rob at the birdwatch ran a systematic study on young catchers who take over the starting job for winning teams. the premise: "There was some concern that starting a young catcher like Yadier Molina -- he only turned 22 last July -- will blow-up in the Cardinals' faces. . . . . I'm not a former major league pitcher or catcher, so obviously I can't address that issue directly, but I can look at what's happened to other teams when they've gone with a young catcher." head on over the there to see what he found out.

another major project is underway at random redbird reasoning, where robb is looking at jock's trading record, year by year, and quantifying the results via win shares. he began with the trades of 1996 and is moving forward year by year; now through '97. it's a cool study and strongly recommended.

and on gen'l principle i urge thee to a couple of first-rate cardblogs: cardnilly, which is always sharply written, informative, and packed w links to great posts scattered hither and yon across the vast trailer-park kiosk that we all lovingly know as the blogosphere; and get up baby, also sharply written and the kind of blog that, if it sat next to you in 5th grade, would get you sent to the principal from time to time. a very bad influence on us all, and i mean that as a high compliment.