Booknotes- Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster

The Borders Bookstore in my area is closing,  all of their books are at least 60% off , and I was able to grab a couple of books I normally would not have bought.  I went in hoping to find a 2011 Baseball Prospectus, or the newest Baseball Card Catalog, or the book Mint Condition (anyone read this?) but no such luck. 

I did get my hands on a 2011 Ron Shandler Baseball Forecaster, which I was always curious about but never bought.  I typically by a Baseball Prospectus every year, and that is usually enough for me.

I was blown away by this book and it would have been worth buying at full price.  Perhaps my report on this book is untimely, since this type of book is geared toward fantasy baseball players, and the season is a week underway.   However, even though I am not playing fantasy baseball for the first time in 15 years, I am already finding this book useful from a fan perspective ( take Alexi Ogando's first start for the Rangers, as well as this book's hint that he has some strong upside, and I am already feeling better about the Rangers pitching this year).  I also am getting value from it from a collector/investor perspective (buy Mike Stanton).  There is a nice section on top Minor League prospects, and I was happy to see some nice write ups for former Naturals/ Royals prospects Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Mike Montgomery.

A big part of book is dedicated individual player historical stats and 2011 projections.  There is also a brief, efficient comment about each player as well.  Part of the fun of books like this is to revisit them as the season plays out, and see if the authors were on target or not. 
 
There are also several top shelf analytical essays at the front of the book that are really impressive if you are into that sort of thing.   I did think it was interesting that in the introduction, there basically was an acknowledgement of, "Hey the more we learn, and the more sophisticated our tools become, the more we realize, these players are humans and we're just not going to ever nail this stuff."  To me, that gives the book credibility.

Simply put, The Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster is a must for any baseball fan's library and I am glad I finally opened up to it.