Tuesday, April 14, 2009
HEATER: Week 1
Posted by John BurnsonThe first issue of HEATER is available for download by THT subscribers. Starting this week and going for a couple weeks, we will be introducing revamped pages and features. This week, we have tackled the Team & Hitter pages. We have brightened the layout and updated the mix of stats.
On the Team page, a new angle is values of Wins Above Replacement (WAR) for hitters. Now you can follow WAR for your favorite team on one easy-to-read page. We employ the approach described by Colin Wyers in his series at THT.
For fantasy players, we have posted key metrics of Run Scoring and Run Allowing in the upper left, for easy reference. We have also sharpened the Depth Charts and Team Leaderboards, and we show ERA split by time in the rotation and in relief, among other new stats.
You will also see the hand of our Radar Trackers throughout the issue. Their commentary now appears on the corresponding team page. A compact version of Radar Tracking will run each week in the back of the issue.
More significantly, we are leveraging the playing-time allocations. For this and all later issues, the writers will specifically project playing time FOR THE COMING WEEK. Those of you who play in weekly leagues or who need to find a guy to replace one on the DL will now be able to target those free agents who can actually be expected to do something for you, as determined by our team analysts. The top part of the Hitter pages presents players in order of projected playing time, so you do not have to hunt around for the best properties.
These playing-time allocations will be updated twice weekly—once for the main issue, and then again for the Weekend Supplement, the first of which comes out later this week. We also have Position Leaderboards for hitters, week-by-week points, splits by Home/Away and RH/LH, and more.
Next week, you should see our first Prospects page of 2009, along with enchancements to the Pitcher pages and— ah, but that would be telling...
You can see a few pages of today's issue here. You can subscribe here.
Compiled by THT Staff.