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February 22, 2004
Baseball Prospectus
Wright or Marte, Marte or Wright. I love 'em both. I've put Andy Marte ahead for the moment, because of the 10-month age difference and because scouts seem to like him a lot more, but I really feel strongly that David Wright's as complete a prospect as there is in the game. I'd love to hear comments comparing the two, and Nate, I'd love to see what their PECOTA comps look like. Nobody else is that impressive. Dallas McPherson put up some serious numbers last year, and while some of that was in The Hangar in Rancho Cucamonga, he hit .314/.426/.569 in Arkansas. He doesn't have a great defensive reputation, but it's not terrible either, and he clearly outhit everyone else on this list. I don't know if anyone else deserves Top 50 consideration. I know people love the Greek God of Walks, but he hit .165/.295/.248 in Triple-A, over a 32-game sample. Of course, his full-season OBP was still .446, so... Chad Tracy hit .324 and his defense took a big step forward, but he doesn't do much more than hit singles, and it was Tucson. I respect that he's had two good seasons in a row, but he was in El Paso in 2002, so I'm not sure that means anything either. And as much as I hyped him a year ago, I have to concede that Brendan Harris may not be quite as good as I thought he was. But he's still a better prospect than almost anyone gives him credit for.
February 21, 2004
Baseball Prospectus
In preparing the annual top prospect list for Baseball Prospectus 2004, BP authors participated in the annual extended roundtable discussion of baseball's top prospects. The ranking and review process balanced translated statistics, scouting reports, and injury reports with the strong personal opinions of BP's finest…all with the goal of putting together the "best damn prospect list the world has ever seen." In Part I today we'll listen in on the discussion of the top prospects among pitchers, catchers, first basemen and second basemen. Parts II through IV will run Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. We'll also unveil the final list Tuesday, with the Top 50 prospects (we've expanded from prior years' Top 40) revealed. Rany Jazayerli will be along to discuss the Top 50 list and the process that went into compiling it in Tuesday night's Chat.
February 16, 2004
Baseball Prospectus
Gary Huckabay: OK, the deal's not finalized yet, but just for a second, let's assume that the worst possible parameters of the deal (from the Rangers' perspective) reported in the media are true. The Rangers get Alfonso Soriano, a minor leaguer from a list of five, and pick up $67 million of the remaining money owed to Rodriguez.
Do you see any way to justify this deal from the Rangers' standpoint?
Personally, I don't. Soriano's not going to be exceptionally cheap himself, he's not close to being the ballplayer A-Rod is, and even if you assume--which I'm not comfortable doing--that A-Rod's contract is anomalous and an organizational albatross, there's certainly some real and non-negligible cost associated with this specific dump.
Depending on the financial details of the deal, it's possible this deal could end up costing the Rangers money--when you factor in the $67 million, the contract Soriano will likely end up with after a year of puffy stats at The Ballpark in Arlington, the lost goodwill, and lost broadcast rights money.
December 10, 2003
Baseball Prospectus
Sunday's deadline to tender arbitration offers to free agents triggered a lot of surprise moves and non-moves. BP authors kicked around some of the biggies, including the Braves' decision to non-tender Gary Sheffield, the Bartolo Colon signing, and the timing of the Michael Tucker deal.
July 1, 2003
Baseball Prospectus
When Dusty Baker allowed Mark Prior to throw 126 pitches last Thursday against the Brewers, it was the final straw for Gary Huckabay. Huckabay threw in the towel and Prior with it, trading him straight up for Austin Kearns in a 24-team Scoresheet Baseball league.
The deal inspired some discussion among the Baseball Prospectus staff.
March 31, 2003
Baseball Prospectus
BP's authors shoot the breeze, giving their takes on their surprising AL West unanimity, the wide-open NL Central, the viability of Vlad for MVP and Mark Prior for Cy Young, and more.
December 20, 2002
Baseball Prospectus
Featuring Jonah Keri, Jeff Bower, Chris Kahrl, Derek Zumsteg, Nate Silver, Jeff Hildebrand, Gary Huckabay, Dave Pease
October 11, 2002
Baseball Prospectus
The Baseball Prospectus staff discusses the latest playoff matchups.
October 3, 2002
Baseball Prospectus
Watching the playoffs the last two nights, the Prospectus staff sounds off. We pick it up at the end of Angels-Yankees, Game 1.
September 3, 2002
Baseball Prospectus
[Just after midnight Eastern time Friday morning, the Prospectus staff starts discussing the coming agreement]
Derek Zumsteg: It appears that if the owners gave in right now, just said "sure, we'll take your last offer", they'd have won more in this negotiation than in any previous one since free agency. Why did the players move so far? Are they that afraid of the NLRB and implementation? Do they believe that if they give in this time, they'll be able to win it back in four years when it's apparent none of this did any good for competitive balance?
I'm baffled.
October 9, 2001
Baseball Prospectus
July 25, 2001
Baseball Prospectus
February 1, 2001
Baseball Prospectus
December 20, 2000
Baseball Prospectus
December 12, 2000
Baseball Prospectus
October 20, 2000
Baseball Prospectus
March 20, 2000
Baseball Prospectus
The BP crew discusses the implications of a rumored plan to redistribute baseball's teams.
February 24, 2000
Baseball Prospectus
February 11, 2000
Baseball Prospectus
February 2, 2000
Baseball Prospectus
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