With Javier Vazquez set to start tonight for the Yankees after his turn was skipped over the weekend, last week’s “Hit and Run” column has received a big-screen adaptation over at ESPN Insider’s TMI blog. Beyond his historical problems while pitching in the American League, here’s something to chew on regarding his performance this year: …
Amid all of this recent book promo hubbub, I’ve actually gotten to do some writing: • Last week, I noted the introduction of the ESPN Insider TMI blog. Today I’ve got another piece there, this one on Ozzie Guillen’s stated desire for the 2010 White Sox to be more aggressive on the basepaths. There’s a longer …
All week long, I had an assignment hanging over my head that I hoped I wouldn’t have to write, at least for another couple of weeks: the Dodgers’ edition of the Baseball Prospectus/ESPN Insider “Kiss ‘Em Goodbye” series. Alas, with their Game Four meltdown and Game Five beatdown, their number was up. Here’s a bit …
A “Kiss ‘Em Goodbye” piece on the Reds to which I contributed ran at Baseball Prospectus and ESPN Insider on Saturday. Building upon something I noted for the year’s sabermetric highs and lows, these numbers jumped out at me: Key stat: .245 AVG/.301 OBP/.354 SLG That’s the combined showing of all Reds batting in the …
As the 2009 season heads into its final weekend, the editors at ESPN Insider invited me to create a list of sabermetrically-themed highlights and lowlights. The piece runs here and here. A few of the high points were obvious, centered around the accomplishments of Joe Mauer (who’s on his way to becoming the 16th player …
Forgot to mention this in my last entry, but the Baseball Prospectus and ESPN Insider teams are collaborating on a series called “Kiss ‘Em Goodbye,” in which we provide postmortems for the teams that have been eliminated from contention. ESPN’s Buster Olney provides one take, a BP author summarizes our preseason expectations for the club …
In today’s Baseball Prospectus/ESPN Insider double cheeseburger special, I grapple with the American League’s persistent advantage over the National League in interleague play. The AL has gotten the upper hand in each of the past six years and has won at a .566 clip over the past five, or .560 over the past three. To …
This past week, I toiled in my laboratory attempting to build an MVP predictor (ESPN Insider part 1 / part 2) based upon past results, one that might lend some insight into who would win this year. As the recent scrum between supporters of the candidacies of Joe Mauer and Mark Teixeira reminds us, nearly …
Lots of links to catch up with, as it was a four-article week for me at Baseball Prospectus, so I’ll break it into two posts. First up, I revisited the strength of schedule methodology I used a couple times earlier this year for a two-part look at the contenders’ remaining schedules, using the Hit List …
Today’s Baseball Prospectus/ESPN Insider double dip concerns the Rockies’ Todd Helton, and in particular his Hall of Fame chances. If you were quietly minding your business by not thinking about Helton’s Cooperstown case, you weren’t alone; I was somewhat surprised when I was offered the assignment: Is Todd Helton bound for the Hall of Fame? …