My latest article at Hardball Times asks whether San Diego Padres closer Trevor Hoffman is as ineffective in non-save situations as some folks seem to think he is. Enjoy!

We’ve got our staff predictions up at Hardball Times. I go into greater detail about Padres-specific items over at Ducksnorts.
At THT, I’ve gone with the popular pick except for AL West (I chose Mariners over Angels), AL Wild Card (Indians over Yankees), and NL Cy Young (Jake Peavy over Johan Santana — there’s my Padres bias kicking in because, hey, someone’s got to have a Padres bias).
I also have the Diamondbacks beating the Tigers in the World Series. We’ll see what happens…
How about you? Any predictions you’d care to share?

I broke my right ankle when I was 15. I broke my right orbital bone (beneath the eye) when I was 26. Only two bones I’ve ever broken in my life — both playing softball.
But we’re not here to talk about me. We’re looking today at players who are injury risks in 2008. And when I say “we,” I actually mean Chris Neault, who has a detailed rundown up at Hardball Times. Here’s his take on Angels right-hander John Lackey:
Inner elbow pain is not something that you want to have. Lackey logged over 3500 pitches last season, and over 200 …read more

My preview of the Padres is up at Hardball Times. One issue I touch on is the uncertainty at the back end of San Diego’s rotation:
Last year the Padres brought in Greg Maddux and David Wells. One of those worked out real well, the other not so much. This year it’s Randy Wolf and Mark Prior. The situation is a little different, though, because Maddux basically never misses a start, while Wolf hasn’t made as many as 20 since 2004. As for Prior, my advice is not to think about him at all and hope for a pleasant surprise later …read more

Saber-Scouting, a relatively new blog I discovered via Hardball Times, uses AB/BB to examine the level of play in various professional leagues. I find this line of inquiry fascinating (I’ve done something similar with defense in the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual), and I look forward to reading more from the folks at Saber-Scouting in the future. Swing by and say hey…

My latest article is up at Hardball Times. There are several story lines for the 2008 season that intrigue me, including that of Kosuke Fukudome:
I’m curious to see how well Fukudome’s game translates to the North American version. On the Matsui scale, will his transition land closer to the Hideki end or to the Kazuo end? And if the latter, how long will it take for Cubs fans to turn on him and start intentionally mispronouncing his name?
Check out the whole shebang at Hardball Times if you’re so inclined…

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 …read more

My latest article over at Hardball Times re-examines career projections for Barry Bonds from before the 1997 season. Hint: He hit a few more home runs than predicted.