Prospectus Feature

Prospectus Feature: Touring the Minors: Organizational Overview: Los Angeles Dodgers

Even as they take the lead in the wild card race, the Los Angeles Dodgers are dying. Only Jim Tracy's magic keeps the Dodgers from seeing how chronic their situation is. In Tracy's short time as a major league manager, he has demonstrated a gift for turning others' garbage into gold. Just as Chavez Ravine (park factor 91) makes Dodger pitchers look better than they are, it conceals just how well Tracy has done with the hitters he has been given.

Prospectus Feature: Breaking Balls: Unbalanced

by Derek Zumsteg 8/08

People complain that it's unfair to some teams chasing the wild card. Perhaps, but with "natural rivalries" and bizarre interleague schedules, fairness has already been tossed out the window.

Prospectus Feature: Touring the Minors: Organizational Overview of the St. Louis Cardinals

by Keith Scherer 8/07

Before the Chuck Finley deal, the Cardinals had only one hitting prospect. Now they have none.

Prospectus Feature: Baseball’s Brave New World

by Gary Gillette 6/21

To test your mettle, we're offering a quiz on contraction. Let's see how closely you've been paying attention and how well you understand the new math that Major League Baseball has unveiled during its current round of labor negotiations.

Prospectus Feature: Touring the Minors: Goin’ Through Mobile

by Keith Scherer 6/12

If there's no such thing as a pitching prospect, why can't we keep them off our lists?

Prospectus Feature: Draft 2001: The First Round

by Joe Sheehan 6/05

The First-Year Player Draft concludes today. The annual allocation of teenaged baseball talent is a decidedly inexact science, especially in a year, like this one, with no clear top tier of players. Just for fun, let's take a look at the first round of last year's draft and get an idea of how well that crop is doing.

Prospectus Feature: Sifting Through the Discount Bin

by Jonah Keri 6/05

Every year the shrewdest teams reach into the dollar store bargain bin, hoping to find the mint-condition Boba Fett Blaster (still in its original packaging!). Modest success means finding a warm body who will ensure you don't have to sign the next Kevin Young to a mega-contract. All it takes is finding a player a hair above replacement level and you've done your job while potentially saving a few million bucks in the process. If you're really smartï¿½and let's face it, luckyï¿½you find that rare gem who offers a major improvement over your incumbent. Better still, finding a bargain lets a team use its resources for other needs. The 10 players below all make $4 million or less this year.

Prospectus Feature: 6-4-3: Rounding the Bases

by Gary Huckabay 5/24

Ok, so Mike Piazza says he's not gay. Bobby Valentine says that MLB's ready to deal with an openly gay player. Mike Timlin says he's already knowingly played with a gay player. Steve Phillips says that statistically, you'd expect a gay player in every clubhouse. He also encapsulates a lot of good thinking on the subject by saying "Who cares?"

Prospectus Feature: The Daily Prospectus: Heading Out

by Joe Sheehan 5/24

I wouldn't say I'm going through the motions on this one, but I know that half the country is already gone for the weekend, and the other half is just waiting for the boss to give the signal. I'm headed to Fresno myself, in part to see my friends and their new baby, in part to catch the Grizzlies in their new park on Saturday. I'm writing this as packing activity goes on around me.

Prospectus Feature: Jose Canseco and the Keltner List

by Ryan Wilkins 5/23

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.

Prospectus Feature: The Daily Prospectus: The Trade

by Joe Sheehan 5/23

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.

Prospectus Feature: Analyzing PAP (Part Two)

by Keith Woolner 5/22

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.

Prospectus Feature: The Daily Prospectus: AL Outfielders

by Joe Sheehan 5/22

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.

Prospectus Feature: Analyzing PAP (Part One)

by Keith Woolner 5/21

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?

Prospectus Feature: Box Work: Rally Killers

by Keith Scherer 5/21

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?

Prospectus Feature: The Daily Prospectus: All-Stars

by Joe Sheehan 5/21

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.