i say he takes more walks this year and sees his OBP go wayyyy up

590 PA’s as Black will rest him only a little bit more this year

Love how he finished last year. A day off every 8-10 games during the summer might keep him fresher through the dog days. Another reason to acquire X Nady.

Road stats are of course a good rough and ready way of avoiding bias due to home park effects, but we need to be careful not to import a new if smaller bias, especially when comparing players within the NL West. Of Holliday’s <81 road games last year 9 (or 10, was it?) will have been at Petco, none in Denver; and the other way round for a Padre; except for that their opportunities should be broadly similar.

I suppose there may be a website that gives us the road park effects for individual teams or players, but if so it’s not one I look at. Anyone know of such a thing?

Gonzalez was ninth at .570, but the three players in front of him — Fielder, Beltran, Berkman — slugged between .570 and .572.

Chipper, Pujols, Soriano, Braun and Howard were the only hitters clearly ahead of him.

Road home runs: Gonzalez tied for sixth.
Road doubles: Gonzalez first with 32, three ahead of Greene in second.
Road runs: Gonzalez tied for seventh
Road hits: Gonzalez tied for fifth
Road RBI: Gonzalez second behind Howard. Greene fifth.
Road OPS: Gonzalez 10th, Giles 19th, Greene 29th.

This is a fun game.

Basically, the theme here is: Gonzalez is one of the top sluggers 10 sluggers in the league and an MVP candidate.