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As you may already know, we tried self-publishing on for size last year with Pro Basketball Prospectus 2009-10 and College Basketball Prospectus 2009-10. We had a positive experience with those books, and we’re moving into self-publishing baseball material this year.

I’m pleased to announce that we’ve signed our friend Joe Sheehan for the first book we’ll be announcing in 2010. "The Untitled Joe Sheehan Book" is going to expand on and update a few dozen signature pieces Joe wrote for BP over the years, and will be edited by Christina Kahrl. It will be ready for the printer by this year’s playoffs at the latest.

Joe will be maintaining a production weblog for the book, and we’ll be featuring that at BP.com. You’ll be able to get more information about the book there soon. Joe will also be doing several chats at BP.com in support of the project.

Now, back to working on the PECOTA cards… shooting for end of the week with those.

Thank you for reading

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athletic
2/09
May I also suggest having Joe write a thrice-weekly column titled "Prospectus Today"? I think that would be a nice fit on this fine website.

Glad to hear Joe is back in the mix in some capacity but still holding out hope that he'll step back into his old role.
jivas21
2/09
The Comments area of the site needs to be modified so I can give this upstanding young person a +1,000 instead of just a +1.
holgado
2/09
What Jivas said.
rowenbell
2/09
You know, the love for Joe is getting really old, people. He's one guy out of a collective of writers. Is he a good writer? Sure. Am I glad to hear about this book project? Sure. Will I buy it? Maybe -- I've bought everything else out of BP, so why wouldn't I.

But please, enough with the veiled and not-so-veiled criticism of the decision that his BP column would cease. It's not like he's Bill James breaking the wand. He's just this guy, you know?

Rant off.
crperry13
2/09
Any rant ending with a quote from Hitchhiker's Guide deserves to be minused for sheer nerd-dom.
mkny13
2/09
Boo. Prefect quote (typo unintended, but appropriate). And I agree with the sentiment. Comments on Sheehan's goodbye post expressing thanks, regrets, marriage proposals, sheer rage=good; constant bitching everywhere else on the site=bad.
joelefkowitz
2/09
Because you're right, and everrrryone else is wrong!
Akneeland
2/09
I'm with Rowen Bell. These kind of comments are quickly becoming very old. What if Sheehan never wanted to renew his B-Pro contract? What if he was the one who left?

It's time to move on. There is a an entire contingent of extremely capable writers here at B-Pro, and it's time we start appreciating them, too.
Oleoay
2/09
Or, maybe Joe never left BP but, more simply, took a sabbatical from writing for BP weekly to focus on his book for BP.
buckgunn
2/11
I'm not sure I follow. Can't the guy want Sheehan back AND appreciate the other capable writers at BP too? If the criticism is that athletic and Jivas are whiny, then it seems (to me anyway) that Bell and Kneeland are trying to out-whine them.
workermonkey
2/09
just let him write what ever he wants. it's better to have some joe, rather than no joe. just like peter gammons.
NathanJM
2/09
Agreed. For everyone clamoring for more Joe, I find it a bit odd that the reaction is still negative now that he's getting a book. (Are we *that* anti-paper now? :))

I, at least, am excited about this continued collaboration with Joe, as well as all of the new content we've been seeing in web-form.
ZacharyRD
2/09
I love books; I buy lots of books; however so far, I don't buy BP books. I do buy a BP subscription. Thus, him writing a book is nice, but it's content I do not receive; him writing a column is content I do receive. I'm MUCH more likely to buy the BP annual than his book if I do buy a BP book this year.
vtadave
2/10
So....wahat you're saying is you like books?
ssimon
2/09
I figure this thread is as good a place as any for the following question: How far has BP fallen when it is not one of *seven* nominees for "Best Sabermetric Research or Writing Website" in BtB's Sabermetric Writing Awards?

I know BP signed a bunch of that site's nominees for "Best Sabermetric Researcher or Writer." Those folks have already improved the BP site.

But please, bring back Joe Sheehan. The readers want him back. (What's the first comment's rating up to now, +100?) If Sheehan wants to write a book instead of a regular column, just tell us and we'll stop asking for more Prospectus Today. If that's not it, then somebody must figure out how to get Sheehan back.
Oleoay
2/09
Has the bar fallen or the bar been raised?

That being said, Joe was a fun writer, but does he really fall into the sabremetric researcher/writer category?
Olinkapo
2/09
>I figure this thread is as good a place as any for the >following question: How far has BP fallen when it is not one >of *seven* nominees for "Best Sabermetric Research or >Writing Website" in BtB's Sabermetric Writing Awards?

From what I saw, the selection of nominees was pretty good...

For me to poop on.


brownsugar
2/09
+1 for the Triumph the Insult Comic Dog reference. I'm not even going to poop on the +1.
rowenbell
2/09
I think the nominations merely reflect something that I'll admit I only became aware of during the last year, namely that BP was no longer the vanguard of sabermetric thought. I always assumed that "modern sabermetrics" and "BP" were synonyms; but, as they say, past performance is not necessarily predictive of future results....

