This time around, the remaining quartet gives voice to their observations and analysis.
Our five remaining contestants only had a few hours to write their entries for this week.
We’re putting more in the hands of our six remaining contestants, as they pick their topic from baseball history this week.
The seven contestants pick a player to profile and take their shot at a BP staple.
The remaining eight contestants have a look at baseball beyond or below the major leagues.
Taking a spin in the fantasy realm, our nine contestants take their shot at providing fantasy players with takeaways for their own leagues.
In our opening week of the competition, our contestants are getting back to basics.
Code of Conduct for Baseball Prospectus comments.
Brad Ausmus may have fallen short of the World Series, but he was an integral part of this year’s HACKING MASS champion.
The 2003 HACKING MASS All-Star team is a fetching mixture of the young and the old; the highly-regarded defensively with a sprinkling of butchers thrown in; members of good teams and members of awful ones. Elderly Astros catcher (and recipient of a brand-new two-year contract) Brad Ausmus, young Dodgers glove merchant Cesar Izturis, Most Valuable Player and Texas Ranger Colby Lewis, and Blue Jay starter Cory Lidle, who missed his traditional second-half stretch of high-octane pitching, all scored in the triple digits. White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko, Orioles third baseman Tony Batista, Expos center fielder Endy Chavez, Athletics right fielder Jermaine Dye, and Lewis and Lidle were all selected for fewer than five HACKING MASS squads. A perfect roster was worth 937 points in 2003.
The 17th installment of Joe Sheehan’s excellent newsletter appeared in my inbox last night, and it featured analysis of the big, weird Rockies-Marlins-Braves deal that was hinted at last week and finally agreed upon–pending approval from the commissioner’s office–this weekend. In analyzing the deal, Joe puts the Rockies in the winner’s column and gives the Marlins a goose egg.
Let’s say you’re a pitcher of some repute, and you’re making mad cash at the front end of a long-term contract. You signed with a mediocre team that plays in a hostile environment as part of Revision 12 of that team’s ongoing quest to solve the riddle of their home field.
As you’ve probably seen, the Player Cards are back. We’ll be working with this feature as time permits during book-writing season to make it more useful and user-friendly, and we’ll gladly consider any thoughts you have on the matter. Please see Clay’s article for more details and contact information.
Having resolved that pesky AL West issue, one of the most interesting races left is in Milwaukee. Brewers shortstop Jose Hernandez is fighting inconsistent playing time and a fickle manager to set the all-time strikeout record; as of today, he’s stuck on 188, just one shy of Bobby Bonds’ major-league season record.
It’s not much of a secret that we’re strongly pro-player in baseball’s labor disputes–a quick look at the contents of the Baseball Prospectus Baseball Labor and Economics page will tell you that. Some of us are more interested in the business side of things than others, but we’ve discussed these issues amongst ourselves and we’re pretty much all on the same side of the fence.
Unlike some of my partners in crime here at BP, I won’t froth about labor issues without some serious provocation. While I believe the owners lie about their financial situation with reckless abandon and wield the relocation/contraction stick with all the subtlety of “The West Wing,” I can’t get too righteously indignant about it.
I was hoping you would do a take on the drag bunt by Ben Davis that broke up Curt Schilling’s perfect game. Dave Campbell seems to feel that since the NL West is close, it was acceptable. I’m torn; I understand the point of the game is to win, but Curt Schilling, probably more than…