Any other Baseball Prospectus subscribers out in Dope-land? Or am I the only one?
Anyhoo, HACKING MASS is a season-long predictive contest that BP runs every year. In it you have to predict the players in MLB who will have the worst statistical year while still getting a whole lot of playing time.
In short the equations look like this:
Hitters: (.800-OPS)*PA
So that’s .800 minus On Base Percentage and minus Slugging Percentage multiplied by Plate Appearances. So not only does a player have to be bad but he has to be in the suckage for the long haul.
Pitchers: (ERA-4)*IP/3
So that one is Earned Run Average-4 multiplied by Innings Pitched divided by 3. Again, mass suckage over the long haul.
Here’s my choices:
C: Mike Matheny, SF
1B: Darin ERstad, LAA
2B: Tony Womack, NYY
3B: Joe Randa, CIN
SS: David Eckstein, STL
LF: Brian Jordan, ATL
CF: Dave Roberts, SD
RF: Jay Payton, BOS
P: Shawn Estes, ARI
P: Tim Redding, SD
Ugh. I’m not sure that team would win 50 games.
First prize is $500 and an actual reproduction autograph of Bud Selig on an 8x10! Woot!