Q&A with Krivsky

From the Enquirer:

Lots of interesting stuff…couple of things I find interesting…

Q: A lot is made of Sabermetrics. What are your thoughts on that?

A: It’s part of the puzzle. It’s a bigger piece at the major-league level and a very little piece at the high school level. As you go up the food chain, statistics have more reliability. It’s a term I first heard of in 1981. … I was exposed to a person who went on to be the founder of Stats Inc., a guy by the name of Craig Wright. He and Bill James were the founders of more detailed statistical analysis. Craig Wright and I worked together with the Rangers putting together arbitration cases in the early ’80s. Basically, for me, the further you go up the chain, the more important stats are.

This one concerns me. I agree that the further one progresses, the more reliable stats are b/c they’re going to be more consistent, one would think. But they definitely have a place in scouting for players as you look for their tendencies, etc. I’m also not sure what “exposed to” means…

Q: Everyone is under contract but Adam Dunn. Do you have a philosophy as far as long-term contracts?

A: I don’t want to get too specific. But you always want to avoid being in the (arbitration hearing) room if you can. You come up with different ideas. Sometimes it’s just an honest disagreement on the salary, and you can’t come to a negotiated settlement. It takes a third party. It’s not personal. The notion that these hearings are knock-down, drag-out situations … it’s not that way. I think they can be handled in a very professional way by both sides, where you use numbers to support your argument. It’s business, not personal. When it’s over, you shake hands and move on. It’s always a happy day for me when the last guy in arbitration signs.

Q: Will you talk long-term contract with Dunn?

A: I wouldn’t rule it out. We’ll have to see where the process goes. But again, you have to have a meeting of the minds whether it’s one year, two years or seven years.

This one REALLY concerns me. Sounds 180% different than what Kullman had stated about getting Dunn signed being a priority. Makes it seem like Krivsky isn’t afraid to go to arbitration with Dunn, which might be a smart negotiating move for the short term, but forcing him into arbitration and then bad mouthing him (and no matter what he says, opinion is almost universal that arbtration hearings are “personal”) doesn’t do anything to help the case of getting Dunn committed to this team for the long term.

Q: One of the controversial things under Dan O’Brien was pitch count and the must-take-a-strike rule for minor-leaguers at Single-A and below. Will that change?

A: I’m not a proponent of those types of policies. I go back to common sense. This is baseball – let’s have fun, let’s make it fun for the players. A good example of common sense is if a pitcher had a sore arm in spring training and only got up to two innings, I’d like to think common sense tells you his first game out at Chattanooga, and it’s 40 degrees, you’re not going to throw him six innings. You have to look at each case. You use common sense. Paul Richards once told me the purpose of player development is to get players to the major leagues healthy. That was one of his credos.

As I said earlier, I really don’t have an opinion on the piggy back rotation, but do believe in pitch limits for pitchers. They are just too rare a comodity and too expensive to abuse.

As for “common sense”…anyone seen Dusty Baker handle pitchers? And he’s known as a great manager.

As for it being “fun for the players”…isn’t this supposed to be a job? Anyone have a job that’s “fun”? I’m more concerned with getting these young guys ready to contribute at the major league level, I really don’t care if they have “fun”.

The more I read about Krivsky, the less impressed I am. I hope I turn out to be really wrong, but he hasn’t said or done anything in his first week to make me believe he understands baseball, other than “good old boy” baseball.