> Me: > Not sure if this was sarcastic or not...as I've already posted, I think I > was _wrong_ about Soriano, and have explained the reasons why I was wrong > about him. Although, on the flip side, he hasn't exactly been Albert Pujols > either. He is a rookie. He will get stronger he will become a better hitter and he will grow into his fielding position. He is a perfect example of how the Yankees handle their young talent. Now you know this isn't George this is Cashmen and Torre. They stopped George from trading Petit, they insisted that the Yanks not trade Soriano. I think Johnson will be fine; just messing with your head.
> Gautam Me: Sure, but Pujols is a rookie too, he's actually _younger_ than Soriano, and which one of them has been a better player this season? Do you think Pujols is physically more talented? I don't. I think he understands the strike zone better. The Yankees _do_ handle their young talent very well. The most important of those ways is by _teaching them the strike zone_. Why do they do that? Because Brian Cashman believes in sabermetrics. I'm really not quite sure why a Yankee fan, of all people, would disagree with me. Your _own team_ is managed pretty much exactly the way that I would manage a team if I could, and it's done really well over the past few years. There might be something to these ideas if the teams that adopt them tend to beat the teams that don't. I would point out, btw, that we have very good statistical tools that can be used to predict the ability of a player based on his age and current performance. They're not flawless - Sosa, for example, has improved to a state far better than we could ever have predicted. But they are very good. It looks like Soriano will outperform them, precisely because he did learn the strike zone - which is the one piece of advice that every sabermetrician would have given him. But not a lot of traditional ballplayers - look at Felipe Alou in Montreal, Don Baylor in Chicago, Tony Muser in Kansas City, and so on. Gautam
