Brandon Heikoop (Columnist)

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Brandon's Bio

A graduate student at D'Youville College in Buffalo, New York. My passion is following baseball despite having only a handful of career at bats outside of high school P.E. Thus, I am a baseball fan first, a Bisons fan second and an Indians fan through association.

Recently, I have been brought aboard to write for Baseball Digest Daily. In addition to this, I maintain a blog of exceptional length.

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The Short List facts and information about Brandon Heikoop

Favorite Sports Teams

Cleveland Indians, Buffalo Bisons, Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Nets

Bulletin Board (16) Post a note »

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  1. by Bryan
    29 days ago

    I just sent it to you because I know you put a lot of stock in that stuff...in all honesty, I couldn't make it very far into it because a) I'm basically the opposite of you (as we've already found out! haha) and b) The entire explanation of that made my head spin...just figured you'd find it interesting is all!! haha

    Nice on the 40 year old virgin quote too ;)

  2. by Bryan
    29 days ago

    Dunno if you took a look or not. I know you're into all those adjusted statistics and whatnot:

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/17934-The-Stat-That-Will-Revolutionize-Baseball-Introducing-UVI-160408

  3. by Heather
    about 1 month ago

    Thanks for the add! I really appreciate it! Have a great day! :)

  4. by Bryan
    about 1 month ago

    I'm starting to feel that you aren't even reading my responses, so I'm leaving it at this: The words "he's in the major leagues so he must be good" never left my mouth, or were typed. I said that Eckstein has earned his way there, and that there is some skill in his game that has helped him get to this level.

    Yup, you got it bang on with the whole "I'm actually saying GMs DONT make mistakes". I stand by the pipe dream that everyone is perfect evidently. Again, all I said was "there is always skill in some facet of the game that earns your way there". Plans don't pan out perfectly every time obviously, but that's not to say that previous results didn't merit the implementation of these failed plans.

    I care more about batting average than OBP: What? I'm not even sure where this came from to be honest. The only statistic that you sent me before accusing me of not caring about On-Base percentage was EqA—which was what I was referring to when I said "adjusted statistics", because I qualify something that you have to multiply 1.5 times as adjusted. The equation for OBP and EqA are drastically different, at least the one I found. Just because I chose not to whip out every stat line that he's ever produced doesn't mean I'm disregarding it.

    Also—yes an out is an out, however Eckstein is working to put the ball into play. Whatever happens on the defensive end of things, Eckstein has put the result in their hands and forced them to make the play—he hasn't just handed them an out by swinging and missing or even watching. He doesn't walk very much so if you really want to, call him a wild swinger, I'm not really concerned. All I know is that what I like to see is selective hitters who know how to make contact.

    Hear what you will from what I've written, I'm not concerned about it. The fact is we disagree completely: I see a team that can go back to the playoffs, where you see a team that won't. I believe in heart and coaching and you don't, while you believe in win shares and EQA and I don't. That's why I've always taken to following sports—the different interpretations. I'm prepared to live with the choices I've made, right or wrong, in what I've written. If you do or don't like how I've gone about them, that's your decision and I'll leave it at that. Good luck to the Indians, and hopefully they'll meet the Jays in the post-season.

  5. by Bryan
    about 1 month ago

    First of all: yes I am using strikeouts and batting average as statistics, because I personally don't see a problem with it. When it comes down to it, I want a player to do something at the top of my offense: if Eckstein doesn't strike out, then obviously he makes contact with the ball, which gives him the chance of getting on base. Evidently from batting average, he does that fairly often.

    Second of all: I am a Jays fan, but I didn't receive Eckstein very warmly. Frankly I don't want him, not because he hasn't got the resume to warrant him coming here, but because I didn't care that J-Mac had terrible offensive numbers, I cared about his defense—which doesn't get you jack anymore unless you package it with some kind of offesnse, unless you're a catcher.

