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2006 Baseball Tips

We have some 2006 baseball tips available to make this a more profitable season than any you have had in the past.  Remember that the game of baseball has a rich history of stats. There are ERAs, WHIPS, walks, on base percentage, strikeouts, home/road stats, hitting streaks, and dozens of other stats that you need to examine on a daily basis. One thing to keep in mind is that this is a brand new season and everything starts anew. Stats that a player may have put up over the last couple of seasons often aren't relevant.

This is very important to keep in mind, especially with regard to pitchers. Remember Jon Garland last season? The year before Garland went 12-11 with a 4.89 ERA. In 2003 he was 12-13 with a 4.51 ERA. But those stats couldn’t indicate his performance last season when Garland went 18-10 with a 3.50 ERA, winning his first 8 starts.

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You never know from year to year how players are going to perform, and things can change fast. This is why, when handicapping baseball in April, you should examine things like home/road play, off-season changes, speed and defense, in addition to the stats. But don't get hung up on last season's stats for individual players, because this is a whole new ball game.

Cincinnati lefty Eric Milton is another good example. While with the Phillies in 2004, Milton was 14-6. A year later with the Reds, Milton collapsed going 8-15 and a 6.47 ERA. Speaking of the Reds, outfielder Ken Griffey endured seasons of being on the disabled list and was written off. Then, last season he finally was healthy and put up 35 home runs and 92 RBI.

Other things such as new ballparks can skew stats.  In Seattle, the old Kingdome used to be a terrific park for pitchers and one that frustrates hitters. Now the reverse is true with Safeco Field. San Diego opened up Petco Park, and it has turned into a hitter's haven and a pitcher's nightmare. You can't use previous stats when teams are moving into new ballparks.

Players also move to different teams, leagues, and stadiums. Randy Johnson was sensational in Arizona in the NL, but as soon as he came to the American League last year with the Yankees, his ERA and home runs allowed rose considerably. For years, many pitchers would go to Atlanta and pitch great but when they moved on to other teams they weren’t anywhere near as good.  Many factors might play into that from changing leagues, Atlanta being a pitcher’s park, or Mazzone was that good of a pitching coach.

Other times a player can suffer nagging injuries that can alter their performance, and sometimes a player won't make their problem public. Boston's Curt Schilling was a victim of this last season, when he went 8-8 while trying to bounce back from ankle surgery. Any pitcher that goes to Colorado and Coors Field is going to be significantly worse, of course! The bottom line is, it is common for player performance to change dramatically from year to year.

One of the best examples of players being different from year to year was Bob Knepper, a former lefty starter with the Giants and Astros. Knepper had consecutive seasons where he went 17-11 to 9-12, 6-13 to 15-10, 17-12 to 8-17, and 14-5 to 7-12. You never knew which starter was going to show up from year to year!