On Tuesday, the 16 position-player starters for next Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Atlanta were announced. The results of the fan balloting were, as usual, difficult to argue with. Even Craig Biggio lost his spot down the stretch, as Jeff Kent beat him out for the NL’s second-base job. So, rather than wait for the leagues…
Before I left Baseball Prospectus to go to KPMG Consulting in 1998, I would occasionally write a piece on defense. Now, I would always get a bunch of mail about articles, but none, including those in which I would personally insult huge segments of the population, drew as much mail–both really angry and effusively gushing–as…
You hear a lot of talk today about how we are possibly entering the Era of the Third Basemen. Whereas at the beginning of the 1990s there were only a few truly great third basemen (Matt Williams, Robin Ventura, Jim Thome before he switched corners, Wade Boggs before he faded), today it seems that half…
Is This Really Happening? Chicago White Sox 53-29 — Cleveland Indians 41-39 11 Are you kidding me? The Indians, the only champion the American League Central has ever known, are closer to the cellar in the division than to its peak. The Chicago White Sox, who haven’t been in a divisional race since the strike…
(Ed. note: Chris Kahrl is still getting set up in his new D.C. digs, so Keith and Joe share pinch-hitting duties.) ANAHEIM ANGELS Optioned RHP Seth Etherton to Edmonton of the Pacific Coast League (AAA); activated RHP Kent Bottenfield from the 15-day disabled list; placed SS Kevin Stocker on the 15-day disabled list tendinitis in…
STREAKS “That was big. Hopefully, this gets him going.” — Joe Torre, Yankees manager, on Tino Martinez breaking his 0-15 slump “We’ve been looking to put something together. Hopefully, this will start us into a good streak.” — Torre, on the Yankees’ 5-2 victory over the Devil Rays “That’s why Cleveland got him, to stop…
For all the conventional media focus on the so-called "major markets," we’ve always tried to have a balance of coverage here at Baseball Prospectus. But sometimes the biggest baseball stories do occur in the largest cities, and for the past few days, no city has made more baseball news than the Big Apple. On Thursday,…
Friday night in Philadelphia, we were treated to another sampling of managerial genius by the imcomparable Terry Francona. Through seven innings, Randy Wolf had been overpowering, giving up only three hits, with no walks and seven strikeouts, and holding a 3-1 lead over the Pirates. His pitch count was up to 94, so I was…
"No one ever got fired for buying IBM." That one sentence, popular in corporate IT shops from about 1960 to 1990, spoke volumes to the problems American business faced during that period. The importance of information technology was growing rapidly and the understanding of the obstacles to successful use of IT in increasing efficiency was…
This is a column I have avoided writing, in part because I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to and in part because I know some people are tired of hearing about it. But I can no longer stand idly by and watch this player, one of the most overrated, undercriticized players in baseball today, continue to…
As we chronicled in Baseball Prospectus 2000, the current thinking on how to build and run a major-league bullpen may be changing. For 20 years, teams have used their "closer"–a term originally used to designate a team’s best reliever–more and more exclusively in what we call "save situations:" the ninth inning with a lead of…
The Strike Zone Revisited Your response to the mailbag question on umpires included a thought I’ve been having regarding the use of technology in calling games. I was actually getting ready to mention that to several friends when I saw your answer. It seems to me that some pitchers get the "close" calls near the…
One of the criticisms occasionally leveled at the Baseball Prospectus staff is that we are rabid prospect hounds, to the point of being a bit excessive about it. We’ll cheerfully admit to the first part and live with the second, because sometimes the long minor-league watch pays off and provides some wonderful moments for us…
One of the most striking changes to the landscape of major-league baseball has been the disappearance of the left-handed starting pitcher. In the American League, left-handers made fewer than 20% of all starts last year, allowing teams like the A’s to take advantage by stacking their lineup with left-handed hitters. How dramatic is the decline?…
With the Angels and Rangers falling off the pace, there are only two real contenders in the AL West, the Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners. As I write this, Seattle has just completed a sweep of the Centrum-sponsored Orioles while Oakland has taken two of three from Royals, which means the A’s are a…
I just finished your article "Russian Roulette" on ESPN.com. After reading your excellent article I began to ponder the starting pitcher/wins ratio this year. It seems every second or third boxscore has a win by a middle reliever or closer. I’ve noticed a few relievers, like Danny Graves, Jeff Nelson and Gabe White, who have…