Happy Opening Day, everybody! Though I spent most of my afternoon slaving over my final Fantasy Baseball Index spring update deadline — interrupted by a fun radio hit for KOGO in San Diego, where I ran down the likelihood of several Padres’ players scenarios this year — I Tivoed the Dodgers’ opener, which I was …
I’ve got a Prospectus Hit and Run column up at BP today, loosely focused on the Rockies, who finished up their sweep of the Diamondbacks on Monday night. As improbable as their 21-1 run has been, the Rockies’ claim on National League superiority is legitimate. They finished the regular season with the best run differential …
Continue reading ‘Rox, Sox and Endlesss Organizational Talks’ »
Not a lot to say about the spot the Yankees find themselves in going into this evening’s ballgame. I watched Friday evening’s taut and thrilling pitching duel between Fausto Carmona and Andy Pettitte on TiVo delay, getting to the bugfest — the ickiest non-injury scenario I’ve ever seen on a ballfield — around 1 AM. …
Exhilarating and exhausting week here at Futility Central, full of travel, deadlines, and media: • On Monday (Labor Day), I worked from home and watched most of Pedro Martinez’s comeback outing, which I then discussed with Joel Blumberg on WGBB SportsBreak, which aired later that afternoon. As I said during the discussion, I was quite …
Guy: It’s August 31. Have you got waiver trade deadline fever? Other Guy: (checks thermometer) Nope. Guy: But… but… some teams need second LOOGYs! And third pinch-hitters! MIGUEL CAIRO may be headed back to St. Louis. Other Guy: (breaks out into a cold sweat) Better drink a beer and go straight to bed. Guy: I’ve …
Continue reading ‘Clearing the Bases – Long Day’s Journey Into Night Edition’ »
In the Hit List a couple weeks back, I suggested that the Padres’ release of David Wells may have been premature, and that given their rotation woes, a couple teams were likely to target the big man: Lowering the Boomer: a 5-1 run snaps the Pads out of their post-break funk, but the return of …
Continue reading ‘For a Fat Man, He Didn’t Sweat Much (Redux)’ »
Tuesday’s Replacement Level Killers piece was still on my mind when I sat down to write this week’s Hit List. Here’s what I had to say about the Dodgers: For those who thought Juan Pierre deserved a spot on the Replacement Level Killers, he was left off due to his surprisingly robust VORP (on the …
In today’s edition of Prospectus Hit and Run, I provide an updated taste of a chapter I wrote for the recently-released It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over: the Baseball Prospectus Pennant Race Book: In a pennant race, every edge matters. The late-season heroics of one individual may turn a close race into a tale of …
Very briefly, amid what’s already shaping up to be a crazy and somewhat stressful week full of deadlines and mortgage agita (the closing process on my apartment has finally begun, at precisely the wrong time): • A quick trip to Barnes and Noble’s Astor Place branch in New York City revealed a pleasant surprise: It …
The post-trade deadline Hit List is up at Baseball Prospectus, with a look at which teams improved themselves, which ones dropped the ball, and which ones merely treaded water. The Yankees, thanks to their recent offensive onslaught, climb all the way to #2 behind the Red Sox, with the Mets third. The Dodgers come in …