The Bill James Handbook [Paperback]

The one indispensible baseball reference covers all the bases: Every 2011 player, however brief his time in the bigs; original research; exclusive data; new material each year and some clever writing, too. A reference book that makes it a joy to browse for its treasures -- imagine that. And every year it's the first off the press. I find it faster to look up a player in the well-organized Handbook than to search for him online. The Handbook makes it easier to get a take on newer players, because their minor-league data is here. This book annually is the handiest source for lefty-righty performance by every player, in-depth fielding data, how well pitchers hold runners, ballpark characteristics, leader boards in unique stats, player projections and so much more. Recent additions to the book calculate each player's base-running performance and each team's ability to manufacture runs. Casual fan or serious, fantasy-baseball player or sim-baseball player, someone who knows the game or someone who wants to, you will find more than your money's worth here.

1- 2012 hitting and pitching projections. The Handbook has been doing projections since 1990 and they are very accurate. Their projections make it possible to sort out position battles of major league teams. For example, based on the projections from the handbook, the Cincinnati Reds should start four rookies next season: Juan Francisco (3b); Zack Cozart (ss); Devin Mesoraco (c); and Dave Sappelt (lf).

2- Win Shares. Win Shares are a great tool to use for quick evaluations such as all-star teams and awards. For example, based on win shares, the voters were right with their two Cy Young selections: Justin Verlander (AL) and Clayton Kershaw (NL). They were half right with the NL MVP. Ryan Braun and Matt Kemp were tied for the NL lead in Win Shares in 2011. However, voters miss big time by selecting Verlander as MVP. Win Shares had Verlander in a tie for sixth in the MVP voting. Teammate Miguel Cabrera should have won the AL MVP award according to Win Shares.

3. Career Stats. The Handbook provides career stats for every player who played in the majors this season.

4. Defensive Info. One area that separates the knowledgeable fan from all others is defense. Ask any baseball fan to name the good hitting clubs and good pitching clubs and most fans can do it. But, the same isn't true of defensive knowledge. Just for the record, the Handbook tells us that the Rays were the best defensive club in the majors last season robbing their opponents of 77 runs during the season. Conversely, the Orioles were the worst defensive teams allowing 45 extra runs as a result of poor defense.

5. Career Targets & Hall of Fame points: The Handbook has a section which provides a percentage chance of players reaching milestones. Such as: Albert Pujols has a 12% chance of hitting 800 home runs. The Handbook tells us that there are four players in the majors right now which have a better than 50% chance of getting 3,000 hits. The Handbook Hall of Fame (HOF) points tell us who has likely done enough to make the Hall. Believe it or not there are 15 players which look to be in the HOF (not counting the steroids factor): 1-A Rodriguez; 2-M Rivera; 3-A Pujols; 4-D Jeter; 5- M Ramirez; 6- F Thomas; 7- M Piazza; 8- K Griffey; 9- T Hoffman; 10- I Rodriguez; 11 I Suzuki; 12- V Guerrero; 13- C Jones; 14- G Sheffield; and 15 - S Sosa

The Bill James Handbook is the essential research tool for my Strato-Matic draft in February. The November release date gives me plenty of time to strategize while still dealing with the crazy holidays. My favorite part of the book has to be the Hall of Fame and Milestones watch. Not really applicable to my draft but just fun.