Downtime, Family Trees, Hardball Times Book

First off, I apologize for the recent downtime we had around here. There aren’t many things worse in life than suffering through a New York/New England Super Bowl, but a withdrawal of baseball blogginess might be one of them.

Anyway, thanks to our crack staff, we should be good to go, which means… more stuff!

Okay, that was lame. It’s Friday and I’m on my first cup coffee. So, what’s going on? Glad you asked:

• In case you missed it, I’ve kicked off a look back at the top prospects of 1998; the first installment covers #91-100 (and yes, Eric, that teaser at the end is a nod to Mr. Ortiz). These will be running every Thursday for the next — eh, you do the math.
• My latest article at Baseball Digest Daily examines “baseball family trees.” It’s sort of an attempt to connect players from different eras. For example, we can look at Sean Casey and see that he was kind of like Hal Morris, who was kind of like Chris Chambliss, who was kind of like Wes Parker, and so on back to Fred Merkle. The method is a bit crude (hey, I’ve been called worse!), but I think it’s fun.
• Finally, I’m pleased to announce that the Hardball Times Season Preview 2008 is almost upon us. I contributed the chapter on the San Diego Padres, so there may be some bias here, but I think we’ve got a pretty rockin’ book this year. If you don’t believe me (then why are you reading my stuff, but that’s a different story), here’s my esteemed colleague David Gassko to tell you more:
  • It’s the Hardball Times Season Preview 2008!
  • The Hardball Times Season Preview 2008: A sample chapter (Red Sox content warning)
  • Ten things I learned from The Hardball Times Season Preview 2008
  You can buy the book at all the usual outlets, but if you order directly from the publisher, THT gets a higher cut. More money, of course, means more books. Not that I’m telling you what to do or anything, but… oh wait, yes I am.

This was a weird post. What’s in my coffee, anyway?