Newsletter Excerpt, January 9, 2020 -- "Random (Sorta) Player Comments, 1/9/20"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider. Joe Sheehan is a founding member of Baseball Prospectus and a contributor to Sports Illustrated and Baseball America. He has been writing about baseball for nearly 25 years.

Your subscription gets you the newsletter and various related features two to five days a week, more than 150 mailings (more than 200,000 words) a year full of smart, fun baseball writing that you can't find in the mainstream. Subscribers can also access the new Slack workspace, to talk baseball with me and hundreds of other Newsletter subscribers.

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"Baseball has become very hard for older players. There were just five hitters 34 and older worth at least three wins last year. That number was four in 2018, and it hasn’t been above five since 2015. Donaldson is a player I would like to have in 2020. After that, his age-related risk is significant."

Newsletter Excerpt, January 8, 2020 -- "(Non-) Trader Jerry and the Mariners"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider. Joe Sheehan is a founding member of Baseball Prospectus and a contributor to Sports Illustrated and Baseball America. He has been writing about baseball for nearly 25 years.

Your subscription gets you the newsletter and various related features two to five days a week, more than 150 mailings (more than 200,000 words) a year full of smart, fun baseball writing that you can't find in the mainstream. Subscribers can also access the new Slack workspace, to talk baseball with me and hundreds of other Newsletter subscribers.

You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $49.95 using your PayPal account or major credit card.

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"Dipoto can’t do anything yet. In six months, though, he may be able to walk into the trade deadline with enough moveable talent to finish the job he started when he traded Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz, Jean Segura, and James Paxton last winter."

Newsletter Excerpt, January 7, 2020 -- "Corey Dickerson and the Marlins"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider. Joe Sheehan is a founding member of Baseball Prospectus and a contributor to Sports Illustrated and Baseball America. He has been writing about baseball for nearly 25 years.

Your subscription gets you the newsletter and various related features two to five days a week, more than 150 mailings (more than 200,000 words) a year full of smart, fun baseball writing that you can't find in the mainstream. Subscribers can also access the new Slack workspace, to talk baseball with me and hundreds of other Newsletter subscribers.

You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $49.95 using your PayPal account or major credit card.

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"The Marlins aren’t going to be any more relevant in 2020 than they’ve been since 2003. Take a step back, though, and you see some signs that maybe the franchise is moving away from being a laughingstock and towards, if nothing else, being a run-of-the-mill bad team. Maybe even one that can sell a million tickets."

Newsletter Excerpt, January 5, 2020 -- "Josh Donaldson (maybe!) and the Twins"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider. Joe Sheehan is a founding member of Baseball Prospectus and a contributor to Sports Illustrated and Baseball America. He has been writing about baseball for nearly 25 years.

Your subscription gets you the newsletter and various related features two to five days a week, more than 150 mailings (more than 200,000 words) a year full of smart, fun baseball writing that you can't find in the mainstream. Subscribers can also access the new Slack workspace, to talk baseball with me and hundreds of other Newsletter subscribers.

You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $49.95 using your PayPal account or major credit card.

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"They’re still connected to the last high-end free agent, Josh Donaldson, who would sharply improve the infield defense by moving Miguel Sano to first base. Should the Twins fail to get Donaldson, it’s likely their 2020 payroll will be down from 2019, a tough thing to explain after a season in which tickets sold at Target Field jumped by 15%, the second-highest jump in MLB."

Newsletter Excerpt, January 3, 2020 -- "Shogo Akiyama and the Reds"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider. Joe Sheehan is a founding member of Baseball Prospectus and a contributor to Sports Illustrated and Baseball America. He has been writing about baseball for nearly 25 years.

Your subscription gets you the newsletter and various related features two to five days a week, more than 150 mailings (more than 200,000 words) a year full of smart, fun baseball writing that you can't find in the mainstream. Subscribers can also access the new Slack workspace, to talk baseball with me and hundreds of other Newsletter subscribers.

You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $49.95 using your PayPal account or major credit card.

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"Akiyama, 32, reminds me loosely of Kosuke Fukudome, who came over at 31 as an NPB superstar and was a 1-2 win player for four years in the U.S. Akiyama doesn’t have Fukudome’s power, and one report from Japan indicates that his days as a center fielder might be numbered. If his defense is slipping, the Reds are back to the problem of playing three corner outfielders in the pasture. Still, Akiyama’s on-base skills deepen a lineup that could open with five .350 OBPs. Mike Moustakas, feel free to lead the league in RBIs."

Newsletter Excerpt, December 31, 2019 -- "A Tough Lesson"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider. Joe Sheehan is a founding member of Baseball Prospectus and a contributor to Sports Illustrated and Baseball America. He has been writing about baseball for nearly 25 years.

Your subscription gets you the newsletter and various related features two to five days a week, more than 150 mailings (more than 200,000 words) a year full of smart, fun baseball writing that you can't find in the mainstream. Subscribers can also access the new Slack workspace, to talk baseball with me and hundreds of other Newsletter subscribers.

You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $49.95 using your PayPal account or major credit card.

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"The teams know more than we do now. There’s a victory in that, for sure, the triumph of the fact-centric, data-centric thinking that was the fundamental idea behind BP, and behind my work since then. There’s a loss, though, too, an inability to confidently look at a given choice and be sure it is the right or wrong one."