analytics

Hardball Architects – Volume 2 (National League Teams): Evaluating Roster Construction and Team Performance Based On Player Acquisition Methods

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Hardball Architects – Volume 2 (National League Teams) – on sale now! Kindle edition ($9.99), paperback ($19.99) order here -> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TPYMNSS (Kindle), https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09YNH354F (paperback) Hardball Architects examines the trades, free agent acquisitions, draft picks and other transactions for the 30 Major League Baseball franchises, divided into a 2-volume set (American League and National League). All … Read more

Hardball Architects – Volume 1 (American League Teams): Evaluating Roster Construction and Team Performance Based On Player Acquisition Methods

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Hardball_Architects_Volume1_AL

Hardball Architects – Volume 1 (American League Teams) – on sale now!  – Kindle edition ($9.99) Paperback ($19.99) Hardball Architects examines the trades, free agent acquisitions, draft picks and other transactions for the 30 Major League Baseball franchises, divided into a 2-volume set (American League and National League). All key moves are scrutinized for every … Read more

When Fantasy Meets Reality

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Sandy Koufax

Spring training is underway. Sign stealing is behind us … I hope. And Giancarlo Stanton is injured. All of that being said, the fantasy baseball world is hovering over every lineup, call up, and pitch. Mock drafts happen by the minute, as every stat geek (including me) tries out new weighted analytics to link the … Read more

To Swing or Not to Swing … That is the Question

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Rickey Henderson

The last two articles have hinted how Moneyball’s heavy emphasis on analytics may actually bring baseball back to an old school style. The pendulum has swung so far in one direction that the inefficiency in the market in the two previous cases has been on an old school approach that we thought may be long … Read more

The New “Billy Ball”

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Billy Martin

In 2003, Michael Lewis published his deep dive into what became an analytics revolution. “Moneyball” popularized Bill James theories on analytics and thrust Billy Beane reluctantly into the baseball spotlight. Take away Brad Pitt, an A’s historic win streak, and the total abandonment of the ‘old school’ style of baseball and Michael Lewis accomplished one … Read more

Isn’t It Ironic … Don’t You Think

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Bill James, the father of Sabermetrics, called bunting “usually a waste of time.” Super Agent Scott Boras referred to the defensive shift as “discriminatory”, in part because his client Bryce Harper was struggling against the tactic. How do these extreme comments, embedded in data driven decisions, give us an indication that bunting could be on … Read more

Gregg Kersey’s review of Hardball Retrospective at “Gregg’s Baseball Bookcase”

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“I don’t often do this, but if I had to sum this book up in one word it would be…..WOW!!!!!! Hardball Retrospective takes statistical analysis to the next level. It takes a look at every season and every team from 1901 through 2013 and re-analyzed the data . By using current standards it evaluates each … Read more

Lance Smith’s review of Hardball Retroactive at “The Guy Who Reviews Sports Books”

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“If you ever wanted to know how your favorite team has fared over the years when it comes to the outcomes of trades they have made or the success of their farm system and the players drafted by the team to stock the system, then this book by Derek Bain is for you.” Here is … Read more

Hall of Fame Voting, WAR as a Rate Stat, and Where David Wright Fits In

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It may seem ridiculous, but David Wright’s career was a lot better than one might think. Arguably the most beloved member of the organization’s history, the Captain of Queens gave the city 11 years of excitement before battling back and neck injuries over his final three seasons. However, given his recent retirement, it is time … Read more

new book! – Hardball Retroactive – ** Available Now **

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Hardball Retroactive – ** Available Now ** digital (Kindle) edition $9.99, paperback $22.99 “Hardball Retroactive” is a modest collection of selected articles that I have written for Seamheads.com along with my Baseball Analytics blog since 2010. Each piece is chosen based on audience response – a combination of social media “likes”, replies to a particular … Read more