BDD ‘10 Team Previews — Oakland Athletics
The financial world has it's Wall Street, baseball has Oakland. At least that is what it looked like last year as GM Billy Beane added Matt Holliday for a few promising commodities and some penny stocks then dealt him mid-season for a haul that had a better 52-week outlook from their analysts. Of the three teams involved in the deal, only the Athletics missed the postseason... but this team's success is measured by win/dollars spent, not postseason success. How will Billy Beane's portfolio do this year? We turn to BDD's Jeff Lubbers for the answers. OAKLAND ATHLETICS '09 Record: 75-87, 4th in ...
BDD ‘10 Team Previews — Toronto Blue Jays
So, you want to know about the Blue Jays, eh? There are many new faces, Roy Halladay is gone and they still play in baseball's toughest division. Since there's no reason to drink wine in baseball, their likely trip to the cellar in the East isn't good, and will likely register more losses at Fenway than fine bottles of Cabernet at Martha's Vineyard when they visit Boston. Check out David Wade's pessimistic preview of the rebuilding Blue Jays. Read on for a quick look back at last year, the outlook for 2010, position breakdowns and more on this year’s Toronto ...
Infernal Options: the Twins’ home-grown replacements for Joe Nathan
Let’s start from the obvious: Losing Joe Nathan for the year is a bad thing, maybe even a very bad thing. However, if losing the closer completely derails what appeared to be a very promising season, then chances are that the odds of playoff success weren’t that high in the first place. The Twins are in something of a precarious position right now, Nathan is almost certainly—really, barring a miracle—going to miss all of this season. They don’t have a closer-in-waiting the way some teams do, but they may well be one of the teams best able to survive an injury ...
BDD ‘10 Team Previews — Houston Astros
Injuries, clubhouse turmoil, and a disappointing second half collapse foiled the Houston Astros 2009 plans. An off-season roster re-tooling, a new manager (this time actually hired by the team's General Manager!), and a few budding prospects has hopes renewed... but what team isn't hopeful in March? Brian Joseph figuratively visits Houston and gives his outlook on this year's Astros. Read on for a quick look back at last year, the outlook for 2010, position breakdowns and more on this year’s Houston Astros. HOUSTON ASTROS '09 Record: 74-88, 5th in NL Central Pythagorean Record: 68-94 (+6 Differential) Current PECOTA Projection: 76-86 (4th in NL Central) ----------------------------- 2009 ...
BDD ‘10 Team Previews — New York Mets
The Omar Minaya Era in New York turned ugly after a playoff run that ended in defeat in the NLCS in 2006. Since then, the club suffered a historic collapse in 2007 and were outlasted by their arch rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies, in 2008. Fueled by off-season smack talk from the City of Brotherly Love, the "team to beat" (ask K-Rod!) in the NL East filled up the disabled list more often than the win column and now looks to rebound from another messy off-season that was more soap opera than Hot Stove. BDD's Bo Wulf gives us his spin ...
BDD ‘10 Team Previews — Oakland Athletics
by Jeff Lubbers
The financial world has it’s Wall Street, baseball has Oakland. At least that is what it looked like last year as GM Billy Beane added Matt Holliday for a few promising commodities and some penny stocks then dealt him mid-season for a haul that had a better 52-week outlook from their analysts. Of the three teams involved in the deal, only the Athletics missed the postseason… but this team’s... [Read more]
BDD ‘10 Team Previews — Toronto Blue Jays
by David Wade
So, you want to know about the Blue Jays, eh? There are many new faces, Roy Halladay is gone and they still play in baseball’s toughest division. Since there’s no reason to drink wine in baseball, their likely trip to the cellar in the East isn’t good, and will likely register more losses at Fenway than fine bottles of Cabernet at Martha’s Vineyard when they visit Boston. Check... [Read more]
Down the Line: March 10, 2010
by Joe Hamrahi
Today we begin a new regular feature here at BDD called Down the Line. This will be our little attempt to bring the baseball world closer to our readers by linking to some of the great work around the web…much like our esteemed colleague Tommy Bennett does at Baseball Prospectus. We’ll focus a little less on Sabermetrics though…you know, since I’m a scout and all! So let’s... [Read more]
Infernal Options: the Twins’ home-grown replacements for Joe Nathan
by Dan Wade
