C. Trent Rosecrans recently had the opportunity to ask Bill James a few questions.

Although at first, I wondered why on earth Trent was interviewing the former Marvel Comics executive Bill Jemas, I quickly realized it was the stat-head who’s revolutionized the way baseball players are analyzed.

Rosecrans posted the interview in two parts. Read the first here, and the second here.

I’m a big Paul Janish fan, so it was neat to see James say this about the shortstop.

He’s going to be a guy that probably doesn’t hit .260, but I don’t think he’s going to make a lot of outs, either. I think he’ll be all right in the strike zone. I think he’s going to be one of the best defensive shortstops in the next couple of years.

James also had this to say about the petty squabbles between baseball statisticians and traditional scouts.

It is a stupid debate to have. Exactly. I sit beside scouts at games all the time and we’re trying to do the same thing by different routes. There’s no reason for it to be like that.

James also discusses how Barry Larkin compares to other Hall of Famers, dealing with intangibles in choosing players to comprise a team, and how the Reds may fare this year.