I received a number of e-mails today in response to the ballpark factor article. A couple of e-mailers said that ballpark factors can only be useful if they are tied to more specific types of batters or pitchers, such as lefty/right. I absolutely agree that ballpark factors should be applied to different types of players, […]

That’s Todd Zeile’s ERA this year, after giving up five runs in the eighth inning tonight. Normally a third baseman, Zeile was called to the mound to try and preserve the Mets’ bullpen, which has been strained lately — particularly by tonight’s 19-8 pasting from the Expos. A knuckleballer, Zeile previously pitched one inning for […]

A few months ago, I wrote an article about my brother’s APBA league, the North East League, which may well be the longest-running league in fantasy baseball (playing continuously since 1960). It seems fairly certain that the NEL was the first play-by-mail league. To get a sense of the NEL’s history, here’s something from their […]

Andrew Clark has developed a tremendous new baseball site, Major League Charts. Essentially, he has created interactive graphs for all baseball stats in history. It may take you a minute or two to get used to the interface, but you’ll find the time is worth it. I could get lost in this stuff. The above […]

For those of you with WGN (or MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings), turn to the Phillies/Cubs game immediately. Eric Milton has a no-hitter through seven innings. Twins fans may remember that Milton threw a no-no against the Angels back in September of 1999. He needs six more outs for no-hitter #2, and he’ll be facing […]

2004 Win Shares have been updated. Believe it or not, the leader in American League Win Shares Above Average is the Yankees’ Gary Sheffield, with Manny Ramirez, Michael Young and Travis Hafner (!) right behind. Sheffield is helped a lot by the Yankees’ positive pythagorean variance, which is seven wins above projections. Still, he has […]

All stats and graphs have been updated through games of July 22nd. I’ll get to Win Shares later this weekend. Barry Bonds now has 101 Runs Created, an average of 20 runs per 27 outs. Among all players with at least 200 plate appearances, Scott Rolen, Bobby Abreu and Manny Ramirez are next at half […]

The Mets just called up uberprospect David Wright, who was rated the second best prospect in baseball in Bryan Smith’s midseason report. Wright has shot through AA and AAA ball this year, and appears ready to contribute on a major league level. Hopefully, he’s also ready to handle the New York pressure. In related news, […]

San Diego prospect Tagg Bozied (who I’ve been keeping close tabs on since the Twins drafted him and he didn’t sign with them) hit a walkoff grand slam for Triple-A Portland on Monday night. As he got to the plate, he did the old jump-on-the-plate-right-before-everyone-slaps-my-helmet celebration, only to have his left knee give out on […]

One of the real interesting stories in baseball right now is the Seattle Mariners’ decision to let John Olerud walk. There’s a nice discussion of this transaction over on the U.S.S. Mariner. This is an understandable move by Seattle, but it’s sad to see it happen to a fine gentleman like John Olerud. But the […]