Baseball Prospectus 2005: Statistics, Analysis, and Insight for the Information Age (Baseball...

Baseball Prospectus 2005: Statistics, Analysis, and Insight for the Information Age (Baseball Prospectus) | Baseball Prospectus Team of Experts | Better bathroom reading than "Juiced"

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Baseball Prospectu...

	Baseball Prospectus 2005: Statistics, Analysis, and Insight for the Information Age (Baseball Prospectus) Baseball Prospectus Team of Experts Workman Publishing Company, 2005 - 576 pages average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Don?t think there?s merit in the idea of analyzing baseball players using sophisticated statistical tools? Maybe you should talk to the deliriously happy members of Red Sox nation, whose team is run by Theo Epstein, a disciple of the BP way of thinking. Where can fans and fantasy players get this same inside intelligence that?s revolutionizing Major League front offices? Baseball Prospectus.

? The best book of its kind??Rob Neyer, ESPN.com
? If a general manager hasn?t read Baseball Prospectus, he should be fired for incompetence.??Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball
? Baseball Prospectus has become the standard by which all scouting guides should be measured.??Billy Beane, Oakland Athletics General Manager
? I never cease to be blown away by the geniuses at Baseball Prospectus.? ?Jayson Stark, ESPN
? The best book for preparing for a rotisserie draft??USA Today

Packed with statistics, analysis, and attitude, Baseball Prospectus is the essential season-long companion for the millions of fans and fantasy baseball players who are looking to understand the inside game. Includes extensive performance analysis of 1,600 players?covering the majors, the minors, top 40 prospects, draft choices, and rookie ball?plus in-depth, insightful essays on all 30 Major League clubs and gimlet-eyed evaluations of their top 50 players. With ballpark-adjusted stats, a deadly accurate system for forecasting a player?s performance, and more, Baseball Prospectus hits it out of the park every year.

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The Future Of Baseball

This refrence book is part of what's known as the sabrmetrics, or statistical analysis, movement in baseball today, particularily the pro game. The main thesis that this book is based around is the factual idea that baseball players (and, by association, baseball decisions) can be analyzed using stats. Many successful MLB teams, including the A's, Red Sox, Indians, Cardinals, and Dodgers use advanced statistics (some more than others) to determine what moves they should make.

This book isn't a fantasy baseball book, it is a scouting guide. You won't find Wins, RBI, or Errors listed here, because these stats aren't important when it comes to evaluating players. Some reviewers have complained at the lack of said stats, and that they should "at least be included". On the contrary, they don't fit BP's organizational hilosophy. They shouldn't be included at all. If you want to use BP for your fantasy league, you're better off buying a "BP Fantasy" subscription at www.baseballprospectus.com

Other reviewers have stated the the Sabrmetric way of thinking doesn't encompass all the lore, emotion, heart, etc. that play such an important role in such a beautiful game. They say that baseball can't be measured solely in stats. Unfortunately for them, it nearly can. If heart, emotion, and the like actually were important, then they would show up as anomilies in the stat relationships. Fact is, they don't. Those things don't really matter, because they don't effect how the outcome of the game.

The BP writers aren't out to dehumanize baseball. Far from it, in fact! They are providing insight into a new way to play the game, a way to play the game that has made the low-budget A's into consistent 90+ game winners, and the Red Sox into World Series champions. Sabermetrics can only improve the game of baseball, and the "revolution" is coming sooner than you think. In fact, its already here. Become part of the forward-thinking, extrodinary group of people known as statistical analists.

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Better bathroom reading than "Juiced"

As I pointed out in my Amazon review of Canseco's "Juiced," the BP makes for much better bathroom reading. My copy is all dog-eared and has post-it notes sticking out in different colors from all edges. None of my other books have that, so that's saying something, right?

good stuff

BP has a distinct slant on performance analysis that some people misinterpret as reinventing the wheel. They're not. What they do is present new and creative ways to breakdown performance and potential. It's not hocus pocus--these are smart people with proven metrics giving us a glimpse of the game from another perspective. Now, as for 1 of the most common complaints I've read here I have to come to BP's defense a little. It's just absurd...

Players are listed with their team from the previous year, even if traded or signed elsewhere. ...

Come on. BP writers follow a team for the entire year. That's one of the unique aspects of their coverage. So the author that covered the Diamondbacks is going to write Randy Johnson's blurb, even if he was dealt to the Yankees. Secondly, it's just smart organization. Do you know when their publishing deadline was? Do you remember what players changed teams before that deadline and which were after? Of course not. So they standardize it. If that's your biggest complaint about this book then you're plain fishin for something to whine about.

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Still with a big chip on their shoulders

The Baseball Prospectus covers most major league players, complete with comments and their own type of statistics, emphasizing categories like on-base percentage and slugging percentage, which have become the vital statistics for many in the game. Their organizational comments try to focus on how teams build smartly, and how others gamble on short term solutions and never get anywhere. There is much to debate here, but such is the game of baseball that there's always going to be different points of view.

Unfortunately, the arrogant conceit of the statistical people reveals itself; simply go to the entries for Seattle and Oakland. In the Seattle profile, there is basically an assault on the professional character of Pat Gillick, one of the finest baseball general managers of our era, who is more of a traditionalist. Because of that, he is unfairly targeted in the Seattle chapter, which is unfortunate. There is a tendency to suggest that all baseball scouting should simply be done on a statistics sheet, as opposed to the expertise of experienced scouts who actually go and see young ballplayers play. Gillick believes in that, and he's had great success. The Baseball Prospectus types scoff at that, instead making a demi-god out of Oakland's Billy Beane. (who's won exactly zilch so far).

Another thing; the authors denigrate traditional stats like wins and losses for pitchers, and batting average and RBI's for batters. Tradition means nothing to them. Baseball isn't just a cold statistical pursuit; instead it has lore and history, and the game on the field isn't played by robots. Sure, there are better measures to evaluate players, but isn't it revealing that these new statisticians can't ever seem to agree on a measure of performance? There's always a new acronym based on some convoluted formula which seems to go by the wayside a few years later. But when one talks about RBI's, you have something tangible, something you can compare across the last century.

In closing, go ahead, hit that "No" button. I'm just wondering what old time managers like Billy Martin would have thought about all this. Baseball is all about putting the ball in play, not leaving the bat on your shoulder to draw walks. Hits are infectious, there are untangibles in baseball like emotion and momentum that don't figure into the equations of the Prospectus-types.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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