Baseball Notebook Top 100 Prospects

The Baseball Notebook Top 100 Prospects, a prospect list like no other you'll find on the internet. David Luciani's lists will always stray away from those you'll find at other prominent sites because of the type of analysis he does. In fact, I can guarentee you that no other site will have Hunter Pence ranked as the #3 overall prospect in baseball. Does that mean Luciani is wrong? No. Does it mean he is right? No. Does it mean there is a chance for you to find sweet value at the end of your prospect draft by taking a chance on Pence when hardly anyone else will consider him? Yes.

In the end it is all about finding value in fantasy leagues. If you can unearth a gem no one else has heard of and you can get him on the cheap then you have to cash in on that opportunity. Consider the Baseball Notebook prospect list as your chance to cash in. Not all of the prospects will pan out but no list can predict every future star.

Fangraphs

I ran across this site a while back: www.fangraphs.com. I recommend checking it out. Here's a little blurb about what they do:

At Fangraphs we have 17 graphs for every player that played in the Major Leagues since 2002. That comes to about 30,000 baseball graphs. Every graph is updated every single day of the season with the most current stats. Not only do we graph ordinary stats such as batting average but we also provide graphs of various sabermetrics.

Diamond Draft Free Customizable $ Values

Hi everyone. It's been a nice break but the offseason doesn't last long when you write for fantasy websites. I've been working on my submissions for three different mags/draft kits and have started to notice some free resources popping up already.

First off, check out Diamond Draft for free, customizable dollar values. I've never used their projections so I can't speak to the quality but it is a free resource.

Second, David Luciani at Baseball Notebook has posted a sneak peak at his projections for 2006. The finished product won't be free however.

More to come this offseason!

FANALYTICS: Quint-Inning, The Official Rules

Ron Shandler has come up with a way to play fantasy baseball for only one game. It's an interesting concept. Ron is trying to find away to connect with the attention deficit crowd who likes fantasy sports and baseball but is not able to make the long-term commitment to a full season of fantasy baseball.

BULLPEN BUYERS GUIDE: Relief roles mean opportunities

A good example of how to analyze relief roles to determine which relievers can help you down the stretch.

The Road From Bristol

Side tracking from Fantasy Baseball...

Vote for your most hated ESPN talking head on The Road From Bristol. If you hate what ESPN has become like I do then you'll love this competition.

John Lackey (SP), LA Angels

Sorry for the lack of posts - been busy with my column and other stuff. Hopefully you've all checked out the new CS site.

Anyway, I decided to take a look at John Lackey this week as he's been quite impressive this season (again, I had to do this on another webpage as my blog formatting gets screwed up from these charts). If you need definitions for any of the terms click here.

Dan Wheeler (RP), Houston

Ok, I tried and tried to get this post to work on my blog but it kept messing up the blog columns and puching all my links to the bottom of the page. Since I am an HTML novice when it comes to fixing this stuff I decided to move this post to another site so it can be read with my chart:

Click here to read my analysis on Dan Wheeler and why he might be a good pickup in your league, mixed or NL only.

Ask David Luciani: Volume 6, Number 20

Another good installment of the Ask David column.

Strike Zone - NL Closers of the Future

The other half of the closers of the future article I linked to last week.

Strike Zone - AL Closers of the Future

A nice look at closers around the AL by Matthew Pouliot.

Also, if anyone on the list is joining a mid-season league there will be a mid-season draft kit available from Creativesports.

Remember to sign up for the Fantasy Sports Daily as well so you can get my weekly AL or Nothing column.

Ask David Luciani, Volume 6, Number 19

Thought this was a pretty good issue of Ask David at Baseball Notebook.

Why I hate FAAB

Haven't posted in a while but that's because it's been the same old, same old. However, good article this week on FAAB and of particular interest to me, the Vickrey Method.

The Hotpage, Rankings and a TRUM

Sorry for the low amount of posts. I was on vacation for the last week. Here are some quality links:

Lawr Michaels' Baseball Hotpage > Week Nine, 2005 Season

June's Top 250 at Rotoworld. Rankings of the top players by position.

TMR's TRUM is almost always a good read. Check it out.

Baseball Hotpage > Week Eight, 2005 Season

Lawr Michaels' look at some free agent possibilities.

The Week Ahead

The Week Ahead by Kyle Kalotschke

Scheduled Advantage: May 23-29, 2005 by David Luciani and Jim McGrath

On Fantasy Baseball Trading

David Luciani On Fantasy Baseball Trading. I think this is a very good article and is well worth reading.

