, including a former Brewers scout (also Zack, now with SF).  

I guess Maddon has axes to grind, but it seems from here like he had lots of success with an analytics based org in Tampa and then with Theo Epstein in Chicago.  Does he also throw those guys under the bus?  

Also, a line I found weird was the lament that 'managers used to be celebrities' and the claims that this was changed by instant replay and meddling GMs that made managers adopt bland corporate speak.  

[jerichoholicninja]

So Maddon is trying to make news where there isn't news to sell a book? Minasian didn't hire him so it's not a surprise that they weren't on the same page with some things.