As you know, I pimp the site Fangraphs on this blog a lot. It has a ton of information that is tremendously difficult to find elsewhere, as well as up-to-date, daily archives of Win Probability Added and Leverage Index (the metric created by Tom Tango measuring a player’s performance and how it relates to his play when situations in the game become more critical) that you can not find anywhere else in a timely manner. Not only all of that, but I just happen to write the Astros team blog for that site during the season.

Recently, there have been a number of excellent additions and modifications to the site. These are the most outstanding of those updates:

Pitch Type and Velocity - for each current pitcher, there is a new table at the bottom of their page that lists the percentage of different pitches thrown and their velocity from 2005-2007. For example you can now find out that in 2005, Daniel Cabrera threw 65% fastballs at an average speed of 96 mph and he threw 28% sliders at an average speed of 88 mph. In 2007, those numbers changed to 74% fastballs at 94 mph and 23% sliders at 83mph. Total pitch counts and undocumentable pitches are also accounted for.

Projections updates - Fangraphs works with a number of projection outlets to post each player’s projected numbers for the upcoming season on their stat pages. Recently, the ZiPS projections and the recently invented MINER projections have been added to each player’s page. These are now included in addition to the Bill James, CHONE and Marcel predictions that were already listed. Looking at a player like Jorge Posada, who last year had career numbers of .338/.426/.543, not one of the projections has Posada pegged at a batting average higher than .288 or a SLG% higher than .469.

Spring Training Stats - If you put a lot of stock into that type of thing, Fangraphs will be updating spring stats for each major leaguer. I guess we can all follow along as we see how long this Ichiro spring hitting drought continues…

And don’t forget that the Astros Fangraphs blog will resume again after the start of the season as we discuss all things good (offense) and all things bad (everything else) from the Win Probability and Leverage Index perspective.

Sorry for the long delay in-between posts. A combination of being very busy at home, getting ready for a new baby, and being backed up on some research I could not locate has caused me to post much more infrequently than I would like.

But I should have three substantive posts up within the next seven days. So thanks for bearing with me until then.

R

Congratulations everyone - you’ve made it through another offseason. Barely, I know. It was rough, but we did it together, with our hot stoves and our winter meetings and our fantasy guides. Spring training seems like it has lasted as long as the regular season, and it is time to put up or shut up.

As an Astros fan, I love this time of year. I am usually never excited to see a train or a bunch of over-sized oranges or green grass, but I sure am when I visit Minute Maid Park for the first time for a season; my home away from home. And I know I will cherish every single time this year that I see Biggio lead the team onto the field during his final season.

Opening day is great because there are so many questions and so few answers. How will Jennings and Williams do in their new home? Will Carlos Lee’s defense be as bad as his offense is good? Will the Rocket make a (fourth) farewell tour? Does Lidge still have it?

For Astros fans, whether it’s during the offseason or regular season, there is really no better place to follow the team online than at The Dugout, a brilliant blog run by Lisa Gray. This is a great blog, hosted by MVN, that has been going strong for more than three years (probably back when blogs were still Web Logs). In fact, it was once voted by Deadspin to be the best Astros blog on the net. Lisa has all the inside scoop on everything Astros, as well as interesting links and her own thoughts on the state of the team. Check it out when you have a chance, either through the link in this post or on the Blogroll.

So who cares where the pundits project us to finish? Hope springs eternal at the beginning of every April. Email me or leave a comment and let me know your favorite Astro memory from this year or year’s past.

And I’ll see you at the ballpark…