AL or Nothing

My latest AL or Nothing. I haven't been posting these here lately because they are Fantasy Sports Daily content now and that doesn't appear on the website until a week after it appears in the newsletter. Anyway, if you like my stuff you can subscribe and get my article every Wednesday.

Planning for the Week Ahead

Shawn McEvoy's The Week Ahead

David Luciani and Jim McGrath's Scheduled Advantage: May 16-22, 2005

Kyle Kalotschke's The Week Ahead

Baseball HQ: ONLINE GAMING ANALYSIS

Skip Snow looks at some buy low/sell high fantasy outfielders.

Baseball Hotpage & Strike Zone

Lawr Michaels' look at injuries and Matthew Pouliot's look around the league.

Planning for the week ahead

David Luciani and Jim McGrath's Scheduled Advantage: May 9-15, 2005

Kyle Kalotschke's Week Ahead at TMR.com

Ask David Luciani: Volume 6, Number 15

David Luciani on why not to give up on Vernon Wells (or why to buy low) and where to find a few saves (potentially).

Strike Zone - May Player Rankings

Matthew Pouliot's player rankings by position.

Prospects: Ervin Santana, Penn and Kelly Johnson

Matthew Pouliot with his weekly prospects column.

Baseball Hotpage> Week 4, 2005 Season (Playing Pitching Percentages)

Lawr Michaels' weekly column.

Strike Zone - Notes by Team

Matthew Pouliot's latest look around the league.

Scheduled Advantage: April 25-May 1, 2005

David Luciani and Jim McGrath look at the upcoming week.

Prospects: Anthony Reyes, Pedroia & Granderson

Matthew Pouliot's weekly look at prospects.

The Long Gandhi: The Latest Discoveries

Trace Wood examines some of the hot starts in the AL.

Prospect Hotsheet

Kevin Goldstein's Prospect Hotsheet made it's debut this week. A good tool for those of you in deep keepers that can pick up prospects during the season.

Strike Zone - Notes by Team

Matthew Pouliot and his team notes.

Scheduled Advantage: April 18-24, 2005

David Luciani and Jim McGrath look at the schedule for the upcoming week.

ROTISSERIE GAMING: FAABulous

Patrick Davitt explains the Free Agent Acquisition Budget (FAAB).

Also, check out Baseball HQ radio.

Prospects-McCarthy, Astacio & Doumit

Matthew Pouliot with his weekly run-down of prospects.

The Long Gandhi

Trace Wood profiles some AL players.

Baseball Hotpage: Week 2

Lawr Michaels with his weekly trip around the majors.

Strike Zone - Notes by Team

Matthew Pouliot takes a pass around the majors with notes for each team.

Scheduled Advantage: April 11-17

David Luciani and Jim McGrath break down the upcoming schedule and tell you who to start and who to sit.

Race to the Waiver Wire

Jody Madron looks at some free agent pickups that could be available in your league.

Prospects Report - ROY Predictions

Matthew Pouliot looks at the Rookie of the Year candidates for 2005.

AL or Nothing - Week 1

My AL or Nothing column looking at injuries and waiver wire pickups.

Baseball Hotpage - 2005, Week 1

Lawr Michaels with some early season observations.

Waiver Wired - Week 1

Matthew Fisher trolls the waiver wires with suggestions for free agent pick ups.

Strike Zone - Notes by Team

Matthew Pouliot lists his notes for each team heading in to opening day.

The Sports Forecaster

The Sports Forecaster is a free online fantasy mag (PDF) from the Toronto Star.

ROTISSERIE GAMING: Labadini meets the NFBC

Even more on the NFBC and the roto heads that are drafting $9 pitching staffs.

Outside the [Batter's] Box > Minor League (Class A) Fantasy Baseball?

Very interesting column by Buster at CS on the strategy of one participant in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship NL auction (a $1,250.00 entry fee league).

JDM's Scoresheet Baseabll

I realized I forgot to mention a great site for prospect info: JDM's Scoresheet Baseball. Don't worry about the name of the site. The prospect info is from all around the web. Might be the only place you need to go to get prospect info.

AL or Nothing: Prospect Watch

My latest column.

Tout Wars: Auction Results

Looking for mock auctions? Look no further. The Tout AL, NL and mixed leagues drafted this weekend and the results are posted on the Tout Wars site. The spreadsheets are also a nice free resource for those of you that want a tracking sheet to use during your auction.

Tout Wars: Trolling the Reserve Lists

Lawr Michaels pens some thoughts on the FAAB process.

