Customer Reviews

Graphical Player 2008

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the second year I have bought this annual. If you want to get an idea the value of a player just by looking at graphs, then this book is for you. Each player has a little blurb. But, the graphs are the meat.
Once you get accustomed to what the graphs are saying, you get a new grasp of player values.
I highly recommend this book.

I love this book!

While there's still no dollar values for the players in this book, for the first time it does have some performance projections. If you want a data analysis that gives you valuable insight into player performance, Burnson is one of the best.

The graphs are a little crowded, but they are the key to the value of this book. Spend a few minutes actually reading the preface and a whole new world of statistical analysis will be opened up.

That being said, be aware that this book is intended for the advanced fan. There are no team names associated with the players, the reader is expected to know the difference between Shawn Hill and Rich Hill. Further, the reader should already be familiar with sabermetric concepts such as Hit%, xERA, GB%, etc. Otherwise, since the author uses those sabermetric measures to further develop his own key indicators, the graphs in this book will be cumbersome to decipher.

This is the second year that this book has ventured beyond pitchers and into position players. The players section, which was weak last year, has been greatly improved and now rivals the Pitchers chapter for valuable insidght. The commentary for each player is revealing and appropriately pithy. There are a number of other new features such as the WOW factor (a measure of a players value to rotisserie teams) and an interesting ballpark HR chart.

Tried it in '07, tried it in '08, wanted very much to like it, but it the end cannot recommend it. For me, the graphs tend to obscure rather than illuminate. For 95% of the players, there's no meaningful trend for the graphs to reveal in any case. Further, there are some proprietary stats like "GOG" which are not fully explained. If you'rre a fantasy baseball player, the SimERA and WOW information will be the most helpful. Unfortunately other far less useful data is given equal or geater prominence.

This is my first year with Graphical Player but I subscribed to Burnson's weekly magazine, Heater http://heatermagazine.com/ last year and thought I'd give it a shoot. Basically they take sabermetrics data and convert them into very meaningful graphics for both batters and pitchers. Since there aren't really stats here it won't be your only guide. However, if you need a different perspective to gain some competitive advantages this is an awesome tool. I've used their WOW report to determine the 7 players that will improve my chances of winning my fantasy team the most. Additionally, I've used their spray charts to identify 2 key players that I think will step up in 2008 and prove themselves as elite fantasy baseball talents. I'll be dissecting Graphical Player over the next several months and will have more insights on my blog - http://bloopsingle.blogspot.com/ In the mean time, buy your own copy, it's totally unique and will definitely give you an edge.

bump up the price $10. i don't care. but to put this much stock in graphical displays...to obviously tend to and appreciate what a user interface/dashboard can be (the work here is astounding)....but to then steer it through a B/W universe.

it's just a tragedy.

color next time. PLEASE.