Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1904 Discussion

The Giants refuse to play the World Series this season and the AL pennant race makes them wish they hadn’t.

Player			SH WS		BBR WAR
Napoleon Lajoie		40.9		8.6
Honus Wagner		41.0		8.2
Bill Bradley		28.1		6.6
Elmer Flick		30.3		6.5
Jimmy Collins		27.3		5.3
Danny Murphy		25.5		5.1
George Davis		27.9		7.2
Bobby Wallace		23.1		5.7
Willie Keeler		26.7		5.0
Mike Grady		15.7		4.0
Tommy Leach		24.1		3.7
Frank Chance		29.0		5.9
Cy Seymour		25.3		4.6
Art Devlin		24.0		4.8
Freddy Parent		29.4		6.2
Sam ...

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Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1903 Ballot

For 1903, each voter should rank the top 10 players from all leagues combined.

Balloting is scheduled to close at 4pm EDT on 1 April 2015.

Anyone can vote, even if you do not normally participate in Hall of Merit discussions. If have never participated in an MMP election, just post a preliminary ballot in the discussion thread by 31 March 2015.

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1960 Ballot

For 1960, each voter should rank their top 10 players from both leagues combined.

Balloting is scheduled to close at 4pm EDT on 7 January 2015.

Anyone can vote, even if you do not normally participate in Hall of Merit discussions. If have never participated in an MMP election, just post a preliminary ballot in the discussion thread by 5 January 2015.

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.

Newsblog: Sean Forman talks to MLB Network

If you can’t get enough of Baseball-Reference.com’s Sean Forman (and if you know Sean no one would blame you), here’s his television debut on the MLB Nework.

Enjoy!!

Transaction Oracle: 2012 ZiPS Projections - Toronto Blue Jays

Is there any team more happy about baseball adding a second wildcard spot than the Toronto Blue Jays? In the short-term at least (and probable long-term unless the top AL East teams start showing some serious incompetence), Toronto's prospects improve considerably if they don't have to better both the Red Sox and Yankees to make the playoffs. That obviously helps Tampa Bay and Baltimore as well, but the Jays are in that sweet spot where it's pretty darn useful - the Rays can compete for the ...Read More...

Transaction Oracle: 2012 ZiPS Projections - Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays plan to win in 2012 the same way they usually do: pitching, defense, and catching just enough lightning in a bottle on offense around their core. The team is, at least by ZiPS, just behind the Red Sox for 3rd place, but the winter is over and given how relatively quiet the team has been with minor-league signings (outside of Luke Scott, they've made very few), they've still got some empty bottles to fill.

Tampa won't have that starting rotation, forever. A team competing on a ...

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Newsblog: You could win the job of your dreams!

Want to be the next Gleeman or Calcaterra?

We’re searching for the next sports social media personality to be a voice of XFINITY behind-the-scenes at the biggest nationwide sporting events this year. Submit your video to show us if you have what it takes for the job.

Hall of Merit: 2013 Hall of Merit Ballot Discussion

2013 (November 26, 2012)—elect 3*
WS W3 Rookie Name-Pos
705 186.2 1986 Barry Bonds-LF
437 146.4 1984 Roger Clemens-P
428 73.8 1989 Craig Biggio-2B
325 68.7 1993 Mike Piazza-C
322 61.0 1989 Sammy Sosa-RF
252 75.4 1990 Curt Schilling-P
288 51.7 1992 Kenny Lofton-CF
297 41.3 1989 Steve Finley-CF
280 45.0 1983 Julio Franco-SS/2B
210 55.2 1988 David Wells-P
237 41.8 1995 Shawn Green-RF
209 36.7 1992 Reggie Sanders-RF
230 28.9 1994 Ryan Klesko-LF/1B
185 33.7 1994 Jose Valentin-SS
169 33.1 1995 Jeff ...

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Transaction Oracle: Mariners - Acquired Montero

Seattle Mariners acquire C Jesus Montero for P Michael Pineda and P Jose Campos

ZiPS projected Montero at .271/.333/.486 in Yankee Stadium. Good enough for a 112 OPS+. He’s going to a much tougher place to hit, so the raw stat line is not going to be nearly as pretty to get the same value. Let’s put it this way. Justin Smoak (a name not chosen at random of course) put up a 104 OPS+ with .234/.323/.396. I like Montero an awful lot but I’d downgrade him a fair amount in anything like a Strat ...

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Transaction Oracle: 2012 ZiPS Projections - Kansas City Royals

If you watch the Food Network, you might have come across a competitive cooking show called "Chopped" in which chefs are given baskets of mystery ingredients. Some ingredients are pretty cool, some ingredients have tremendous use in specific areas, and some ingredients are downright awful. Each one of the chefs that survive each round have to use all the ingredients together in a non-horrible way. < That's a lot how the Royals are right now. There are a lot of the ingredients of a winning team in the future. Some of them are finished, quality products, like Alex Gordon and Billy Butler. Some of the ingredients, like Eric Hosmer and Johnny Giavotella, are exciting to work with. But a lot of the team's prospects, at this point, fall into the category of "interesting" like most of the pitchers having at least one serious flaw or concern to worry about. All these ingredients are scattered and all over the place and the Royals at this point, are still going to likely struggle to hit 75 wins.

There's still a lot more offseason left, but as of now, the good news is that there really ...Read More...