November 23, 2009
Order NowThe Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2010 is now in development and will ship in mid November! This year's book will feature articles by THT's staff as well as Bill James, Tom Tango and Craig Wright. If you use this link to purchase the Annual, you will be in the first group to receive it and you'll be supporting THT. ![]()
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John Barten Brian Borawski Craig Brown Evan Brunell David Gassko Jonathan Hale Brandon Isleib Chris Jaffe Max Marchi Bruce Markusen Harry Pavlidis Jeff Sackmann Dave Studeman Steve Treder Bryan Tsao Tuck! Dan Turkenkopf Colin Wyers Geoff Young John Brattain And here's the full roster.
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The Dodgers have the best offense of any NL playoff teamby Sal BaxamusaSeptember 29, 2008 Don't believe me? I don't blame you. The Dodgers scored 4.32 runs per game in the regular season, well below average. But there are a few problems with looking at that figure. First, the Dodgers are not the same team today that they were in April. Second, backups and scrubs are far less likely to see playing time in the postseason. Last, and most importantly, we can't look at a team's performance record and assume that they'll continue to perform the same. So, we have to figure out which players are on the roster, which ones are likely to play, and what the true talent of those players are going forward. I did just that, here's what I came up with: A Dodger lineup consisting of Rafael Furcal, Russell Martin, Manny Ramirez, Andre Ethier, James Loney, Matt Kemp, Casey Blake, Blake Dewitt, and some random pitcher will score something like 5.18 runs per game. That figure is the result of current Marcel projections for each those players, assuming an average-hitting pitcher for two plate appearances, and a league-average pinch-hitter for two more. As for the other NL playoff teams: Cubs: Alfonso Soriano, Ryan Theriot, Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto, Jim Edmonds, Mike Fontenot, Kosuke Fukudome, and a pitcher will score around 5.12 runs per game. If Mark DeRosa gets back in the lineup at Fukudome's expense, that figure will jump to 5.20. Phillies: Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Jayson Werth, Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell, Shane Victorino, Pedro Feliz, Carlos Ruiz, and a pitcher will score around 5.08 runs per game. Brewers: Mike Cameron, Ray Durham, Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, J.J. Hardy, Corey Hart, Bill Hall, Jason Kendall, and a pitcher will score around 4.83 runs per game, by far the worst among NL playoff contenders. Luckily for them, they've got CC Sabathia pitching pretty much every game! Feel free to quibble with the lineups if I missed an obvious injury or managerial tendency. Any interest in seeing the AL? Sal Baxamusa is a graduate student in chemical engineering. He can be reached here. Commenting is not available in this weblog entry. Do you have a general question or comment for one of THT's writers? Send it in to our weekly mailbag We also welcome unsolicited op-ed pieces of approximately 500 words for consideration. We reserve the right to edit for length, clarity and consistency of style. Please include your whole name and location to be considered. If you have a comment about this specific article, please email the writer. |