When Jose Canseco finally announced his retirement last week, I thought little of his case for Cooperstown, citing him as a one-dimensional player, with too much of his value wrapped up in a five-year span. However, after reading Joe Sheehan’s Tuesday edition of the Daily Prospectus, I slowly began to rethink my position.
I know I’m supposed to write about the Jeremy Giambi trade. It’s one of the strangest moves we’ve seen in a while, it involves a GM whose praises we’ve been singing for years and a player whose abilities we’ve promoted. Acquiring John Mabry makes no sense from any standpoint for the A’s, a fact I’m sure Chris Kahrl will address in the next Transaction Analysis.
Drafted out of a Baltimore high school in June 1993, Ken Cloude was the Mariners’ top pitching prospect by 1996 and participated in the Mariners’ mound chaos of the late 1990s. Now 27 years old, Cloude is trying to resurrect his career following Tommy John surgery in 2000 and after missing the entire 2001 season with a torn Achilles tendon.
Drafted out of a Baltimore high school in June 1993, Ken Cloude was the Mariners’ top pitching prospect by 1996 and participated in the Mariners’ mound chaos of the late 1990s. Now 27 years old, Cloude is trying to resurrect his career following Tommy John surgery in 2000 and after missing the entire 2001 season…
I know I’m supposed to write about the Jeremy Giambi trade. It’s one of the strangest moves we’ve seen in a while, it involves a GM whose praises we’ve been singing for years and a player whose abilities we’ve promoted. Acquiring John Mabry makes no sense from any standpoint for the A’s, a fact I’m…
When it comes to baseball-related discussion, there are few topics that pique my interest more than ones involving the Hall of Fame. What is the definition of a Hall of Famer, after all? Does anyone really know? If Kirby Puckett is now enshrined in Cooperstown, does that mean Al Oliver should be too? How much…
Before claiming any success for any measure in predicting injury, we must fundamentally recognize that any PAP-style metric will be positively correlated with raw pitch counts. Pitchers with high pitch count totals will tend to have high PAP totals. If a PAP function provides no additional insight into which pitchers will be injured that pitch count totals alone, there is no reason to add the added complexity of a PAP system to our sabermetric arsenal.
Like the Mafia, or bandits like the Dillinger Gang, baseball is organized into loosely affiliated families and crews. Buddy Bell was an old associate of the Hart caporegime, so when he was out of work, he could fall in with some of his old partners in crime in Cleveland.
In my book, you can’t be an All-Star based on six weeks of good play. I absolutely hate that standard for picking All-Stars, and yet every year, we hear that some guy coming off the hottest month of his life should be an All-Star over an established star playing a bit below his level.
There was a lot of feedback on yesterday’s column, which included the All-Star ballot I filled out last Saturday. Almost all of the e-mail dealt with my choices in the AL’s outfield. The "16 outfielders" comment Hyperbole, folks. I wouldn’t really pick J.D. Drew over Manny Ramirez, but I certainly believe the NL has the…
The following article, written by Keith Woolner with Rany Jazayerli, appeared in Baseball Prospectus 2001. Analyzing PAP (Part One) PAP FAQ Table of Contents Long-term injury risk Pitch counts and injuries Data to be studied Identifying Injured Pitchers Defining Comparable Pitchers Career PAP as a Predictor of Injury The Workload Stress Metric The Injury Likelihood…
There are two related effects we are interested in studying. The original intent of PAP was to ascertain whether a pitcher is at risk of injury or permanent reduction in effectiveness due to repeated overwork. And in particular, does PAP (or any similar formula) provide more insight into that risk that simple pitch counts alone?
A good box score answers countless questions. Was it windy, was it wet, how many people were there? Did the wind blow in, did it blow right to left, did it cause home runs? Was it a day game? Who was the home plate umpire? Did he squeeze the strike zone? How many fans showed up, and when were they allowed to leave?
As you read this, remember my standards: I’m looking for the best player, not the guy having the best season, and will generally take the established star unless said star has clearly been passed by someone else.