Bill James is a prominent figure in the baseball world, known primarily for his analytical style of thinking called sabermetrics. While his work has been applied throughout the league, he has been an adviser for the Boston Red Sox baseball operations department since 2002.
The Red Sox have gradually become much more of an analytical team, especially in recent years. Manager Alex Cora brought a similar approach over from Houston when he joined the team, and put it on full display throughout October. Despite their success though, James does not seem to be impressed.
Nearly two weeks after the Red Sox won the World Series, James now finds himself at the center of league-wide controversy for his comments on Twitter, which have since been deleted:
“If the players all retired tomorrow, we would replace them, the game would go on; in three years it would make no difference whatsoever.