Not as Close as it Looks The entire AL West is separated by one-and-a-half games, with the A’s currently at the top and the Rangers at the bottom. A recent ten-game stretch of intradivisional play didn’t separate the teams, nor did nine games of interleague play. While the division looks like it could provide significant…
It’s good to be back, now that we have all regained consciousness. As many of you know, ESPN.com columnist Peter Gammons referenced Clay Davenport’s EqA rankings here at Baseball Prospectus in his June 3 column. For Gammons, long a target of our barbs over the years, to reference Clay’s work represents a significant step forward…
Some people are up in arms over Scott Boras’s comment, made during an ESPN.com chat session, that he has talked with Cardinals’ GM Walt Jocketty about Rick Ankiel‘s pitch counts. The idea that an agent–The Evil One, no less–would have a say in how a player is used in a game is anathema to many…
Here’s the rest of my ballot. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about possible changes baseball can make to stop the surge in triple plays. When they’re this common, they become cheap and they lose their luster. A special baseball moment is now just another part of the highlights package. Even Tony Womack can be a part of…
I promised to take you through my All-Star ballot, so here goes. Note that I’m not doing this by league, but by position. Infield today, catcher and outfield tomorrow, and no doubt a lot of nasty reader e-mail Friday. Remember the standard: the player who I consider to be the best in the league at…
The Dodger Bullpen One of the problems Davey Johnson had in his first year as the Dodger manager was a lack of bench options, especially left-handed ones. Over the winter, Kevin Malone worked to get him more balance, trading away Eric Young and Raul Mondesi while bringing Shawn Green and F.P. Santangelo. Along with increased…
Two weeks ago, at the Angels/Orioles game in Anaheim, I filled out my All-Star ballot. Two, to be exact. When I was younger, I used to fill out as many as I could before the sixth inning, when the ushers at Yankee Stadium–back when they had ushers–would come around and collect them. There were "favorites"…
The American League held an early-season barnburner over the weekend as the teams battling for the leads in the East and Central divisions went head-to-head. The series in New York got most of the attention, thanks in part to two of the games showing up on national television. The Red Sox took two of three…
To my mind, the biggest story in the National League so far is the struggle of the Houston Astros. The three-time NL Central champs are in last place this season, with the second-worst record in the league (moving up from worst just last night). The team ERA is 14th in the league, and even after…
Yesterday’s light slate of games gives me a chance to step back and see what’s interesting around the AL. NL fans, take heart: I’ll cover your turf Wednesday. When baseball realigned in 1994, one of the major objections that was raised was the possibility of an under-.500 team winning one of the four-team divisions. In…
Read the material here at BP.com for any length of time and you’ll notice certain themes running through the writing. One of the ones we’re known to pound incessantly is the idea that pitchers, especially young ones, need to be handled carefully. Rany Jazayerli’s Pitcher Abuse Points system is an outgrowth of that belief and…
Taking advantage of the Yankees’ complete inability to put runs on the board, the Red Sox moved into first place in the AL East this week. While the 1999 wild-card team was often referred to–OK, mostly by me–as a two-man team of Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, the 2000 version is showing considerably more depth…
No, I’m not predicting anything, just taking a look at some of the things to watch for around baseball this weekend. The race is on to see which bullpen will actually spontaneously combust first, that of the Orioles or the Cubs. The Cubs have been victimized by their relief core for the entire season, and…
Ho-hum. Just another run-of-the-mill evening at North America’s ballparks: In Montreal, the Expos pulled off the unlikely feat of beating Randy Johnson, as Javier Vazquez continued his delayed emergence as one of the National League’s best starters. Vazquez tossed eight shutout innings in the 2-0 win, and since his demotion last June, has an ERA…
I’ve been fortunate to be involved with BP from its inception, and have written for every edition of the book and for the Web site since we launched it. I’m also the managing editor of both the site and the book, and I understand how difficult it is to achieve 100% accuracy in the millions…
It’s fair to say that no one on our staff expected that, six weeks into the season, the Arizona Diamondbacks would have the biggest lead in any divisional race and sport the best record in baseball. We were mostly caught by surprise in 1999, when the D’backs rode Randy Johnson and a surprising veteran offense…