Following the 2000 season, the minor leagues underwent dozens of changes. Organizations changed their affiliations within leagues, moved their affiliates from one league to another, and jumped and bumped teams between levels. Along with the reconfigurations, there will be several new parks throughout the minor leagues. What follows below is a delineation of the changes,…
Yesterday was another hallmark day for baseball fans, as teams throughout Florida and Arizona played the spring’s first full slate of exhibition games. And while no conclusions can be drawn from one day’s worth of baseball, enough interesting things happened to make for a fun day: In Peoria, Ariz., the new strike zone claimed its…
So you may have heard that the NBA is having its own small-market problem. Yes, salary cap and all, the vaunted NBA is suffering from a post-Jordan malaise that is about to take one of the league’s two newest franchises, the Vancouver Grizzlies, on the road to a new home. And the league’s commissioner, David…
Part One Now that we’ve released this season’s Top 40 Prospects list, it is time to return to a tradition we started last season, to objectively evaluate our list from a year ago and see what we can learn. As we did last season, we will compare our ranking of each player with the ranking…
Over the past week we’ve seen many stories about greedy players. Jayson Stark’s "Rumblings and Grumblings" column on ESPN.com listed the principal complainers as Gary Sheffield, Barry Bonds, and Frank Thomas. A feature on ESPN’s "SportsCenter" about the complaints featured clips of the same three players. Even our staff has recently castigated Sheffield and Thomas…
It’s the Management, Stupid As an investment analyst and former economics student, I particularly enjoyed your use of risk/reward concepts in this column. It has been proven time and time again that economic efficiency is greatest where good management is rewarded and poor management is punished. This is the beauty of our system of economics….
Last week Gary Sheffield whined about his contract, griped about respect, and completely negated his team’s ability to abide by his wishes and trade him by stating he’ll only go to one of three teams, and that he doesn’t want to be traded for a superstar. Now, Frank Thomas has gotten into the act, missing…
SUCKERS "This is not a money story. What this is is a human interest story about the character of a bunch of guys who were willing to make sacrifices." — Jerry Colangelo, Diamondbacks managing general partner, on convincing 10 players to defer portions of their salaries for the supposedly cash-poor franchise "You can talk about…
A project with the long, slow development curve of Baseball Prospectus has any number of heroes. Many of the names you know: Gary Huckabay, Chris Kahrl and Clay Davenport have been among the core players in the group since its inception in 1995. Other people have been less visible, but just as valuable at various…
Curt Schilling is never at a loss for words, and unlike a lot of athletes (and actors and other Famous People™) who like to sound off to the media, he often has something of substance to say. Last week was no different, when ESPN.com posted a 2,400-word essay by the Diamondbacks’ hurler, focusing on the…
The dark time between the end of the World Series and the time pitchers and catchers report has mercifully come to an end. Arms have been dragged to Arizona and Florida, and beat writers, pundits, and integrated B2B/B2C Baseball Content Provision Weasels (read: us) are looking to fill space until games start being played. There’s…
Dodgers left fielder Gary Sheffield has demanded that the team trade him, citing a lack of appreciation by the team. It’s not just any trade demand: Sheffield has indicated that he wants to be traded to either New York team of the Atlanta Braves, and that he does not plan to report to spring training…
DUE DILIGENCE "Clearly some compensation is in order. This tear is categorically old." —Gord Ash, Blue Jays GM, after getting a doctor’s report on pitcher Mike Sirotka‘s torn rotator cuff and labrum "Both sides have assumed a certain amount of risk in making this trade. Ideally, both teams are satisfied by a trade. Obviously, pending…
Reader Mac Thomason has pointed out that one of the player comments in Baseball Prospectus 2001 discussed pitchers from the current era who were locks for the Hall of Fame, yet omitted Randy Johnson from a list that included Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine. The original comment was written by me, and my…