Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

by rolub on Feb 6, 2008 10:36 AM EST

How many of you guys buy Baseball Prospectus?

Can I expect mostly detailed stats/projections on every player under the sun, or are there larger articles within that are solid reading? and is there a link through the blog where purchasing it will give this site some ad revenue?

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Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

If you're buying BP for the projections, you're probably buying it for the wrong reasons. I'd go with a guy like Ron Shandler and his Forecaster for projections. That being said I do buy BP annually. I can't speak for the others but there are plenty of articles in there I find worth reading. The team and player capsules are useful.

A lot of people knock BP for trying to be too witty. It really doesn't bother me.

Also! For even more articles/research, I hear The Hardball Times' annual is pretty good (although I haven't picked it up myself).

by nickjs21 on Feb 6, 2008 12:25 PM EST 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

PECOTA projections are just one tool associated with the site. Certainly the authors utilize PECOTA in their discussion, but it's much much more than just that.

I've been a member for a few years, and I gladly re-subscribe each year.

by rick on Feb 6, 2008 12:26 PM EST 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

Are you talking about the book or the website subscription?

by afh4 on Feb 6, 2008 12:54 PM EST 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

The book. I clarified that in my initial entry before revising it after I couldn't hotlink the book on Amazon in a tidy manner. Thanks for the other replies. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't using it in preparation for my AL-only roto league auction, but I also want to get a better handle on the metrics they use and PECOTA in general.

You know Selig? Ombudsman.

by rolub on Feb 6, 2008 1:08 PM EST up 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

Buying the BPro annual is easily my highlight of Febuary. I don't play much fantasy, so I get my kicks from just reading the sucker. Every team's chapter has an article about the year before and the year ahead. These essays will supposedly be expanded this year. At the back of the book there is usually a half dozen articles including baserunning metrics, economics and the CBA, the evolution of PETCOA, pitcher abuse points (or PAP), and always the top 50 prospects. Every year the book evolves a little bit and gets that much better.
If the book cost $50 it would be worth every penny. Luckily it is considerably less.

by pdx on Feb 6, 2008 2:41 PM EST 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

If you buy only one book, this one is it...

by stuart dean on Feb 6, 2008 3:13 PM EST 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

I love the book but I don't play fantasy. So I'm not sure how helpful that opinion is.

On another note, is the book out? Mine was pre-ordered and I haven't seen it yet. Anyone know the actual date?

Also, for the new THT season preview? Anyone gotten that yet? I got the season review but not the preview.

by afh4 on Feb 6, 2008 4:04 PM EST 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

Yeah, I'm more interested in the essays/analytical portion than using for fantasy baseball, but i imagine it can't hurt me.

Amazon has a release date of February 18th, available for pre-order now.

You know Selig? Ombudsman.

by rolub on Feb 6, 2008 4:19 PM EST up 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

And they say the THT preview releases in March.

by mkwng on Feb 6, 2008 4:49 PM EST up 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

Andrew:

What do you think of the THT review? Thumbed through it at Borders after work and the stats are ones readily available on their site. A brief review of the analysis sections seemed like they were incomplete (many seemed to be variations on the following: "This is just a brief examination of the numbers; further research is needed.") If you think I'm wrong and it's worth it, let me know.

I have already preordered their season preview, though.

by mkwng on Feb 8, 2008 12:35 AM EST up 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

I enjoy it but I'm also sort of a sucker for these kinds of books.

More than likely, the content is not considerably different than what's produced by the website. I haven't gone through to try to determine what's making the review unique.

I like the articles and I like their "big picture" sort of look, as opposed to a lot of the stuff that's on the website day to day, which strikes me as more reactionary to the day's events etc.

Also, and I'm probably being overly quaint about this, I feel some kind of obligation to buy the book because of how much I use the website for stats alone. I think THT is a better website than BPro for a couple of reasons, and it's totally free. So I look at the $40 I spend on the books as a subscrption fee of sorts.

I will say that I think it's a far more interesting book than the Bill James Handbook. I get tired of James' charts quickly.

by afh4 on Feb 10, 2008 9:11 PM EST up 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

Probably more than anything, the arrival of BP in February means that baseball is here. The afternoon the UPS guy shows up with it is the Christmas morning of my adulthood.

by Thommy on Feb 6, 2008 5:16 PM EST 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

Personally, I'm dying to know what this is going to be like.

by mkwng on Feb 6, 2008 5:31 PM EST 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

I bought the package of two on Amazon. I'm such an easy mark.

by Thommy on Feb 6, 2008 5:36 PM EST up 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

I've got 1 day left on my old subscription to BPro, but I don't think I am re-upping. But don't read too much into that. More of a "better ways to spend my time" decision rather than a "not getting enough value" decision.

by oxforddave on Feb 6, 2008 8:43 PM EST 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

I've got a couple of months left probably but don't feel like I'll re-up either. It's.. OK for what it is, but there's a decent amount of free baseball writing out there that doesn't try to tell you how great it is all the time.

by zempf on Feb 6, 2008 9:33 PM EST up 0 recs

Re: Purchasing Baseball Prospectus

Watching a game while reviewing Baseball Prospectus is equal to drinking a beer in a bar with some friends. It's the closest book I have read to the old Bill James Baseball Abstract. What made the old Bill James books so fun wasn't always his stats but his brutally honest comments on players.

by fknb on Feb 9, 2008 11:51 PM EST 0 recs