One of the persistent themes in our annual book is the idea of proper use of players. Most players who we criticize aren’t bad players at all; there are very few bad baseball players that have ever made it to the high minors, much less the majors. For example, when we chide Brian L. Hunter…
PROGRESSION "I think the decisions we made to enhance this ballpark were good ones. It’s going to make this ballpark stand the test of time. We did some things we probably didn’t have to do. That’s money we’re not going to have. Next year, I know we’re not going to have cost overruns." —Kevin McClatchy,…
There’s an unfortunate but natural tendency to ascribe to players the qualities they exhibit on the field. Great players are often treated as great people, even if they aren’t. There’s a quality of redemption-through-performance that we see most obviously in players accused of big things, like murder. The reverse is also true: while some of…
This week’s question comes from N.J., who writes: I’m going to keep writing until you answer or persuade me this is a stupid question… I’d like to see a metric that evaluates what a player has actually contributed toward winning, not just how good the player is. For example, Sammy Sosa has been a terrific…
About two months ago, there was a ton of focus on transactions. Which players would be going where to help what teams, and what would they bring in return? The trade deadline is always rife with speculation, and frankly, it’s a fun pastime. But the thing I try to remember is that of all the…
The specter of contraction has reared its ugly head again. The very public tiff between Jerry McMorris, principal owner of the Colorado Rockies, and the Montreal Expos, has brought the subject back into the public debate. For those who missed it, McMorris proposed that last weekend’s series between the Rockies and Expos be moved to…
Part One Part Two (Introduced by Bill James in 1987, the Ken Phelps All-Star Team is a way of acknowledging players who, based on their performance in the minor leagues, deserve a chance to play in the majors, but who have not received the opportunity. In Part Two of his three-part series, Jeff Bower looks…
The dream died this weekend. The Twins, with one last chance to make a run in the AL Central, dropped two of three games to the Indians, making their tragic number six and basically ending the divisional race. The Twins scored just four runs in their two losses, continuing an offensive slide that is the…
PITCHING THROUGH PAIN "The way things were going, it was feeling better before the Pittsburgh incident, I thought that I was on the right track and would be able to make it. But, you know, whatever happened then, since I’ve been back the second time. it has not been great the whole time. It’s gotten…
The Mets are just five games out of first place in the NL East, so I was going to do a column on exactly how this happened. My mother is a big Mets fan, bless her heart, and when I mentioned my intention, she about disowned me, mindful of the evil things I’ve done to…
This week’s question come from P. N., who asks: I’m an Oakland A’s fan and there’s been a lot of talk lately about how the A’s are leading both leagues in the number of batters hit by pitches. Tim Hudson has suggested that the pitching staff needs to be more aggressive in protecting the hitters….
That was interesting. Four of the National League’s eight–and with the Mets six games out, I guess we have to say "nine"–contenders blew leads in the ninth inning yesterday: The Diamondbacks had the most spectacular implosion, blowing first a six-run first-inning lead, then watching Byung-Hyun Kim serve up back-to-back solo shots to Todd Helton and…
We are a jaded society. The entertainment industry drowns us in hyperbole and excess, to the point where magazines devote their cover story to the outfits worn by celebrities to an award show. The sports industry is nearly as guilty, or haven’t you noticed that college players are being touted for the Heisman trophy in…
The National League has a tremendous wild-card race going, with five teams separated by four games. Throw in the division leaders, and half the league is within 8 1/2 games of each other. That’s a recipe for a great three weeks of baseball, perhaps comparable to the 1967 American League race, if we get lucky….