was the point of this long fanpost just to put out there your frustration with people complaining about the manager? If not , did I totally miss the point?

Carry on

I wouldn’t take that job, so the premise is dead right there…

But for the sake of discussion…well, I’ll have to think about that one…(me thinking)

And I’m back…Here are the stats I would at least begin the system with.

• OBP…measures how often a hitter doesn’t get out…the simplest, and yet nearly the most effective measure of how truly valuable a player is. That is a good one to start with.
• SLG…Pretty raw stat, but a very important one. If a team struggles getting on base, they better be hitting piss-rods everywhere and dropping bombs to make up for their lack of OBPing.
• BB-rate for hitters and P/PA: Quick and dirty way of examining whether or not a guy has an idea of how to work a pitcher. One of the biggest things that I have gotten out of the whole saber-revolution is that yes, walks and long at bats have a lot to do with the hitter, and not just the pitcher. A guy who grinds out at-bats and sees a lot of pitches very likely knows what pitches he wants to hit and when, and therefore is willing to take pitches that aren’t to his liking.
• K-rate for pitchers…Roughly examines how dominant a pitcher is. A guy w/ a high K rate likely has very good command, coupled with nasty stuff, as well as an idea how to maximize it to miss bats. If said rate declines, like this guy or this guy, I’d be worried. Why did this happen? Injury? Fatigue? Stuff-decline? This is also a good predictive stat. What’s not to love?
• FIP…well, I like FIP. Fun to say, good to know about, etc…This number, of course, is a rough demonstration of how the guy did regarding the three true outcomes. It shows what the guy would do with no defense. A guy who has a consistently good FIP will probably pitch well no matter who you stick behind them.

Anyway, that is where I’d start. I’m not that smart of a guy, so clearly this is list is not an exhaustive one. A good system will probably have a whole gajillion of other data in it, and could pour out an objective and comprehensive picture of what Player X has provided up until this point and what he is likely to provide for several more years. However, given my limited cleverness in these issues, I can’t say much more here than that this is a good start.

is that Larussa has gotten away from being objective

all of the nuances of managing a team in a short post. So this will be very quick and dirty, as they say. First off, I completely agree with the stats that redbirdnation8206 listed.

On the subject of appearances, I would always try to use the best relief pitchers when the game was on the line. I would try to avoid overusing them early in the season to the point where they tire out (see McClellan, Kyle). There is no reason to keep your best players on the field in a blowout. So, stats to watch closely for pitchers are games and IP in comparison to previous years.

Injuries. This has been a huge problem for the franchise lately and it seems as if most of us feel like the club has been doing a poor job treating and preventing them. Basically, I would be super cautious about even minor injuries. Just realized there isn’t a stat for this….moving on….

Finally, I would play “defense only” players in their correct positions. You can examine the various fielding statistics to determine who is best at what position, and use this information when constructing a lineup. This way offenive stats are not the only consideration when making a lineup.