Let’s start from the obvious: Losing Joe Nathan for the year is a bad thing, maybe even a very bad thing. However, if losing the closer completely derails what appeared to be a very promising season, then chances are that the odds of playoff success weren’t that high in the first place. The Twins are in something of a precarious position right now, Nathan is almost certainly—really, barring a... [Read more]
BDD ‘10 Team Previews — Houston Astros
by Brian Joseph
Injuries, clubhouse turmoil, and a disappointing second half collapse foiled the Houston Astros 2009 plans. An off-season roster re-tooling, a new manager (this time actually hired by the team’s General Manager!), and a few budding prospects has hopes renewed… but what team isn’t hopeful in March? Brian Joseph figuratively visits Houston and gives his outlook on this year’s... [Read more]
20 Questions With BDD’s Andrea Betts
by Brian Joseph
Our 20 Questions series marches on with BDD’s Andrea Betts in the hot seat. Since most of the questions are really softballs and Betts plays softball in the summer, this should be right up her alley. Like snowflakes, no two BDD writers are alike and Andrea proves that once again. Take a look at her answers to our 20 questions… How did you begin writing for Baseball Daily Digest? I began... [Read more]
Pacific Perspectives: Hopeful Beginnings
There are quite a few Asian stories for the upcoming season—a topic for an upcoming column—but many of them focus on the fate of Japanese pitchers in 2010. Some of those questions were answered with the opening of Spring Training, and I’ll run down a few of them here. Daisuke Matsuzaka lost most of last season to injury, an injury Boston traces to poor conditioning before the 2009 WBC, so... [Read more]
BDD ‘10 Team Previews — New York Mets
by Bo Wulf
The Omar Minaya Era in New York turned ugly after a playoff run that ended in defeat in the NLCS in 2006. Since then, the club suffered a historic collapse in 2007 and were outlasted by their arch rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies, in 2008. Fueled by off-season smack talk from the City of Brotherly Love, the “team to beat” (ask K-Rod!) in the NL East filled up the disabled list more often... [Read more]
BDD ‘10 Team Previews — Arizona Diamondbacks
A flight from Cleveland to Arizona can be tough on the internal clock so we’ll blame the jet lag for the 11th hour posting of Michael Street’s Diamondbacks preview. The BDD editing room is on the East Coast so for all of you out West, this one came in prime time. As for Arizona, they weren’t ready for prime time in ‘09 but could they be in ‘10? Read on for a quick look... [Read more]
20 Questions With BDD’s Doug Thorburn
by Brian Joseph
Doug Thorburn does the impossible in our latest 20 questions series… he mentions Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire BUT doesn’t once mention steroids or HGH. He couldn’t get through the GM portion without mentioning Billy Beane but he did avoid the use of the phrase “Moneyball” so let’s give Mr. Thorburn a round of applause as you read his responses to 20 questions: How... [Read more]
Unplugged and On Tour: Safeco Field
by Eric Polsky
Last week, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel to Seattle and Vancouver for a much-needed vacation, unplugged from work at my Miami law firm. By doing so, I was incredibly fortunate to be able to experience being in a city hosting the Winter Olympics, just two weeks after witnessing the Super Bowl in my home city. In the span of just three weeks, I was able to attend the NFL Pro... [Read more]
Teams Still Get Bang For Their Buck in Salary Arbitration
Back in late October, ESPN’s Buster Olney reported that some Major League Baseball executives predicted a “flood” of non-tenders during the offseason. Said Olney: Executives say many of the names being discussed by teams as possible trade bait include a growing number of players with three to five-plus years of service time — players who are eligible for arbitration. This is... [Read more]
BDD ‘10 Team Previews — Cleveland Indians
by Andrea Betts
All the little kids growin’ up on the skids are going, “Cleveland rocks! Cleveland rocks!” But does BDD’s Andrea Betts think the Cleveland Indians rock in 2010? Will they bounce back from a rough 2009 or has trading away CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez over the last two seasons set them too far down the rabbit hole of rebuilding? Where are the skids anyway? Alice... [Read more]
A Theory on the Acceptance of Sabermetrics
by Bill Baer
Pardon me while I think aloud, but this has been on my mind lately. Recently, I wrote a couple of posts (this and this) on my blog Crashburn Alley detailing why I think it would be a good idea to trade Ryan Howard. It inspired a lot of debate and it was linked to heavily on the Internet. I’ve read quite a few of the comments my suggestions drew, both on my blog and elsewhere on the Internet.... [Read more]
