Brian Cartwright has released his 2009 Oliver projections for batters over at Statistically Speaking. His projection system draws its appellation from Tangotiger’s suggestion of Oliver the Chimpanzee being somewhat more sophisticated than Marcel the Monkey.

Brew Crew Ball has posted a spreadsheet comparing CC’s two offers. I hope this is the sort of thing agents are doing for their players. The upshot is that $140 million isn’t necessarily $40 million more than $100 million, at least not when you account for contracts of different lengths, different costs of living and […]

Haven’t heard much about free agent Bobby Abreu yet, but Eric Seidman rectifies the situation. Really, Abreu’s salary demands are outrageous and he will be a good test of how rational or wacky the free agent market is right now.

One of my favorite sports writer/bloggers, Joe Posnanski, has written a biting, yet appropriate, critique of Thomas Boswell’s position that giving the MVP to Albert Pujols is “nuts.” This year’s MVP debate is really separating the “gets it’s” from the “doesn’t get it’s” for me. I believe that Howard wasn’t even the most valuable player […]

You may remember former Brewer/Rockie Scott Karl. Well, Brewerfan managed to scoop up an interview with Karl, and it’s pretty interesting. You sometimes wonder why and how players start to lose their edge, and Karl provides one example: …I had developed a genetic condition that limited the elasticity of my ligaments and tendons. I could […]

Fangraphs has been adding lots of features and new stats by the minute. Eric Seidman has helped the cause by looking at the relationship between some of these obscure stats (what is a Z-swing, anyhoo? Shouldn’t definitions be included in the glossary and articles themselves?) and pitcher performance. This is good stuff, and understanding how […]

Craig Calcaterra picks apart Phil Sheridan’s assertion that Pujols’ MVP award was an embarrassment to the BBWAA. Some columns just write themselves. The only thing I’d add is that leaving Howard off your ballot altogether isn’t that outrageous, in my humble opinion. Makes more sense to me that listing Pujols seventh.

If you’ve read and appreciated Dave Cameron’s work at U.S.S. Mariner or more recently at Fangraphs, go vote for Dave in a online contest to receive the $10,000 2008 blogging scholarship. Dave is currently locked in a close race with Texas political blogger David Mauro of the Burnt Orange Report. Mauro would certainly be a […]

The 2009 Marcel projections are now available from The Book blog. If you haven’t heard of them, Marcel projections (“so simple, even a monkey can do them”) are very simple yet still effective projections based on each player’s previous major league experience. They’re pretty good for players with a couple years of major league experience. […]

Jeremy Affeldt, the left-handed reliever from the Reds, signed a two-year deal with the Giants today. The deal is reportedly for $8 million. It doesn’t take too many brain cells to call this a very good deal for the Giants. Keith Law ranks Affeldt the 15th-best free agent available (subscription required). A quote from Law’s […]