Soriano joins 40/40 club

[crockpot]

[ QUOTE ]
crockpot,

Do you realize how many people play baseball? More than you actually know, so out of all of these people there are going to be a ton that play like [censored] when they are happy but it isn't because they are happy obviously. The point is is that you give yourself the best opportunity to succeed when you are happy than when you are miserable, this is a fact.

[/ QUOTE ]

i'm not going to argue this point with you, because it's a subjective thing and i can't prove anything. what i can show is that throughout recent history (when baseball contracts exploded), players in contract years do not perform better as a whole. for every adrian beltre, there is a mark mulder. (actually, several mark mulders are needed to even out beltre, but there are many more bad baseball players than good ones.)

also, while it might be true that happy players inherently play better than unhappy ones, this effect is confounded by the fact that successful players, or those on successful teams, will naturally be happier, as a result of this, than others who are not doing so hot. this is similar to the idea that clubhouse chemistry causes teams to win, rather than vice versa, or that running the ball 40 times is the key to winning a football game, rather than a result of getting a big early lead.

[tdarko]

crockpot,

First off you agreeing with me that players in contract years don't play better so I don't know why you are arguing with me b/c you agree with me.

Secondly, I am not sure why you are writing the second paragraph either...it is basically seconding that happier players are more likely to play better. So yea, I agree with you. I understand about clubhouse chemistry, successful teams, etc. This was exactly my point in talking about happier players and a little nugget/example of this was Soriano's first year with Texas, his worst year to date. He was publicly unhappy about his move and stated that he didn't like it with the Rangers (who does?) and his performance suffered initially. He sucked it up the next year, still not Soriano numbers but much better anyway.

Anyway, you kind of said everything that I was saying...so thanks I guess.

~td

[crockpot]

[ QUOTE ]
crockpot,

First off you agreeing with me that players in contract years don't play better so I don't know why you are arguing with me b/c you agree with me.

Secondly, I am not sure why you are writing the second paragraph either...it is basically seconding that happier players are more likely to play better. So yea, I agree with you. I understand about clubhouse chemistry, successful teams, etc. This was exactly my point in talking about happier players and a little nugget/example of this was Soriano's first year with Texas, his worst year to date. He was publicly unhappy about his move and stated that he didn't like it with the Rangers (who does?) and his performance suffered initially. He sucked it up the next year, still not Soriano numbers but much better anyway.

Anyway, you kind of said everything that I was saying...so thanks I guess.

~td

[/ QUOTE ]

sorry, i think i either misinterpreted the tone of your post or forgot your earlier posts in the thread.

i still don't think a happier clubhouse causes you to play better, though, just that a successful season will cause a happier team.