Of course, with the recent changes to the writing staff tilting BP much further back in a research-oriented direction (and less in the more "general interest" direction represented by Joe), perhaps this will change next year.

SJLedet
2/09
I love Joe Sheehan's columns and wish they would come back. He's one of the best baseball writers around.
Richie
2/09
Joe actually stopped doing sabermetric research some time ago. Now he just speaks/rants spoke/ranted for people here. Which is/was fine.

But if Joe did want $$$ such that would mandate dropping a couple other writers, I'll cast my vote for the extra other writers.
bigrick0016
2/11
The new writer's are generally great, I love 'em. However, I love Joe's writing because it is accessible. I'm a Sports Management and as such, am incredibly smart. Many sabermetric researchers (from BPro and other places) sometimes make their articles like schoolwork. Some people like that, and I have no problem with that. That's just why I like Joe.
bigrick0016
2/11
I meant am NOT incredibly smart. Oddly enough, I just proved my point by having to post this.
bmcgehee
2/09
Thanks for the heads-up about the book. More thanks for the ETA on PECOTA cards. Now the rest of you can pick up another line of debate that's equally pointless - maybe which Enterprise Captain was cooler on Star Trek or why Fox continues to employ McCarver. None of the griping has settled any of these matters for the better, neither will this.
cwyers
2/09
Oh come on, Kirk/Picard is so passe. Can't we move on to a better geek debate, like Joel/Mike or Sheridan/Sinclair? (That's "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and "Babylon 5," for those curious.)
sde1015
2/09
Is there really any debate between Sheridan and Sinclair? Does anyone take the Sinclair position?
ckahrl
2/09
I'm about as much of an argument-for-argument's sake type as there is, and not even I'm willing to enter the lists on behalf of Sinclair. I mean, c'mon, Bruce Boxleitner was Tron, so his Geek Shares value borders on astronomical. Of course, that's with the understanding that nobody accrues negative Geek Shares, and only 52 percent of your Geek Share value can come from acting, since the other 48 percent come from special effects.
jsnell
2/10
Valen! VALEN!

I think being the messiah of an entire race of bone-heady aliens elevates you over being the first President of the Interstellar Alliance. As if THAT'S gonna last.

(Actually, I'm with you. It's Sheridan.)
Ratcatcher
2/10
Bah! The great Centauri Republic spits on your tiny human debate!
Oleoay
2/10
Johnnie Goodboy Tyler would send his dragon to eat your Centauri Republic.
nickgieschen
2/10
Please, a more meaningful topic of debate would be Tom Baker vs Peter Davidson.
deepblue64
3/05
Jon Pertwee!
Oleoay
2/10
We could spin the debate into temporary captains of the Enterprise. I still like Chekov's take from Final Frontier.
Richie
2/09
Kirk, of course. And many TV baseball watching fans are elderly, and appreciate a McCarver who's also been around forever.

Glad I could settle these things for ya. Anything additional you need, lemme know.
bmcgehee
2/09
Va Tech or Boise State in the Labor Day game?
Palm notes or teleprompter?
DH or Pitcher batting?

Thanks for the help, these conundrums weigh heavily on a fella.
nicopad
2/09
Excellent news. I can't wait to read Joe's book. Just to be clear- it's all baseball, right? No college hoops.
dpease
2/10
That's correct.
Richie
2/09
(can't 'Post Reply' so it goes here)

Go with the technical school since it's a 'Labor' Day game. Palm notes, as it's cool watching somebody trying to read with their hand in their face. DH, unless you drink heavily during the game and so have to pee all the time. Then Pitcher ABs help out there.
rawagman
2/10
Looking forward to the book - would be interesting to see what prosy chops Sheehan has when he gets to extend to long-form.
Similarly, would love to read a book by Gammons.
However, I hope BP goes straight to paperback - way less overhead, and more space on my bookshelves.
dpease
2/10
We're planning to publish the book as a paperback and as a PDF.
dianagramr
2/10
Aw heck, just self-publish the 600+page BP2010 .... save an entire *forest* through PDFs.
Michael
2/10
I'm glad Joe is writing a book, if that's what he wants to do.

That being said, given that that book's purpose is to "expand on and update a few dozen signature pieces Joe wrote for BP over the years," I'm unlikely to buy it. I've already read nearly 100% of the columns when they first appeared on the website and I'm seldom inclined to explore the archives to reread his columns, so I doubt I'd buy a book with expanded, updated versions of the same articles. The original content / recycled content ratio doesn't sound very high. For what it's worth, I buy most of the BP baseball books.
dpease
2/10
There will be a lot of new content. We'll have plenty more information for you on down the line as the book progresses.
dianagramr
2/11
PFM update .... PLEASE?
roughcarrigan
2/11
The Untitled, a Joe Sheehan look at the House of Commons!
dianagramr
2/11
The Untitled, the Complete Story of the 1993-2009 Pirates.
vtadave
10/30
This book not happening eh?