ATLANTA BRAVES (1998: 826 runs, .275 Equivalent Average) Starters (with projected Equivalent Average) C Javy Lopez .296 1B Ryan Klesko .293 2B Bret Boone .245 3B Chipper Jones .318 SS Walt Weiss .258 LF Otis Nixon .232 / Gerald Williams .242 CF Andruw Jones .300 RF Brian Jordan .294 Bench/Alternatives: OF George Lombard .266, INF…
The way I see it, the husband must have come home about 30 minutes into the LABR-NL draft on Saturday. The only logical explanation for what happened is this: My strategy was apparently sleeping with another man’s wife. While they were together, she heard the door open and realized her husband was home. At that…
ATLANTA BRAVES The real deal: lefty pitchers Bruce Chen and Odalis Perez. Inevitably, both will be overhyped because they’re Braves pitchers, and many observers seem to believe the Braves genetically re-engineer pitchers who enter the organization with Mazzone’s ancient recipe for pitching success. That may make their rookie seasons seem like disappointments if they don’t…
Last week, I delineated some of the reasons you might consider shunning the use of a valuation system in your rotisserie/fantasy leagues this spring. This week, I’ll look at the other side of the coin: why those systems are still very popular. Reason 1: They put method in your madness. Regardless of how you forecast…
ATLANTA BRAVES The bad news about Andres Galarraga has put several Braves players on the spot, and the team’s anxiety over the loss of their top slugger from ’98 has them hitting the trade market. Barring a deal, the spotlight will fall on Ryan Klesko. Klesko actually wanted to make the move to first early…
The start of spring training sets off many rituals for the serious roto player, one of which is the rush to create player valuations. While some fervently favor creating elaborate spreadsheets to assign values based on predicted stats, many rely instead on hand calculations or even intuition and experience. Today, I’ll look at the arguments…
It’s never too early to start preparing for your rotisserie or fantasy draft. OK, December is probably too early, but now is the perfect time to get started. Pitchers and catchers haven’t reported yet, but before you know it, draft day will be upon you, and that day can be made less stressful (and more…
This year’s Rule 5 Draft was like the winter meetings as a whole, in that it wound up being almost completely a non-event. While previous Rule 5 efforts have seen teams snag some real prospects, Ken Phelps All-Stars, or pitchers who suddenly found an extra 8 mph on their fastball change teams, this year’s big…
Overall Standings | Leaders (484 K) | Teams (631 K) The 1997 Overlord of Sensing Stiffness Anything Goes Category Winner: Lazaros T. Volikas In what might be the closest HM race ever, Lazaros Volikas’ Ground Zero squad beat out two other teams (Kevin Lambie’s and Mike Cuccaro’s) by less than 1 point. Lazaros did pick…
If you don’t agree with a pick here and there, that’s OK; half of the authorship probably doesn’t either. As always, we welcome your comments at info@baseballprospectus.com. Catcher Starter: Javier Lopez (Atlanta) Reserves: Jason Kendall (Pittsburgh), Mike Piazza (NY Mets) The real shock here is that Piazza isn’t the starter, but the sad fact is…
ATLANTA BRAVES Optioned pitcher Mark Wohlers to Gulf Coast League Braves (Rookie League). [6/20] Wohlers requested this demotion so he could straighten out his mechanics; although he’s limited batters to a .217 average, he’s walked 18 in 16 innings after walking 38 in 69.1 innings last year and 21 in 77.1 innings in 1996. Kerry…
If there’s a message to take from these buy/hold/sell recommendations, it’s that the smart rotisserie owner doesn’t get all caught up in small sample size statistics. In other words, 100 at bats or 30 innings don’t tell you squat about a guy (unless it’s Ozzie Guillen, in which case 16 at bats tells you all…
Investment-banks issue frequent reports on the stocks they track, making recommendations on the attractiveness of those stocks for various portfolios. We can use the same “buy low/sell high” approach to discuss player trading strategies for rotisserie: trade players on your team who are uncharacteristically hot, and acquire slumping players who are likely to bounce back…
CHICAGO CUBS If any Cub prospect has an impact in the majors this year, it’ll be Kerry Wood, the wunderkind pitching prospect with the blazing fastball and nonexistent control. Cub fans are already clamoring for his immediate promotion, but that’s a bad idea for two reasons: he won’t pitch well in the majors, and he…
As some of you know, the ToutWars experts’ rotisserie league held its NL auction on Saturday at New York’s All-Star Cafe. The 14-team league completed its entire auction in a mere six hours, thanks to some speedy auctioneering by Mike Bikales, and by ignoring basic biological necessities for most of the proceedings. The auction produced…
Recently, newly appointed Phillies General Manager Ed Wade was kind enough to speak to our own Keith Law to discuss issues around player evaluation, player development, and poor Calvin Maduro. BP: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. One issue of interest to us and our readers is how you evaluate players. How…