Last week, I was playing around with creating a BABIP predictor that was simple, intuitive, and calculable with the information available in my spreadsheets. I also stumbled across some brilliant work done by Peter Bendix at THT some time back. As an offshoot of the BABIP estimator, I decided to start with a baseline reading […]

It’s a busy week this week, so you’ll have to do without a fancy intro… Question #1:The Yankees make the World Series and face the Phillies. However, both CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee get hurt along the way. Put together the new, presumably 4-man rotations for both teams. Alex Pedicini: For the Phillies I would […]

As a Cardinals fan, and an avid user of Pitch f/x data, I was absolutely thrilled to read this: If a club is weighing whether to acquire a particular pitcher, for example, one of the first questions is whether he’s likely to stay healthy. “Of course we’ll lean heavily on medical-staff opinion, but we also […]

For over a decade, Yankees fans have been lucky enough to watch the seemingly-invincible Mariano Rivera close out games. The emotional difference between having Rivera in the game and even somebody as good as Joe Nathan, or Jon Papelbon, or Trevor Hoffman in the game is incredible. Rebecca at Purist Bleeds Pinstripes put this feeling […]

Actually, this should probably be called “Random Phillie Phacts,” but then I couldn’t get the stupid “Ph” thing in the front of all three words. . . . Well, the Phillies are not only defending World Series champs, but doing pretty good for themselves so far this postseason. I found out some interesting (to me […]

I wrote about this earlier in the year, but no one should be surprised that Jeff Mathis delivered the Angels’ big hit last night. This year, he batted .344 in 46 High Leverage plate appearances vs. .144 in 119 Low Leverage plate appearances. That’s a difference of 200 points. Think that’s just a fluke? Well, […]

Beginning today I will be looking at various prospects who may be counted on to contribute in the major leagues next season. First on my list is Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Desmond Jennings. Jennings will turn 23 at the end of the month and is a phenomenal athlete. He originally signed a letter of intent […]

I just heard Tim McCarver throw out this beauty, and felt it should be shared with the masses: “I said it was Izturis who didn’t get the bunt down last year. It was actually Manny Aybar. Excuse me, Erick Aybar, not his younger brother Manny who plays for Tampa Bay.”

Jack Moore recently wrote an article at FanGraphs about John Lannan’s ability to defy fielding independent pitching metrics over the past couple of years. Over the past two seasons, Lannan has thrown 388.1 innings, with a 3.90 ERA, making him one of the more productive starters in baseball. However, his FIP is 4.72 during that […]

Here’s something that doesn’t happen every day: a newspaper article quotes me. It’s on catcher-managers by Marc Carig in the Journal-Star. We had an email exchange on the subject earlier this week. The piece focuses on why catchers so frequently become managers. One thing I mentioned in my email that doesn’t quite relate to his […]