Well, that was quite a week of baseball, so much so that I didn’t get a chance to update this blog amid all of the happenings, particularly due to Ken Griffey Jr.’s retirement and Armando Galarraga’s near-perfect game. Running down what I gots:
• On Wednesday, amid a three-game series between the two teams, I covered [...]
Archive of posts filed under the JAWS category.
What a Week!
That Seventies Vibe
Before I catch up with this week’s batch of Baseball Prospectus links, a just wanted to give a quick shout-out for a book I haven’t yet read but am looking forward to cracking, Dan Epstein’s Big Hair and Plastic Grass. Earlier in the week a friend of mine suggested I hit the book release party [...]
The Train to Cooperstown
Keyed by Tim Kurkjian’s observation that there are no currently active starting pitchers who are locks for Cooperstown, today’s Prospectus Hit and Run is devoted to examining which active pitchers have the best shot, using both JAWS and more traditional credentials. Before digging into the names, consider the following:
The Baseball Writers Association of America voters [...]
Mauer Power on the Road to Cooperstown
In the wake of Joe Mauer agreeing to an eight-year, $184-million contract extension with the Twins, I wrote a piece on Mauer’s Hall of Fame chances vis-à-vis JAWS, using his PECOTA projections to fill in the blanks because his major league career consists of five seasons and change. Amazingly, he’s already 31st in all-time WARP [...]
Willie Davis, Redux
Over at Baseball Prospectus’ new One-Hoppers blog, I’ve expanded and revised my take on Willie Davis to include some comments from the New Bill James Historical Abstract as well as my own JAWS-flavored take: “He was sort of the Mike Cameron or Kenny Lofton or Devon of his day — a fine supporting player [...]
Today’s Batch
At Baseball Prospectus, I’ve got a lengthy take on Nomar Garciaparra’s retirement, placing him in the context of the “Holy Trinity” of shortstops:
Back in the mid-1990s, a trio of young shortstops burst onto the American League scene. Soon dubbed the “Holy Trinity,” Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra were part of an elite three-way [...]
The Case for Glavine
Having delved too deeply into Frank Thomas’ career to deal with two Hall of Fame cases in one piece, today I’ve got a look at Tom Glavine’s case for Cooperstown. Even with his 305 wins, I was actually surprised at the strength of his case on the traditional merits:
Glavine made 10 All-Star teams, and was [...]
The Big Hurt’s Big Sendoff
Last week, Frank Thomas officially called it quits, not a huge surprise given that the 41-year-old slugger, who bopped 521 home runs in his career, didn’t play at all in 2009. Today I’ve got a column at Baseball Prospectus celebrating his career, his Hall of Fame case, and his place in history:
It’s no stretch to [...]
This and That
In today’s Prospectus Hit and Run, I examine the fates of Orlando Hudson and Randy Wolf after the Dodgers failed to offer them arbitration, thus surrendering the right to first round draft picks and supplemental first round compensation picks in each case, hardly chump change. The decision wasn’t out of step with the industry trend; [...]
Friday’s Child (The Return)
So I’m finally finished with what I refer to as my winter workload, my contributions to the Baseball Prospectus and Fantasy Baseball Index annuals as well as Maple Street Press’ Dodgers Annual, edited by Dodger Thoughts‘ Jon Weisman. All of that stuff is about a month away from hitting the shelves, but I’m back in [...]
