Trade strategy: Propaganda and Paul DePodesta’s recent example

• vegasman2000

  +1

  I wrote a very similar article to this last year on The Hardball Times, discussing a trade I made using propaganda to acquire Tim Lincecum! Good job on the analysis.

  Posted 7/15/2008 [reply] [flag]

• JR.

  +2

  Dude.  If you keep talking about "war strategy" and "propaganda" I'm going to stop coming to this site.  You don't need this analogy to express your thoughts, and it's more than a little insensitive.  Grow up.  You're still a student, right?  You got time. 
  

  Posted 7/15/2008 [reply] [flag]

• wrveres

  +1

  this really was a weak piece form Hardball times.

  DePodesta doesn't trade with anybody.

  He works in the scouting department and awnsers to Sandy Alderson. Kevin Towers is the GM, not Depo. Depo isn't calling Ed Wade. 

  what a joke! 

  Posted 7/16/2008 [reply] [flag]

• david.burden

  +1

  I've done silly stuff like PR releases in a fantasy league before, but I did it for fun, not as part of some master plan.  What's the point of putting so much effort into a fantasy baseball league?

  Now, if you want to analyze DePodesta's motives, that seems worthy of an article . . . but I wonder if he could get away with being as Machiavellian as you imply.  If, say, Pat Gillick thought he was being insulted, he might just ask for DePodesta's head. 

   

  Posted 7/16/2008 [reply] [flag]

• rsims08

  +1

  I have to agree with JR - at the very best, it's odd, insensitive, and comically aggrandizing (fantasy baseball is a war and I'm a general!). At least there was no mention of Sun Tzu in this one. In all seriousness, though, the author should probably find a new device through which to provide analysis and tips. Like one that's not silly.

  Posted 7/17/2008 [reply] [flag]

• philosofool

  +1

  I'm going to defend Derek here.  Although the analogies to war are a little overblow, who cares? I think the point is actually a good one, creating a little media about your own team in a fantasy league is a good idea. It makes owners think of your team when they're thinking trades. It's not like Derek said "this is absolutely an essential element of strategy", he's just getting us thinking. Who cares if his diagnosis of Paul DePodesta is accurate--he admitts that it's probably incomplete. Relax people: this is the hardball times free fantasy column, not their headline "serious" stuff.

  Posted 7/23/2008 [reply] [flag]

• poolie

  +1

  Actually, IMO, the most obvious and blatant display of Depo's blog being only "corporate manipulations" by the Pad front office was his over-the-top ridiculous article on the recent waiver pick up by the Pads of 31yo career minor leaguer RHP Brian Falkenborg.  You have to read it for yourself as it is priceless and hilarious in its obvious manipulative intent!

   I even replied to his article by thanking Depo for making me laugh so hard as " I have never seen such well-crafted and hilarious corporate spin being put into the silly waiver acquisition of an insignificant 31yo carreer minor league pitcher". Unlike my previous posts/replies to his blog, this one was never posted to the blog....Gee, I wonder why?

  Posted 8/25/2008 [reply] [flag]

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Links (3)

DePo Uses Propaganda
Published 7/15/2008 by Wonko at Gaslamp Ball: Front Page Posts
DePo Uses Propaganda Derek Carty, the fantasy baseball of www.hardballtimes.com ,looks at Paul DePodesta recent post that discussed being sellers at the trade deadline.

Randy Wolf to Houston
Published 7/22/2008 by R.J. Anderson at Beyond the Box Score: Front Page Posts
... As Derek Carty noted at THT DePodesta did a brilliant job of "dumbing down" his analysis to fit the mindset of the less statistically potent general managers. Whether this actually worked or not is irrelevant, but the fact that it was Ed Wade who pulled the trigger is deliciously comedic. I'll choose to give Wade the benefit of the doubt for now and move on to actually analyzing the trade. ...

Don’t Believe a Word I Say
Published 8/25/2008 by Geoff Young at Ducksnorts
Daniel at There Are Better Deals in August asks whether it’s okay for the front office to lie. It’s a provocative question, and one that deserves attention. He cites a recent article by Derek Carty, my colleague at Hardball Times, that mentions Paul DePodesta’s blog as a possible propaganda tool. From Derek’s article: By sending messages through the media, the front office can send them under the guise of praise for the actual players or on-field management. By writing to a blog, these ...