18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's that time of year again--the 2008 Bill James Handbook, November 12, 2007
This review is from: The Bill James Handbook 2008 (Paperback)
Those familiar with the Bill James Handbooks will know what the 2008 version is about. This volume is chock full of intriguing statistics.
One part that I like is a prediction of how various players are expected to do in the next baseball season (in this case, 2008). On pages 442 and following, we see the projected batting figures for players; on pages 456 and following, we see projections for pitchers for 2008. This year, the work does not contain predictions of career totals, given the uncertainty of injuries. Let's take a look at some predictions for 2008: Prince Fielder is projected to hit 44 homers with a batting average of .289; he is predicted to steal 4 bases and be caught twice. Frank Thomas, nearing the end of his career is projected to hit 28 home runs with a batting average of .262. One nice thing about the book is that it provides an indicator of how accurate last year's predictions were. Fielder was predicted to have the following statistics in 2007: 30 homers and a .280 batting average; his real productivity was 50 homers and a .288 average. Injuries accounted for some erroneous projections, as with Joe Crede and Scott Rolen. The text notes which predictions were way off and which were pretty accurate. A nice bit of accountability.
There are the unique statistics created and developed by Bill James and his colleagues, such as team efficiency, baseball park indices, those batters who are most apt to swing at the first pitch (Delmon Young in the AL, at 51.4% of first pitches; the corresponding NL figure is Jeff Francouer at 44.1%), those who are least likely to swing at first pitches (e.g., Reggie Willitts of the Angels at 4.6% and J. J. Hardy of Milwaukee at 7.9%.
And on it goes. So, this book gives baseball fans a chance to start gearing up for 2008, provides lots of material for hot stove league discussions, and gets one to thinking about performance of major league players in a different way.
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22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Bill James Baseball Handbook 2008, November 9, 2007
This review is from: The Bill James Handbook 2008 (Paperback)
For 13 years, STATS Inc. published the STATS Major League Handbook. However, in the fall of 2002, STATS Inc. all but suspended its publishing operation. At that time, it had appeared that 2002 would be the end of the Major League Handbook (that so many had grown fond of over time). However, in June of 2003, thanks to the good folks at Baseball Info Solutions and Acta Publications, The Bill James Handbook (as this grand annual was renamed) reappeared on the scene - and it has continued to be available in the years to follow.
On November 1, 2007, The Bill James Handbook 2008 was released.
As usual, this version of the Handbook contains team statistics from last season - including Bill James' Team Efficiency Summary, a register of career stats for everyone who played in the majors this past year, 2007 fielding stats - including the 2007 Fielding Bible Awards, manager records and tendencies, park data, player splits, leader boards, win shares data, and 2008 player projections.
In addition, this version of the Handbook contains some new and expanded features. These include:
* Bill James' Young Talent Inventory - with good grades for the Rockies, D-Rays and D-backs...and bad grades for the Astros, Cubs and Tigers.
* Bill James' Manufactured Run Analysis - which notes that, last season, manufacturing runs was slightly more a trait of successful teams than preventing teams from scoring them.
* Bill James' Player & Team Baserunning Analysis - that shows why Mike Cameron is the king of going first to third and why Jason Varitek is a station-to-station guy...and that the Angels, as a team, will first to third you to death whereas the Astros killed themselves on the bases as a team.
Granted, in the past, the STATS Major League Handbook had an edge that is no longer available for The Bill James Handbook. Both books provide reams and reams of great baseball data and were/are the earliest "baseball annual" each year. For the STATS Major League Handbook, these two wrinkles were a major draw as, at that time, there were not web-sites that provided (both traditional and sabermetric) baseball data on a real-time basis. Nor, for the most part, were there software programs that contained this information. Therefore, if you wanted baseball data like this, and you wanted it "ASAP," the STATS Major League Handbook was your source.
However, while not having an edge in terms of exclusive data and publication timing, The Bill James Handbook does provide you with something unique - call it a serendipitous benefit - with its retro-style media format. In simple words: It's a book!
Being a book, you can do something with The Bill James Handbook that you can't do with a web-site or software program - meaning you can read it...like a book.
You can sit with it for an hour, or just a few minutes, and no matter how much time you spend when looking at the Handbook, you will find abundant nuggets of baseball enlightenment and amusement. With every turn of a page - albeit if you start at the first page of it or just pick a starting page at random - you can begin a fun journey into the land of baseball statistics. And, again, because it's a book, The Bill James Handbook lends itself towards being used in locations and/or times, and in a way, that web-sites and/or software programs cannot provide the same satisfying results.
Think of it this way: You need a screw-driver. You know where to find it. It's in a tool-box on a shelf in your garage. So, you go exactly there, and get the exact screw-driver that you need. That's nice and satisfying feeling. You have a need, you know the best place to address it, and it's easy to complete that need at that place.
Now, think about this situation: You have some time to kill. Just for the heck of it, you go for a walk in the neighborhood. As you are strolling, you run into an old friend that you haven't seen in years. You talk to them and start to realize how much they had to offer in terms of enjoying their company. Then, as you're talking, someone that you never noticed before comes by and joins your conversation - and you start to realize that this new person also offers insight that is something that you never thought of...and, you find it useful and enjoyable as well.
Both of these situations benefit you. But, going for that screw-driver is not going to deliver the same benefit that you get from that random and chance meeting with old and new friends. And, chances are, if you needed a screw-driver, the best route was that direct line to that tool-box on a shelf in your garage - rather than hoping you might find one, or run into someone with one, if you went for a walk around the block.
Still with me? What I'm trying to say here is that using a web-site or software program to get baseball data, is like the screw-driver situation. If you know what you need (or want), specifically, and you know the quickest place to get it, then going there makes sense. However, if you're looking to take some time, and allow yourself to find something - that you're not specifically looking for - and want it to be a positive experience, then a more indirect and broader route is the better way to go...like taking that walk and rolling with chance meetings...or like picking up The Bill James Handbook, reading it, and seeing what you'll find out.
It's for this latter reason that I highly recommend The Bill James Handbook 2008. Just don't get it for all the great data and analysis that's inside it - get it because of the way in which it can be used...and enjoyed...in a manner that only a book can provide.
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