Love to read shit like this.




Cubs, partner building new 'Carmine'

By Paul Sullivan, Tribune reporter

4:02 p.m. CST, January 12, 2012


The Cubs’ version of Carmine the computer will be a collaborative effort between the organization and Bloomberg Sports.

Basically, the technology company will design the program, and the Cubs will customize it to their specifications, sort of like “Pimp My Computer.”

When Theo Epstein was general manager in Boston, the organization called their software program “Carmine.” But when he arrived in Chicago last October as the Cubs president of baseball operations, Epstein was forced to leave Carmine in Fenway Park.

The Cubs’ system was not “up to speed” with the rest of Major League Baseball, Epstein said, leading to the partnership with Bloomberg Sports.

“All companies have information management systems, whether you’re a bank or a bakery,” Epstein said. “For a baseball team these days, it’s usually software that helps you manage scouting reports, statistical information, medical information, contract information and incorporate video and have it at your fingertips. The quicker you can get the information, the better you can analyze it and the better you can do your job.

“Coming here from the outside, we realized we need to upgrade the information management system we have. We had a decision on whether to hire some programmers and build them from scratch, but in the end we decided Bloomberg really represented a great partner for us. They have an excellent product as it is, and they’re going to allow us tremendous flexibility as to how we’re going to customize it going forward to keep our proprietary information. Seems like the best solution to get us up to speed with the rest of the industry and hopefully make it cutting edge so we can be the industry leader.”

Bloomberg Sports creates analytic software products like “MLB Front Office,” which is used by those who play fantasy baseball. Before Epstein arrived, the Cubs already had a manager of statistical analysis, Ari Kaplan, who was hired as a stats guru of sorts.

Epstein hasn’t had a chance to work much with Kaplan yet, focusing on revamping the roster.

“I’m still getting to know him,” Epstein said. “I haven’t had a lot of time to spend with him yet. I’ve seen some projects that he’s worked on. It’ll be nice once we get through this winter period, the transaction period. We can all sit down and share our philosophies and get on the same page going forward in that regard. Ari has been here a couple years and it’d be nice to see his work and get to know him a little better.”

COLOR ME EXCITED!!!!

Haven't heard someone get this excited over a piece of technology since Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone

We knew it was coming.