    Third of all: Adjusted statistics or not, Eckstein has earned his way to the Majors and has proven he belongs, because whether you have a head swelled the size of Barry Bonds or not, you don't get there by dumb luck—there is always skill in some facet of the game that earns your way there and it's not like Eckstein has been sitting on the bench for those two world series rings either. If I did this right, his raw world series EQA is .800...the only thing I know about that, is that it comes along with two world series rings and an MVP award, whether the stat is right or not.

  6. by Bryan
    about 1 month ago

    Edmonds and Rolen were on the Cardinals roster together as early as 2002. Meanwhile, David Eckstein has hit .290 or better the past three seasons.

    Larry Walker may have been limited in his games played, but he was on the team the entire 2005 season and half of the 2004 season, and provided them with a .288 average and 15 homers in 2005. Reggie Sanders never hit below 20 homers in his two years as a Cardinal. They also had 3 players with over 30 homers in the 2004 season.

    http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080311&content_id=2418977&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl

    That is the most recent news from the Cardinals website stating that July is still his target date.

    And just to add to the Eckstein argument—he's only ever struck out more than 50 times once. So he's not as terrible as you believe.

  7. by Bryan
    about 1 month ago

    So what if I didn't go and restructure the division order, there's no rule that said the Cubs can't win the division two years in a row. And even so, it's a prediction as to how I think the division will play out, and from a personal standpoint I see minor changes, if any, happening in the NL Central that don't really alter the sway of power. I have to say however, the "best offensive lineup in recent memory of the Cards" is something I don't personally agree with. I think you're overlooking the years they had a healthy Edmonds, Rolen, Eckstein and Walker with the whole "best offensive Cards team", as well as the fact that Carpenter has a return date of July and Clement hasn't seen Major League action since 2006 doesn't necessarily make their staff deep, so much as give them a staff with a lot to prove. I don't mind discussing what each of us previewed in our articles, and I'm sorry you didn't appreciate my preview of the NL Central, but to come out and rip on me just because of the order I placed the teams without anything provoking it in any way, I don't appreciate.

  8. by Will
    2 months ago

    Here is the league id and password man. Feel free to sign up and make sure you voice your opinion on the stuff being discussed in the message board.

    ID: 72109
    Password: bleacher

  9. by Will
    2 months ago

    I'm doing a bleacher report fantasy baseball league on yahoo. If this is something you'd be interested in let me know and I'll send you the id and password.

  10. by Zander
    3 months ago

    Hey Brandon,

    I just wanted to let you know that Bleacher Report has launched out of beta with an updated look and feel and some great new features. Check out the "Game On" link in the header to find out more.

    Next week we'll be launching the site to the world with some public announcements—and it'd be great to get a contribution from you between now and Tuesday to make Bleacher Report's launch a success.

    Let me know if you need any help with ideas or have questions. Have a great weekend Brandon!

    Zander

  11. by Robert H.
    3 months ago

    Just read your BR Blog entry...congrats man on the gig man.

  12. by Brandon
    3 months ago

    Who pulled my Rosenthal article?

  13. by Bryan
    4 months ago

    interesting....the Frank Thomas signing is nice but looking at it money-wise, I think it's too much money and too many years (With another 400 at bats the 3rd year of his deal kicks in) for a guy that is a health-risk and getting on in years. Going into last year I didn't think that DH was a big issue for the Jays, and until the injury bug hit the signing of Thomas was kind of unnecessary (when you look at what their lineup SHOULD have done). Ricciardi got bailed out big time by McGowan, Litsch, and Marcum and the fact that two of those three had very speedy paths to the MLB. I'm getting tired of these "low risk, high reward signings" because they aren't doing their job, and just taking up roster spots (it wouldn't be much of an improvement but without the Claytons, Zambranos, Ohkas, and Thompsons, I think the Jays would have been better off). Even if he has a truck load of money, I think Theo Epstein is an excellent GM, especially seeing as he's able to integrate youth and superstars equally onto a roster, and replace the parts that go missing or awry

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