Out of the blue on Tuesday afternoon, a producer from Keith Olbermann’s show reached out and asked if I wanted to come in to tape a spot for the night’s show, discussing the absurdity of new MLB commissioner Rob Manfred naming Mets owner Fred Wilpon to chair the MLB finance committee. Now, when news of …
Went to two Yankees-Rays games this week and they couldn’t have felt more different, nor could my writeups pertaining to them. On Monday, I sat in the pressbox as the team welcomed Joe Torre and Don Mattingly back to Yankee Stadium for the first time since their unseemly departures and unveiled their massive, ostentatious monument …
As promised, here’s my in-depth look at what’s ailing the Mets, who did manage to take two out of three during the CitiField leg of the Subway Series. From the part about the pitching staff: The front of the rotation is essentially sound. Johan Santana is pitching about as well as he did prior to …
Sunday’s sad news about Lima Time prevented me from catching up with my latest BP links. In addition to the usual Hit Lists (AL here, NL here), I had my second press box adventure inside of a week, attending Friday night’s Yankees-Mets game at CitiField. For a Subway Series, this one kicked off under rather …
On Saturday I fulfilled a long-held dream, one that I could barely have conceived of when I started this blog back in 2001: I attended a game as a member of the working media, with access to the press box, the locker rooms and the field, the whole behind-the-scenes megillah. Credential in hand (or more …
This week’s National and American League Hit Lists are up, as is the combined ranking with the all-important league adjustment (-21 points for NL, +24 for AL to balance out the asymmtrical number of teams). Here’s a royal sampler: [#2 AL Yankees] Tex Time: While helping to secure a series win, Mark Teixeira scores a …
Continue reading ‘Friday’s Child: the Royal Sampler Edition’ »
What happens when a baseball outsider lands what seemed to be the job of her (yes, her) dreams, covering the two New York baseball teams as a beat reporter? What happens when that job is just as suddenly yanked away when her publisher goes through yet another regime change? Having crossed the line into professionalism, …
Continue reading ‘Ballgame Barbie She Ain’t: Emma Span’s 90% of the Game is Half Mental’ »
Yikes, it’s been awhile since I checked in here. First off, I’m told that Baseball Prospectus 2010 left the warehouse on Monday and should be making its way to Amazon or your local brick and mortar retailer of choice. More on the efforts to promote the new book in an upcoming post. As for the …
As is my custom, every summer I take BP reader inside the sausage factory that is the Hit List. Usually it’s done during the All-Star week, but for some reason I waited with this year’s model: It happens every week: a reader sees his favorite team trailing one of its division rivals in the Hit …
Whew, am I behind in my blogging. Here’s what’s not-so-new: • A Basseball Prospectus/ESPN Insider piece examining second-half strength of schedule, revisiting an earlier piece but using Hit List Factor instead of a team’s projected winning percentage. Here’s how the teams shake down: Team Season 1st 2ndBlue Jays .514 .497 .536Orioles .522 .510 .536Royals .505 …
Continue reading ‘Clearing the Bases: Post-Rickey, Pre-DC edition’ »