As Kevin noted, I’ve tracked the market for player contracts at Cot’s Baseball Contracts since 2005. I know BP.com will be a great, user-friendly upgrade for that information, whether you’re conducting hardcore statistical analysis, putting together a fantasy team or just arguing with a friend about the relative value and costs of, say, Joey Gathright and Brian N. Anderson.
I’ll also weigh in with occasional articles about contracts and developments in the market or the business side of the game. I’ll be eager to hear feedback once the transition of the contract information is complete, and I hope everyone has half as much fun with the numbers as I know I’ll have here at Baseball Prospectus.
Jeff, your site was one of the best on the web. Good luck with Baseball Prospectus. I hope they signed you for 3 yr/$8.6 mil with a $4.3 mil player option and a $1.3 mil buyout.
Been checking out Cot's ever since I discovered it a year ago, and am very pleased that the info will now be located here, at my preferred source of baseball sagacity. Welcome, and looking forward to your contributions.
Jeff, greetings and welcome to the Prospectus! As Oira61 said, your site was one of the best on the web, and was cited by many in their articles and columns. This move to BP is great not only for you and statistical junkies like us, but also for BP.
In figuring out what to suggest modestly in the off-season to the GM's of my favorite teams (why don't they pay attention?), Cot's was an irreplaceable resource in order to avoid making truly stupid suggestions, like that the Yankees should go after Curtis Granderson...Oh, wait...
Very good move for BP and I hope for you, Jeff. Welcome and regards,
I've used Cot's for years now, and will love to have it in the same database with player stats. Although it was painstaking to sift through both BP and Cot's, it has always been well worth it.
I'm excited for this, COTs has been a constant reference for a few years now. It will be nice to have it in the same location as one of my daily haunts.
Having next to no technical expertise, I'm following the lead of Kevin and the database experts on the integration and timetable. The basic format will be retained - team-by-team, with years, value and other details - but without the archaic 2004 feel you see over at Cot's now. My sense is that the information also will be incorporated into other existing features, such as statistics or player cards. The ability to sort and search will be a much-needed improvement, as will an archive to preserve contract details for former players like Randy Johnson.
Jeff, great to have you on board. I probably go to Cot's 10 times/month and love it. The one thing I'm wondering about is if there will be a recreation process where if I wanted to see what the Pirates salary-wise looked like in 2003, I'd be able to do it, without going to the roster of all the current players. That would be amazing.
Thanks for the resource on that, but it looks like that is just the salary number. I guess I wasn't clear, but what I was hoping for is not only having salary but where they were in their salary process. Specifically thinking about Matt S. article. If we could label that in 2003 on the Pirates, player A got $X and was in their 3rd year of arbitration, versus Player B who get $Y and was signed as a free agent, that may offer the basis for some really great analysis on roster construction.
I expect to have a listing for current free agents to account for players who are not on 40-man rosters at the moment. There are pages for both free agent pitchers and position players now at Cot's, and I've kept them up year-round to account for players like Ben Sheets who sit out a year.
I am not sure what this whole "Cot's" thing is about. Do I sling between trees? And, why would anyone obsess over contract data? I mean, really.... you'd have to be sick in the head to do that day in and day out year after year.
Guess I should get into this whole "contract" thing, huh?
Now, all that aside, it's great to see you here at BP. A very welcome addition.
BP gets a huge win in this deal. I look forward to the searchable version with baited breath.
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Greetings and welcome to you, Jeff!