Most Important Stat in Baseball

There's an interesting article in this week's edition of Sports Illustrated on the growing trend for MBL to rely on "statisticians" in the future for evaluating potential talent. The days of the roving scout as we now know it may be numbered. Several of the big shots in the front office of a number of major league teams who are in charge of making decisions and recommendations on players have never played the game beyond their Little League days. But they have the MBA's, math and computer science degrees and really know how to crunch numbers to evaluate potential talent.
The best thing about this issue of SI though is the prediction that hell is finally going to freeze over and the Cubbies are finally going to win it all!!!!! Go CUBBIES!!!

 

did the SI article say anything about the recent michael lewis book - moneyball.

it's a good read ... and the athletics emphasize:

"The bottom line is that the A's have to find players who can contribute in ways that other organizations don't value as much. The organization assesses offensive production differently than others, stressing on-base percentage and power, de-emphasizing stolen bases and putting the ball in play. It has engendered an approach to acquiring talent based as much on statistical achievement as on traditional tools, an approach that has gripped some franchises (the Blue Jays and Red Sox, particularly) and galled many traditionalists." - from http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/features/031223collegemoneyball.html