How to Justify Team Personnel Decisions

By David Smith (on Twitter at @DavidSmithMA)
October 8, 2012

Without knowing the insider details is it possible to decide whether a sporting transaction is a good one? It might not be possible for a mere fan to know all of the intimate details of a messy driver-team divorce or learn the full blow-by-blow account of a negotiation, but one could quickly know a team’s justification for such a move simply by following the following criteria:

1. Does signing Driver X make the team better?
2. Does signing Driver X make the team younger?
3. Does signing Driver X make the team cheaper?

If none of the three criteria are met, then the personnel decision is simply not logical.

(This works in other sports. You can substitute “Player” for “Athlete” and deduce whether your favorite team’s general manager is shrewd or a total boob.)

At this point in NASCAR’s “Silly Season,” pickings are starting to become slim. The major transactions that have taken place ... Read More

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MotorsportsAnalytics.com is a subscription-based web site that brings advanced statistical concepts created for evaluating drivers and teams to the every day race fan. The web site has been featured in USA Today and Sports Business Daily and on SiriusXM Satellite Radio’s NASCAR Channel.

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David Smith is the Editor-in-Chief of Motorsports Analytics and the host of The David Smith Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @DavidSmithMA.