Feb 23 2015 10:42 PM
Edited 3 time(s), most recently on Feb 23 2015 10:49 PM
ESPN ranks the teams in all four sports to determine which are most committed to modern analytics (sabermetrics in baseball, I suppose). In MLB, the Mets are not among the eight top tier ranked teams, but are ranked among the next seven ("The Believers").
Here's the Mets review:
| Few executives are more universally respected than Sandy Alderson, both in the analytics world and in baseball at large. Originally a lawyer, he introduced sabermetrics to the Oakland front office in the 1980s, mentored Billy Beane in the '90s and later served as an executive in the league office. Now he runs the Mets. With no scouting background, Alderson's greatest strength as a GM is his objectivity, and with him at the helm, analytical information is as likely to be put into practice in Flushing as it is anywhere in the game. Alderson's first two moves as Mets GM were to bring in former A's executives Paul DePodesta and J.P. Ricciardi. Both have been hyped as analysts because of "Moneyball," but they're underrated as scouts. With DePodesta overseeing amateur scouting, and analytically minded executives Adam Fisher and Ian Levin directing baseball operations and player development, respectively, the Mets have a tightly integrated group that shares ideas freely -- both within the front office and with the field staff. Manning the keyboards of a mature baseball information system are T.J. Barra and developer Joe Lefkowitz. One significant limitation: Though the Mets are a big-market club, they have a mid-market payroll and just haven't made the investment in highly trained personnel that teams like the Royals and Cubs have made in recent years. (Disclosure: I worked as a statistical analyst for the Mets from 2004 to 2012 |
MLB's two worst ranking teams are division rivals Philly and Miami which ranked 122nd out of 122 ranked teams and 115th, respectively. The rock bottom of the list is dominated by New York's other teams, specifically, the Knicks, (121st, next to last) Nets (118th) and Jets (114th):
| The Phillies famously disdain analytics: GM Ruben Amaro bragged in 2010 that his team is "not a statistics-driven organization by any means" and would likely never have "an in-house stats guy." Emblematic of their innumeracy, the Phils then signed Ryan Howard, already under contract for two more years, to a five-year, $125 million extension. Howard's production and Philadelphia's fortunes have suffered in the years since, and his contract now has the team in a bind, with the former MVP at age 35 and no longer a productive player -- projecting to be worth minus-1.8 WAR through 2016. Despite that failure, the Phillies still don't seem to demonstrate any real faith in the analytic approach. |
| While the thrifty Marlins might have broken convention by shelling out $325-million for Giancarlo Stanton, they're still reluctant to spend big on sabermetrics. After going through five managers and five losing seasons in five years, they are looking to hire, um, interns to get their analytics program off the ground. Baseball America has called Miami "among the game's more scouting-orientated organizations," which is simply code for a non-sabermetric approach. GM Dan Jennings has a scouting background and new skipper Mike Redmond doesn't have an inclination for metrics, having spent most of his catching tenure with the Marlins and Twins, who are also analtyics skeptics. |
http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_ ... -rankings#