I spent most of Thursday battling Bay Area traffic, largely because my wife and I had tickets to go catch the Padres/Giants finale out at Pacific Bell Park. Pac Bell is really a great place to see a ballgame, and would pretty much be perfect if it weren’t for the fact that I loathe its…
This week’s question comes from Joel Wirth: Plenty is made about players pre- and post-All-Star Break numbers, but what I’m interested in our "cool" and "hot" weather splits. Who does significantly better/worse in June, July, and August compared to April, May, and September/October? Thanks. Thanks for the question, Joel. We often hear about players who…
Yes, that’s right: All-Stars. A year ago, during the inaugural season of The Daily Prospectus, I explained my rationale for selecting my All-Stars in early June, about a month before the actual teams are announced. I believe the All-Star Game is for the true superstars of the sport, and my selections do not hinge primarily…
When I was growing up in Half Moon Bay, California, I went to school "over the hill" in nearby Belmont (for elementary and junior high) and Atherton (for high school). As a result, I didn’t really know anyone in Half Moon Bay (my friends lived close to school), and spent a lot of time on…
Before the din of their World Championship celebration died down last year, Chris Chambliss was fired from his job as the hitting coach for the New York Yankees. He resurfaced this spring as manager of Florida’s Triple-A team, the Calgary Cannons. Chambliss is probably the most qualified managerial candidate in baseball today, but has yet…
Right now, 30 major-league organizations are making decisions that will impact the success of their franchise over the next few years, and in some cases, for a decade or more. Unlike the football and basketball versions, though, the annual draft of young talent doesn’t receive national television coverage or make men with good hair and…
Part One This continues our update on how the first round of last year’s draft is performing this season. We’re not assigning grades or drawing conclusions. For a look at a draft from a few years out, I highly recommend John Sickels’s piece on the 1996 draft, available from ESPN.com. Billy Traber, Mets. Traber is…
The annual "First-Year Player" draft is occurring as you read this. Baseball’s draft, unlike the football and basketball ones, brings in players who don’t make an impact at the major-league level for a few years. Even the most polished college draftees do not generally appear in the majors for at least a year. Even if…
One of the those short-attention-span days… The Orioles are just 6 1/2 games out of first place in the AL East. They were actually playing .500 ball until becoming the latest victims of the Seattle Freaking Demigods a week ago. Now, a good chunk of their season has come at the expense of the Devil…
ON STADIA As you state, prior to 2000 teams that moved into new stadia tended to be good ones. You might check attendance figures for this season at Comerica Park. Granted the weather has not been good, but allowing for unoccupied season tickets counted as attendance, it’s hard to claim that fans are flocking to…
PEDRO VS. YANKEES "I don’t believe in curses. Wake up the Bambino and I’ll face him. Maybe I’ll drill him in the ass. Pardon the bad word." —Pedro Martinez, Red Sox pitcher, on the Curse "I’m starting to hate talking about the Yankees. The questions are so stupid. They’re wasting my time. It’s getting kind…
About two week ago, I was feeling pretty smug, having watched the Cubs drop seven in a row to fall out of first place in the NL Central. I was pretty sure their April was fluky, the product of good months by random retreads like Jason Bere and Jeff Fassero. Mind you, I had a…
We’re getting close to this year’s Cooperstown festivities, when the media’s attention turns to grainy footage of the newly enshrined and the current travails of Peter Edward Rose. And what of Pete these days? Rose has been trying to build public support for his enshrinement nearly non-stop for more than a decade. Well, perhaps not…