One of the things I’m really looking forward to this year is the American League West. The two best teams in baseball played here last season, and both the A’s and Mariners can be expected to break 90 wins in 2002. Add in the much-improved Texas Rangers, and there’s the potential for a three-team race among very good teams that will provide suspense even with the wild card guaranteeing two of them spots in the postseason.
I want to start this by thanking everyone who showed up Saturday afternoon for the first SoCal Pizza Feed. It was a great thrill to meet so many BP supporters, and I hope all of you enjoyed it as much as Dave and I did. — I’ve been spending a lot of time writing about…
I want to start this by thanking everyone who showed up Saturday afternoon for the first SoCal Pizza Feed. It was a great thrill to meet so many BP supporters, and I hope all of you enjoyed it as much as Dave and I did. — I’ve been spending a lot of time writing about…
A few weeks ago, I started what I hoped would be a series on baseball’s economic issues. As you can see, it’s been a while between articles. It has taken me three weeks to put together a coherent salary-cap column, because there are so many issues that come into play when trying to write about…
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m writing these columns as a result of a conversation I had with Rany Jazayerli about a month ago. One of the best points Rany made was that we, as fans, don’t have much invested in how the owners and players carve up the money generated by Major League Baseball. Does…
Right at the end of 2001, I had a long phone conversation with Rany Jazayerli, much of which was about the economics of baseball. Rany is my best friend on our staff, the guy who brought me into Baseball Prospectus. He is also one of the smartest people I know, which is why his viewpoints…
The booth is now closed, and tomorrow we’ll be announcing the honorees in the 2002 STATLG-L Hall of Fame balloting. As much as I’d like to say that I’m running my personal ballot now because I didn’t want to impact the voting (as if it would), the truth is that I’m only getting to it…
The decision to offer arbitration to a player eligible for free agency is one of the few bright-line tests of a baseball team’s front-office acumen. The elements of the decision are fairly simple, yet nearly every year a handful of teams do things that border on the bizarre, that reflect a lack of preparation for…
I probably shouldn’t admit to this–there’s a book publisher who would rather I be spending my time in other ways–but I spent a good chunk of Thursday following the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing, starring His Dishonesty. It was entertaining, to say the least. For those of you who didn’t see it…well, I can understand that….
At this writing, there’s something of a consensus that Jason Giambi is going to sign a big contract with the New York Yankees, something like seven years and $119 million total. Signing the first baseman is the Yankees’ top priority this offseason, and they’ve thrown the most money and the most attention at him of…
I know I’m supposed to be really worked up over Ichiro Suzuki being voted the American League MVP by the Baseball Writers Association of America, and initially I was. Ichiro, for all his positives, wasn’t the best player on his team this year, wasn’t one of the five best players in the AL, and got…
(Note: With production having started on Baseball Prospectus 2002, The Daily Prospectus will run on an irregular schedule through February. Look for two to three columns per week in this space.) On Sunday, Mark McGwire confirmed the rumor that he had not signed the extension of his contract with the Cardinals, and would instead retire…
Bud Selig is a sniveling weasel. He professes to have been hurt by the Braves’ departure from Milwaukee in 1965, but got his own team by stealing it from another municipality–Seattle–just five years later. Now, he wants to take teams away from two other cities, again re-creating his pain for thousands, perhaps millions, of fans….
I’d imagine that many of you reading this column played baseball growing up. I did, as well as playing softball, and stickball, and Wiffle ball, and stoopball…basically anything that looked, smelled, or tasted like baseball was a good use of my time. Well, I thought so, anyway. In playing those games when I was very…
I know I’m supposed to fill this space with cogent analysis about the World Series, but I really don’t know what I can say. I’m not operating as an analyst right now, not at 9:49 on Thursday night, not after having watched the most incredible back-to-back World Series games since 1991. I’m just a fan…
He deserved to lose. I’ve spent most of the evening exchanging e-mails with my BP colleagues, e-mails with subject lines like "Silliness" and "Bob Brenly is an idiot." Believe me, I didn’t expect to be doing this: Brenly’s decision to start Curt Schilling on short rest was, to me, a decision to win the World…