Ignore, for a moment, the question of how much Ken Griffey Jr. is going to add to the Reds’ lineup. Put aside the concerns of whether Pat Hentgen and Darryl Kile can regain their former glory. Cast away those doubts about whether Mitch Meluskey is healthy and ready to hit major-league pitching. All three contenders…
The Phillies face a series of choices at the bottom of their roster that, taken together, will determine whether they have the potential to outperform expectations or whether they definitely will underperform. The Phillies apparently believe they have to win, and win now, and we’re going to see this cost them games both this year…
Yesterday was the deadline for the staff of Baseball Prospectus to submit their predicted standings for the 2000 season, an exercise that is usually met with equal parts seriousness and whimsy. You can see the results here this weekend, and about all I can say for sure is that everyone predicts all 30 teams to…
Before this column kicks off, I want to thank everyone for their feedback on Friday’s column, in which I stated Tim Raines was a clear Hall of Famer. The response was overwhelming, and I have been unable to return all the mail. What I can do is ask all of you to keep an eye…
Whether or not progress is inevitable is one of those things that historians, cranks and the Census Bureau spend plenty of time kvetching about, usually all at the same place and at the same time. If you’re someone who thinks things do get better, here are some reasons to believe it, and some reasons to…
Although most major teams head to spring training with enough players to fill two 25-man rosters, if all goes according to Hoyle, the winnowing of players the following six weeks is mainly a formality. This is as it should be, since personnel decisions shouldn’t be based on 45 at-bats or 15 innings pitched. Inevitably, however,…
A few years ago, in his Guide to Baseball Managers, Bill James suggested it might be a good idea to include job-specific data on the backs of baseball cards for managers, as a way of increasing our understanding of what managers do. The Stats Major League Handbook has, for some years, included charts of what…
With a nod to the thousands of fantasy players who will be attending auctions or drafts this weekend, here’s a short list of longshot breakout candidates–"sleepers," if you must–from the AL East. Calvin Maduro, Orioles — Maduro was an Oriole prospect in the mid-1990s before being traded to the Phillies in 1996. He floundered in…
As I write this, the Academy Awards telecast is just about ending. For those of you on the East Coast who were probably in the shower or on your way to work this morning during the last few presentations, here’s the recap: Hilary Swank, Kevin Spacey, Sam Mendes (for directing "American Beauty") and "American Beauty."…
DiMaggio vs. Williams I just finished reading an essay in George Will’s book, “Bunts” concerning the ’41 season and the rivalry between Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. Will, along with most other historical and modern analysts of the ’41 season, clearly feels that Dimaggio’s 56 game hitting streak was a “greater” achievement than Williams’s ’41…
TRADES “I figured that they would release me before they would trade me. It’s going to be tough leaving Texas, because it’s the only place I have ever really stayed.” — Lee Stevens, new Expos infielder “My bat is my meal ticket. I don’t foresee any problems as a DH, but I always thought my…
Tim Raines called it a career yesterday, more than 20 years after he began it as a second baseman with the Expos. Without very much fanfare–a product of spending his best years in Canada and an unfortunate dalliance with cocaine–Raines carved out a Hall of Fame career as one of the best left fielders of…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Optioned RHP Matt Wise to Edmonton; optioned RHPs Elvin Nina and Scot Shields and C Jason Dewey to Erie (Double-A); optioned OF Elpidio Guzman to Lake Elsinore (A); assigned RHP Steve Green and C Shawn Wooten to their minor-league camp. [3/14] Released LHP Greg Cadaret. [3/16] Released IFs Archi Cianfrocco and Carlos Garcia….
One of the common critiques we get at Baseball Prospectus is that we can seem overly negative towards baseball maangement. Part of that is our crotchety nature–don’t ever leave an empty milk carton in Chris Kahrl’s refrigerator–but part of it is that most teams are mismanaged to one extent or another. Decisions are made that…
Regular readers know that we don’t have much time for the bleating about how "small-market teams" can’t compete in today’s game. The argument might get a listen if MLB’s braintrust and owners would stop trying to call places like Houston and Detroit small markets, but since it’s more about public relations and political blackmail than…
Continuing–and finally finishing–our discussion of last year’s great prospects, we conclude with the rest of the players who made only one Top 40 list, either that of Baseball America or John Sickels. There were eight players on Baseball America‘s Top 40 list who missed our own and John Sickels’s. Of those, three (Corey Patterson, Mark…