old_school posted:analytics are huge and will grow in importance. That being said they won't replace people IMO. The best teams still have the intangibles, guys who work together and are teammates. The organizations who ultimately are going to be most successful will be the ones who blend the new data, with old tried and true successful models and then mold those assets in a productive fashion...
Not in disagreement, just grouping my thoughts on analytics with yours. I think sabermetrics/analytics/data is misunderstood by many. Analytics for game strategy/lineups/matchups is just data to make decisions with. Baseball managers and coaches still make the decisions. And they still manage people. The people change (get more selective at the plate, add a new pitch, get better at baseball). The managers know this.
Just as business has been changed in the last 20 years with more data available for managers, they still have to make decisions based on the management data they are given. And the people they have to implement him.
My gut feel is Girardi was fired because he disagreed with the Analytics group on player/strategy decisions because he knew the people.