A Luddite Grows in Cincinnati

The Reds' fans have enough problems with Dusty being their manager. Today, they got this missive from Paul Daugherty

Baker judges by his senses
Knowing what makes his players tick more important than their stats

Oh my.

Anyone with a laptop can locate the Web site baseball- reference.com and sound like an expert. Anyone with a library card can pick up one of James' mind-numbing baseball "abstracts," in which the author makes the game sound like a first cousin to biomechanical engineering.

A funny, readable first cousin?

Numbers are fun to look at but dangerous to dwell on. Baker understands this. If Dunn walks 30 fewer times this year, he'll drive in 15 more runs. His on-base percentage will dip. Oh, no.

If Votto takes fewer first-pitch strikes, his run production will improve.

This man is confused. If he picked up a book, or surfed the interwebs, he test could his assertions and show us all just how smart he is.

And so on. Here's a stat: Wins as manager: Dusty Baker, 1,162; Bill James, 0.

Actually, what exactly are Bill's win shares for the Red Sox?

Naturally, FJM takes this apart completely.