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But why-oh-why did it have to be the (hated) Yankees?
Now you're working for The Man.
Hey, makbe you can get them to send us back Campos for Noesi....
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SABRMatt (aka ghost) has parachuted into the big league drop zone:
BTW all...you might be interested to know that I have taken an internship opportunity with the New York Yankees...data analyst intern...I start Friday...so wish me luck. :)
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And says,
The homily in today's mass seemed very apropos to my situation...the only thing that stopped me from actively seeking out this sort of opportunity in the past was fear of failing and thus proving my dreams of working in the game illusory...and that was the theme of the day. Fear as the great enemy of man in his quest to find peace and fulfillment.
That is what having the love of a wonderful woman can do for a man who doubts himself...my finance prodded me into trying to live out my dream. We'll see how far I can get.
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Lemme add my congrats to those of Ryno, Mal, DaddyO, and the rest of the bleacher bums. Send a postcard from the Asst GM office :- )
An interview with SABRMatt about his rocket ride to GM-dom would be a lot more interesting than most other possible interviews right now. Picking from a long list of questions, then ...
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1. Do you have any idea yet whether it will be okay, with your superiors, to continue to post on SSI about non-sensitive topics? Maybe in the interviews you broached this subject already?
The first notable sabermetrician to work in baseball (visibly), Mike Gimbel, disemboweled himself by telling everybody he knew that he was a Red Sox ... but Gimbel included in that a willingness to take full credit for all of his GM's good moves, to set the Red Sox clubhouse afire over his recommended trade of their starting shortstop, to allow the neighborhood kids into his apartment's alligator pond, and so forth.
Maybe Matt can get something going over a forced retirement of Mariano Rivera .....
Nowadays the Red Sox don't seem to care whether Bill James even talks about Red Sox players, much less talk about baseball generally; Tom Tango only needs to show reasonable discretion about recommendations he's actually paid for, etc.
So presumably SABRMatt could continue at SSI if he were so inclined, especially if he showed that bit of "reasonable discretion." I know *I* don't care if he gets fired over tipping us off about a few things on July 30th...
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2. How are you going to find time watch M's games now that you have to watch all the Yankee games?
I always imagined that MLB teams provided 30-minute edited videos of games to all their interns. But maybe they sort of expect that their employees be fans, or something.
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3. Is it harder to come out as a Catholic than (you would imagine it to be) to come out of the closet on more conventional closet issues? Sweet reference to the homily, dude. Way to follow on a career breakthrough with public thankfulness.
:- )
Public thankfulness for your lady, too. You can't stop SABRMatt, you can only hope to contain him...
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4. I'm curious: is it mostly an e-mail job, or do you need to punch a clock? If so, "internship" doesn't imply volunteer work, then?
I believe in being tactful. That's why we're limiting our questions to only the most impersonal...
Am pretty sure that when Mat Olkin was the M's leading saberdude, he was able to do his job via e-mail, seldom even visiting the city of Seattle. On the other hand, Matty actually lives in the greater New York area, I think... leading to
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5. Do you get a pass to the ballgames?
If so, I'm calling the M's and demanding ballpark passes for Gordon. At least when the Rainiers are in Colorado Springs.
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6. What are you going to tell them to do with ARod? Are the Yankees going to use your PCA method to calculate the discount on that meatball and trade him back here for Seager?
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Hey Matt. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy. Don' be a stranger.
Warmly,
Jeff
Comments
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You got the goods, Matt. You'll do great. Just don't make them too good, please.
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You flatter me, Doc. LOL
It's an 11 dollar an hour internship...I'll be joining the largest data analysis committee in organized baseball, so just one of a few new interns and a dozen or so total staff. They said that many of their full-timers came from the same intern program, but let's not punch my ticket to the owner's box just yet. :)
In answer to your questions:
1) I do not know every single regulation yet...I will need to carefully read the non-disclosure agreement I am required to sign on Friday. However, they specifically asked during the interview what online activity I had in the field of baseball and I asked about the general rules. It was made clear that anything that is not work-product is fair game outside the office...in other words...this internship is not going to remove me from SSI...it just may mean I have less time to comment.
2) I do not believe I am required to be a Yankee fan to work for the team. They know I am, in fact, a Mariner fan (not going to lie about something like that just to get hired)...they're not going to expect that I watch in full detail every single Yankee game. I will, however, be immersed in an office culture that is dripping with Yankee information and enthusiasm...so I will know a lot more about the Yankees than I do even now (and I know enough now to be dangerous, as they say, just from living in New York)...and I'm sure I will be watching some games from the stadium. Without giving away specifics, my working environment will be surprisingly close to the action and the offices are open while the games are being played, as well as regular business hours. I fully intend to watch as many Mariner games as I can when I'm not working late. Lucky for me, the Mariners play about 2/3 of their games in western time, and I have tablets and phones that can stream MLB.TV on the go.
3) HEH - these days the media paints a bizarre and completely inaccurate picture of Catholicism - the Church is public enemy #1 in elite power-broker circles because it is the last powerful institution on Earth that can (a) impact global politics and (b) do this without government force.
Frankly, Catholicism has evolved since the 50s...if they were still using the pre-Vatican II methods wherein parishioners were not expected to know anything about scripture, bad behavior was simply scorned and punished, rather than the church feeling an obligation to explain why that behavior is dangerous and harmful, and people were made to feel entirely excluded if they had any doubts, rather than welcomed for their unique insight and having their humanity respected...then I would not be a Catholic. But none of that stuff has survived in the American Catholic church. I am deeply in love with my faith, and I don't really care what anyone else wants to think about that.
4) It's a paid intership as I noted above...and I have to punch a clock and keep timecards like every other working Joe and Josephine. :) I am starting part-time while I finish my thesis and look for a place to live much closer to the Bronx...and then transitioning to full time to finish out the season...and then I will be campaigning for more permanent options.
5) I'm not sure about perks...not even sure what their rules are about watching the games during working hours. Will find out on Friday...but my guess is, as a low-level code monkey, my baseball-benefits will be limited.
6) LOL
I don't think I'm in a position to tell them to do anything with their players. I can only show them the data and pitch what I'm doing as sound science...not all baseball questions can be answered with data, though, as you know...and the final call in New York is always made practically before the question is even put to the stat guys. :D
No, I'm kidding. They have a state of the art system there...it is, I'm told, the envy of the game on the research front, as you'd expect from the Yankees. I won't be at liberty to say anything about the Yankees' rear office (trust me...it ain't the FRONT office...the head of the department gets to go there...:) )...other than that I am greatly looking forward to seeing what I can learn with their resources and how I can contribute at the big league level.
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I can't tell you how happy it makes me to know that you're going to do what you love for a living. Few are able to make that happen in their own lives. Pretty awesome that you get to work for one of the greatest sports franchises in the history of humanity.
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This is a way cool development. Good for you for taking a crack at something like that. Now, think about how this could benefit SSI! We have a mole in the Yankees! Be sure to artfully suggest to the Yankees that Pineda needs to come back home to his roots and to Dr. Elliot.
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Congratulations and good luck! I look forward to the day when you have replaced Bill James as the preeminent sabermetrician and I can say... "I knew him when..." :)