Baseball Prospectus 2002 Ed

I hope you have alot of time on your hands because you will not be able to put this great book down. Provides totally honest and intelligent team reviews, explaining why transactions were made and what were the good/bad ramifications.Excellent and witty player insight, brutally honest at points.Found myself laughing out load many times.You won't believe what you've been missing.

The revolution in baseball analysis in the 1980s, led by the works of Bill James and Pete Palmer, spawned a boom in baseball writing. Unfortunately, most analytical baseball books begin and end with the measuring of player value, which is great for fantasy baseball players or who-should-be-in-the-Hall-of-Fame discussions, but ultimately leaves me feeling hungry. The folks at Baseball Prospectus put the focus on the "team", stressing that focus even within the player comments. Arguing about whether someone is the sixth best second baseman in the National League, or merely the eighth best, is refreshingly missing here. Instead, the discussion rests on whether the player is advancing the cause of contending for a championship, what he has to do to contribute more, how likely he is to improve, how long he is likely going to continue contributing, what the team needs to do to be prepared for his decline, etc. The team comments focus on where the team is in the development cycle, what it has to do to advance to the next stage, and whether the people in charge are likely to do it. The essays in the back of the book challenge us to understand how this game works.This annual has made me a better fan and has made my own conversations around the hot stove much more interesting. As a baseball researcher, what I wouldn't give for a complete set of BPs, beginning about 1871.

This is the second year that I've read Baseball Prospectus and it continues to be a great resource for analysis on both players and the strategies that each team is employing (or not employing, in the case of some teams). Every major-league player and all of the minor-league players that they consider notable are covered with a paragraph of commentary and "translated" stats for the previous three seasons (i.e. not the actual numbers, but stats normalized for league and park effects to make it easy to compare guys at different levels and altitudes). Each team gets a two-page commentary reviewing the direction the management has been taking the team. The book also contains articles on specific analytical subjects such as the continued efforts to measure pitcher abuse, defensive prowess and the projectability of minor leaguers, as well as the annual article on their top 40 prospects in baseball.There are a few differences I found between BP 2002 and 2001. The new book is only 500 pages compared to 550 for its predecessor. This looks like it's partly because they cut out the page for each team listing the support-neutral and adjusted stats for the pitching staffs, which is a shame, and also because they aren't covering quite as many players, which is fine -- they still talk about over 50 players per team. A new addition to this year's book is the "Stuff" stat for pitchers, based on their rates for strikeouts, walks, and homers (if I remember correctly, don't have the book in front of me), which should help measure a pitcher's effectiveness independent of the defense behind him. Because of the recent, (in)famous research implying that on balls in play (i.e. anything aside from Ks, BBs, HRs and HBPs) defense and luck contribute to the results more than the pitcher, it's natural to concoct a new stat which encapsulates the things a pitcher is guaranteed to have control over.I also felt this year's book wasn't *quite* as critical as last year's book. The BP writers can be, frankly, somewhat arrogant at times. I agree that many of the guys who run baseball teams are deserving of scorn, and the criticism from BP is usually backed up with reasonable arguments, but they still can come off as know-it-alls. It would be great for them to have a section in the book where they review the unequivocal statements from the previous edition; they say things like "Player X will flop in the bigs" or "Pitcher Y is definitely going to blow out his arm" and I would wager that their accuracy is good, but not 100%, on these claims. Anyway, I was pleased to get the impression that the criticism is tempered a little in the 2002 book. For instance, they managed to praise ex-Pirates GM Cam Bonifay, one of their favorite whipping boys, for the things he did do well even as they recognize that on the whole he built a pretty poor Pittsburgh team. In general the authors did a nice job of recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of different GMs, which lends more credibi

Whether you're interested in Fantasy baseball research or just love reading about the game and the players, the Baseball Prospectus is the best, most interesting book on the market.There are general team comments which tend to focus on personal, economic and historical issues. Then come the player comments --the book is organized by league and team then by player dividing hitters from pitchers. It doesn't just write about players in the majors or top rookies, its breath of players is impressive and reason enough to buy it -- from the deep minors on up.The writing is interesting, usually insiteful; although sometimes they try to get too funny (usually about a player who's perfomance needs more analysis than humor). Still that's a minor quible. Would I use it for a fantasy baseball draft, yes (I do); although its probably more valuable in season as teams start adding players you've never heard of (the Prospectus has, don't worry). Would I read it if I weren't in a Fantasy Baseball league -- yes without a doubt. In fact, I would say the book is geared to discussing baseball as a sport more than assessing fantasy value. There are hours of reading here.One word of warning -- the stats listed in the book are NOT the actual stats, but rather translations to a "normal" league environment (they list the past 4 stat lines). This translation makes it easier to compare a player's A Ball performance with another's AAA and another's Major league stats, but it can cause some confusion on the first read. If you are looking for Fantasy Baseball books, also take a look at Shandler's Baseball Forcaster, which is probably better for draft preparation. Still, if I was buying only one baseball book, The Baseball Prospectus would be it.

I always get BP. It covers more players than any other book, and the writing is always outstanding. This year there are some chapters and comments that are not as good as in books from earlier years. The chapter on the Braves is actually very bad. Some of the player essays are not as clear as they used to be.There are still great essays for teams and players. The chapters on the AL West teams are best. This book is better than any of Benson's books, and is fun to read whether or not you play roto. If I could make one change it would be to spend less space on financial and business discussion.It is very entertaining. They should spend more time evening out the writing. But it is still awesome. These guys should buy a team.