Evaluating Matt Cain

Wednesday, February 6, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

When most teams evaluate players, they gather opinions, believing that within the range of observations there will either be consensus or individual insight in dissent that is telling. It's sort of like a Supreme Court decision: A good dissent might be worth as much, in the long run, as the majority opinion.

This season, we'll collect thoughts on players in the same manner, from scouts, general managers, assistant general managers, coaches and managers. The subject this time around: The Giants' Matt Cain, who is coming off a season in which he went 7-16. He is 23 years old, with a career record of 22-29, and a 3.73 ERA.  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

    Ask Buster a question: Buster's Mailbag

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