Prospectus Feature: American League Predictions
3/31Our best guess at 2002's winners and losers.
Prospectus Feature: National League Predictions
3/30Our best guess at 2002's winners and losers.
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightProspectus Feature: .Baseball In Seattle
3/28The Seattle Mariners are currently one of baseball's most successful franchises, playing in a beautiful, expensive stadium they didn't pay for, and fielding a well-funded team that won 116 games last season. According to Bud Selig's Guaranteed Accurate 2001 Financial Statement, they paid $18.8 million into the revenue sharing pool, a figure that matched the Florida Marlins' withdrawal from same.
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightProspectus Feature: Comparing Balance: Are the Yankees Unbeatable?
3/14There is no competitive balance problem in baseball, even in the latest period of Yankee pennants. Supposedly, the Yankees play an entirely different game than other teams. If this is true, we should see this in almost any metric we choose, but it's not there.
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightProspectus Feature: The Numbers (Part Seven): Interest-ing
3/13As noted in my last column, operating losses account for only $232 million of the $519 million Major League Baseball claims to have lost in 2001. Another $112,491,000 represents net interest expenses. Here's how the interest was distributed.
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightProspectus Feature: The Marlin in Charge: Can We Learn from Torborg’s Past?
3/11A few weeks ago at the BP Pizza Feed in Los Angeles, one of the attendees--sorry, I don't remember who--asked me what we could expect from Jeff Torborg in Florida. The Marlins, as you know, have a large stable of young starting pitchers, including perhaps the game's top prospect, 22-year-old right-hander Josh Beckett. The questioner wanted to know if there was anything we could glean from Torborg's history that would indicate how he might handle the pitching talent on hand.
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightProspectus Feature: The Salary Cap: Another Viewpoint
3/05The type of salary cap that is likely to be proposed by management in upcoming labor negotiations is probably a bad idea. But two recent articles at the Baseball Prospectus Web site overstate the case against salary caps in general.
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightProspectus Feature: The Success Cycle
2/28Dave Littlefield had an opportunity to make an immediate impact after being hired as the Pirates' general manager last June. He could have traded Jason Kendall and Brian Giles to contending teams for a bushel of top prospects and started a new era in Pittsburgh baseball.
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