BBWAA and BP, Plus some other things (naturally)

Every time I think I’ll have lots of extra time to post more here, my computer dies. Well, OK, my laptop didn’t DIE, per se, but it only runs in Safe Mode and the laptop display doesn’t work so I have to hook up an external monitor. But being in Safe Mode means suuuuuper-low resolution, which makes my head hurt. YUCK. Oh, and the sound doesn’t work (by default) in Safe Mode. Thank God (or your own deity of choice) for warranties. Tomorrow, a tech will come and all will be well again.
ANYWAY, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America is continuing to eschew its fear of the Internet and all the nerds therein by adding Will Carroll, Christina Kahrl, Rob Neyer, and Keith Law.
Law and Neyer were the only two ‘Net writers excluded last year, a year in which 16 Internet writers were added.
All four are deserving of inclusion in the BBWAA, and I’m especially pleased for Carroll and Kahrl, the first writers from Baseball Prospectus to be recognized this way. I have a particular fondness for Carroll, ever since he friended me on Facebook and took me under his wing. Both he and Kahrl answer every question I’ve ever had about baseball and life as a baseball writer, and I am grateful that they are so accessible. They, obviously, are also very talented and I think will set a good precedent for other BP writers to be added to the BBWAA.
And certainly, many other BP folks deserve inclusion. I’m honestly a little surprised that Joe Sheehan, Nate Silver, Rany Jazayerli, etc. were not included. Perhaps next year. But in the meantime, a hearty congrats to Carroll, Kahrl, Law and Neyer.
In the comments on Kahrl’s Unfiltered post on the topic, Carroll left this response:

First, let me say thank you. In large part, this is a validation of you, the readers, who have shown that there’s an appetite for this type of content.
Second, let me say thank you to everyone who helped with this process, especially the BBWAA board and the members who supported us through this, like John Perrotto.
Finally, I’ll say that I wouldn’t expect anything to change because of this. If anything, we’ll get better due to additional access. CK and I will be asking questions, attending games, and continuing the growth of BP from niche to slightly larger niche.
As I was walking through the hallways of the Bellagio, I ran into Peter Gammons. He smiled and said “welcome to the club.” Yeah, it’s been a good day.

Awww.
Shoot, this post is getting longer than I anticipated. I still owe you all some thoughts on clubhouse leadership, and in fact am thinking of starting a whole series called “How Much Does ______ Matter?” There are so many factors that fans and media see as important, but might not actually be too big a deal to players. Maybe some things are the other way around. (“Veteran Presence,” Jose Guillen’s attitude, whatever.) I would like to explore lots of these issues, so if you have any ideas, please let me know in the comments or by e-mail (mhaas33 at gmail dot com), facebook, whatever.
A Will Carroll post about what statistical evaluation MLB front offices use sparked this great discussion at Royals Review. It’s worth a read, and could also turn into a post at some point.
OK, now I must go back up all my stuff in preparation for the Dell tech tomorrow. He is going to replace my hard drive, so it will be like starting all over, again. Umm…yay? (For the record, I do absolutely love my laptop. My family surprised me with it when my old computer died, and it is fabulous when it’s working. But my understanding is that bad sectors can happen to any hard drive at any time, regardless of brand or age or anything. Hard drives are fickle by nature, and I’m just lucky this one decided to fail while still under all kinds of warranty protection, and that it didn’t happen last week when I was scrambling to finish all kinds of final projects, job applications, etc.)

Labels: baseball, Baseball Prospectus, linkage, news, Royals

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