Overthinking It

Overthinking It: Are the Phillies Too Old to Win?

The defending NL East champs should gather their titles while they may, since the same Phillies that flower today tomorrow will be dying.

Overthinking It: The Power of Park Effects

by Ben Lindbergh 3/22

Which hitters and pitchers were helped or hurt most by their ballparks last season?

Overthinking It: Moving Miguel

by Ben Lindbergh 3/20

The Tigers are testing the old adage that you can never go back again by shifting Miguel Cabrera back to third base, but is there any precedent to suggest that the move might work?

Overthinking It: Free the Bench Bats!

by Ben Lindbergh 3/15

Several overqualified players might be riding the pine while a pricier, less productive veteran hogs their position on Opening Day, but they deserve to be starting.

Overthinking It: The Once and Future Starters

by Ben Lindbergh 3/12

Neftali Feliz, Daniel Bard, Chris Sale, Aroldis Chapman, and Aaron Crow are all bidding farewell to the bullpen this spring. Are their teams making the right move, and which convert has the best chance of success?

Overthinking It: The Weakest Positions on 2012’s Best Teams

by Ben Lindbergh 3/02

Pinpointing the positions with the worst projections on this season's likely contending clubs.

Overthinking It: The Most Improved Positions of 2012

by Ben Lindbergh 2/27

Which teams are likely to see significantly more production from their new players at positions in need of improvement?

Overthinking It: The All-NRI Team

by Ben Lindbergh 2/16

Non-roster invitees are swarming to spring training, but do these players ever pan out? Ben looks for an answer in the best of last season's NRI crop

Overthinking It: The Overlooked Overlooked Hall of Famers

by Ben Lindbergh 2/02

Why have two of the top 30 position players since 1950 been ignored by BBWAA voters and bloggers alike?

Overthinking It: Managing Expectations: Baseball’s Next Big Inefficiency

by Ben Lindbergh 1/31

Why the next big step for baseball teams might not be learning something new, but making better use of the information they already have.

Overthinking It: The Player Popularity Test

by Ben Lindbergh 1/24

Proposing a new way to settle an old debate about which players get too much attention and which are overlooked.

Overthinking It: Jorge Posada, the Hall of Fame, and the Fog of WARP

by Ben Lindbergh 1/17

As new technology continues to change how we evaluate players, Jorge Posada's Hall of Fame case might hinge as heavily on what we don't know about him as what we do.

Overthinking It: What Happens When the Big Ones Get Away?

by Ben Lindbergh 1/10

What can the records of previous playoff teams that lost their best players tell us about what life after Pujols will be like for St. Louis?

Overthinking It: GMs Say the Darndest Things

by Ben Lindbergh 12/29

Before you believe everything your team's general manager says, remember these great moments in GM-speak, featuring half-truths, misdirections, and statements that turned out to be false.

Overthinking It: Keeping Up with the Friedmans

by Ben Lindbergh 12/20

If EVERYONE has a brilliant GM, does ANYONE have a brilliant GM? Or are standout GMs going the way of .400 hitters?

Overthinking It: Baseball, Sex, and Sheet Music

by Ben Lindbergh 12/13

Lou Gehrig put out less often than he made out, getting on base in the batter's box helps you get on base in the bedroom, taking a girl to a game is the best way to beat birth control, and other lessons I learned from old-timey baseball songs. (Caution: some adult themes.)