Newsletter Excerpt, January 31, 2024 -- "Rogers Centre"

 

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"I wonder whether the smaller outfield was a factor here; with the fences in the gaps moved in from seven to 16 feet, outfielders had less ground to cover, and were perhaps better able to steal hits. It’s hard to separate this, however, from the Jays’ personnel improvements; they added Kevin Kiermaier and Daulton Varsho specifically to, well, steal hits. One year of games just isn’t enough to tease out whether it was the park or the players."

 

 

Newsletter Excerpt, January 30, 2024 -- "Transactions Catchup"

 

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

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"There were 11 position players 31 and older, in all of baseball, who were worth at least three bWAR last year. There were 14 in 2022, 21 in 2021, 12 in 2019. The extent to which baseball has become a twentysomethings’ game cannot be exaggerated. All of these contracts I’ve been picking at, Hoskins and Hunter Renfroe and Jeimer Candelario and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez...all of them have in common betting on players in their thirties in a league where above-average players in their thirties are going extinct. It’s why I keep questioning Matt Chapman’s value, too."

Newsletter Excerpt, January 25, 2024 -- "The Disappearing Starter"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

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"The last couple of years, just two pitchers under 24 have thrown even 150 innings in the pros. Those 16 pitchers on BP’s Top 101 averaged 92 1/3 innings last year. The group from ten years ago, even with those teenagers on it, averaged 114. MLB teams, really the entire business, took the lesson of Pitcher Abuse Points -- stop overworking your youngest arms -- and overlearned it. They’re now trapped in a cycle where they just pitch everyone less, and pitchers still get hurt, so they pitch them less, and they still get hurt, and now the top prospects in baseball are working less than Jeff Bezos’s hair stylist...and they still get hurt."

 

 

 

Newsletter Excerpt, January 23, 2024 -- "The Voting"

 

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

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"Looking ahead, you’ll have 1,237 ballot slots open up next year (Beltre, Helton, Mauer, Sheffield, one-and-dones), and just one obvious Hall of Famer coming on in Ichiro. CC Sabathia, who will have strong support, also becomes eligible. Felix Hernandez seems like someone who sticks around for a few years, maybe Dustin Pedroia as well. By and large, though, it will be a good year for holdovers to pick up votes from those voters who look to fill out their ballots."

 

 

Newsletter Excerpt, January 22, 2024 -- "The Giants"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $79.95 using your PayPal account or major credit card.

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"Farhan Zaidi has gone into the last two winters with a good plan. When he hasn’t been able to execute that plan, though, he’s driven off the road, squandering money on the worst kinds of free-agent signings and trades. The Giants have lost ground, not just to the Dodgers, but to the Diamondbacks. This is a critical year for them, as if they don’t succeed, they may face both a front-office overhaul and the need to start over around Webb, Luciano, Harrison, and the rest of a pitching-heavy farm system."

 

Newsletter Excerpt, January 19, 2024 -- "AL West and NL West Reset"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $79.95 using your PayPal account or major credit card.

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"One thing that keeps surprising me is how many teams have simply taken the winter off. The Astros have added one major leaguer -- backup catcher Victor Caratini -- and a handful of fringe arms to fill out their Triple-A staff (former National and Dodger Wander Suero might be the highlight here). They haven’t lost too much, either; Martin Maldonado was gone once Dusty Baker retired, while Michael Brantley also retired after just 57 PA last year and Hector Neris is testing free agency after a 1.71 ERA/3.83 FIP season."

 

 

 

Newsletter Excerpt, January 16, 2023 -- "The Snellinger Principle"

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"The Snellinger Principle is related to this idea. It says:

"If giving a player a huge contract would have been ridiculous a year ago, it’s probably still ridiculous now. "

 

 

 

Newsletter Excerpt, January 9, 2023 -- "Cards Hire Chaim Bloom"

 

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

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"While I can’t blame Blake for the Cardinals’ pitching in 2023, I can conclude that being an MLB team’s pitching coach is a difficult position from which to also rebuild an organization’s overall approach. In hiring Bloom, the Cardinals are backfilling behind Blake with an eye towards eventually having an organization that builds modern pitchers, and an MLB pitching coach sympatico with that approach. As was the case for Bloom in Boston, it’s important to manage expectations. The Cardinals signed Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn this winter; they’re not going to lead the league in strikeouts or Pitching Ninja GIFs for a while."