Examining the Prince’s Reign in Texas: Prince Fielder and the 2014 Rangers
One of the offseason’s most talked-about moves was the trade that sent Prince Fielder to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Ian Kinsler and gobs of cash. While universally (and rightfully so) viewed as...
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Options for Closer in Arizona
As I usually do, I was checking through the headlines on mlb.com and I happened to notice that Kirk Gibson has not made a decision for who will be closing for his team. This should be one of the bigger...
View ArticleRanking Batters in Fantasy Leagues with Alternate Stats
Draft prep: Framing the problem So you’re preparing for your fantasy draft. You’re caught up on FanGraphs, checked for recent injuries at Rotoworld, maybe skimmed a few headlines from your other top 11...
View ArticlePossible Side Impacts of Base Stealers
Having grown up playing catcher from Little League through college, I always recognized the temptation and situational changes that occurred in terms of strategy and pitch selection with runners on,...
View ArticleWhat the Cubs Need to Do to Be Successful
The Chicago Cubs have gotten off to a very slow start in the 2013-14 season scoring a total of 9 runs in their first 5 games and as a result of that they are 1-4. The buzz around the city of Chicago is...
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Top 10 Picks in the ’90s: Irrational Trends
The annual MLB Draft is an exciting time for baseball. Dozens of high school and college players convince fans that they have the potential to be future All-Stars, and teams make selections to stock...
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The Essay FOR the Sacrifice Bunt
There are many arguments against the sacrifice bunt, by many sabermetricians and sports writers, all with the purpose of retiring its practice in baseball. The three main reasons not to bunt are that...
View ArticleFinding the Ideal Leadoff Hitter
We know, in 2014, that lineup construction has little effect on winning. And yet, it’s not any less frustrating when managers set their batting orders in ways that seem to defy any semblance of logic....
View ArticleCollins Working the Lineup
Over the course of 162 games, there’s only so much influence a manager of any baseball team could have over their outcome. After 105 games the Mets actual record is 3 wins shy of their projected record...
View ArticleLeadoff Rating 2.0
It feels icky to create a statistical formula based on what “feels right”. Last month, I introduced a stat called Leadoff Rating, or LOR. The idea was that most systems to identify great leadoff...
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The A’s Declining Offense
Take a turn around Twitter or any major baseball news source and you’ll hear a familiar echo about the former best team in baseball; the offense hasn’t been the same since the deadline. When the A’s...
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Pitches Seen: Baseball’s Boring Inefficiency
I think I might be the biggest fan of the world of the Ten-Pitch Walk. I don’t know why, but I get overly excited when I see a player really battle for a long time, against everything the pitcher has,...
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Why Haven’t the A’s had Any Good Pitch-Framers?
The ability to quantify the value of catcher framing has been one of the biggest sabermetric breakthroughs of the last decade. By parsing through PITCHf/x data, analysts like Mike Fast, Max Marchi, Dan...
View ArticleThe Rays, Drew Smyly, and the Changeup
In 2013, Baseball Prospectus chronicled the Rays’ “changeup revolution,” explaining how the Rays’ pitching development has succeeded in part because they teach pretty much everyone to offer a plus...
View ArticleThe Search for a Good Approach
Last week I explored the strategic effect of seeing more pitchers per plate appearance. I love the ten-pitch walk as much as the next guy, but what I love even more is seeing a guy be able to change...
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When Should I Steal?
The Stolen Base Some consider the stolen base a “lost art.” Gone are the days of Vince Coleman’s back-to-back-to-back 100+ stolen base seasons of Whitey-ball folklore. Teams are stealing at the lowest...
View ArticleWhy Is Brandon Finnegan So Unique?
On September 30, Royals 2014 1st Round Draft Pick Brandon Finnegan was brought into the AL Wild Card Game against the Oakland A’s just under 4 months after being drafted out of Texas Christian...
View ArticleHitting Wins Championships(?)
Over the past week or so, there have been baseball playoffs. And, like you, I have heard so many different opinions about what it takes to win a World Series Championship. Usually you hear “pitching...
View ArticleA Surplus of Middle Infielders for the Rangers…Again!
2014 looked to be a positive year for the Rangers. However, injuries took their toll on the Rangers and though they could keep up for a few months, they were too much to handle. Jurickson Profar was...
View ArticleQualifying Offers in 2014
Now that all of the qualifying offers are in, we can look and see if teams are changing their strategies when it comes to giving players qualifying offers. I argued last year that teams were not...
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