Baseball Prospectus 2014 Author: Baseball Prospectus Sam Miller Jason Wojciechowski | Language: English | ISBN:
B00I51HFH2 | Format: PDF
Baseball Prospectus 2014 Description
The bestselling annual baseball preview from the smartest analysts in the business
Now in its 19th edition, the Baseball Prospectus annual shows once again how it became the industry leader: The 2014 edition includes key stat categories, more controversial player predictions, and the kind of wise, witty baseball commentary that makes this phone-book-thick tome worth reading cover to cover.
Baseball Prospectus 2014 provides fantasy players and insiders alike with prescient PECOTA projections, which Sports Illustrated has called "perhaps the game's most accurate projection model." Still, stats are just numbers if you don't see the larger context, and Baseball Prospectus brings together an elite team of analysts to provide the definitive look at all thirty teams—their players, their prospects, and their managers—to explain away flukes, hot streaks, injury-tainted numbers, and park effects. Victory, after all, could come down to choosing between the supposed sleeper and the overrated prospects who won't be able to fool people in the Show like they have down on the farm.
Nearly every major-league team has sought the advice of current or former Prospectus writers, and readers of Baseball Prospectus 2014 will understand what all those fans have been raving about.
"If you're a baseball fan and you don't know what BP is, you're working in a mine without one of those helmets with the lights on it."—Keith Olbermann
"The first time I saw the PECOTA projections, I realized that someone out there understood." —Jeff Luhnow, General Manager, Houston Astros
"For me, every year baseball begins with the big, brilliant, beautiful book you are holding in your hands right now."—Joe Posnanski
Baseball Prospectus 2013 correctly predicted:
*Disappointing performances by Albert Pujols, Dan Haren, Michael Bourn, Justin Upton, and Tommy Hanson.
*Breakouts by Paul Goldschmidt, Freddie Freeman, Kyle Seager, Matt Moore, Shelby Miller, and Jason Kipnis, as well as bounceback seasons from Jayson Werth and Shin-Soo Choo.
*That Max Scherzer would be a Cy Young contender and Michael Wacha ace-in-waiting for the Cardinals.
*That Wil Myers would be a middle-of-the-order bat for Tampa Bay and Josh Donaldson would finally win the Rich Harden trade for the A's.
*That CC Sabathia's velocity drop could be a problem, but Felix Hernandez's would not be.
*That Joaquin Benoit, Kenley Jansen, and Koji Uehara were better bullpen bets than pre-season closer picks Bruce Rondon, Brandon League, and Joel Hanrahan.
- File Size: 8517 KB
- Print Length: 608 pages
- Publisher: Wiley; 3 edition (January 29, 2014)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00I51HFH2
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,848 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #2
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Baseball > Statistics - #4
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Baseball > Essays & Writings - #12
in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Baseball
- #2
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Baseball > Statistics - #4
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Baseball > Essays & Writings - #12
in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Baseball
I'm relatively new to the Kindle platform, so it's possible that there might be ways to address some of the issues I have with the Kindle edition of BP2014. I also recognize that to match the experience of print with a title that features a variety of data presentation formats (text, various exhibits, tables, etc.) in a book that is probably more "random access reference" than it is "regular read" is asking for a lot.
Despite lowered expectations, however, the BP2014 Kindle edition still manages to underwhelm. Specific complaints from this Kindle Fire HD reader:
1) The basic player presentations, at first glance, are fine -- each player starts on a new "page" followed by their statistical chart and the commentary. But then you look at the statistical chart -- most players have 3-4 years of data to present, and this is presented broken down across three separate tables to accommodate the width limitations in portrait format. It's awful for anyone who is accustomed to any form of "normal" baseball statistics presentation, including BP's annual. And forget about flipping into landscape mode to overcome it -- the three tables are hardwired. (This is where my limited Kindle knowledge kicks in -- I have no idea what the "right" answer is, but I can tell you what was done isn't it.)
2) The "go to..." index is limited to the major articles (fine) and the team articles. Which means that to locate a specific player requires that you go to the team article and then page like mad to get to where you want to be. If you're looking for Matt Adams of the Cardinals, it's not too bad (he's the first hitter following the team article), but if it's Adam Wainwright (at the end of the pitchers, who are after all the batters), it's not so swift.
I really enjoy this volume's arrival each year. It is filled with sabermetric analysis. Statistics beyond ERA, batting average, slugging percentage, etc. add a deeper dimension to sensing how well a player did. Also enjoyable is PECOTA, a system to project a player's performance in the upcoming season--in this case 2014.
Normally, I immediately go to see how my favored team, the Chicago White Sox, is represented here. Last year was not a good year, as the statistics show (1st in unearned runs allowed, # 1 is fewest runs scored) and their talent cupboard (major and minor league) and their finances and management rate 29th in baseball. Not auspicious for the coming season.
The player by player analyses are always interesting, and I especially like the projections. For instance, Adam Dunn. A hitter with a lot of power (let's forget a dreadful 2011) and a low average (the last three years: .159, .204, .219). 2014? A .214 batting average and 28 home runs. Not sure the home runs counter the miserable projected batting average. There is a 0% chance he will improve his performance dramatically, a 22% chance of improvement, only a 7% chance of a collapse (major decline), and a 17% chance of attrition (having performance decline--but not dramatically). Paul Konerko has had a career that is worthy of appreciation. However, he has been slowing down. Last year--a .244 batting average, just 12 home runes, and just 54 RBIs. A career in decline. This will be his final year. Projections? 19 homers, 68 RBIs, and a .269 batting average--a mild comeback from last year. We shall see what actually happens.
Pitching? The projection is for Chris Sale, a terrific pitcher by a variety of statistics, to have some problems winning.
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