Strike Zone - Notes by Team

Matthew Pouliot gives a run-down of all teams with looks at sleepers, injuries and position battles.

Baseball HQ: Labadini revisited

Ron Shandler reviews the Labandini plan for auction drafts.

Around the NL

I haven't been giving NL columns any mention here (I hadn't noticed any free ones lately). Then I came across this. Probably won't be free every week though.

Tout Wars - Hitter / Pitcher Spending Splits

Scott Wilderman looks at hitter/pitcher splits from last season.

AL or Nothing - Mailbag

My lastest AL or Nothing Column.

The Hook - Category Watch: Strikeouts

James Meyerriecks breaks down major league pitching to help you find sources of K's that could be available later in your drafts.

Strike Zone - Pitcher Overviews

Matthew Pouliot looks at underrated and overrated pitchers for fantasy leagues.

AL or Nothing - Need a few owners

I have an AL league that I am doing for fun this year. No keeps, nothing long-term just wanted another AL league. I have a couple spots left. If any of the readers here are interested, here are the specs:

Yahoo Free League: http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/
Live online draft is set for Sat Apr 2 2:30pm EST
League ID: 9944
Password: fresca


Max Teams: 12
Scoring Type: Rotisserie
Player Universe: AL only
Max Moves: No maximum
Max Trades: No maximum
Trade Reject Time: 2
Trade End Date: August 28, 2005
Waiver Time: 2 days
Can't Cut List Provider: Yahoo! Sports
Trade Review: League Votes
Post Draft Players: Follow Waiver Rules
Max Games Played: 162
Max Innings Pitched: 1400
Weekly Deadline: Daily - Tomorrow
Start Scoring on: Sunday, Apr 3

Roster Positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, OF, OF, OF, OF, OF, Util, SP, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, RP, P, P, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL, DL, DL, DL

Stat Categories: R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP

Sixty Feet, Six Inches

David Young looks at starting pitching news around MLB.

Colorado pitching - Worth another look?

Ray Murphy looks at the fantasy prospects of using Colorado pitchers.

Making a Case: Seven to Watch

David Luciani looks at some players that could earn roster spots this spring.

Closer Watch

The closer watch on The Inside Pitch site is a nice, free resource for keeping tabs on bullpen situations around the league.

Outside the Boxscore: State of the Third Basemen

Jonathan Gangi looks at third baseman and readers offer a few other suggestions for reading fantasy baseball content at work.

AL or Nothing - Crossover Hitters

My latest AL or Nothing article.

Strike Zone - Position Overviews

Matthew Pouliot breaks down the underrated and overrated players for 2005.

Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft Software

Free (donations accepted) mock draft software at Fantasy Info Central.

Dr. HQ, Injury Analyst

Rick Wilton looks at some of the spring injuries.

Outside the Boxscore: State of the First Basemen

In addition to looking at the first base crop, Jonathan Gangi lets you know how you can surf the web discreetly at work so you can check on your fantasy leagues.

Tout Wars: Spring Training Battles

My Tout Wars article.

AL or Nothing: Crossover Pitchers

I look at some of the starting pitchers that crossed over from the NL to the AL this winter.

OnDeck Baseball Prospects

Scott Rex is back in action at OnDeck Baseball Prospects. He is currently doing daily wrap-ups of spring training action and once the season starts will likely shift back to his normal breeze around the minors. Definitely a good site to check into every couple of days.

Strike Zone - Upcoming Free Agents

Matthew Pouliot previews the 2006 free agents. If you're a believer in guys having big year's in their contract year, this is the article for you.

ONLINE GAMING: Roster-Building Tips for Head-to-Head Leagues

Skip Snow at Baseball HQ gives advice on how to build your H2H rosters.

Top Prospect Lists: Wrap-up

Since I started this blog I've been posting top prospect lists as I came across them. This post will combine all those lists into one easy reasource for access to the free prospect lists on the internet:

Rotoworld: Prospects Report - 2005 Top 100 Prospects
Baseball Prospectus: Top 50 Prospects
Creativesports: Spikes Up - Top 20 Prospects, Part One
Diamond Futures: Top 100 Prospects (Hitters, Pitchers, Overall)
The Minors First: Top 100 Prospects
ESPN: John Sickels - Top 10 Hitters & Pitchers
Creativesports: Lawr Michaels - Top 10 Prospects
Minor League Ball: John Sickels - Top 20's for each team
Sportsblurb: The Farm Report - Top 10's for each team
Baseball America: Top 100 by Position, Team, Age and more

Baseball Notebook: Top 100 lists
Top 100 Prospects - NL Pitchers
Top 100 Prospects - AL Pitchers
Top 100 Prospects - NL Hitters
Top 100 Prospects - AL Hitters

Rotoworld: Strike Zone - Top 10 Lists for Each Division
NL West
AL West
NL Central
AL Central
NL East
AL East

Tout Wars: Draft Time

Trace Wood offers "a few tidbits to help with your draft and the season that follows."

