(Don't) Steal This Book
Our good friends at The Hardball Times have released the conveniently named "2008 Hardball Times Season Preview." It is, as you can probably surmise, since you're the smartest blog readers this side of the Potomac, a collection of all sorts of good information about players and teams with an eye to the upcoming season.
Each team, including our beloved and bedeviling Nats, has an essay with a quick overview of the comings and goings, trends, and reasons to be optimistic (and pessimistic!) about the coming season. It has projections for bazillions of players and little nuggets of goodness about your favorite players... and Mike Bacsik.
The good people at THT (despite their better judgment) asked me to contribute this year, and I rambled on for 15,000 words or so about our favorite team and its star and non-star players... and Mike Bacsik. I even came up with some original things to say that you haven't heard me say over and over and over (such as, "Mike Bacsik stinks").
There's more information about the book here, including how to order it, and information about a few of the other essays the book has. THT also has an article on some of the more interesting things gleaned from the book. And finally, there's a link to some excerpts from the chapter on the hated Red Sox. Booooo!
Check it out, and support the work of a site I use regularly, one that gives us all kinds of statsy goodness so that I can fact check mailbag questions or prove Boz wrong!
Each team, including our beloved and bedeviling Nats, has an essay with a quick overview of the comings and goings, trends, and reasons to be optimistic (and pessimistic!) about the coming season. It has projections for bazillions of players and little nuggets of goodness about your favorite players... and Mike Bacsik.
The good people at THT (despite their better judgment) asked me to contribute this year, and I rambled on for 15,000 words or so about our favorite team and its star and non-star players... and Mike Bacsik. I even came up with some original things to say that you haven't heard me say over and over and over (such as, "Mike Bacsik stinks").
There's more information about the book here, including how to order it, and information about a few of the other essays the book has. THT also has an article on some of the more interesting things gleaned from the book. And finally, there's a link to some excerpts from the chapter on the hated Red Sox. Booooo!
Check it out, and support the work of a site I use regularly, one that gives us all kinds of statsy goodness so that I can fact check mailbag questions or prove Boz wrong!
posted by Chris Needham at
8:38 AM
12 Comments:
for their readers sakes i hope they made me use capital letters and punctuation
By
Anonymous, at 2/08/2008 9:16 AM
im not sure larry but i will tell you that this is the first time ive ever done anything that ive actually proofread
By
Chris Needham, at 2/08/2008 9:16 AM
It's Better Than Capitalizing Every Single Word, LB.
By
Anonymous, at 2/08/2008 9:53 AM
I've TONED DOWN my issues with RANDOM capitalization -- recently. Give me a BREAK, my MAIN MAN.
By
Anonymous, at 2/08/2008 10:15 AM
Does this book tell you where to get the best take-out eggplant parm in each of the 27 major league cities? If not, it's useless.
By
Anonymous, at 2/08/2008 11:09 AM
soooooo you're saying we can't read your nats chapter, huh? d'oh! tell ya what, i'll trade you one club level infield seat to the (marlins) game of your choice for a copy? :-)
By
Anonymous, at 2/08/2008 11:37 AM
What'd BP have to say about the Nats? I'm not a subscriber.
By
Anonymous, at 2/08/2008 4:10 PM
Alright Chris,
I am an avid reader of you blog, and I'm delighted you contributed to this book, and ordered a copy the second I read the post but...
You have to leave Mike Bacsik alone. Of all the guys last year that were asked to go over and above he was first in line. The guy is an innings eater from the pen which, to start with, is the most thankless task in baseball. He was asked to start games, and he is not a starter, worked his backside off and even got us a couple of wins. Never let it get him down when he was being beaten around. His attitude and demeanour were professional and cheery, and by all accounts he was a big contributor to the great clubhouse atmosphere which served us so well last year. So I would like to start the campaign right now: Amnesty for Mike Bacsik! And next time your in a book you can bet your arse I will be spending my twenty dollars on a brand new Mike Bacsik shirt.
Also, keep up the good work.
By
Unknown, at 2/10/2008 1:39 PM
Ben, every team needs a scapegoat, and MB is a good one. Even I could hit the ball out of RFK with him on the mound. Having said that, I feel there is a lack of Ryan Langerhans bashing in this blog and I would be happy to see bagging time split half half between MB and RL.
By
Anonymous, at 2/10/2008 6:43 PM
At least Langerhans can do something well (play defense).
I'll start ripping him the day he starts autographing baseballs that say "I struck out to end a game against Billy Wagner," or whatever the equiv. of Bacsik's Bonds balls would be.
By
Chris Needham, at 2/10/2008 7:23 PM
Haha!
I knew my moment of compassion would cost me. Sure the man isn't the best, but he got some wins when we needed them, pitching a role he was unsuited to. There are people who did less and tried less for this organisation.
By
Unknown, at 2/10/2008 11:09 PM
Let me paraphrase Ben's comment. Mike Bacsik may be a loser, but he's a loveable loser. And he's our loveable loser, dadgummit! So maybe you could just start calling him Our Loveable Loser Mike Bacsik, or OLL Mike Bacsik for short, and then everyone will be happy. And just as every team needs a LOOGY, shouldn't every team also have an OLLie? Hey, Bacsik can fill both roles on the Nats, and save a roster spot!
By
An Briosca Mor, at 2/11/2008 10:52 AM
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