Quote:
Originally posted by Aadik
Im going to have to disagree with most of this; I think character and "veteran experience" and "clutch" hitting are complete myths as it as, and incorporating them into the game and giving them weight is a step away from realism...
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whatever.
clutch hitting might be debatable but "veteran experience" is key to the sport of baseball (more so than other sports?). I can think of countless examples of veteran players with subpar physical skills...guys that literally can't get around on that 96mph heat anymore. But they're smart and know the game of baseball, and perhaps their pitch selection is a bit better than than in their youth. Reggie Sanders, Ellis Burks, Lenny Harris, to name a few. Rickey Henderson, who for some reason can't find a job, posted a .366 and .369 OBP over the past 2 seasons that in my mind would look nice on almost any bench in the league. (not to mention he went 33 for 42 in SBs)
I see tons of young players make "rookie mistakes" such as throwing home instead of to the cutoff man when there's no chance to get him, thereby allowing the hitter to advance to second. While I'm not sure that 15 years of experience is any better than 5 years of experience, I am sure that either of those provides a significant advantage over most players with 1-2 years of ML experience.
You can either believe Joe Sheehan and crew over at
BP that any GM who signs a .700 OPS veteran is wasting his money and should instead fill the slot with one of those countless career minor leaguers (great for fan appeal there too), or perhaps baseball is greater than the sum of all those numbers that we love to toss about.