I have been working on ranking the greatest all-time Kansas City Monarchs. I have hit a snag and would like some help from you. I have narrowed the list down to 4 players that deserve the top honor:

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More photos » by Wade Payne - AP

Santa needs a cold one.

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With Christmas being less than a week away, here are a few ideas, besides new GMs for the Mets and the Royals, for gifts for those Saber-slanted people in your life.

1.  Hardball Times Annual -- This book is a must have for any baseball fan.  Straight up the best book getting published today.

2.  Subscription to Paysites (Baseball Prospectus, Bill James Online, ESPN Insider or baseball-reference.com)  --  These subscriptions are my favorite to give.  Easy to set up and I yearly give ESPN Insider to my brother and he seems just happy with that. 

3.  Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster - Great for the fantasy nut and make sure you order from the web-site to get the digital copy and the March update.

4.  Strat-O-Matic - The classic with several new additions including the Negro League set.

5.  MLB game downloads - Give someone their off season fix by letting them download some of the greatest games ever.   To bad the Pine Tar Game's price isn't pro-rated to get just the 1 minute of George Brett blowing up.

These are five of my best recommendations, but if anyone one else has any ideas, feel free to share.  Happy Holidays.

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

Are you sure this is 101 level material?

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The following is a list of topics that get people's attention and blood boiling like Jerod Morris did with his piece on steroid speculation and Raul Ibanez. Nothing will bring recognition to your blog than a story that captures people's interest.  No need to worry about the validity of it.  By the time someone finds out, your monthly traffic will have doubled to 20 people.

These topics are not in any way set in stone.  Feel free to change names and teams to go after the headliners of the day.  Remember everyone can write about the greatness Albert Pujols or Joe Mauer, it takes a real blogger to prove that Jeremy Affeldt was robbed of the MVP this last year.

Attention Making Headlines

• Three Red Sox Players in Love Triangle: Look at Next Trade for the Odd Man Out
• Damon goes from 12 to 17 to 24 HRs: Gotta be Steroids
• Steven Stratsburg: Put Him in the HOF Right Now

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More photos » by Denis Poroy - AP

Why is it the fans think I can't field?

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Recently, Steve Sommer (click here for link) and I (click here for link) both released projected UZR/150 values for the 2010 season.

Note: When I published the original data, I didn't have the UZR/150 rates, but I now have them included.

Steve used a regressed three year weighted average of UZR along with a one year weighting of Tom Tango's Fan Scouting Report (FSR). I extended my values back 4 years, but did not include FSR data. Steve and I both decided to compare our data and run our separate analysis in 2 separate articles (link to Steve's article).  

I don't believe just using UZR values is the best method, but it was a start for me. I planned to attempt to add FSR to my projections next year, but I figured I would baby-step my way into the projection realm. Seeing that Steve also made the attempt, I wanted to see how our data compare and what can be done to further improve it.  Here are three areas where the results showed some useful information or where further analysis could be done.   

Aging Factor

On average, Steve's UZR/150 values were 0.16 higher than mine. I expected the value to be higher since I had a -0.7 UZR/150 aging factor added onto my values and he didn't use an aging factor. This tells me that the fans have already observed and factored into their values the player's aging process. I am not for sure about the accuracy of the -0.16 UZR/150 aging factor, but it will give anyone using the FSR for projections a reasonable starting point.

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Joe Mauer had a great season, even though he missing a few games.  He got me thinking of which players had great seasons going, but were cut short by injury or a shorter season.  I decided to ignore regression (I wanted to name the article "F___ Regression," but I don't think it would have flown too far) and project all players with greater than 100 PA as if they had 700 PA.  Using Rally's WAR database, here are the top 21 seasons of all time if all the hitters had 700 PA. 

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More photos » by Erich Schlegel - AP

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As a writer (very loose term there), I find there are certain topics and people that I can easily fall back on because there is plenty of material and interest in them.  I would like to thank the following people and topics for making my job (another term used loosely) easier:

• Miguel Olivo
• Zack Greinke
• Derek Jeter
• Derek Jeter's Defense
• Yankee's Payroll
• Umpires
• Omar Minaya
• Steve Phillips
• Dayton Moore
• Dusty Baker
• Bud Selig
• Mets' Training Staff
• Adam Dunn
• Trading Roy Halladay
• Joe Morgan
• Jeff Francoeur
• Milton Bradley's OBP/Temper
• The designated hitter