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February 5, 2016 Baseball Prospectus Book NewsBaseball Prospectus 2016 Features and Errata
Now that Baseball Prospectus 2016 is making its way to readers across the nation, we wanted to cover some of the changes we'd made to this year's edition. Book Updates This year's book is enormous. We heard from several readers who wanted the thicker, whiter stock that we use in our other publications in their annual, and we've always liked the better paper as well. So at the risk of making the book even less portable, we worked with our publisher to source high-quality 60# white paper for Baseball Prospectus 2016.
 Top: Baseball Prospectus 2015. Bottom: Baseball Prospectus 2016.
Baseball Prospectus 2016 weighs over twice as much as Baseball Prospectus 2015, and the better paper is the main reason for the increase. Part of that size increase is the page count. Baseball Prospectus 2015 was 476 pages, and Baseball Prospectus 2016 is 594 pages. Baseball Prospectus 2015's word count was actually very similar to other volumes in the series--both the 2015 and 2016 books are in the overall series margin for error--but we used a smaller font in layout last year and we heard from a lot of readers that it was hard to read. We bumped up the base font size and the leading a bit for Baseball Prospectus 2016.
 Top: 180000 pixels of Baseball Prospectus 2015. Bottom: 180000 pixels of Baseball Prospectus 2016.
We also moved the page numbers back to the corners so you can more easily flip through by page number, and applied a color bar on the outside edge of each team chapter front page so it is easy for you to see where each team chapter begins. Team Chapter Features We've added a few features to the team chapters this year. We were very happy to arrange with the talented Lou Spirito of THIRTY81PROJECT to bring you his updated ballpark outlines, dimensions, and outfield wall profiles for every ballpark in the majors. A ballpark is so much more than just a set of dimensions, and we've wanted something like this in the series since jump street. You'll find these in each team chapter.
You'll find a series of graphs on the second page of every team chapter. We wanted to bring you a graphical depiction of some important information to help put the team's performance in context and add some shape to the numbers. The 2015 Hit List Ranking shows you how the team's Prospectus Hit List ranking changed as the season progressed. Jay Jaffe designed the process in 2005 and it has been running our version of the power rankings ever since. A fast start and a playoff push will scan very differently in these graphs.
 Astros Hit List Ranking graph from Baseball Prospectus 2016.
The Committed Payroll graph gives you an idea of how this team's ability to pay players compares to their environment and their recent history. A change in organizational philosophy on roster compensation really stands out on these graphs. You'll see some of the intense effects things like the Dodgers payroll have on average compensation across the division, and get a pretty reasonable basis for estimating the team's general behaviors going forward.
 Astros Committed Payroll graph from Baseball Prospectus 2016.
Baseball Prospectus has had full minor league coverage ever since we brought Kevin Goldstein on in 2006, and that lets us define some context for a team's minor league organizational strength over time. This is another graph where a shift in direction for an organization produces some dramatic changes in the graph. For the Farm System Ranking graph, we plot a team's ranking from our first organizational rankings in 2007 through to 2015.
 Astros Farm System Ranking graph from Baseball Prospectus 2016.
Between the player writeups and Lineouts, we cover most of the players you'll want to know about for a team, and we've got coverage for each Manager in the book as well. We wanted to use the Personnel section to list some of the names you'll read or hear about when you're following the team in the media throughout the year. We've listed Presidents, General Managers, AGMs, Managers, and occasional others. The Baseball Prospectus Alumni section is my favorite part of the book.
 Astros Personnel listing from Baseball Prospectus 2016.
Errata [updated 6/3/2016] We hate it when errors make it into the book, and we're continually working on the process to improve our ability to find them before it is too late. But with the size and schedule of the project, we haven't found a way to squash them all yet. What we can do is track the errors in the book and point you in the direction of any corrections or fixes, so we'd like to try to do that here this year. If you see anything we don't have, please leave it in the comments, and we will update this list as things are reported. In all instances where we included incorrect player information or omitted a player comment, you can click on the player name to get to his PECOTA player card. Ordinarily you must be a Baseball Prospectus Premium subscriber to see the expanded PECOTA projections output but we have made all of these cards free for all readers. We have also included their player comment from Baseball Prospectus 2016 in the player comments section, so you can see the player's complete stats, projections, and comments on their card. Full PECOTA projections for all of these players will be available next week.
An online Index of Player Names from Baseball Prospectus 2016 is available at http://www.baseballprospectus.com/sortable/extras/book_index_playerlist.php.
Dave Pease is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @davepease
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Playoff Prospectus: PECOTA Odds and ALCS Gam...
One *very* simple request for next year's Annual: put the actual W-L percentage next to the record at the top of each team's header block. Millions of us are doing simple math to compare W/162 with the PYTHAG value on the line below. (OK, maybe *thousands* and it's not *gory math*, but still.)