Baseball Forecaster 2003 [Paperback]

Ron Shandler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2002

Called the "Winner's Bible," Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster is the authoritative book on fantasy baseball analysis. The new 17th edition has trends and projections for over 900 players, groundbreaking research results, pitching logs, major league equivalents, strategy essays and more. Includes a FREE online projections update!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Cheers to Ron Shandler, whose open methodology and consistent approach provide the best player performance projections in the roti-universe." -- F.X. Flinn, first publisher of Rotisserie League Baseball

"Flat-out the best fantasy book there is!" -- Peter Kreutzer, Major League Baseball

"Indispensable! If you don't have the Baseball Forecaster at draft time, you're only cheating yourself." -- Rob Neyer, ESPN

About the Author

RON SHANDLER was the first baseball analyst to develop sabermetric applications for fantasy league play. His ground-breaking concepts and strategies, based on component skills analysis, have made him a perennial contender in national experts competitions. Ron’s company, Shandler Enterprises LLC, was named the 2002 Small Business of the Year by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Shandler Enterprises Llc; 17 edition (December 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891566032
• ISBN-13: 978-1891566035
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,203,193 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By far the best fantasy baseball guide being published, April 3, 2003

By 

Eugene Wei "eugene" (Santa Monica, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Baseball Forecaster 2003 (Paperback)

I began playing fantasy baseball two years ago, and my immediate success is due in large part to Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster. Don't bother wasting money on the multitude of worthless preseason fantasy baseball draft magazines on the newsstand, or speculative publications like Baseball Weekly.

One of the reasons Baseball Forecaster outdoes the competition is that it focuses on what it calls Base Performance Indicators, or what economists might call leading indicators. Instead of assuming that a player like Paul Byrd, who suddenly won 17 games last year, or Mark Bellhorn, who came out of nowhere to hit 27 home runs, will continue those trends, Baseball Forecaster looks at some underlying skill measures to understand how those levels of performance were reached. That way it can assess the likelihood of those players repeating the performances. Likewise, it can assess whether a star player who had an off year will bounce back.

Shandler and his team have refined these base performance indicators every year, and while they're very good they don't stop improving them. For example, last year Alfonso Soriano batted .300, much to the chagrin of many sabermetricians who were concerned about his free-swinging ways. John Burnson took that as a challenge and created a new formula to predict expected batting average, one which, tested on historical data, proved superior to their old formula. This book is especially good for 5x5 rotisserie leagues because it has base performance indicators to predict nearly all of the most common 5x5 statistical categories. However, I also use it for another league I'm in which is based on expected runs created and saved.

Last year the Baseball Forecaster helped me grab players like Vincent Padilla, Eric Gagne, and Jarrod Washburn for very little...

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive forecasting tool for fantasy baseball, December 9, 2003

By 

Ralph R Williams (Warren, Ohio , United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baseball Forecaster 2003 (Paperback)

Have subscribed to Shandler's Forecaster since 1997. Believe me, I've been through all the other mags and publications, both by noted fantasy gurus such as Bill James, John Benson, etc in addition to Spoting News, Fantasy Sports and so on. I still read and buy the others, as I consider them interesting and enjoyable reads. Yet, when I want the crucial info that will lead me to league titles, I refer to Baseball HQ. The Forecaster has guided my preseason and in season ship for 6 yrs now. The best, no questions asked. Projections based on empirical data, trends and base skill indicators. I could go on and on..... Play Ball!!!!!!!

5.0 out of 5 stars This one is it, November 11, 2003

By 

Eun S. Park (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baseball Forecaster 2003 (Paperback)

I won my first baseball title last year and $1000+ thanks to this book. Although I didn't follow the dollar values of each player, I thoroughly studied the trends in different ratios to determine my own values. I scored at the draft and dominated the entire league. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone except my league mates. I can't wait for the 2004 edition. Also look for Rotoman's projections.