Q&A: Baseball Prospectus co-editor Steven Goldman

3/11/09
steven goldman
By Max J. Dickstein

Q&A: Baseball Prospectus co-editor Steven Goldman

Photo credit: Game Face

“Baseball Prospectus 2009” offers 648 pages of analytical insight. (RJ Mickelson/amNY)

By Max J. Dickstein

Steven Goldman, co-editor of the newly released 14th edition of “Baseball Prospectus,” shared some New York-centric thoughts on the upcoming season.

What do you make of Alex Rodriguez’s unusual physical breakdown this spring?

The real lesson here is that you can sign as many big contracts as you want and have the best front-line team you can imagine, but as you get into the 30s with these guys, your injury risk piles up. If you don’t have the second-line players in the form of youngsters, then you can really be in trouble. And this is only the [Yankees’] first injury of the year.

Lack of positional depth is a long-term problem, isn’t it?

Yeah. If Derek Jeter does anything this year he’ll be knocking on the door of 3,000 hits going into 2011. But very few teams have won with shortstops that old. So you have this whole public relations question of what to do with the captain and not having an obvious replacement for him on hand.

Did the Mets address their bullpen issues enough?

I think this is the area of baseball that’s still not that penetrable to the analysis that we do. Forecasting relievers is very difficult. If you look at the top 50 relievers in any given season, that list turns over by about half every year.

What other weakness could the Mets shore up?

The thing that’s weird about the Mets is you’ve had all these rumors about the Wilpons’ (owners’) involvement with the Madoff situation. They have been sort of strangely quiet with some financial things this winter. Manny Ramirez would have been such a ridiculously good fit for them given the weakness of their outfield. But they were shockingly reticent.

What are the New York teams’ playoff prospects?

What’s exciting this year if you’re a fan of either team is that the real action is going to be in the Eastern divisions. Both the Mets and Yankees are confronted by teams that are equally interesting and equally compromised in some ways — the Rays and the Red Sox in the AL East or the Phillies and the Braves in the NL East. It’s very hard to pick favorites among that group.

Who do you think your book’s audience is?

This book is read in every front office in baseball. It has value and vast applications to the fantasy baseball community, but it’s not explicitly written toward them. It’s adaptable to all kinds of users.
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Delicious
- Digg
- Stumble Upon

steven goldman

Q&A: Baseball Prospectus co-editor Steven Goldman

Vote

Partners

Archive