Editing Bill James (section)

==="Replaceable players" controversy===

On November 7, 2018, James participated in a [[Twitter]] conversation regarding comments made by agent [[Scott Boras]] about teams "[[Tanking (sports)|tanking]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2018/11/07/red-sox-senior-advisor-bill-james-thinks-all-baseball-players-are-replaceable/ |publisher=[[NBC Sports]] |date=November 7, 2018 |title=Red Sox senior advisor Bill James thinks all baseball players are replaceable}}</ref> James wrote:<blockquote>If the players all retired tomorrow, we would replace them, the game would go on; in three years it would make no difference whatsoever. The players are NOT the game, any more than the beer vendors are.</blockquote>This was arguably consistent with thoughts James had publicly expressed prior to his affiliation with the Red Sox. In an article in ''The 1988 Bill James Baseball Abstract'', he had written:<blockquote>This nation could support, without any detectable loss of player quality, at a very, very minimum, 200 major league teams.<ref>{{cite book |last= James |first= Bill |title= The 1988 Bill James Baseball Abstract |publisher = [[Ballantine Books]] | isbn= 0-345-35171-1 | page= 21}}</ref></blockquote>Nonetheless, in the context of James's association with the Red Sox front office and baseball's checkered labor history (including alleged collusion amongst the owners in the previous offseason to curb free agent salaries<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sportsagentblog.com/2018/11/08/guest-post-continued-collusion-predicted-for-2018-19-mlb-free-agent-class-jeff-borris |publisher=Sports Agent Blog |date=November 8, 2018 |title=Continued Collusion Predicted for 2018-19 MLB Free Agent Class}}</ref>), the tweets were taken by many as inflammatory. [[Major League Baseball Players Association]] executive director [[Tony Clark]] called James's comments "reckless and insulting".<ref name="nytimes-replaceable">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/sports/bill-james-twitter.html |publisher=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 8, 2018 |title=Bill James, No Stranger to Controversy, Believes His Current One Is ‘Unfortunate’}}</ref> Other active or former players also objected.<ref name="nytimes-replaceable" /> James told the ''New York Times'':<blockquote>I don't know that the idea that the game endures and we're all just passing through it is inherently an offensive idea. But if I phrased it in an offensive way, that was not my intention.<ref name="nytimes-replaceable" /></blockquote>The Red Sox responded by issuing a statement saying:<blockquote>Bill James is a consultant to the Red Sox. He is not an employee, nor does he speak for the club. His comments on Twitter were inappropriate and do not reflect the opinions of the Red Sox front office or its ownership group. Our Championships would not have been possible without our incredibly talented players — they are the backbone of our franchise and our industry. To insinuate otherwise is absurd.<ref name="nytimes-replaceable" /></blockquote>