Baseball is over, but the time to reflect and project is only just beginning. There is a rich community here of folks that have opinions and basic writing skills. Heck, some even know how to twist numbers into ballon animals. I'm proposing that we, as a community, put together this years Rays Annual. I can handle the bulk of the work, but a project this ambitious requires help and that is where you come in. Here's a basic outline of what I'd like to see put together:
2012 Rays Recap & 2013 Preview
-Table of Contents
- Introduction & Editor's Note
- Overall Review of 2012 Season
- Recap-style told as a story
- Free Writing/Analysis
- Baseball essays about the Rays using modern Research tools
- Completely up to the author to go in whatever direction (s)he wants
- Open to the community to write about whatever they want
- Cot's Projected Payroll
- Cot's Payroll projection table with accompanying graphs
- Roundtable of Potential Offseason Moves
- Influential Rays Bloggers/Commenters weigh in on what they would like to see happen
- Player Profiles
- 1-3 paragraphs focusing on each player in 2012
- Show overall line, focus on biggest moments (WPA can help)
- Another paragraph or two looking at what to expect in 2013 with Projected line
- I will project PA/BA/OBP/SLG/wOBA/Def+Pos/WAR
- Overall Profile of Divisionmates for 2013
- Statistical and graphic heavy to see how these teams stack up
- Roundtable of 2013 Projections
- Influential Rays Bloggers/Commenters weigh in on my projections and contrast with their own
- Top 25 Prospects
- Parting Words
We have quite a bit of time on this, and it will be better to hold off on some of the stuff until closer to spring training, but there's A TON that we can get started on now. This is your chance to be associated with something bigger than self. To make an impact in something that you care about and a chance to show that you are a person with informed, passionate opinions. I'm looking for another person or two that wants to share in the leadership role and as many people as possible for the player profiles and especially the essays.
There is no wrong way to approach the writing. Use numbers, don't use numbers, go completely off your opinion, that is the point of it being free writing I only ask that we keep it Rays-centric. So in the comments below please let me know if you are interested and what you think you can help with. This is a call to arms for all. We're looking for a diverse collective of perspectives for this so I don't care if you're a lurker, a troll, management, or from a rival let's all work together to make something that can be truly great.
