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Home Run Monkey
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Articles & Essays

11/19/21 – Game Called – My final column here.

11/01/19 – The Greatest Series No One Saw – Incredible, yes, but was this the greatest World Series ever? Objectively, quite possibly yes.

01/16/18 – Fantasy Blows Ohtani – The fantasy baseball industry missed a great opportunity to prove that it understands baseball

11/11/17 - Your 2018 World Series Champion is… - Did the Astros change the way franchises build champions? Who will win in 2018?

11/05/17 – Why’d I Get These Guys – the November XFL draft and the first looks into 2018

11/04/17 – Why Did I Trade Verlander – analysis of a keeper league trade

11/03/17 – Giolito’s Honor – Lucas Giolito broke out in a big way down the stretch, but is it real?

10/14/17 – In Dusty We Busty – Baker has brought a long legacy of endings like this one.

10/11/17 – Otani’s Future Home – Speculation on where Shohei Otani will begin his major league career

10/10/17 – Dusty Must Go – the Nats’ skipper once again made questionable choices in the playoffs that jeopardize the team’s chances.

08/01/17 – Washington Crossing the Delaware – did the Nats whiff yet again at the trade deadline?

06/16/17 – Where Are These Guys? – why haven’t Kingery and Rosario been called up?

05/27/17 – Memorial Day Sale – A large number of players are off to surprisingly good starts; can they sustain them?

04/19/17 – Two Weeks In – two weeks is not enough of a sample to make definitive predictions but there are clues

03/24/17 – The Pick of the Litter: filling out my XFL reserve squad yielded some interesting choices.

12/31/16 – The End of Everything: Sometimes it’s the gut punch that knocks you out.

11/10/16 - Why I Picked These Guys, 8^th Edition: My annual rundown of the November XFL auction

10/21/16 – The Compleat Gallo: Joey Gallo has few comparables but this is my best effort to figure out his future in the majors.

10/20/16 – Bold Predictions for 2017: It’s early so that makes them more “bold”, right?

08/01/16 – Assessing the Deadline Deals: Early calls on the winners and losers of the trade deadline

07/18/16 – The Strange Case of Joey Gallo: The Texas prospect has all-time power and a fixable flaw.

05/30/16 – the Upton Conundrum: both Upton brothers are experiencing unusual years: one bad, one good

05/04/16 – Hidden Greatness: this pitcher should be getting more Hall of Fame hype.

04/20/16 – More Notes: Observations on DFS, Velasquez, Wainwright, Brown and the Astros.

04/10/16 – Notes on the New Season: The first week has been eventful and comment-worthy

04/05/16 – Spring Christmas: The XFL has two big holidays every year and one of them was this past week.

03/01/16 – The 2016 Top 50 Fantasy Prospects: My list of the best prospects for your dynasty league

02/29/16 – Everyone Else’s Top Prospects: An aggregated list of the Top 100 prospects in baseball.

Complete Archives

World's Best
columns and research submitted by the readers

Spring Forward - A great article from the Economist that accurately appraises the state of statistical analysis in baseball

Unbalanced Schedules, Park Effects and Performance Deflators - John Shea's paper underscores the advantages teams gain with the unbalanced schedule and its surprising effects on statistical analysis

Bill Dean Archive - Deane has provided statistical work and stories behind the stats for ESPN and Fox Sports.

The Best of...

06/10/15 – Top 10 Race Horses: How good was American Pharaoh compared to other great thorougbreds?

02/02/15 - Super No-Brainer: Did the Superbowl feature one of the biggest blunders in sports history?

01/10/14 - The Quest:  Someone has to get into the Hall of Fame with 100% of the vote, don’t they? Yeah, this guy.

03/14/13 - Baseball’s New Dirty Little Secret - the Oakland As don’t play Moneyball?  Say it isn’t so!

01/20/13 - The Call of Squawkers:  Cheating and the Hall of Fame

01/19/13 - The Fail of Statistics:  Why the Hall of Fame should not become the Hall of Statistics

06/03/08 - The Failure of Moneyball: as a draft philosophy, Beane's revolution has not lived up to the hype.
01/07/08 - Title Talk:  a look at USC's "dynasty" and a preview of tonight's championship game
12/04/07 - Tiger by the Tail: despite it's flaws, did the BCS pick the right teams to play for the championship?
03/13/07 - Tribute:  last year's AL Tout Wars race inspired me to research the "very first fantasy" baseball league.
04/04/06 - Barry's World:  The real differences between Ruth and Bonds
01/01/06 - Mazzone Magic:  How much does a pitching coach matter?
09/11/05 - Brave's Nation:  Debunking the myth machine surrounding the Atlanta Braves
09/20/04 - Pitching for Next Year: Nine starting pitching sleepers for next year
08/20/04 - Ce Qui S'est Produit a Montreal: Baseball leaves Montreal, but hopefully not forever.
08/26/03 - The High Price of Going Home: how good of a deal did the Padres get?
08/16/03 - More Unbreakable Records: are they really unbreakable?
06/18/03 - The Unknown All-Star: this pitcher deserves a spot but likely won't get it.
07/15/02 - The Perfect American: The passing of American legend Ted Williams
05/11/02 - The Strife of Reilly: Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly shoots his own foot on fantasy baseball
03/31/02 - The Importance of Spring Pitching Stats: are there hints of breakout seasons?
10/22/01 - Well, Not Quite: This year's World Series match-up might be better than expected.
09/18/01 - Words and Meaning: A few words about the tragic events of the past week.
08/09/01 - Move it or Lose it: my suggestions for relocating several teams
05/08/01 - Popped Back to the Screen: What makes a great baseball movie?
06/08/00 - Blown Arms and Other Ghost Stories: Part 2 on pitch counts, reconstructed arms and sports medicine
05/23/00 - Pitch Counts (part 1): A little history and theory on sagacious use of a pitching arm.  Part 1 of  2

01/10/00 - the Greatest Athlete Debate: Who had the greatest impact on his/her sport and society.

... and on the steroids era
Caught: a complete list of every baseball player who has tested positive for performance enhancing drugs
Barry Bonds’ obstruction conviction appellate decision

Barry Bonds’ perjury indictment

Barry Bonds’ doping calendars

Barry Bonds’ BALCO testimony

Barry Bonds' positive tests for steroids

Roger Clemens’ indictment
08/01/05 - Rafael Palmeiro: assessing the fall-out of testing positive for steroids.
12/12/04 - What a Surprise!!: reaction to the steroid usage confessions of Giambi and Bonds
04/22/04 - Chasing Ben: Is Bonds really as amazing as the media is making him out to be?
10/25/02 - Is He for Real?: Barry Bonds: Man, Myth or Medicine?
 

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