Baseball Hotpage: Eyes on the Rites of Spring

Lawr Michaels lists ten players to watch this spring.

Baseball America: 2005 Top 100 Prospects: 51-75

Baseball America: 2005 Top 100 Prospects: 51-75 - the list continues. Talk about playing this thing out...

Baseball America: 2005 Top 100 Prospects: 76-100

Baseball America starts their 2005 Top 100 Prospects countdown with numbers 76-100.

Prospects Report - 2005 Top 100 Prospects

Matthew Pouliot unveils his top 100 prospects for 2005 at Rotoworld.

Baseball HQ: RESEARCH & ANALYSIS - Recent history lessons

Alex Patton looks at LABR from last year.

Baseball Notebook: Making Contact and Margins of Error

David Luciani looks at contact rates.

Strike Zone - Top 10 Prospects - NL West

Matthew Pouliot wraps up his Top 10 prospect lists.

Tout Wars: National League Second Half 2004 Hits and Misses

Brian Walton has his list of second half players that produced and didn't produce in the NL last season.

Baseball Prospectus: Top 50 Prospects

Baseball Prospectus posted their annual Top 50 prospect list today - in case you need another prospect list.

Spikes Up: Top 20 Prospects, Part One

My fellow scribe at CS, Rob Blackstien, posts the first half of his top 20 prospect list.

AL or Nothing: Even More Reviews of Winter League Performance

My latest column at Creativesports.

The Hook: Top 60 Relievers

James Meyerriecks lists the top 60 relievers for fantasy leagues this season.

Doug Dennis: BULLPEN BUYERS GUIDE

It's Fantasy Baseball Friday and that means a free article from Baseball HQ. This week it's Doug Dennis' Bullpen Buyers Guide. Check it out.

Matthew Pouliot: Top 10 Prospects - AL West

Matthew Pouliot lists his top 10's from the AL West.

Baseball Prospectus: Fantasy Firefight

More on the issues around fantasy baseball and MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM).

The worrisome news, if you're a fantasy baseball player used to having innumerable online options to feed your addiction, is that MLB has decided to dramatically restructure how it licenses companies that run fantasy games on the Web. Official licensees will now likely be restricted to a Big Three of ESPN, CBS Sportsline and Yahoo! (some reports add AOL and The Sporting News as well), plus so-called "mom and pop" shops that will be henceforth limited to 5,000 customers apiece. For everyone else, it's likely to be a choice of scaling back their operations, closing up shop, or receiving a visit from MLB's lawyers.

Creativesports: 2005 MLB Player Database

Creativesports has launched their 2005 MLB Player Database. Use the DB to get projected dollar values and player notes (some from me) on almost every player on team 40-man rosters.

John Hunt: Fantasy fans, start salivating

Sports Weekly's John Hunt releases his first column of the fantasy season.

Baseball Notebook: Ask DL

David Luciani at Baseball Notebook has his most recent column posted.

Local firm takes a swing at MLB over fantasy games

An article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Friday examins the backlash from MLB Advanced Media after they purchased the licensing rights for fantasy baseball.

Other Web sites that run fantasy baseball leagues - ESPN.com, Yahoo, AOL and the industry leader, CBS Sportsline - have not yet started selling 2005 games. No licenses for the coming season officially have been issued, several sources said. MLB Advanced Media announced Thursday that Feb. 17 will be the grand unveiling of MLB.com and its licensed partners "new, exciting and expanded fantasy offerings." Waiting until Feb. 17 to debut sales is part of the new licensing demand.

The Hook: The Top 100 Starters - Part Two

The second half of Jim Meyerriecks' top 100 pitchers on Fantasy Info Central.

Matthew Pouliot: Top 10 Prospects - NL Central

The prospect lists keep on coming. Matthew Pouliot posts his latest prospect column at Rotoworld.

Diamond Futures: Top 100 Prospects (Hitters, Pitchers & Overall)

Diamond Futures has a nice interactive site listing prospect lists from this season and past seasons. Click on "overall" to access the prospect lists. The glossary on the site gives the following overview of their methodology:

While many professional scouts use a "tools" based system to evaluate players, that type of system is difficult for the average fan to use in comparing players. This is especially true when comparing minor league players, whom most fans don't see at all until they reach the major leagues. This system of evaluation also is plagued by the perception problem. One person always sees something different than another person. The problem is exacerbated when that person is either a fan of the team (and wants his prospects to be the best) or an employee of the team (and NEEDS his prospects to be the best).

