One of the best things about creating and growing Baseball Prospectus is that I get to work with people I greatly respect, and with whom I sometimes fervently disagree. Yesterday’s Daily Prospectus contained a paragraph that drew my attention immediately, and made me bounce to the keyboard to craft a response. I hope that Joe…
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…
Japanese baseball performance should, in theory, be as translatable as performance from any baseball league in the United States. The process has had its challenges, though: the data is not as easy to find, and much of what is available is in a language and a character set that I can’t read. (I still don’t…
BACKING AWAY "There’s no doubt in my mind that relocation is coming. It’s just a question of when. I’ve always said that we need to solve the basic problems, and when we solve the basic problems we can then turn our attention to relocation." —Bud Selig, Commissioner of Baseball "I’d have to say that given…
Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four The black hole of MLB’s financial disclosures is titled "National and Other Local Expenses." This category includes all operating expenses other than those associated with players on the 40-man roster. Legitimate expenses in this category include salaries for managers, coaches, and scouts; signing bonuses for draftees and…
Let me start with a mea culpa. In my last column, I reported that the Royals’ acquisition of Michael Tucker was potentially disastrous because it would take away playing time from Mark Quinn and Dee Brown. In particular, I was concerned about Brown’s future with the club, as he is out of options and it…
The week in quotes, featuring Gary Carter, Theo Epstein, J.P. Ricciardi, and more.
Another Hall of Fame election has come and gone, and the post-mortem columns look pretty much the same as last year. They lament the fact that Gary Carter has to wait another year, that Bert Blyleven and Rich Gossage got stiffed again, and that a decent candidate got dropped from the ballot. (Actually, I’m surprised…
Just when you thought you had a handle on the influx of Japanese players, along comes Kazuhisa Ishii. Last week, the Dodgers won the rights to negotiate with Ishii, a 28-year-old left-hander, in the same process by which the Mariners acquired Ichiro Suzuki last season. They paid $11.26 million for the privilege, and are optimistic…
This week’s question, 2002’s first, comes from Jesse Alson-Milkman: Is there any pitcher in the history of the game who has had his strikeout rate fluctuate as wildly as Mariano Rivera has? In 1996, Rivera pitched 107 2/3 innings, striking out 130 men. By 1998, he’d dropped to a low of 36 strikeouts in 61…
DIGGING A HOLE "There was no need to. It was paid." —Bob DuPuy, MLB executive vice president of administration, to the Minnesota Star-Tribune on why a $3 million loan by a company owned by Twins owner Carl Pohlad to then-acting commissioner and Brewers owner Bud Selig wasn’t subject to baseball’s Rule 20(c), which requires owner…
Part One Part Two Part Three As the long-time owner of an unsuccessful small-market team, Commissioner Bud Selig has 30 years of practice arguing that "small markets can’t compete." (The Brewers’ mediocrity surely couldn’t be management’s fault.) Inevitably, Exhibit A in this argument is a table similar to the first two columns below, which show…
For those of you who may have missed the Associated Press article, Representative John Conyers (D-Mich.) has called for the resignation of Allan H. "Bud" Selig as the commissioner of baseball. Conyers is apparently upset about a bridge loan for $3 million received by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1995. The loan was made to the…
This is a bittersweet column for me, as I write now to announce to the Baseball Prospectus readership my departure from the writing fold. On January 2, I joined the front office of the Toronto Blue Jays, working for General Manager J.P. Ricciardi on matters of player evaluation. For me, this marks the end of…