The News
Baseball Prospectus Hires Managing Editor
For those of you not on a dying or nascent social media site, Patrick Dubuque has joined Baseball Prospectus full time in the role of Managing Editor. What does that mean for you? More Patrick Dubuque, mostly. As omni-present as he’s been on these electronic pages—he started Short Relief, has edited multiple Annuals, written over 1000 articles and improved an unknowable number of others, and is a co-host on the Five & Dive podcast—he’s been doing it all as a second gig. That ended last week when we were finally able to bring him on in a full-time capacity, which will allow him to contribute more (if that were feasible), and more often.
We’re beyond excited to announce this news, and note that we could not have done it without you, our readers and subscribers. The more subscriptions we have, the more we are able to grow our site with talented writers, produce industry-standard metrics, and develop new and exciting tools.
What’s On Tap
Top Prospect Lists
The 2024 Prospect Lists have already started, with the World Series runners up leading off the project. Most lists will go 20 deep, with the Top 10 of each list including a fantasy rundown, plus a personal cheeseball from the primary author of each list. The 25-and-under lists are present as well. The full schedule for upcoming lists can be found here.
The Free Agent 50
The free agent 50 list will be split across two days, with the first installment running tomorrow, and the second half running on Thursday. Each free agent discussed will include a 2024 PECOTA rate projection, along with a reason for optimism and a reason for pessimism, and predictions for each landing spot (including from Randy, the random number generator).
Transaction Analysis
If you missed last winter, good news: offseason transactions before February are back. As is our tradition, BP will always bring you in-depth breakdowns of all the major moves, and probably most of the minor moves, that come across the wire. The fantasy team will continue to compile their own roundups of the action as well, giving context to the latest news.
Fantasy Positional Series
As ever, our fantasy experts will begin their extensive looks at each position, providing breakdowns, positional rankings, dynasty and -Only league analysis, and more for each position around the diamond, starting in January, to help you prepare for your drafts. They’re good men. And thorough.
PECOTA Player Projections
An additional treat for those getting ready for their fantasy leagues: BP is releasing their individual PECOTA player projections earlier than ever before, coming out in mid-December. This won’t include a standings release, since even with a revived hot stove most teams will still be looking to put their rosters together.
Offseason Series
The offseason is a time to rest, relax, and spend too much time cracking open that holiday bag of mixed nuts that seemed like such a good idea at the store. It’s also a time for our authors, unburdened by the demands of actual baseball, to do some research and tell some good stories. Here are some of the epics that you’ll enjoy over the course of the winter:
TA94
Along with all our current transactions, beginning this Friday Patrick Dubuque will begin a series of retrospective transaction analysis, breaking down the news that was during the 1993-94 offseason. It was a tumultuous time for the sport, when early sabermetric thinking was starting to bleed into front office decision-making. The series will review what people thought at the time, and what they should have thought, with 30 years of analytical thinking shining down on it.
Flyover Country
BP alum Matthew Trueblood returns to our pages with a twice-weekly series concentrating on the forgotten class of MLB: the Central divisions, who more than ever are going through transition, upheaval, and even crisis. Each week the series will zero in on how these teams are struggling to keep up with their rivals on the coasts, while considering the demographic challenges that will determine their future.
The Bronx is Yearning
Former BP EIC Steve Goldman and staff writer Dan Epstein will conduct a multi-part breakdown of the Cashman administration, using a wide-angle lens to review the franchise from its late-90s dynasty to whatever word is the opposite of a dynasty.
Least Dominant Teams of All-Time
Last year, Goldman and Rob Mains combined to undertake a massive project: chronicling the 101 Most Dominant Teams of All-Time. It was a massive undertaking and a massive success, and this year they’ll reprise the effort with a slightly less epic one. Instead, they’ll use the same tools to write about the worst and the most despondent clubs in baseball history, as determined by the impartial scales of Pure Math.
BP360
Our yearly package of an annual subscription, the BP Annual, and a t-shirt (plus a Futures Guide for those that choose it) will be back. An announcement will come shortly as to the specific dates and package info. As a reminder, an annual subscription (either through BP360 or not) will get you access to literally every item mentioned above, and more for less than $4 per month.
Thank you for reading
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I remember hearing tell of a "BP Reviews the 80s" book or something like that once upon a time, and I've always wished it had seen the light of day. TA 94 sounds like the next best thing.
And speaking of a book, as the commenter who I think most frequently mentioned how excited he would be to have the 100 most dominant teams series in book form, I will now say that a combination 100 most and least dominant teams book would be twice as awesome.
Thanks in advance.