It happens every year. Every year I find some way to believe. Every winter I shed my analyst’s glasses and look at my Kansas City Royals through the eyes of a fan. A fan looking for a ray of hope. A fan willing to overlook holes at half a dozen positions. A fan willing to…
Over the past few years, Major League Baseball’s schedule-makers have been subjected to considerable criticism for oddities in the schedule, most having to do with an increase in nonsensical travel. To a certain degree, though, they’ve been put in an impossible situation. The increasing number of opponents that each team has to fit into their…
PIRATES "We’ll be better than we were last year. Terry Mulholland is a proven warrior who has pitched in big games and has helped his clubs get to the playoffs and succeed. He has the ability to start and relieve, which gives our club some real flexibility." — Cam Bonifay, Pirates GM, on signing pitcher…
Alex Rodriguez‘s signing isn’t all that interesting, even though it has generated all the headlines. He’s an exceptional package: a power hitter who hasn’t reached his power peak; a seven-skill talent with great plate discipline and an improving defensive profile; a generally classy guy with no interest in recording rap albums; and he plays one…
While Chris Kahrl pecks away at his latest Transaction Analysis (look for it this weekend), here’s a look at how the Baseball Prospectus staff broke down last week’s gathering in Dallas. Pennsylvania Blues Keith Law: Can I revise my Pirates essay to make it a comparison of Cam Bonifay to the average Palm Beach County…
After Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez signed megadeals at the winter meetings, there was more than the usual amount of hand-wringing about salary insanity and how fans are turned off by the amount of money changing hands. I wondered, as I always do when I watch this sort of thing between highlights of boring NBA…
While Willie Hernandez’s 1984 season was awe-inspiring, and deserves to be placed on a pedestal somewhere, I don’t think it is the greatest single season by a lefty closer. Consider Billy Wagner’s 1999 numbers: 74.7 IP 35 H 23 BB 13 ER (!) 124 SO (!!) 1.57 ERA 39 Saves Here are the same numbers…
One of the drumbeat arguments put forth by Bud Selig is that competitive balance has been shattered since the 1994 players’ strike. We all know how the argument goes: unless you have a high payroll, you have no chance to compete. Doom and gloom to follow any time now. Really. We mean it this time….
Lost between the Mike Hampton and Alex Rodriguez signings was Monday’s annual Rule 5 draft. The major-league portion allows teams to select players left off 40-man rosters for $50,000, with the caveat that the player must be kept on the 25-man roster all season or be offered back to his original team for $25,000. The…
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH "We added a horse. His leadership in the clubhouse will be very important for us in the next eight years. It’s a tough place to pitch. We didn’t come in there and sell Mike Hampton how it was pitcher’s heaven." — Dan O’Dowd, Rockies GM, on signing starter Mike Hampton to an…
Bud Selig went to Washington to do what people do in Washington: lie. He went to Congress to cry poverty and insist that the only thing that can save baseball is some fundamental change in the game’s economic structure. While this made great copy–most media outlets ate it up like hungry curs given below-grade dog…
I decided to break down this year’s Hall of Fame candidates by VORP. A full description is available at http://www.stathead.com, but the measure is essentially the number of runs contributed by a player beyond what a replacement level player at the same position would contribute in equal playing time, adjusted for park and league. Note…
Ballots for the Hall of Fame were recently mailed to voters. Over the next few days, we’ll comment on the candidates, their merits, and their chances, and follow that up with the second Internet Hall of Fame ballot to be hosted by baseballprospectus.com, where you can vote for your candidates. Chris Kahrl I’m in favor…
(Ed. note: Mark McKinniss submitted a short piece to the Baseball Prospectus staff in the wake of the BBWAA awards. If you have something you’d like to have published here, send it in the body of an e-mail to info@baseballprospecus.com. We regret we cannot respond to all submissions, but we will read every one.) He…