This afternoon, Dan Duquette – in perhaps yet with another move to re-organize things in Birdland – has re-assigned the entire scouting department, plus a flurry of other moves.
The news was first reported by Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. In addition, the Orioles have hired an ‘economic advisor’, according to the Baltimore Sun as well as a new cross-checker.
Here’s the run-down of what’s going on with the scouting department from Rosenthal’s report about the shuffling of the scouting department (FoxSports):
Dan Duquette is taking the Orioles in a dramatic new direction, one that will renew baseball’s debate over the value of scouting vs. statistical analysis.
Duquette, the team’s new general manager, essentially dissolved the Orioles’ professional scouting department Thursday, reassigning six pro scouts to the amateur side.
Dave Engle and Bruce Kison will remain major league scouts, and the Orioles will make greater use of video and statistical analysis in scouting the majors, Duquette said.
“As you get more video and statistical analysis on a player, the longer they’re in professional baseball, it’s not as vital to have them seen by eyes, professional eyes,” Duquette said. “Players establish a record of their work.
“Some of the trends that the statistics track, they’re not trends that professional scouts would normally see in a short look.”
The six scouts who were reassigned are Todd Frohwirth, Jim Howard, James Keller, Ted Lekas, Lee MacPhail IV and Jim Thrift.
-snip-
“It’s a more efficient way to structure the Orioles, better for identifying talent and utilizing people’s strengths to help the team,” Duquette said.
Plus, here’s some information about the new economic advisor the Orioles have hired – Stephen Walters, who is an economics professor at Loyola University:
The Orioles have not officially announced Walters’ hiring, but he has been working for Duquette since mid-November. He has already provided financial valuations — based on an undisclosed formula — which have aided the Orioles in their pursuit of several minor league free agents they have signed this offseason.
To explain Walters’ complicated role in simple terms, he analyzes how many additional wins a player can create and how much a specific team should pay for those wins.
“If you incorporate ‘Player X’ into the mix, how many wins does that add and how much are those wins worth in that market?” Walters said. “It can vary from case to case, and there is a time dimension question with any player transaction — what are the future ramifications? … So the puzzle pieces come together, and ultimately, Dan is the guy who masterminds that information. But a lot of people supply him with the information.”
Well, it looks as if the Orioles are trying to re-shape the way they do business. Teams are now relying more on statistical analysis and sabermetrics, rather than just strictly traditional forms of scouting.
It’s just the way things are done now in the business of baseball – ala Moneyball, Bill James, and whole sabermetric/SABR community. The Orioles are figuring out other ways they can keep up with the Joneses’ – that is, the rest of the American League East.
As a fan, I used to strictly watch baseball based on what I see on the field with my eyes.
However, in the past year or so as my Blackberry, IPad and laptop have become staples of my life, I’ve also started looking more and more at the various baseball analysis websites – whether I’m at home, work or at a game.
The information now provided by various analysts and sabermetrics online has helped me to gain a much further perspective of the game of baseball. Although, I would never consider myself as a stats geek, the information available to fans cannot be understated.
Obviously, I would think pretty much all the 30 teams in baseball now use advanced statistics to build up their roster and scout their opponents.
I don’t think this is all as a bad thing.
If this all helps the Orioles become competitive and helps the scouting department become more efficient – especially with the advent of more-detailed statistics, and available technology – so be it.
