This is a fine sports story. Call it a must read.
peter
About The Guide 2009
The last post I wrote was about the Fantasy Baseball Guide 2009, of which I’m the editor. I think we create an excellent preseason fantasy preview that also has, unlike nearly every other fantasy mag, value all season long. When a guy gets called up in midseason there’s a good chance he’ll be in the Guide.
The Guide also has last year’s Games Played by Position data (major leagues and minor), which you won’t find anywhere else in such easy format (for the 1500+ players included in the Guide).
I also want to point out that the Guide is a fantasy product that is fact based. The arguments made for and against players are based on information that is divulged as the argument is made. A lot of the world of baseball happens randomly, a great deal of the game’s outcomes are random, but that shouldn’t be an excuse for spouting. Maybe it’s a style thing, but I hate guys (always guys) shouting at me about what matters.
What matters isn’t shouting.
Thanks for listening, Peter.
Ps. The Guide has perceptive player profiles, the picks and pans of many industry lights, my bid prices (far in advance of the season) and access via the link in the editor’s letter to updated projections (which are way better than the mechanical projections we can do in November) and prices on the website. Plus strategy pieces from experts who won tough leagues, about how they did it. And the Creativesports.com Mock Draft, which saddled me with the first pick this year. I went with Pujols, though that isn’t the consensus choice. But that’s why we do it.
the Fantasy Baseball Guide 2009
The new Fantasy Baseball Guide 2009 has been out for a few weeks now, but I’ve been so busy and this is the offseason I hadn’t plugged it here. New this year are complete Major League and Minor League Games Played by Position for all the listed players.
Once again the five year Player Cost and Player Earned scans give a most excellent idea about how prices change after a player has had an inexplicably bad year. Not much. They also give a good idea of player’s real value, apart from whatever spike or slough he’s just gone through.
And, of course, there are the crowd pleasing Picks and Pans, in which a broad cross section of fantasy experts write their own player comments for the players they care for or loath most.
The mag is out in all the usual Barnes and Nobles and Walmarts and Borders and other newsstands and groceries. Enjoy.
The 2008 Scouting Report
There are people with a lot of energy, and then there is Tom Tango. He not only invented the Marcel the Monkey projections, but also runs the Fans Scouting Report project, which polls real people to report on what they see when they watch players on defense.
They thought Edgar Renteria was awful last year. Some thought Michael Young, surprise Gold Glove winner, was good, but some thought he was awful. Everyone liked Erick Aybar.
The sample sizes aren’t big enough to allow much authority to the ratings, but they are another data point in the endless drive to figure out who can play defense and who can’t.
Maximum impact sluggers
This is just a solid bit of analysis of power hitters we don’t know for next year. Or, like Chris Davis, who we think we know too well.
According to former BaseballHQer Melchior, Davis should be fine but not great, and you shouldn’t overlook all those strike outs (he shows you why).
Good stuff, though you shouldn’t overrely on strikeout rates to gauge future performance. Still, youngsters who fail to make contact have a lot of things they have to improve if they’re going to be successful the second time round the league. Most, as Al points out, don’t make it.
Hitler is a Cubs Fan
Winter Meetings Preview at hirejimessian.com
You would think there could be too many Downfall mashups, but this isn’t the one that crosses the line. Very well written, and you all know about the acting.
Happy Birthday Sean Forman!
The link is an effusive thanks to Sean for creating and developing and then pretty much perfecting baseball-reference.com. All the more important because it’s all true. The HOF waits, though I suspect Sean will be in the class of 2022.
Call Me Crazy! Punto Signs! Call Twins Crazy!
PUNTO RETURNS TO TWINS
Nick Punto isn’t the full-time shortstop the Minnesota Twins are seeking, but he’s been excellent insurance in the past and now will be for another two years. Punto, 31, signed a two-year deal for $8.5 million with an option for a third year Thursday.
Punto batted .284 last season and was the Twins’ regular shortstop for much of the season. The Twins have had trouble filling the position since trading Jason Bartlett to the Tampa Bay Rays a year ago.
How in the world can anyone justify paying Nick Punto more than $4M per year? It is this kind of signing that makes me think that major league teams know things that those of us outside the decision making core just don’t know.
I mean, the Twins have other options for utility infielders and backup starter shortstops who might cost 1/10th what they’re paying Punto. Can he be ten times more valuable than those alternatives are? Can he be three times as valuable? It doesn’t seem so.
Yeesh.
(Note that I’m not arguing that Nick Punto stinks or doesn’t deserve to play in the majors, or even that he isn’t a starter. The point is that he isn’t so much better than the alternatives to be worth $4M per year. If he’s worth $4M what is Rafael Furcal worth?)
PHILLIES go to the World Series
For the first time since 1993: MLB.com: Gameday
One league, sixteen teams. Going to the World Series once in 15 years seems pretty normal. All things being equal.
Longoria connects, sets rookie mark
The link goes to a story that points out that Evan Longoria has set the rookie record for most homers in a post season, which is nice. But accompanying it is a gem from Elias charting the most homers hit by teams in their first post season, a factoid with absolutely zero analytical value on any possible level. Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. For the record, the Rays are tied with the Mariners first playoff team, with the same number of homers in half the games. And it looks like the Rays are going to be playing some more.