The Hardball Times 2008 Season Preview
As yall know, I write for www.thehardballtimes.com once or twice a month - the non-statist of the group. The Annual Season Preview has just been completed and is now available. As David Gassko, one of the editors explains, “This year’s effort includes 240 pages of team essays, player comments for almost 900 different players, projections, and other goodies. The team chapters are written by bloggers and THT writers who follow their team every day, and the result is the kind of commentary you can’t get from just looking at the numbers or some news stories.” And of course, “mind-bending, cutting-edge stats” for all your fantasy needs. Yes, I DO mean baseball fantasy.
Click here to read David’s 10 examples of things he learned from reading the book.
Click here to read a sample chapter.
Click here to buy. Thank yuh verra much.
Oh yeah - “full disclosure” - I do get $.02 for every book sold - you know, because I put my 2 cents in….
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14 Responses to “The Hardball Times 2008 Season Preview”
February 10th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Hey Lisa, you better write a good story for JJO’s blog so you can take your mom to spring trainng.
February 12th, 2008 at 2:09 am
[…] Main Page - ArmchairGM - Sports Wiki Database wrote an interesting post today on The Hardball Times 2008 Season PreviewHere’s a quick excerpt…or some news stories.” And of course, “mind-bending, cutting-edge stats” for all your fantasy needs. Yes, I DO mean baseball fantasy. […]
February 12th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Baseball Prospectus says (they messed up Loretta — he’s baaaaack):
Houston Astros
Where: Kissimmee, Florida (Grapefruit League)
2007 record: 73-89 (4th, NL Central)
New guys: Reggie Abercrombie, Michael Bourn, Doug Brocail, Jack Cassel, Darin Erstad, Geoff Geary, Kazuo Matsui, Chad Paronto, Miguel Tejada, Jose Valverde, Oscar Villarreal
Gone guys: Matt Albers, Josh Anderson, Craig Biggio, Eric Bruntlett, Chris Burke, Adam Everett, Jason Jennings, Mike Lamb, Brad Lidge, Mark Loretta, Trever Miller, Brian Moehler (NRI), Eric Munson, Orlando Palmeiro, Troy Patton, Chad Qualls, Luke Scott
Wow, he’s still here? Are you kidding? Look at that list of “gone guys.” Anyone who might have been disappeared was.
Winter grade: C. Getting Tejada for a package of middling prospects wasn’t a bad idea. Letting Adam Everett go so that he could play shortstop, rather than third base, was. Trading Brad Lidge for a true center fielder wasn’t a bad idea. Adding Darin Erstad after that was. It was that kind of offseason, a mix of decent primary moves and bad secondary ones.
NRI to watch: Tommy Manzella can play shortstop nearly as well as the departed Everett did. It’s not likely that Cecil Cooper will keep him around to caddy for Tejada, but if you’re down in Kissimmee and get the chance to see him play, do so.
Job battle to track: Is this the year that someone other than Brad Ausmus catches a majority of Astros games? J.R. Towles’ big cup of coffee in September created that hope. Keep in mind, though, that a year ago Towles was a 23-year-old who’d yet to make it out of A ball. He does have good defensive tools, ones that should help him stay in the lineup even if his bat slips back to the .270-with-doubles level.
One move to make: Like the Reds, the Astros have a steep dropoff in the rotation, only theirs occurs between #1 and #2. Roy Oswalt is an ace on anyone’s staff; Wandy Rodriguez is a #3/#4. Here, he’s starting the second game of the season. The Astros don’t have the kind of trade bait to acquire someone to fill that gap, nor does that pitcher exist in the market. Their move to make involves cloning.
By edict from ownership, Astros’ GM Ed Wade played his hand this winter as if he had a contending team that just needed sprucing up, making a big move for a star, swapping out one closer and bringing in another, and signing a free agent to fill a hole. The problem is that even if those moves made the Astros five games better, that still only gets them to .500. Of the 11 roster spots spent on pitchers, only Oswalt, Valverde and maybe Rodriguez are more than filler. Two years ago, this roster might have worked in a weak division. Now, it’s just not good enough.
February 13th, 2008 at 8:00 am
Steve,
I thought that little typo was funny. But why is Loretta back?
Anyways, as far as I could tell most of what is written there (as w/ most articles wriiten by Joe Sheehan) is pretty accurate. Especially that last part implying the astros need to rebuild, but are in denial.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Rebuild? We don’t need to rebuild! We’ve got a strong, young pitching staff and exciting young stars just coming into their prime at almost every position. We’re set for years!! (This is the Tampa Bay blog, isn’t it?)
February 13th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Good thoughts Steve
We didn’t need Erstad with Bourn here & Abercrombie too (& don’t forget about Yordany)
We didn’t need Blum either - and we don’t need Loretta back
and while I HOPE Towles will do great … don’t forget - he was playing in Sept. against a lot of other callups … we’ll know soon …
Yeah it’s been THAT kind of an offseason
February 14th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I just want to point out that future all-star catcher and team icon Craig Biggio was 24 years of age in 1989 and hit .257 with an OPS of .738. If JR can handle the pitchers and hit that well, we should all be extraordinarily pleased.
