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Interviews Articles


Following are the one hundred most recent articles for the category Interviews .

05/17/2013: The daily grind: 5-17-13

by Brad Johnson

05/17/2013: And That Happened

by Craig Calcaterra

05/17/2013: Gems without whiffs

by James Gentile

05/17/2013: 40th anniversary: Bobby Valentine breaks his leg

by Chris Jaffe

05/17/2013: Strength of schedule: Adjusting hitter values

by Moe Koltun

05/17/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 7, Vol. III

by Jack Weiland

05/17/2013: Card Corner: 1973 Topps: Mike Andrews

by Bruce Markusen

05/16/2013: Dear Jonathan Sanchez: Do you mind if we ‘Oliver Perez’ you?

by Pat Andriola

05/16/2013: The daily grind: 5-16-13

by Brad Johnson

05/16/2013: And That Happened

by Craig Calcaterra

05/16/2013: How Scott Kazmir got his groove back

by Kyle Boddy

05/16/2013: Three more for eternity

by Don Malcolm

05/16/2013: Not exactly definitive

by Don Malcolm

05/16/2013: The all-decade team: the ‘40s

by Richard Barbieri

05/16/2013: Of Uggs and Uggla

by Derek Ambrosino

05/15/2013: The daily grind: 5-15-13

by Brad Johnson

05/15/2013: And That Happened

by Craig Calcaterra

05/15/2013: Running hot and cold

by Shane Tourtellotte

05/15/2013: The Phillies should retool but not reboot

by Brad Johnson

05/15/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 7, Vol. II

by Karl de Vries

05/15/2013: Currently historic: 300 strikeouts?

by Jason Linden

05/15/2013: Mike Moustakas’ hole

by Noah Woodward

05/15/2013: BOB: How bad is the Marlins’ attendance?

by Brian Borawski

05/14/2013: And That Happened

by Craig Calcaterra

05/14/2013: The daily grind: 5-14-13

by Brad Johnson

05/14/2013: How much do hot/cold starts matter?

by Greg Simons

05/14/2013: 25th anniversary: The Jose Oquendo Game

by Chris Jaffe

05/14/2013: Jonathan Schoop and the value of role players

by Jeff Moore

05/14/2013: THT Awards

by John Barten

05/13/2013: The daily grind: 5-13-13

by Brad Johnson

05/13/2013: And That Happened

by Craig Calcaterra

05/13/2013: 30th anniversary: Reggie’s 2,000th K

by Chris Jaffe

05/13/2013: NL Central division update: May edition

by Jason Linden

05/13/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 7, Vol. I

by Jack Weiland

05/13/2013: Last remaining teammates

by Chris Jaffe

05/13/2013: The Hot Seat

by Scott Strandberg

05/12/2013: The curious case of Vernon Wells

by Matt Filippi

05/12/2013: 60th anniversary: Whitey Ford’s near no-hitter

by Chris Jaffe

05/10/2013: The daily grind: 5-10-13

by Brad Johnson

05/10/2013: And That Happened

by Craig Calcaterra

05/10/2013: 15,000 days since facial hair returns to baseball

by Chris Jaffe

05/10/2013: Cooperstown Confidential: What really happened with Fritz Ostermueller and Jackie Robinson

by Bruce Markusen

05/10/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 6, Vol. III

by Karl de Vries

05/10/2013: Still life, after all

by Azure Texan

05/09/2013: Oh Dusty

by Pat Andriola

05/09/2013: And That Happened

by Craig Calcaterra

05/09/2013: 40th anniversary: back-to-back first homers

by Chris Jaffe

05/09/2013: The Roto Grotto: rates versus opportunities

by Scott Spratt

05/09/2013: Swing rates: the John Farrell effect

by Moe Koltun

05/09/2013: Winning, TWTW, and the purpose of baseball

by Matt Hunter

05/08/2013: Closer watch

by Karl de Vries

05/08/2013: And That Happened

by Craig Calcaterra

05/08/2013: The daily grind: 5-8-13

by Brad Johnson

05/08/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 6, Vol. II

by Jack Weiland

05/08/2013: What nobody is talking about

by Greg Simons

05/08/2013: Currently historic: A truly rare achievement

by Jason Linden

05/08/2013: Craig Anderson’s greatest day

by Frank Jackson

05/08/2013: 40th anniversary: Stargell hits one out of Dodger Stadium

by Chris Jaffe

05/08/2013: BOB:  Stadium updates

by Brian Borawski

05/07/2013: And That Happened

by Craig Calcaterra

05/07/2013: The daily grind: 5-7-13

by Brad Johnson

05/07/2013: Josh Donaldson and the myth of the ‘New Moneyball’

