(Ed. note: The following is a reprint of an article that ran one year ago, on the day of the 2001 draft.] Right now, 30 major-league organizations are making decisions that will impact the success of their franchise over the next few years, and in some cases, for a decade or more. Unlike the football…
Quotes from May 27-June 2, including quotes about steroids, contraction, the Yankees and more.
Chris Kahrl examines trades involving 11 teams from May 30 to June 1, 2002.
So, what’s this whole humidor thing about, anyway? What are the effects of storing baseballs in a 40% humidity environment?
The biggest effect you would expect is that heavier balls hit in the air wouldn’t carry as far, and that appears to be the case. The most obvious impact is in the home-run rate at the park:
(Note that the numbers for the last five seasons do not include interleague games. I was working with the STATS Major League Handbook’s park data, which sensibly excludes those games.)
So, what’s this whole humidor thing about, anyway? What are the effects of storing baseballs in a 40% humidity environment? The biggest effect you would expect is that heavier balls hit in the air wouldn’t carry as far, and that appears to be the case. The most obvious impact is in the home-run rate at…
‘ROIDS, ‘ROIDS, ‘ROIDS, ‘ROIDS "If he [Ken Caminiti] wanted to address that [crap], he should have said it when he had the MVP award in his hand. ‘I thank my mom; I thank the steroids that I took.’ It’s the timing of it. Cammy’s a good dude, but it’s hypocritical to come back now and…
Chris Kahrl analyzes transactions involving 13 teams during May 28-29, 2002.
The Padres aren’t going to win anything without Nevin, so it’s time for them to focus on 2003.
Yesterday, I went down to San Diego to take in the Padres/Rockies game. As I’ve mentioned many times, I love day baseball, and really enjoy taking the opportunity to catch a game on a weekday afternoon. As as been the case with each game I’ve attended this year, this one didn’t have much going for…
I’m the new owner of the Angels.
Disney kept the team from leaving Anaheim, but their tax break was mostly expended, and running the team took energy the company wanted to spend persecuting peer-to-peer file sharing. The franchise didn’t come cheap, mind you, but I think it will be worth the money. Now, I’m Bud Selig’s worst nightmare, because I’m going to derive millions of dollars through his proposed revenue-sharing plan and field a team that’s going to thrash his precious Brewers for the foreseeable future.
(Ed. note: Derek Zumsteg and the voices in his head will be occupying this space every Thursday.–JSS) I’m the new owner of the Angels. Disney kept the team from leaving Anaheim, but their tax break was mostly expended, and running the team took energy the company wanted to spend persecuting peer-to-peer file sharing. The franchise…
Two weeks ago, newly-retired Jose Canseco claimed that 85% of major-league baseball players were steroid users.
During a May 14 chat session on ESPN.com, Bill James referred to my research on catcher’s game-calling and pitcher-handling, and his criticism of it. The research he refers to consists primarily of an article from Baseball Prospectus 1999 entitled "Field General or Backstop?" and a followup posted here on the BP Web site called "Catching…