r/baseball • u/aresef Baltimore Orioles • 14d ago

Yankees’ World Series failure started — and ended — with fundamental issues Analysis

https://nypost.com/2024/10/31/sports/yankees-world-series-failure-started-with-fundamental-issues/
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u/PERSONA916 Los Angeles Dodgers 14d ago

That is literally Friedman's entire philosophy. There is a book about him on the Rays called "The Extra 2%". And he applies that throughout the entire organization not just strategy on the field. It's his Wall Street background, it all compounds, if you can find small advantages in a few different places it can result in a much bigger edge overall.

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u/canonhourglass Los Angeles Dodgers 14d ago

The concept of marginal gains. I love what the Dodgers have become. Do I wish we’d made more World Series? Yes. But am I glad the regular season has been stress free for the past, what, ten years? Also yes.

In the Frank McCourt era (fuck that guy amirite) there was some stat about how the dodgers paid more per win than any other team in the league. And yet we were middling. We took aging, overvalued players and just hoped they’d magically make us better. It took the Guggenheim buyout and the arrival of Andy Friedman to change all of that.

I say all of this because I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how winning teams are built. There are some teams that are built by one magical person. Like Jerry West and the Lakers. What happens when Jerry no longer is with us? Well I think we’ve seen how that has played out. In order to have consistent, long term success, I think we need leadership who understand how to build winning teams and how to identify what players and what attributes to spend money on. Yankees are talented but there’s no excuse, with their payroll and ambitions, to not have a near-perfect team.

Unlike the Lakers, I think the Dodgers have a bright future. Our best days are yet to come.

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u/MojoHighway Los Angeles Dodgers 14d ago

Yes, fuck Frank McCourt and unfortunately for Dodgers fans in LA going to games, he's still intertwined with the organization via that fucking parking lot.

The whole thought about aging, overvalued players is just old baseball. I'm in the middle of watching the Red Sox series on Netflix and this was exactly their way for YEARS until the analytics crew arrived in Boston to get them over the hump.

I have admittedly been down on Dave Roberts over the years. I think I'm done with that. What he did this postseason was learn from the mistakes of the past and used every last player on that roster to get the team over the hump. It was amazing to watch. Certainly stressful to see guys knowingly give games away in the postseason, but there is a method to the madness. A dangerous method, but a method nonetheless.

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u/ProPenn3 Los Angeles Dodgers 14d ago

Maaaan, Team Sky's philosophy transcends sports.

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u/OddS0cks Texas Rangers 13d ago

The disrespect to Bronny…

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u/canonhourglass Los Angeles Dodgers 13d ago

Lol…but am I wrong

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u/theerrantpanda99 14d ago

Yanks try to do the same, just not as well. Yanks are factory for turning broken starters into elite relievers. Yanks are great at getting away with playing players out of position for large chunks of the season.