By the numbers, he’s a pretty good pitcher. But there are some types of known information that can’t be input into predictive models, and a self-destructive personality is one of those things. That’s why I don’t want to replace all our scouts with android replacements, even though they’d probably be a lot cheaper.

And before someone brings up Milton Bradley: I’ve looked at the situations of both guys, and while Bradley’s history with his ex-wife gives me pause, there’s enough ambiguity in that particular case that I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now (two of the times the police came to his house, for example, they did so because Bradley called them – not his wife). It’s admittedly a subjective judgment made as an outsider, and might be wrong, but I have to work with the best information at hand when I make decisions.

And it didn’t improve my opinion of him, that’s for sure. I enjoyed watching him play, I admire a lot of the things he did on the field, and now that the story’s public I’m glad that he’s someone else’s problem.