Red Sox Adviser's 'Replaceable' Comments Infuriates Players
Imagine if every active MLB player retired immediately and the league replaced them with minor league and college players.
Would you still have the same interest in watching MLB with the replacement players?
According to Red Sox adviser Bill James, the game wouldn’t suffer much.
James, who is one of the pioneers of sabermetrics, minimized the importance of not just some MLB players but all MLB players.
He went on a Twitter rant in which he argued, in part, that players are no more important than beer vendors.
“If the players all retired tomorrow, we would replace them,” James tweeted. “The game would go on; in three years it would make no difference whatsoever. The players are NOT the game, any more than the beer vendors are.”
He also posted a poll in which he asked if there was such a thing as an MLB player who is underpaid.
Many of James’ tweets have since been deleted, but not before the baseball community — including the team for which he works as a consultant — spoke out against him.
The Red Sox called his statements “inappropriate” and “absurd.”
The #RedSox Statement Regarding Bill James’ Recent Remarks: pic.twitter.com/JffB08Hqad
— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) November 8, 2018
Justin Verlander, who was knocked out of the playoffs by those Red Sox, asked if Boston would have won the World Series without many of the players James thinks are replaceable.
Wonder if the @RedSox win the World Series with a replacement player for @mookiebetts or @JDMartinez14 or @DAVIDprice24 or #Bogaerts or @JackieBradleyJr or #ChrisSale or @RickPorcello or @asben16 or #Devers or @kimbrel46 or…….. https://t.co/jtk6lz96y2
— Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) November 8, 2018
The MLB Players Association also hit back at James, calling his comments “reckless and insulting.”
“The Players ARE the game. And our fans have an opportunity to enjoy the most talented baseball Players in the world every season,” Tony Clark, executive director of the MLBPA, said in a statement. “If these sentiments resonate beyond this one individual, then any challenges that lie ahead will be more difficult to overcome than initially accepted.”
James was bombarded by negative responses, and he seemed confused at first as to why there was such pushback.
Can someone please point me to something specific that I said that upset people? I didn’t say anything about players as assets or anything. Just trying to chase down whatever it is so that I can, if possible, clarify.
— Bill James Online (@billjamesonline) November 8, 2018
James would also say that he does his best not to offend people on Twitter, but his best sometimes isn’t good enough.
In 2012, he said that it wasn’t former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno’s responsibility to report allegations of child molestation to the police. James also said that in the town he grew up in, it was “common practice” for grown men to shower with boys.
He has been a consultant with the Red Sox since 2003. Even though he’s not an employee, he still gets a World Series ring. He’ll soon be getting his fourth, courtesy of those replaceable Red Sox players.
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