Free Pedro

Back in 2003, Scott Hatteberg was the best hitter in baseball–OK, maybe not the best but apparently most mispriced–and the arbitrageur Billy Beane was eating free lunches almost daily. OPS was what mattered. Of course, then OPS became overpriced, and Billy started buying based on other statistics, ones that I don’t know of because he smartened up and didn’t let Michael Lewis put his new ones in a book. Intuitively, I still like OPS, but I think I have improved it. Read the rest of this entry →

It became official in just two hours and five minutes on Wednesday night in Washington.

The New York Mets are the worst team in Major League Baseball.

I know what you’re thinking. It just isn’t possible. No way a team that comprises Johan Santana, Fransisco Rodriguez, and David Wright can be the worst team in baseball. The Mets are only six games under .500, right? They are only eight games out of the Wild Card! And then of course there’s always the Nats. The Nats are 38 games below .500. They’ve already fired their manager this season and they’ve gone 2-5 since. They’ve only got one legitimate pitcher and their best player is Christian Guzman. They can’t be better than the Mets. Read the rest of this entry →