Baseball Prospectus 2002 (Baseball Prospectus)

While BP is occasionally prone to making sweeping exaggerations regarding a subject, they provide generally objective analysis of baseball in a very entertaining manner. BP 2002 is well-written and contains paragraphs on about 50 players per organization, organization reviews and assorted other articles along with each players translated (meaning adjusted for AAA, AA, etc or parks) statistics. I highly recommend it.


Both pedantic and funny   April 30, 2002
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

If you are a trained statistician, you will probably love this book. For each major leaguer, it takes his actual numbers and washes out park effects. Then it compares the value (in runs) of the player's production to the league average. There are fielding and pitching "stuff" statistics invented by Baseball Prospectus that attempt to account for all the variables that contribute to performance. For minor leaguers, it calculated "major league equivalencies"--i.e., what numbers the player would have put up if he had played in the majors.

The problem is that the bewildering array of new terms and statistical explanations will mean little to the casual fan. Even an experienced roto player who has a healthy respect for such methods, such as myself, will have an extremely difficult time putting it all together.

Fortunately, the player write-ups are as compelling a reason to buy the book as the statistical analysis. They are hilarious--inventive, creative, and full of oddball references. Baseball Prospectus can be a little too opinionated at times, and a little subjective for a group of people that professes to believe only in the data, but that's part of what makes them so funny. It's unbelievable how many different ways Joe Sheehan & Co. can find to say that a player is worthless.


The book is also pretty funny sometimes ...   March 8, 2002
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

I forgot to mention in my lengthy review below that one of the best properties of Baseball Prospectus 2002 is the humor ... it adds to the readability a lot knowing that some funny and off-the-wall statements crop up in the player comments. I inadvertantly found myself up way past my bedtime recently reading about minor-leagues for the Tigers when I hit this note on Brandon Inge: he "does less damage at the plate than Lara Flynn Boyle". Good stuff. Keep it up, boys.


TOP NOTCH BASEBALL WRITING   March 7, 2002
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

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.


It's all about the team   March 7, 2002
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.