‘Annual’ review

Jury those interminable breaks while I was on jury duty, I committed to memory the projected start nines and pitching staffs of all the Major League teams as per Sporting News Baseball.

Of course, they have Stephen Strasburg as the Washington Nationals’ starting left fielder, but leave us not quibble. I have come to accept that I should really stop buying these things. The information is practically useless by the time the season rolls around.What makes or breaks the magazine for me are the features, and to me, they’re often too similar. For example, TSN includes hot rookies to watch for. So does Athlon‘s baseball annual. TSN has a piece about the new generation of statistics; so does Athlon. Same for 2012 reviews, and what to look for this year.

(By the way, I found an interesting site — mlbdepthcharts.com — that’s not only up-to-date on the 25/40 man roster, but who’s up-and-coming in the team’s farm systems. While it is a subscription site, there’s a lot of info to be had for free.)

Right now I’m looking over USA Today Sports Baseball 2013. As you might expect from the newspaper that brought you the McFact — all those little graphics and colorfully laid out items — it’s a nice-looking piece, cramming a lot of information into just two-pages for each team (TSN offers four, but there’s a lot more editorial comment/breakdown; they also include a grid schedule, which USA  Today does not).

USA‘s 2012 stats section is offered team-by-team, while TSN‘s is alpha for offensive players with 85 or more at bats and pitchers with 35 or more innings.

Both carry a cover price of $7.99. There’s nothing to really suggest one has the edge over the other. Tomayto-tomahto. And someone should tell the editors there are more players on the team than David Wright and Derek Jeter.