The Theory we work with here at DF is that if a player will be an offensive force at the Major League Level it should show up in his minor league statistics if you look at them "correctly". This last point is obviously very important. Only by looking at statistics in the correct way can you gain any real insight into a players potential. The OPES is our shorthand way of looking at offensive prospects. Our hope is that it will allow the average fan to compare intelligently the value and potential of minor league position players. We hope you will find it useful. As always any suggestions for improvement will be appreciated..

The Minors First: Top 100 Prospects

I answered a post on a message board today from someone asking where to find a ranked list of minor league prospects for their draft. A lot of sites don't have their top 100's out yet. The Minors First has had their top 100 list of minor league prospects out since January 1st. It's a good resource if you are drafting early.

AL or Nothing > More Reviews of Winter League Performance

My latest AL or Nothing article at Creativesports. This week I look at winter league performances of some players from the Venezuelan League.

The Hook: The Top 100 Starters

My friend Jim at FantasyInfoCentral has put together his Top 100 Starters for 2005. Jim lists dollar values and the "projected round to be drafted" for each pitcher. I'm not a fan of using dollar value lists from any site that doesn't calculate them for you using your league parameters. However, the projected round drafted feature is nice and could come in handy for some.

THE SPECULATOR: Hidden fallout from the Beltran sweepstakes

Baseball HQ is a pay site but they release a free article each week. This week it's a recent article from THE SPECULATOR: Hidden fallout from the Beltran sweepstakes.

Matthew Pouliot - Top 10 Prospects - AL Central

It's prospect time (as you can tell from my last three posts). Matthew Pouliot ranks the top 10 prospects for each team in the AL Central.

John Sickels - Top 10 Prospects for 2005

John Sickels announces his top 10 hitting and top 10 pitching prospects for 2005 on what turns out to be his last column at ESPN. Seems John is getting overrun by Baseball America there. Sickels is starting a new blog called MinorLeagueBall.com (that he says will be operational in about two weeks) to continue on with his prospect reporting.

Lawr Michaels - Top 10 Prospects for 2005

Lawr releases the top 10 prospects from his Top 250 prospect list that he produces each season.

Ask DL - Easiest and Most Difficult Catchers to Steal Against

An Ask David Luciani Article at BaseballNotebook.com that includes, among other things, the Top Ten Easiest and Most Difficult Catchers to Steal Against in 2004. A stat that comes in handy when you are trying to decide when to place that fringe basestealer into your lineup.

Free Player Projections!

Marcel 2005 Player Projections are now available from TangoTiger. If the projections you buy look anything like the Marcels then you are getting ripped off. Marcel, as Tango says on his site,

"is the most basic forecasting system you can have, that uses as little intelligence as possible. So, that's the allusion to the monkey. It uses 3 years of MLB data, with the most recent data weighted heavier. It regresses towards the mean. And it has an age factor."

Also, 2005 ZIPS Projections are now avaialable from Dan Szymborski at Baseball Think Factory. Here's Dan's disclaimer:

"ZiPS Projections are for entertainment purposes only. Downloaders agree to not hold Dan Szymborski or BaseballThinkFactory.org responsible if they take Derek Lowe in the first round of their roto draft and lose money."

Rototimes has also released their 2005 Projections. I've never been a big fan of their projections but, they are free.

Last, but not least, are the 2005 Rotochamps Player Projections. They have a nice online sorting tool and the ability to export to excel with the click of a button.

I still think you have to pay for projections or learn to do them yourself but getting these for free is better than not having any projections at all.

Top 10 prospects - Rotoworld.com

Matthew Pouliot presents his top 10 prospects each winter on Rotoworld. Here are his first two columns:

Strike Zone - Top 10 Prospects - NL East

Strike Zone - Top 10 Prospects - AL East

Welcome!

Welcome to the new site. I thought I'd put this together as a way to help fantasy baseball fans get the most out of the free resources on the web. I'll be posting links to articles that I find interesting/useful and I might even use this space to answer questions. I wrote an article for Baseball Notebook last year that was really the starting point for the creation of this site. Take a look at it (some links are dead so I'll probably update it and post it here) and be patient while I get things in order here. I am also writing a weekly AL column for Creativesports.com this season. You can check it out here.