Welcome the next update of my new tool to better project team success: xxWins! Looking at a team’s performance on offense, defense, and pitching, we’ll not only be able to project a team’s win total, but their expected run differential. Run differential is useful, but takes more time to stabilize, so this tool can allow…
Tag: Athletics
Introducing xxWins: A New Way To Forecast MLB Team Success
Recently, I introduced the award index, a tool that will allow us to better project individual success/award winners. However, as mentioned in the piece, baseball is a team game. General managers aren’t trying to make moves to acquire as many award winners as possible. Rather, they’re making various endeavors to do whatever it takes to…
2021 MLB American League Projections
We are less than two weeks from opening day! This time last year, we were left wondering if a baseball season would happen at all. Now, we are looking at the return of a 162-game season! In theory, this would make projecting the upcoming season much easier than last year, where a shorter schedule leads…
2020-2021 MLB Offseason Review: Which Teams Spent The Most Efficiently?
When Julio Urias struck out Willy Adames to secure the Dodgers’ their first World Series championship, the baseball world was able to take a collective sigh of relief; they had managed to complete a 60-game season through the midst of a pandemic. However, this was only the beginning of a much different time in baseball,…
2021 MLB Mock Draft 3.0
The following mock draft is courtesy of prospect writer Mason McRae. With the college season nearly a month away, scouts have finished putting together their preference lists. For the next month, they will likely be focusing on the JUCO (junior college) side, as they’ve already had exhibition games against other teams, and with the season…
MLB Deep Dive: Analyzing The Value of Defensive Versatility
In terms of strategy, no game has shifted more in the past decade than baseball. We’re well aware of the increase in strikeouts, pitchers not pitching a third time through the order, and other various ways the game has changed. However, in my opinion, there has been one change that hasn’t garnered enough attention: slowly…
“Playing GM” For Every MLB Team Ahead of 2020 Offseason: American League Edition
After we were treated to a fantastic World Series between the Rays and Dodgers, it is time for us to look ahead to the offseason! This is a tricky time to be a baseball analyst, as due to the loss of revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemics, teams appear to be intent on cutting payroll….
Who Should Win Each 2020 MLB Award?
We are in the midst of an unprecedented MLB season, but that doesn’t mean that the top players/staff members shouldn’t be recognized with awards! Today, I will be using a model I constructed to take a look at each of the major awards and assigning a deserved winner! This model will lead to different results…
Top 50 Undervalued MLB Prospects
Last week, I highlighted ten key principles (https://mvpsportstalk.com/2020/09/19/its-time-to-fix-how-we-evaluate-mlb-prospects/) of modern-day prospect evaluation. Unfortunately, those principles were created based on glaring misconceptions with the practice, and that has led to several prospects being undervalued. Luckily for those prospects, I’ve built an objective model that isn’t swayed by certain biases. Rather, it analyzes scouting grades, and based…
15 MLB Executives Who Are Ready To Lead Their Own Front Office
When we analyze baseball teams, we often look first at the players, which makes sense. After all, they provide our source of entertainment, and by wearing their respective organization’s uniform, are representing a the brand of baseball that the team is looking to promote. However, what about the executives who actually put the roster together?…
MVP Sports Talk 