by Pat Andriola

05/07/2013: Fun with minor league leader boards

by Jeff Moore

05/07/2013: 90th anniversary: Casey Stengel goes bonkers

by Chris Jaffe

05/07/2013: THT Awards

by John Barten

05/07/2013: A.J. Ellis: hardly swinging, hardly missing

by Noah Woodward

05/07/2013: Baseball Press: a fantasy secret weapon

by Jack Weiland

05/07/2013: The Verdict: keeping it on the DL

by Michael Stein

05/06/2013: The National League Graph, 2013

by Dave Studeman

05/06/2013: And That Happened

by Craig Calcaterra

05/06/2013: The daily grind: 5-6-13

by Brad Johnson

05/06/2013: AL East division update: May edition

by Nick Fleder

05/06/2013: That other infield shift, and five hitters who should fear it

by Noah Woodward

05/06/2013: The Hot Seat

by Scott Strandberg

05/06/2013: Last living links

by Chris Jaffe

05/06/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 6, Vol. I

by Karl de Vries

05/05/2013: The American League Graph, 2013

by Dave Studeman

05/04/2013: 50th anniversary: Braves balk-a-thon

by Chris Jaffe

05/03/2013: The daily grind: 5-3-13

by Brad Johnson

05/03/2013: And That Happened

by Craig Calcaterra

05/03/2013: 50th anniversary: player homers in only PA of season

by Chris Jaffe

05/03/2013: Debut class WAR-fare

by James Gentile

05/03/2013: Card Corner: 1973 Topps: Jose Cardenal

by Bruce Markusen

05/03/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 5, Vol. III

by Jack Weiland

05/03/2013: The Grand Tour, part five

by Shane Tourtellotte

05/02/2013: Yankees acquire Chris Nelson

by Pat Andriola

05/02/2013: And That Happened

by Craig Calcaterra

05/02/2013: The daily grind: 5-2-13

by Brad Johnson

05/02/2013: The Roto Grotto: average averages and comparing rate stats

by Scott Spratt

05/02/2013: Tales from the scorebook

by Richard Barbieri

05/02/2013: Daily fantasy gaming: Five adages

by Moe Koltun

05/02/2013: The Grand Tour, part four

by Shane Tourtellotte

05/01/2013: Ryan Howard’s odd decline continues

by Pat Andriola

05/01/2013: And That Happened

by Craig Calcaterra

05/01/2013: The daily grind: 5-1-13

by Brad Johnson

05/01/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 5, Vol. II

by Karl de Vries

05/01/2013: The Grand Tour, part three

by Shane Tourtellotte

05/01/2013: Currently historic: That’s a lot of strikeouts

by Jason Linden

05/01/2013: 40th anniversary: incredible Giants comeback

by Chris Jaffe

05/01/2013: BOB:  The next big television deal?

by Brian Borawski

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April 05, 2010

Data analysis - the SQL

David Laurila is probably my favorite baseball interviewer. If you've been around me for very long, you've probably heard me say that. He posted another good interview with Buck Showalter yesterday at Baseball Prospectus. It's worth reading the whole interview, but Showalter's response to the first question got me thinking. Or rather, it touched a nerve of something I've been thinking about ever since this post by Patriot.

David Laurila: You've been around the game for a long time. How much has the use of data evolved over the years?

Buck Showalter: Without trying to step on any toes, this isn't something new. I remember charting hitters in the Florida State League in 1984, putting a spray chart out with a red stencil. You had a humpback for a fly ball, a straight line for a line drive, you had a dotted line for a ground ball. There was where they hit it, what kind of pitch was it, what the count was…this was 1984. This is not some brand-new approach. Back then, I didn't hear a lot about it, but other people were doing it, I'm sure. Eye in the sky, scouting…I don't want to burst anybody's bubble, but this isn't something new in baseball, OK? But now it's being done with a computer, instead of by hand, and there are a lot more numbers and what have you.

DL: Essentially, you were using a lot of data nearly three decades ago?

BS: I was. We were looking at hitter-pitcher match-ups way back when. I was keeping them in the minor leagues and when I first started managing the Yankees you had matchups against guys and where they hit the ball.

Is the fundamental difference between the Pete Palmer-Bill James generation of saberists and the current generation the understanding of the power of databases and facility with them? Because I can't imagine trying to answer many of the questions I want to answer by poring through hand-charted data, and I find myself much quicker to consider alternative and difficult data sources than the average saberist today.

I'm not criticizing Showalter's understanding of the game, nor was he criticizing saberists. But the relational database...it's really something, isn't it?
Posted by: Mike Fast


March 21, 2010

C. Trent Rosecrans interviews Bill James

Everyone loves a new Bill James interview, and I am no exception. C. Trent Rosecrans has posted an two-part interview as part of Bill James making the Cactus League circuit promoting his new book.

Here's one part that caught my eye. I'm in complete agreement.
CTR: There's going to be a new system with cameras and computers that is supposed to revolutionize our understanding of defense, what kind of effect do you see that having?

BJ: I think the new system with cameras is that for several years it will create so much information that nobody will have any idea what to do with it. It's the first generation, I started this stuff I do before anyone had computers, I was literally adding stuff up in notebooks. When we all got computers it created so much information that for 10 years we were just bewildered by it and nobody had any idea what to do with it. The Pitch F/X stuff has done the same thing in the last five, six years, it's created so much data that nobody's been able to analyze it yet, in my view, and make much of it. I think the same thing will happen. Eventually something good will come of it, but it will take a while.

Posted by: Mike Fast


April 29, 2008

Dan Levitt Interview

Rich Lederer interviews Dan Levitt, author of the new book Ed Barrow: The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees' First Dynasty.
Posted by: Dave Studeman


April 27, 2008

Davey Johnson speaks

Here's an interview with one of my baseball favorites, Davey Johnson. When asked who would be his number one pick for a new team, Davey said "Henry Aaron." Also, some good thoughts about Dwight Gooden and steroids.
Posted by: Dave Studeman


April 23, 2008

Pat Jordan and Alex Belth

Rich Lederer has posted a great "roundtable discussion" with Pat Jordan and Alex Belth. Alex compiled a "best of..." book of Jordan's writing, and it's a sensational read. Pat Jordan is a terrific writer in general, and an even better sports writer. You really should buy this book. It's so good, I can say that even though I don't know you. Yeah, that good.
Posted by: Dave Studeman


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