People familiar with economics will know of Daniel Kahneman's and Amos Tversky's 2002 Nobel winning theory. Kahneman and Tversky's studies deal with instinctual psychological behavior and when people are willing to take risks that they otherwise would not. The two studied how individuals given a pair of scenarios would choose risk-seeking behavior in one but later choose risk-avoiding behavior when the exact same scenario was formulated differently.
For example, if you were given a hundred dollars, but had the choice of giving up that hundred to flip a coin and get two-hundred-fifty dollars or nothing depending on the outcome of that flip would you take the coin toss or pocket the certain Benjamin?
But let's say instead you had to give up that hundred for certain, but could opt out of this with a flip to lose nothing or lose two-hundred-fifty. Would you take the coin flip then or just go ahead and give away the hundred dollars?
The trick of course is that they're essentially the same problem, with the same values but from different perspectives. The same people given both scenarios will often choose the riskier behavior in the latter scenario and the more conservative approach in the former. The study implies that humans have extreme difficulty overcoming certain scavenging instincts to actually make decisions based on rational observance.
Prospect Theory, therefore, deals more with one's perception of risk than of actual risk. So what I want to talk about as this pertains to the Rockies is that in evaluating personnel moves of late I am most frequently coming to the conclusion that the Rockies' front office behaves as if they are always in a losing scenario and seem to make moves based almost exclusively on avoiding further loss rather than anticipating future returns. I feel as long as this is the case, the team won't be able to gain any sort of advantage over other clubs in the league as they will be making moves that can only dig them deeper into the quagmire they're wanting out of. I must say I was encouraged that they didn't bite on the Nationals offer to take Preston Wilson while we pay him, and cutting Denny Neagle loose felt like a significant step as well, but again these were both moves calculated to maintain the leaky ship rather than building the new one. Anyway, what I want to discuss in the pregame is how do the Rockies change their perspective so they are pro-actively building a contender around their youth rather than patching a failing franchise in hopes the youth someday turn it around? Or what moves can the Rockies make that are forward and maybe risky but perhaps necessary for their future? Finally what risks, if any, are the Rockies avoiding that maybe they should reconsider taking, or conversely what risks are they taking that are best left alone?
Anyway, please feel free to comment if you have a suggestion.