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April 15, 2016 BP AnnouncementsHACKING MASS 2016! (extended deadline)NOTE: Deadline is Friday, April 15, 2016, at noon Pacific. Stop the presses! Last minute upgrade! We have a new prize to announce for the winner! HACKING MASS, our competition to pick the least dangerous hitters and least effective pitchers in the majors, returns for the 2016 season! You can field your team and put yourself in the running for $100, a lifetime Baseball Prospectus Premium subscription, or one of nine one-year BP Premium subscriptions by clicking here. Registration is open to anyone with a Baseball Prospectus account, including Basic accounts, which are free to create. You'll have a full week to enter (the deadline is April 15, 2016, at midnight PST), but it's easy to change players, so feel free to go all in on Freddy Galvis on the entry form today, then switch to Adeiny Hechavarria Monday morning. But once the deadline arrives, partial teams will be dropped and new entries and changes will no longer be allowed. You can access HACKING MASS rules and results from previous seasons here, but we'll also paste the instructions below. Have fun, and may the worst teams win. Win $100 and a lifetime Premium Subscription or one of nine One-Year Premium Subscriptions in the 2016 HACKING MASS Competition!HACKING MASS is a contest to try and predict the worst/most offensive players in the upcoming season. HACKING MASS stands for Huckabay's Annual Call to Keep Immobility Next to Godliness: Maximus Aggregatus Stiffisimus Sensire.
Your 10 players will be:
Simply pick the players who you think will be the stiffest at each position. A team's aggregate stiffness is measured by summing the ESPN (Exuded Stiff Points, Net) of all of the players on your team. We've updated the scoring logic since the last HACKING MASS competition to better fit the times, so for hitters, ESPN is 0.721, minus his OBP, minus his SLG, and multiplied by plate appearances—i.e., (.721-OPS)*PA. For pitchers, the formula is the pitcher's ERA, minus 3.96, times his innings pitched, divided by three, or (ERA-3.96)*IP/3. This results in similar Stiffness scores for the firmest hitters and pitchers. Where do these values (.721 OPS and 3.96 ERA) come from? They're league-average values from the previous season. In each case, it isn't enough for a player to simply suck; somehow the Stiffest of the Stiff must find a way to remain in the lineup or rotation. Possession of incriminating photos of managers and GMs, telekinesis of ink onto lineup cards, large contracts that need justification, and ties to the underworld can all be important attributes of your players besides their lack of hitting and pitching talent. Create or edit your team today! * One entry per person.
Rob McQuown is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @robmcquown
8 comments have been left for this article.
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Where is my favorite pitcher? Alfredo Simon. I searched and searched and never did find.......
I also wanted Simon. And also considering Francouer.
I'm playing this season under protest.