Regular readers know that we don’t have much time for the bleating about how "small-market teams" can’t compete in today’s game. The argument might get a listen if MLB’s braintrust and owners would stop trying to call places like Houston and Detroit small markets, but since it’s more about public relations and political blackmail than…
Continuing–and finally finishing–our discussion of last year’s great prospects, we conclude with the rest of the players who made only one Top 40 list, either that of Baseball America or John Sickels. There were eight players on Baseball America‘s Top 40 list who missed our own and John Sickels’s. Of those, three (Corey Patterson, Mark…
This past weekend, I took a break from baseball–I generally need one or two a year–and flew out to Las Vegas for a few days of college basketball and checking out the sights. Honestly, it was the last place I expected to get an idea for a column. But Sunday, I came across two people…
The BP crew discusses the implications of a rumored plan to redistribute baseball’s teams.
In the four-and-a-half years that Baseball Prospectus has been around, we’ve touted a number of players who, for one reason or another, have caught our collective eyes. This spring is turning out to be a good one for some of our pets, who are playing well and even in danger of winning major-league jobs. At…
Arizona Diamondbacks The reigning division champion’s lineup is largely set. The one competition is in right field, vacated by leadoff hitter Tony Womack‘s move to shortstop. Former halo-wearer Travis Lee has to be considered the front-runner for the position, but David Dellucci and Bernard Gilkey are being given looks as well. If either Lee or…
Tuesday evening, the Braves’ John Rocker pitched for the first time this year, tossing a 1-2-3 inning against the Detroit Tigers. As you might have heard or read somewhere, Mr. Rocker got a late start to his spring, part of his punishment for saying some not-so-nice things about…well, just about everyone. Originally suspended for a…
ERA Central? OK, so it’s not as sexy a moniker as "Home Run Central," but this division doesn’t just have big bats as its calling card. Sure, all the midwinter hype was over the trade of center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. to Cincinnati, putting the three most heralded longball artists of the post-strike era in…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Assigned OFs Darren Blakely, Nathan Haynes and Juan Tolentino and IF Brian Oliver to their minor-league camp. [3/8] No surprises here, as the Angels demote two of their latest Norm Hutchins clones (Blakely and Tolentino), and the lone prospect they got from the A’s in the Oliveras/Velarde deal. Haynes may yet grow up…
SPRING TRAINING “It was beautiful to get that first hit in a Pirate uniform. It feels good to play that first game. You don’t really feel like you’re part of the team until you play in a game.” — Wil Cordero, Pirates outfielder “I like challenges. Pudge [Rodriguez] is one of the players I like…
We’ve taken a fine-toothed comb to our own list of prospects from last season, but in order to get the complete picture, we need to look at the prospects who didn’t make our list, not just the ones who did. For every one of our Top 40 Prospects who neither Baseball America nor John Sickels…
Late in 1999, we asked our readers to give us their picks for baseball’s Team of the 1990s. More than 1,000 people voted in the poll, held over three months, and the results have been tabulated. Over the next two weeks, we’ll present to you the Baseball Prospectus Team of the 1990s. First, the infielders:…