Baseball Prospectus 2003 [Paperback]

Joseph Sheehan (Author), Clay Davenport (Author), Chris Kahrl (Author)

Book Description

Series: Baseball Prospectus | Publication Date: February 1, 2003

Here's the book that ESPN.com's Rob Neyer has called "the best book of its kind." Updated for the 2003 season, BASEBALL PROSPECTUS analyzes every top player in each organization all the way down to rookie ball and does it with objective, entertaining commentary. The PROSPECTUS gives you the final word on what the players did, why they did it, and what they're going to do in the future. Readers will get the in-depth statistics covering every crack of the bat from the 2002 season that they would expect. They'll also find entertaining essays on every team and articles on special-interest topics not found anywhere else. Sprinkled throughout are the same touches of irreverent humor that BASEBALL PROSPECTUS readers enjoy and expect. The exclusive Davenport Translations again compare performances across leagues and ballparks, and the PROSPECTUS provides new ways to analyze everything, from starting pitchers' win-loss records to pitcher workloads to bull pen effectiveness. Find out why ESPN's Peter Gammons says, "BASEBALL PROSPECTUS's rankings are an invaluable tool. If more general managers understood them, they wouldn't do some of the trades they do."

BASEBALL PROSPECTUS is the best value for every baseball fan every season. To get the information packed into the 2003 edition, fans would have to buy several other books. Comprehensive enough for serious fantasy baseball enthusiasts who need the most in-depth insights, it's still entertaining for casual fans seeking a better way to understand the intricacies of the game.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"For how we view baseball players today, Baseball Prospectus is a breath of fresh air." -- J. P. Ricciardi, General Manager, Toronto Blue Jays

"The standard by which all scouting guides should be measured." -- —Billy Beane, General Manager, Oakland Athletics

About the Author

Joseph Sheehan, Chris Kahrl, and Clay Davenport are among the leaders in the discipline of sabermetrics - the analysis of baseball statistics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books; 1 edition (February 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574885618
• ISBN-13: 978-1574885613
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,231,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still the wittiest and most incisive commentary on baseball, April 3, 2003

By 

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

This review is from: Baseball Prospectus 2003 (Paperback)

Baseball Prospectus was already the best annual publication on baseball for thinking baseball fans, and in 2003 it got better in several ways. First, in the past it only contained Clay Davenport's translated stats, but this year it includes both actual (or untranslated) stats and translated stats (batting avg, OBP, SLG, ERA). That's useful because you can compare the actual to translated stats to get a sense of where a player was helped or hurt by the competition and ballparks. Second, and perhaps most significantly, this version adds a new forecasting system from Nate Silver called PECOTA. This system compares a player to his most comparable historical peers in age, skills, and physical makeup and predicts the likelihood that his performance will improve, break out, or collapse. It's a unique predictive system that capitalizes on the fact that very few players are like a Barry Bonds, who overcome historical trends and forces to become statistical anomalies.

Some new contributors were brought on board this year to join an already excellent staff. Doug Pappas writes on the economic and labor situation of baseball better than anyone out there, and Will Carroll of the popular daily e-mail newsletter "Under the Knife" joins up to discuss player injuries. And lastly, the player coverage has increased this year to include even more minor league prospects.

Some of the book's best qualities remain. If you want a clear assessment of any team's current and future prospects and the quality of its management and farm system, absolutely read the introductions at the beginning of each team's chapter. They're brilliant. Secondly, the snippets on each player are as humorous as ever. The Baseball Prospectus writers enjoy flashing their wit. On Chad Bradford, the right handed Oakland A's reliever who is murder on righties: "In the future, as part of the Commissioner's strategy to speed up games, opposing right-handed batters will be permitted to simply throw a one-hopepr down to Eric Chavez rather than actually execute their plate appearance..." If anything, I wish they'd stay on topic in their player commentaries instead of straying to comment on random topics.

For me, it's not the best publication for your fantasy baseball draft because it doesn't include stats which are contextual rather than purely in the control of the player, such as runs or RBIs. Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster is better reference for that. Still, the commentary and PECOTA and projected 2003 stats are a very useful supplement and have helped me snatch some gems in my fantasy drafts. And the entire book is written so well I find myself leaving it on the coffee table all season just to revisit from time to time.

Don't take my word for it. Among those singing its praises are Rob Neyer, Billy Beane, J.J. Ricciardi, Peter Gammons, Jayson Stark, John Hunt, John Sickels, and anyone else who knows anything about baseball. ...

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best BP Yet, February 14, 2003

By 

"rlockmed" (North Andover, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baseball Prospectus 2003 (Paperback)

It's even better than it used to be. In addition to park adjusted statistics, there's raw, unadjusted stats for all the major and minor league players, which is great because Stats is no longer making the Red and Green Books. The graphic presentation of the statistics is better, too, with the adjusted stats clearly marked from the raw stats.

The writing is outstanding, and the separate essays on injuries and the forecasting system are really good. It's a gigantic book, and it's almost impossible to put down. I love it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as funny as 2002, but an improved resource, April 24, 2003

By 

CGC (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baseball Prospectus 2003 (Paperback)

BASEBALL PROSPECTUS is one of the best sabermeticians' baseball resources out there, and thanks to witty, perceptive player commentaries, very accessible to the less numerically inclined. This should not be considered a resource for fantasy baseball players, but is useful for them as well.

In 2002, PROSPECTUS carried only "translated" player statistics--actual numbers adjusted for park and league effects. The theory is that without taking context into account, it is impossible to measure the value of players relative to one another.

The theory is solid, obviously, but the 2003 edition carries both the actual and the translated statistics, which makes it a much more useful all-in-one resource. You no longer have to go flipping through another book to find what a player actually did.

The player write-ups continue in the humorous but incisive PROSPECTUS tradition, though the humor seems to be a bit less sharp this year. It seems they've decided to be a little more serious and straightforward.