Step right up and get your small-sample anomalies! That’s the subject of today’s BP/ESPN piece, which starts with a Yankee: We’re just past a third of the way through the season, and it’s no secret that the new Yankee Stadium has played as a hitter’s park thus far. After 29 games played in the Bronx, …
Continue reading ‘The Museum of Small-Sample Split Oddities’ »
With Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado and J.J. Putz on the disabled list for extended periods of time due to injuries, our New York-centric brethren over at ESPN asked a handful of Baseball Prospectus writers — myself, Will Carroll, Christina Kahrl, and Kevin Goldstein — to partake in a roundtable regarding what the Mets should do …
Earlier this week, I had an epic-length free piece on Baseball Prospectus about the sudden flood of historical minor league data available online via the recently upgraded Baseball-Reference.com: While I’m hardly an authority on the topic, I’ve always had a soft spot for minor league baseball, probably because my formative years were spent in minor …
One more loss to add to the list of those who have passed in the last week: Marie Olbermann, mother of former ESPN anchor and current MSNBC Countdown Keith Olbermann. In an episode whose roots connect directly with the genesis of my web site, Mrs. Olbermann was struck in the face by an errant Chuck …
Today marks the 62nd anniversary of one of the great days in American history, the day that Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier by taking the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers. While Commissioner Bud Selig has reached the reductio ad absurdum in attempting to honor Robinson by mandating that every player wear number 42 in …
Another one of my Baseball Prospectus pieces syndicated on ESPN Insider, this one on trying to quantify what the absences of Alex Rodriguez and other stars would cost their teams in terms of runs and wins: When the news on Alex Rodriguez’s hip injury broke last week, the Baseball Prospectus crew brainstormed a few possible …
An ESPN Insider/Baseball Prospectus twin killing, this one looks at PECOTA’s picks for the most productive 27-year-olds: As with many a key sabermetric tenet, Bill James is responsible for introducing the idea that ballplayers, or at least hitters, reach their peak value at the age of 27. In fact, it was a serendipitous 27 years …
I’ve got a pair of articles at BP and ESPN Insider focusing on young players whom PECOTA forecasts to break out, which in terms of our forecasting system means improving their productivity at least 20 percent relative to their three-year baseline. From the hitters piece (BP and ESPN): Not every top prospect hits the ground …
A fistful of links from the past couple of weeks, none of them having to do with steroids or A-Rod (we’ll get those in another post. Maybe.)… • Baseball Prospectus 2009 is shipping from Amazon.com and on the bookshelves of your local retailer. I’ve had a copy in hand since last Friday, and it’s as chockfull …
Continue reading ‘Clearing the Bases – Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Edition’ »