Free Erubiel Durazo! Last I looked, Erubiel Durazo had more HR and RBI than Mark Grace, despite being the backup and being banished to the minors for a time. It’ll be amusing to see how long the D’backs will stubbornly play Grace. They are unwilling to admit they made a mistake, no matter how much…
Changing the Game I’m doing a term paper on the subject of competitive balance, and I was hoping you could help me out. What, if anything, should be done to improve competitive balance in baseball? What do you make of Bob Costas’s Fair Ball proposal (a salary cap and floor combined with increased revenue sharing…
Each edition of the annual Baseball Prospectus covers more than 1,600 players, with full Davenport Translations and comments. Even with that kind of blanket coverage, every year players who miss the cut for the book make the cut in spring training, finding their way onto major-league rosters. Our staff has collected DTs and player comments…
National League East JeffBower ClayDavenport JeffHildebrand GaryHuckabay RanyJazayerli ChrisKahrl KeithLaw AtlantaBraves 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 New YorkMets 2 2 2 3 2 1 3 FloridaMarlins 3 4 3 2 4 4 4 MontrealExpos 4 5 5 4 3 3 2 PhiladelphiaPhillies 5 3 4 5 5 5 5 MatOlkin DavePease JoeSheehan MichaelWolverton…
American League East JeffBower ClayDavenport JeffHildebrand GaryHuckabay RanyJazayerli ChrisKahrl KeithLaw New YorkYankees 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 BostonRed Sox 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 TorontoBlue Jays 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 Tampa BayDevil Rays 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 BaltimoreOrioles 5 5 5 5 5 5 5…
It’s the Management, Stupid As an investment analyst and former economics student, I particularly enjoyed your use of risk/reward concepts in this column. It has been proven time and time again that economic efficiency is greatest where good management is rewarded and poor management is punished. This is the beauty of our system of economics….
TOP 40 PROSPECTS Where’s Aubrey Huff? Is he off the list because Tampa Bay hasn’t moved Vinny Castilla yet? — Kenneth Shankland No, he’s off the list because we got confused. This is as good a time as any to make a confession: in the process of compiling our Top Prospect list, we somehow got…
On Tuesday, Baseball Prospectus announced its Top 40 Prospects for 2001. The driving force behind that list is Rany Jazayerli, but the good doctor gets input from everyone on the BP staff. Below is a sampling of the discussions that took place in December, when the list was being compiled. Rany Jazayerli: Here is my…
This week, Baseball Prospectus 2001 will be released to bookstores nationwide. As always, the book will contain our list of the top 40 prospects in baseball, as compiled by Rany Jazayerli, along with Jazayerli’s commentary on each player. To celebrate the release of the book, for the first time ever we are announcing our Top…
NOT GETTING HIS DUE It seems obvious to me that the attention Dave Parker receives in comparison to other players, and particularly to Jim Rice, has much to do with where they played. When Parker was the focal point of his team it was when he played for the Pirates. I think it’s fair to…
While Chris Kahrl pecks away at his latest Transaction Analysis (look for it this weekend), here’s a look at how the Baseball Prospectus staff broke down last week’s gathering in Dallas. Pennsylvania Blues Keith Law: Can I revise my Pirates essay to make it a comparison of Cam Bonifay to the average Palm Beach County…
While Willie Hernandez’s 1984 season was awe-inspiring, and deserves to be placed on a pedestal somewhere, I don’t think it is the greatest single season by a lefty closer. Consider Billy Wagner’s 1999 numbers: 74.7 IP 35 H 23 BB 13 ER (!) 124 SO (!!) 1.57 ERA 39 Saves Here are the same numbers…
Lost between the Mike Hampton and Alex Rodriguez signings was Monday’s annual Rule 5 draft. The major-league portion allows teams to select players left off 40-man rosters for $50,000, with the caveat that the player must be kept on the 25-man roster all season or be offered back to his original team for $25,000. The…
(Note: this contest is over, and the winner is being determined now. We’ll print the best of what we got early next week.) The Hot Stove League is now open for business. It’s a time for would-be contenders to improve themselves, for GMs to make moves and for sports-radio callers to second-guess them. It’s a…
Baseball Prospectus 2001 Do you know when next year’s book will be published? Will it be available again for advance purchase from Amazon? Also, will your group of authors be posting any analysis of the Arizona Fall League on the web site? –MT We expect the book to be available at the end of January….