1. OVERREACTING TO SHORT SAMPLE SIZES Is a typically good hitter going through a slump? Is an average hitter suddenly turning into Babe Ruth? One of the most common mistakes is overreacting to short sample sizes. An owner sees a player doing better than expected and gives up too much in a trade to get him, later when that player
Read moreWhich free agent pitchers are bargains and which are likely to be busts? I decided to analyze the list. BARGAINS 1. LANCE LYNN Lynn’s fastball velocity improved from 92.6 in 2017 to 94.0 in 2018. His Swing% improves from 44.4% in 2017 to 46.3% in 2018. His K/9 rate improved from 7.4 in 2017 to 9.2 in 2018. He also
Read moreRotisserie needs an overhaul. Major websites such as Yahoo! and ESPN use a standard 10 categorie version. There are 5 pitching categories and 5 hitting categories. The pitching categories are wins, strikeouts, ERA, saves and WHIP. The hitting categories are home runs, RBI, stolen bases, AVG and runs. I’m not going to describe the rules as I’m sure that if
Read morePhoto courtesy of Lindyssports.com. Arizona is actively trying to trade Zack Greinke. Greinke has the highest AAV of any starting pitcher and for a rebuilding team, he’s simply not a fit due to that salary and his age. What teams would make sense to acquire him and for who? With all of the starting pitching free agents in Arizona’s near
Read moreThe Los Angeles Dodgers have been on the greatest run in team history, at least as far as winning the division and making the playoffs annually goes. YEAR RECORD RESULT 2013 92-70 won division, lost in NLCS 2014 94-68 won division, lost in NLDS 2015 92-70 won division, lost in NLDS 2016 91-71 won division, lost in NLCS 2017 104-58
Read morePhoto courtesy of WikiMedia. Bryce Harper is “custom-made” for Yankee Stadium. He is a lefty bat and the Yankees just happen to need lefty bats. Just look at the amount of righties in their lineup: C Gary Sanchez, 1B Luke Voit, 2B Gleyber Torres, 3B Miguel Andujar, RF Aaron Judge, DH Giancarlo Stanton. He’s also great at getting on base
Read moreI often wondered, why is it that teams in all sports play better at home than on the road? Baseball has one explanation: the difference in ballpark dimensions, however it doesn’t explain why it happens in other sports, or why ballpark advantages don’t seem to benefit teams playing away as much when they logically should (good hitting team playing in
Read moreThe New York Yankees just got eliminated in a humiliating fashion by the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS. There will be a lot of talk about “whose fault it was”, but one thing that most will certainly agree on is that Giancarlo Stanton did not live up to expectations. Coming off of an MVP 2017 season, Stanton was traded
Read moreI decided to analyze what stats teams that won pennants and championships have in common, in order to better understand what specific attributes make championship teams… well championship teams. I’m listing all World Series and pennant winners (when there was no World Series). R/G = Runs per game. I’m not putting the team’s actual number but rather their rank when
Read moreI would like to preface this article by saying that the chances of this happening are pretty much non-existent. That said, I’m a big fan of baseball history and having grown up in New York City, I wish that I could’ve been around for when the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants were around. Now comes my crazy idea….
Read moreThis offseason is going to have plenty of trades. However, there are five big trades that especially need to happen. These trades are big and so will most likely actually not happen, but they should. 1. NEW YORK METS TRADE SP JACOB DEGROM TO THE OAKLAND ATHLETICS FOR LHP A.J PUK, SS FRANKLIN BARRETO, C SEAN MURPHY AND LHP JESUS
Read moreThere are a lot of articles about auction and draft strategies out there, but what should you do during the season? The main thing to do is not to give up on your season if you’re down in the standings. Instead, assess your roster and what you need to do to win. Don’t give up unless there’s literally nothing that
Read moreI decided to take a look at the biggest bargain contracts in the game. As you can imagine, most of these players have not signed free agent contracts. That said, I think that it’s an interesting look at how many players are severely underpaid in their early years. I will use rWAR in this article. Keep in mind that the
Read moreIt’s time for the New York Mets to commit to a fire sale. There is simply no reason for them not to. Does anyone really think that next year they can compete with the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies? How about with the Washington Nationals? Jacob DeGrom is wasting an 8.3 (!) rWAR when he could’ve been pitching on
Read moreThe all-star game has become an outdated tradition. Here are five reasons why: 1. THE ORIGINAL REASON FOR IT IS NO LONGER VALID The All-Star game was started in 1933 as another way for the American League and the National League to compete with each other. At the time there was an actual rivalry between the two leagues and the
Read moreBryce Harper and Manny Machado entered this season with the general expectations being that they would be the recipients of record-setting contracts after the season, that hasn’t changed. What has changed however, is that Harper has been having a “down season of sorts” and Machado has the advantage of no longer being tied to draft pick compensation due to being
Read moreBaseball statistics are great…. when they analyze the player’s actual ability. What if there was a statistic that penalized a player’s good performance for having bad teammates and rewarded a player’s bad performance for having good teammates? Would that be a good statistic to measure a player’s value? Should a player’s value be judged by the performance of his teammates?
Read moreThis is my analysis of the trading deadline and the week leading up to it. I only covered the most important trades and in the end reveal my picks for the “winners” and “losers”. The New York Yankees acquired J.A. Happ. This is a good move for the Bronx Bombers, as they needed another solid arm in the rotation. There
Read morePhoto courtesy of WikiMedia. With all the talk of Baltimore trading Manny Machado ahead of his potentially historic foray into free agency, Bryce Harper has been in the background. Obviously it makes sense why he is, his team is in playoff contention and he’s basically the face of the team. That said it doesn’t change the fact that Washington are
Read moreThere are players who should be traded but will not. Let me know if you agree or disagree with my list in the comments and on Twitter at @NeilfromNYC. 1. BRYCE HARPER, CF WASHINGTON NATIONALS Washington are in playoff contention and presumably want to re-sign the free agent to be, but he’s having a down year and with all of
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