Over at the BP Prospect Team, we’ve spent the last six months or so writing scouting reports and making rankings and talking largely in vernacular that feels like it could be inscrutable. All of these lists and reports have grades called “OFP/likely” on the 20-80 scale. We just sort of assume you know what it…
Each winter, as baseball hibernates and dreams of the joys that await, PECOTA goes through a multi-layer process that begins with locating similarities between players past and present, and using the past trajectories to inform its expectations for the upcoming season. While the system proceeds to combine those expectations into predictions for teams and standings,…
Don’t think about the last time you attended a funeral in Pittsburgh. Don’t think about your great aunt’s funeral on one of those cold gray days the city specializes in. A city with less sunshine than Seattle; a city clouded in funereal gray. Your sister stands next to you, and your shoes sink in the…
Traducido por Martin Alonso Para el Equipo de BP Prospectos, hemos pasado los últimos seis meses, aproximadamente, escribiendo reportes de scouts y construyendo rankings y hablando usando un vocabulario misterioso. Todas estas listas y reportes tienen notas llamadas “OFP/likely” en la escala 20-80. Asumimos que saben lo que significa, o pueden descifrarlo por contexto. ¿Pero…
Vermont’s Gihon River flows past the studio that is my home this month, where I am finishing a draft of a project I have lived with for nearly a decade. In this small room overlooking this small river, I write and revise. When the trickle of words dries up for the day, I drink from…
I just finished a three-part series on trading so you’re probably surprised to learn I have more to say on the subject. Or you’re not surprised because you think I’m a big, stinking liar. Either way, I decided to write this week about trading in keeper leagues. (NOTE – this piece is primarily focused on…
Last week, the civilian formerly known as Jayson Werth engaged in some radio conversation with Howard Eskin, and the conversation turned to sabermetrics. If you haven’t read his comments at this point, you’ve read them under other guises, but they are also included here: “They’ve got all these super nerds in the front office that…
Lou Castro, as he preferred to be called, made his major league debut on April 23, 1902 for the Philadelphia Athletics. His professional baseball career lasted a paltry 42 games, in which he hit .245 with 15 RBI. On their way to winning the pennant, the Athletics removed him from the team in favor of…
*Purple Rain record scratch* *freeze frame* I know my line, but I need a minute. Okay. How did I get here? I’m sure you think you know. But it’s worse than that. “Rocktober” was created by Jimmy Page in 1969, then commercialized by radio station managers in 1971. Listeners were told to get the Led…
Traducido por Marco Gamez Cada invierno, mientras el béisbol hiberna y sueña con los placeres que le esperan, PECOTA pasa por un proceso de varias capas que comienza buscando similitudes entre jugadores del pasado y presente, y usa esas trayectorias pasadas con el fin de dar a conocer las expectativas para la próxima temporada. Si…
Buying a baseball team isn’t like other investments.
Do we only care about little girls until we want to win baseball games?
Would the Rangers be better off if Joey Gallo bunted every time against the shift?
At some point, I stopped locking the front door. Death is not the only disease. It’s the obvious one, though, especially at times like Tuesday night. Felix Hernandez threw the change-up, Robinson Chirinos reached out his wrist to meet it, and then both men winced in pain. One man healed. The metaphor is unavoidable, as…
Some prospects push the framework we employ close to its breaking point.
Comprar un equipo de béisbol no es como otras inversiones.