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Joe Sheehan |
The BP Wayback Machine: Curbed Enthusiasm |
We've said it before, and we'll say it again: it's best not to get too worked up over the first week's worth of action.
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
Before you read too much into early-season stats, take another look at Joe's warning about small sample size, which originally ran as a "Prospectus Today" column on April 13, 2009.
December 21, 2011 9:00 am
The BP Wayback Machine: Leverage |
Now that Texas came out on top in the Yu Darvish bidding, negotiations can begin, but if the Daisuke Matsuzaka situation is any indication, that doesn't mean the hard part is over.
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
Yu Darvish may be the Rangers' for fhe taking, but as Joe Sheehan noted in the following article, which originally ran as a "Prospectus Today" column on November 29, 2006, post-posting contract talks are a high-stakes game.
November 30, 2011 9:00 am
The BP Wayback Machine: Seamhead Analysis |
Sometimes the Winter Meetings still offer a glimpse of that old-time offseason magic.
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
A three-way trade gave Joe a taste of the mythical Winter Meetings he felt like he'd been missing, and he wrote about the experience in the following piece, which originally ran as a "Prospectus Today" column on December 11, 2008.
November 15, 2011 9:00 am
The BP Wayback Machine: The Disconnect |
The last time a new CBA was signed, contracts got crazy. Are we in for more of the same this offseason?
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
We've already seen some surprisingly large contracts handed out this offseason, but that might just be par for the course in a winter with a new labor agreement, as Joe observed in the piece below, which originally ran as a "Prospectus Today" column on November 14, 2006.
October 14, 2011 9:00 am
The BP Wayback Machine: The Value of the Series |
Does the randomness of a seven-game series detract from a champion's accomplishment?
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
September 8, 2011 1:12 am
The BP Wayback Machine: Incompetence |
The day after Tampa Bay's thousandth 1000th victory as a franchise, remember how hopeless things seemed several years ago.
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
It seems like a long time ago now, but things had gotten bad enough for the Rays several years ago that Joe considered abandoning hope for the franchise in the following piece, which originally ran as a "Prospectus Today" column on June 9, 2005.
August 9, 2011 9:00 am
The BP Wayback Machine: The Question |
Dan Uggla's hitting streak has reached 29 games, but an earlier run of success prompted Joe to wonder when it's okay to play for one's own stats.
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
Is the Captain capable of selfishness? Take another look at Joe's interpretation of the events surrounding the end of his hitting streak, which originally ran as a "Prospectus Today" column on September 18, 2006.
July 28, 2011 9:00 am
The BP Wayback Machine: Houston, We Have Beltran |
Flashing back to the last Beltran blockbuster.
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
As Carlos Beltran heads for the NL West, revisit Joe's review of the last Beltran blockbuster, which originally ran as a "Prospectus Today" column on June 25, 2004.
July 7, 2011 9:00 am
The BP Wayback Machine: State of the Game |
In which Joe takes Bud Selig to task for failing to understand the real reasons for the All-Star Game's decline in popularity.
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
Does Bud Selig believe that baseball isn't an inherently interesting game? So said Joe in the article below, which originally ran as a "Prospectus Today" column on July 13, 2006.
June 22, 2011 9:00 am
The BP Wayback Machine: Bi-Coastal Silliness |
It took several years for Frank McCourt to run the Dodgers into the ground, but Joe foresaw hard times ahead in LA back in 2005.
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
"...the long-term prospects for this organization are terrible, and it's McCourt's fault." Those words could have been written yesterday, but Joe wrote them right here in a "Prospectus Today" column on November 3, 2005.
October 11, 2010 1:27 am
Joe's Blog: Rain Delay |
The book will be late.
Back in January, when I signed a book contract with PEV to assemble a collection of my work along with original material, September 1 seemed like a long, long, long way off. The deadline made perfect sense: it would leave plenty of time for reading and evaluating the old work, divining a structure, whittling down a list and writing a bunch of original material. With submissions throughout the year, it would leave time for editing, proofing and printing -- the last a very quick process these days -- and a sales season that would coincide with the MLB playoffs, a time when everyone is focused on baseball and one that I have long considered my best time of the year as a writer.
It would also get the book off my desk before I threw myself into postseason coverage.
September 22, 2010 6:22 pm
Joe's Blog: A Taste |
The first excerpt from Joe's upcoming book.
That thunder you heard in the New York area last week wasn't the weather, no matter what was reported. No, I think the sound was the earth moving as I filed the first segments of the book to Christina Kahrl. I could not be more fortunate. Christina and I have worked together for 15 years, editing each other's work -- and the work of many others -- in BP annuals and on the Web site. She knows my writing as well as any person alive, making her the perfect editor for this project.
Now, I just have to keep the copy flowing. Having started filing, gotten over that hump, I'm sure the rest of the book will come quickly. In retrospect, I probably spent too much time selecting the pieces for inclusion, which put me behind on the writing, but we're here now, and the words are flowing, and there's an editor and we're vetting layouts, so it won't be long now.