Comments on Basement Dwellers: My conversation with Neal Huntington and Dan Fox

It's real. Maybe "fired" is the wrong word, but "n...

2009-09-08T11:28:59.489-04:00

It's real. Maybe "fired" is the wrong word, but "not coming back next season" isn't as dramatic. I had a friend who talked to him confirm it, but I want to see someone who's known out there ask him.

@Anonymous, is the Carroll thing real? My underst...

2009-09-07T14:34:46.017-04:00

@Anonymous, is the Carroll thing real? My understanding is that it's a hoax. He just had an article published on Friday...

As far as social skills...well...I'm not really one to judge.

@Dave, I personally don't think that prospects are overvalued--I think they're being accurately valued, which is why a trade like the Brett Wallace trade was something of a surprise. Part of the reason for it is that the difference between minimum MLB salary and average MLB salary is higher now than ever before, which makes the years at slave wages more and more valuable. I think you're right that the figure-it-out guys are the big way to win a trade now...that may go to the "how do you identify a good scout" question.

Another cool, related part of the Huntington conversation was a discussion of how scouts are better at some things and not others. For example, he said some of the best scouts for hitters are retired pitchers, because they can really break down a hitter's weaknesses (though he also said that usually people are best at scouting what they know--infielder scout infielders, hitters scout hitters, pitchers scout pitchers, etc). Another fun remark is that scouts tend to hate what they were. So, righty finesse pitchers tend to hate righty finesse pitchers, short scouts hate short players, etc. I don't know how true any of that is, but it's fun to think about.

@MarkT, sorry for the trouble. The black box is what the twitter widget looks like before it finishes loading, though I've never seen it invade the main part of the blog. I'll see if there are other options. I'd love for the twitter feeds to be just straight-up posts on the main blog, as most of what I do there is linkage and deserves a spot on the blog. -j

Great post, Justin. I always like your stuff. But ...

2009-09-07T09:45:32.776-04:00

Great post, Justin. I always like your stuff. But one question - I have a big black overlay up above that blocks out part of the main body of your blog page called "Twitter Updates". Do you know how I can make it smaller or go away?

Thanks

That's really interesting about prospects being ov...

2009-09-06T22:12:05.347-04:00

That's really interesting about prospects being overvalued currently. I have been saying this for about a year now. It seems as if the only "untapped" resource for undervalueing of players exists with guys like Jonny Gomes, Ludwick, Cliff Lee, Nelson Crux, Carlos Pena, and Brandon Phillips. Real opportunities exist with "who is going to figure it out."

That seems to be a "state of the art" question in scouting baseball.

What about the BPro guys? Did Carroll talk about g...

2009-09-06T21:41:26.164-04:00

What about the BPro guys? Did Carroll talk about getting fired? Did any of them have any social skills?

The guy was just incredible. I know it's part of ...

2009-09-06T20:16:37.684-04:00

The guy was just incredible. I know it's part of the job, but he was incredibly welcoming. I walked into the room, walked by him as I was filing into the room, and he's like "Hi. I'm Neal." He seemed very candid in his answers, even acknowledging certain weaknesses of players and such where popular public perception didn't necessarily match reality. I really enjoyed him. -j

When will Walt Jocketty sit down to answer questio...

2009-09-06T13:22:30.967-04:00

When will Walt Jocketty sit down to answer questions like this?