Red Sox: Goodbye Carmine and hello Beacon
By Rick McNair
The Boston Red Sox are in the process of upgrading their analytics department and the first significant casualty will be Carmine.
The Boston Red Sox are in the process of retiring a noted performer from their roster – one who reportedly was instrumental in the winning of three championships. Carmine the computer database is being tossed aside like any aging veteran whose skills have eroded.
As reported by Tim Britton the Red Sox are in the process of migrating to Beacon as a replacement, but I will leave the clever names to others. The reasoning is President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski has received a bit of culture or should I say metrics shock when he joined the team.
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The Red Sox had simply fallen behind with their contemporaries in the exotic world of metrics. The team that has Bill James – Godfather of Sabermetrics – on the payroll as a “Senior Advisor.” As the years have gone by the Red Sox simply fell behind in making state of the art upgrades and now are playing catch-up with an expansion of operations devoted to analytics.
One change that took place almost immediately by Dombrowski was former pitcher Brian Bannister being appointed to a newly created position of Director of Pitching Analysis and Development. Bannister is recognized as an expert in pitching analytics so that step made sense. What transpired next was appointing Bannister to assistant coach status to work with pitching coach Carl Willis. Analytical and application brought together.
"“The players in today’s game really want the type of information that he supplies — statistical, analytical, arm angles. They want to see these type of things.” – Dave Dombrowski"
The Red Sox management tree now shows the upgrades in personnel that has and are taking place. Prior to DD’s arrival, the Red Sox had hired Greg Rybarczyk as Baseball Operations Analyst and that department has since grown considerably when you examine the front office structure. The Red Sox will apparently become well versed in the necessary metrics and provide management with all the analytical tools necessary. But what about behavioral?
Human judgment and behavior are at the core of behavioral economics and James did extensive research on just that avenue and how it may apply to baseball. That can also migrate into that well known and difficult area to quantify – “Intangibles.”
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The Red Sox have done just that with the creation of a behavioral health department as outlined in this Boston Globe article. The department was brought in two years ago and is a significant step-up from skills and motivational development which certainly is an intricate part of the overall program.