Know it from reviews, word-of-mouth, etc.
You optimists may be right.
But I am a cynical bugger. In every walk of life, there are far more talented and able people for a position than there are positions. Some of the best musicians I know, e.g., never got a recording gig. And sports are no exception, although there are those who will tell you that owners/managers whatever are only interested in winning at all costs.
Take Branch Rickey, for example, and an apposite one in this case. He was a heavy-duty Christian and teetotaler. There is an anecdote about him and Durocher that Bill James related in one of his books. Durocher found that giving a certain pitcher a belt of whisky before the game improved the guy's performance greatly. But when Rickey found out about it, he told Leo that the guy "would never play for Brooklyn again." Yet at the same time, as we know, it was Rickey who opened up the floodgates for black talent to play ball.
Owners can be weird, and they have the money to indulge that wierdety as they will.
-- Mal
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