This time of year, it's not unusual for college coaches to issue reading assignments to their players. As my son begins the task of integrating a set of new faces with that of his returning veterans, he asked each one to come to their next meeting prepared to discuss the following article.
As a longtime fan of baseball...one who has grown to believe that clubhouse chemistry is a very important element in a team's prospect of winning, it struck a very responsive chord:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/...s-baseball/32271291/
Interesting. When kids are being scouted and grinding through the minors their character (short of legal problems) is not a big issue.
When you get 35 grown men sharing space they must care about each other for anything productive to happen. This is not any kind of revelation. Every army in the world since the Greeks realized that soldiers fight for the guy to their left and right.
I hate military and sports analogies because sports are not war. But in this case the notion of small units succeeding because they trust and respect each other and will make any effort to pick each other up is valid. I would contend that its relevance is limited to players that do have something left to offer to the team on the field.
Also being able to put a team together and know who fits is not an exact science. In Baseball it is the largest contribution of the manager to be able to communicate expectations, create a positive environment, make good decisions and ultimately earn the players trust that can make a difference. It is why guys like LaRussa, Torre, Lasorda and Bochy have had such long careers.
As for the numbers guys stinking. Theo killed the Boston curse and looks to be on his way to killing the Cubs curse too. He ran Nomar out of Boston to make it Manny and Ortiz' team and brought Maddon and solid professional vets to the Cubs to lead the way for their kids. I think he gets the whole picture.