Herr Yellon is notorious for reminding us that there are things that “cant be measured in a stat sheet”. Usually he is referring to a players grit, willingness to give quotes to the MSM for Al to reuse at BCB or a players overall whiteness. Lately, however, Al has taken to offering insights into actual performances ala Arizona Phil. Predictably he doesn’t know what the fuck he is talking about. Let’s take a look at some of this would be writer/scout/leader of men’s reports from the field.
Scouting Chad Gaudin on April 2nd- That run scored off Chad Gaudin, who actually didn’t throw too badly even though he allowed three runs. The homer given up by Gaudin to Ryan Garko was a blast that hit an umbrella over the Indians’ relief pitchers in the RF bullpen.
Hmm, it would seem that throwing well and giving up a monster HR and 3 runs in the same outing wouldn’t correlate. Perhaps there was something that my nerdy stat sheet couldn’t measure? Like how awful Gaudin has been all spring? It’s wasn’t just the HR either, Al managed to overlooked the additional 6 hits and a walk that Gaudin gave up all within 2 innings. That is the definition of an inept outing and it doesn’t take much scouting to figure that out. It took a little while to figure out why Al chooses to ignore evidence right in front of him but know I’ve figured it out, it’s because he likes how Chad’s beard looks. You heard it here first people Al Yellon likes his men a little bearish 
April 3, 2009 at 1:36 pm
STATS DON’T PLAY THE GAMES!!!
April 3, 2009 at 2:02 pm
He just looked good alright Kerm? You just gotta get outside into the sunshine every now and then and then you would understand how 7 baserunners in 2 IP isnt that bad.
April 4, 2009 at 3:15 pm
I agree with Al here. There’s no reason to pay attention to spring training stats and while he seems to be ignoring a few for some strange reason, he’s right to just ignore them. I wouldn’t be happier if by the time I died that nearly every fan ignored spring stats. That will never happen though.
April 5, 2009 at 5:29 pm
i think they count when you are fighting for a job. Its not like Gaudin was out there trying to work on a pitch, he just cant get the job done.
April 5, 2009 at 7:47 pm
But he shouldn’t be fighting for a job with a guy from A ball and a guy with a career ERA like Guzman’s. This is like making Ted Lilly fight it out for a spot in the rotation with Neal Cotts. Actually, it’s more like making Ted Lilly fight it out with Jason Waddell.
April 5, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Gaudin blows. He sucked the minute he came to Chicago and he had over a month to earn a job beating the likes of Guzman and Patton and couldnt do it. That says something.
April 5, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Well, the stats say he doesn’t blow, but OK.
The Cubs made a mistake here, DJ. You’ve got 3 pitchers, one of which has a sizable MLB track record of being average to above average, one who has sucked in limited action and has a hereditary issue with his arm that lands him on the DL (this is why the Royals voided the contract with Guzman after they signed him out of Venezuela), and a 24 year old pitcher from the lower minor leagues.
That’s what we know right now. Maybe the Cubs know something we don’t. MAYBE!!!
This won’t cost the Cubs more than a win so it’s not that big a deal, but it’s more than likely a stupid decision (assuming there isn’t something we don’t know, which is probably true).