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Meg Rowley FanGraphs Chat - 8/28/18
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Meg Rowley
3:23
My mom isn't a huge baseball fans, but she has a naturally mathematical mind. So we are able to talk about advanced stats because she gets the stat part and just needs some of the baseball specifics filled in.
3:24
But everyone is going to start at a different point in that conversation. As with any bit of persuasion or education, I think you have to gauge where the person is and then treat them with respect.
McCovey Cove
3:24
Correction: Carp hit one to me in July.
Meg Rowley
3:24
lol of course he did
Thanks
3:24
I just want to say thanks for the thankless role (also Sheryl - can we get her to chat too?) for talking about discomfiting subjects that might also have personal import. I am a guy, but as a member of a disadvantaged group also often sidelined by MLB but still a fan, it certainly means a lot. Is it more gratifying to make said points or more annoying that said points need to be made?
Meg Rowley
3:26
Having to talk about stuff like Osuna, or racist tweets is a bummer, but it is very encouraging that we talk about it at all, have an expectation that people will do better, and that our colleagues who are straight white dudes step up, too. I didn't write up the Osuna trade-- Jeff did. And he did a great, thoughtful job, and didn't shy away from what made that trade so distasteful.
It's important to center the voices of people directly impacted, but man is it great to not have to write every bad thing in the game.
3:27
We're getting where we need to be, even if we aren't all the way there.
HappyFunBall
3:27
re: Getting the olds to accept advanced stats.

Why? Seriously. Why can't they continue to enjoy the game the way they want to? Just because the other chatter, and you, and I, and most everyone else here on FanGraphs like talking about advanced stats ... why does that mean we must evangelise? We can be "right" without crusading to make everyone else agree with us.
Meg Rowley
3:27
I generally agree with this. I do think the conversation is a little different with media members, but yeah HappyFunBall. There is no bad way to fan except the way that hurts others.
3:28
If we want to be generous I think it is that we find stats so cool and exciting and want to share them. And they are so freaking cool.
3:29
But that doesn't mean that every fan is going to see the game that way.
Shobae Ohtani
3:29
I remember hearing you talk about gardening on Fangraphs Audio with Carson a couple months back. How is that going?
Meg Rowley
3:29
Oh so terribly.
Just really badly
A lot of things are dying early this year, and I think it is because they are drought stressed from no water and the smoke.
3:30
But my mom's tomatoes are doing pretty well.
So I'll at least have stuff for sauce.
Padres Fan
3:30
Seattle can eat it.  We’re bringing the Vedder Cup home this year...if it isn’t already here.  Is it already here?
Meg Rowley
3:31
who even knows?
Bork
3:31
Plants need water
Meg Rowley
3:31
Oh sure, now he tells me.
dan
3:31
my general point being, if you're paid reporter/talking head criticizing a player or team based on the analysis of an antiquated stat (ie deGrom's season is overrated b/c wins or judge should choke up and put the ball in play instead of striking out and sacrificing ops), you're offering a view that makes no sense to any decision maker within the team. And doing a disservice to the fans to whom you job is to educate/entertain/relay info to
Meg Rowley
3:32
I get this, and don't disagree, but also, I think there is a spectrum and there are points on the spectrum that aren't analytically inclined that are probably acceptable.
3:33
Clearly, that's not how I relate to the game. Even in my goofiest posts, I still use wRC+, and think wins are goofy, and not useful.
But there are fans who don't think about it that way.
5 Run Homer
3:34
Jose Bautista and Rhys Hoskins in the same outfield sounds extremely not fun for Phillies fans
Meg Rowley
3:34
Choose Your Own (Mis)Adventure
Josh
3:35
How frustrating is it to you as a baseball fan to not be able to watch Vladito (h/t Joe Sheehan) and Eloy in MLB today. If MLB wants to bring fans to the game making sure that exciting young players are not incentivized to be kept down should be an agenda item
Meg Rowley
3:36
Annoying as a fan, as a writer, as someone who supports organized labor. Just generally annoying! MLB will likely always trade that bit of fan excitement for labor control. But it is annoying.
Bork
3:36
Phillies need to trade for Billy Hamilton and then just have him run across the outfield each at bat
Meg Rowley
3:36
Not opposed.
Perennial Ballboy Tryout
3:37
To Josh: Don't forget the minor league teams that see huge ticket/interest boosts from Vlad/Eloy etc. I went to the game yesterday and I would say Vlad added 5k+ people
Meg Rowley
3:37
I won't speak for Josh, but personally, that doesn't balance out for me.
v2micca
3:37
I'm convinced that if not for Moneyball the book, the entire analytic revolution would have happened with a lot less fanfare and been a lot less divisive.
Meg Rowley
3:38
There was always going to be a Moneyball book. Maybe it wouldn't have been Moneyball. But baseball is too numbers obsessed for that sort of change in approach to happen, and not get fanfare.
Perennial Ballboy Tryout
3:38
But Vlad is the coolest thing that will every happen to any given minor league team, whereas the majors already have incredible players everyday.
Meg Rowley
3:39
Don't personally find keeping ready major leaguers in the minors for additional control exciting. Every bit of his success is a reminder that he is getting jobbed by the system.
tb.25
3:39
It's ok for those who don't enjoy advanced stats to enjoy the game in the ways and methods they do. It's when they attack the advanced stats, that the discussion turns into who's right. Coexisting is fine, but denouncing the closer-to-correct statistics because you don't get them is foolish.
Meg Rowley
3:40
Once you put your thoughts out in the world, they are there to be discussed and interacted with, yes. I just don't think there is harm in remembering who won the battle and endeavoring not to punch down.
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