Soccer Silicon Valley Blog

Perhaps the most interesting thing in the story in the insight that's provided into Beane's thinking regarding the evaluation of athletes, whether they're playing baseball or soccer.

"Everybody in sport is using some sort of objective analysis," Beane said. "The biggest key is collecting and utilizing data that is linear to winning games."

The most obvious hurdle is the dearth of statistical data in soccer as compared to baseball.

"I'm too respectful of the sport to say I have the formula for success," Beane said. "But it's something we'd like to explore."

Essentially, Beane's thinking is this: there are practically an unlimited number of ways to measure an athlete's performance (peak heart rate, respiration rate, and speed in the 40 yard dash, just to name a few, or baseball-specific stats such as on base percentage, runs scored, total bases, etc.). While all these statistics tell us something, some are more important than others. The measurable traits that will have a direct correlation to the desired outcome on the field are what Beane refers to as "data that is linear to winning games."

We are reminded of the 49ers 1980's experiment with Renaldo Nehemiah, then the world record holder in the 110 meter hurdles. Nehemiah was a well-rounded athlete—he is the only four-time winner of ABC-TV's "Superstars" competition—but never put up big numbers on the football field. What trait did he lack? What was it about Jerry Rice that made his talents "linear to winning games" in a way that Nehemiah's were not?

We don't know, but if there's a way to measure what makes a striker world-class, it sounds like Beane is interested in finding it.

In other news, former San Jose star Eddie Lewis is finally going to get his chance to play in the Premiership. He was just sold by financially troubled Leeds United to Derby County, where he'll join up-and-coming American midfielder Benny Feilhaber. Congrats to Eddie.