DISQUS

Kartik · 2 years ago

Interestingly the concept of "MoneyBall" is coming to MLS, since Bill Beane is involved in the new San Jose ownership group. Peter Brown has an outstanding interview with Beane about MLS and European Football in this month's Major League Soccer Magazine.

blahblah · 2 years ago

Wow - I don't get that MLS magazine but really want to read the Beane article. Is it online somewhere? Anyone have a link?

tyduffy · 2 years ago

I think its like with anything in life, some people are just idiots.


I believe that it is also a bit more difficult to statistically evaluate footballers than baseball players. Everything a footballer does is so intimately connected to what the other ten players on the pitch are doing that its much harder to project value.

Anonymous · 2 years ago

TyDuffy:


I'm asking questions in a e-mail that I sent to Chris. he asked me if he could post it and I said "sure."



What part of what I wrote is somehow unacceptable to you? Would you contend that football clubs have scouts and that these scouts evaluate individual players primarily as individuals and secondarily as parts of a team? I sure hope so, because they do. So, do you think that a ManCity scouts Petrov as a player playing with 10 other guys on Team X? Well...somewhat, but they're scouting Petrov. Do you actually think that the top European squads that get the top players from abroad (Brazil, Argentina, Africa, etc) place a greater emphasis on how a Roque Santa Cruz plays with other Paraguayans vs. how damn good HE is? Yeah it matters if Player X makes his team better, but that's also a reflection of how valuable Player X is.



My point more than anything is to question why so many teams in England (and throughout top European leagues) continue to recycle the same players for increasingly inflated salaries when they can go to countless countries and find players not quite as polished (but decent to be sure) for much less value. That's my question. And, if you read "Moneyball," the premise isn't as much about stats (i.e. OBP) as it is about undervalued and underrated talent and skills...it's a freaking business model for finding and exploiting such things.



In my case, I can't figure out why West Ham is spending so much money on the likes of Scott Parker when I'd bet my house that there are twenty guys in Africa/South America/North America that are as good as him for a much reduced price tag. Added to this is the fact that teams can add to their value by scouting quality young and then selling it when market value is high...something that West Ham has done well at in the past.



Kent

Anonymous · 2 years ago

TyDuffy:


Hey...I see that you're not attacking me. I didn't mean for my response to appear as an attack on you. I began to write and just kept going, was interruped, returned and lost my train of thought.



Kent