February 14th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
what happened to Lisa?
February 14th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I don’t know where Lisa is, but what I’m really wondering about is whether she’s still defending Clemens.
So, McNamee mc-named 3 guys (Pettitte, Knoblauch, and Clemens) whom he injected with steroids and HGH at their request, and the first two guys have corroborated his story and confessed that yes, it’s true. And we’re to believe that Clemens didn’t? And why would McNamee mc-name him for no reason?
Furthermore, Clemens admits that his wife was injected with HGH by McNamee, but that he wasn’t? Yeah.
The guy is looking more indefensible by the minute. It’s a shame, too, because if he would have just admitted to it, all would be forgiven, I believe. The worst that would have come of it would be a tiny little asterisk. Now the dude will undoubtedly get indicted for perjury, just like Bonds.
Sad day in Washington for the Clemens family.
February 14th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Aren’t you even the least bit curious as to why Clemens’ WIFE took HGH injections? I mean, c’mon, what’s up with THAT?
February 14th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
I thought it was common knowledge that HGH was like botox to trophy wives - keeps you looking younger longer.
February 14th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Ah, I didn’t know that. She sure does look young. Oh well, here’s Ausmus’ take: “Whether this is a complete fabrication or 100 percent true,” Ausmus said, referring to allegations made by Clemens’ former trainer, Brian McNamee, that Clemens used performance-enhancing drugs, “he’s a friend of mine. I’ve said before, even if it’s 100 percent true, [Clemens] wasn’t hurting anybody. We’re not talking about a violent crime here. He’s a good person, he’s a good teammate and he’s a good friend.
February 14th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
hello yall
i been busy taking care of 5 tiny puppies who have got to be fed and cleaned every 2 hours, so i am a bit tired.
as for roger clemens
sigh
here we go again
- frankly i couldn’t care less if his wife shoots HGH. her getting the stuff is as criminal as her getting amoxicillin. big deal. actually, i couldn’t care if any ballplayer shot HGH (before 2005) because there is exactly zero medical evidence that it does one damm thing to normal healthy young men for muscle growth or, actually, anything else performance enhancing.
as for mcnamee
let me get this straight - if he tells the truth about 2 things, then he MUST be telling the truth about the third?
so if i tell you that i have had sex with my ex-fiance and my husband (both true) then it MUST be true if i tell you i had sex with brad ausmus? (hot damm, wish i remembered it better…)
mcnamee has a HUGE credibility problem, far as i’m concerned. him being a rapist and all. lying about canseco’s party. and trying to get people to believe that roger bought winstrol from some OTHER dealer, and winstrol, by the way, is a water-based roid and has to be taken every 48 hours to be effective, and only injected clemens TWICE that year. but somehow, clemens decided to go to other people for all his other injections?
cmon
frankly, i don’t believe most of what mcnamee said about just about anything.
and i am SERIOUSLY tired of all this absurd witch-hunts. i am tired of people not giving a darn about any of the lesser players who used them and i am tired of them saying it only matters if great players used. makes me sick. and frankly, until someone proves conclusively that each one of these drugs taken in a certain way positively impacts performance in a certain specified way, i don’t care who used each year or how MANY used each year.
unlike the mainstream columnists, i am dead tired of this crap. and i am tired of them always looking for some way to bring the really great ones down.
enough
anyhow,
kris,
agree we most certainly didn’t need erstad. ed wade just went out and got a bunch of “names” - reminding me of the pirates. unfortunately.
- frankly, i’d rather have given tommy manzella a chance. along with abercrombie and gallardo.
February 15th, 2008 at 7:48 am
Fair enough, Lisa. I’ll just add this last comment and then I’ll let it drop. I think your analogy about having sex with your ex-fiance, your husband, and Brad Ausmus is pretty funny, but not comparable in the least. In Clemens’ situation, McNamee confesses that he injected 3 Yankees with steroids, and names the 3 guys. When 2 of them come forward and confess, it certainly makes the 3rd guy look mighty suspicious, especially considering there isn’t really any motivation for him to “bring down” a “big name” like Clemens at that time. Now, yes. But then (when he named Clemens), not so much.
And I also don’t see this as people trying to crucify the “great ones” like Clemens. From all I’ve seen and read, the court of public opinion is only against Roger because he tries to portray himself as this really moral family man, and yet he won’t nut up and just admit what he has done. I think the general public is very forgiving of people who just admit, like Pettitte did, that HGH was commonly used to heal faster from injury, and that unfortunately we all make decisions that we regret making. If Clemens would have taken that approach, all would be well. So, ironically, in an attempt to salvage his good name, he appears to be the one most responsible for the sullying of it. If it were ancient Athens, someone would be penning a tragic drama about this.
Okay, I’ll let you have the last word - I’ll let this one drop.
Good luck with the puppy farm!
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