Baseball Prospectus vs. R Shandler's Forecaster

[acapulco]

Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster vs. Baseball Prospectus. I'm thinking of buying 1 or both of them when they come out. If you're familiar with them, how do they compare in terms of:

Usefulness for the draft and for the season's transactions. (The projections, if any, don't HAVE to be 100% accurate--nobody's seem to be)

Readability. Interesting? Humorous? Enjoyable? Do you ever refer back to it?

Thanks.

[Yoda]

I've used both. I like Shandler's a lot. But I think I'm going to pick up Prospectus this year just to get a different POV.

[The_Met_Threat]

I'm also lookin to buy one of these when they come out in Feb, wondering what opinions people have.

[nikku88]

BP is much more entertaining. They probably have better stats as well.

[GotowarMissAgnes]

I've never paid attention to Shandler's stuff, but read BP regularly. It's important to keep in mind that BP foecasts are NOT made for fantasy purposes. So, it's difficult to use them because their method underestimates counting stats. But, I think they are very good for rate stats like batting average and give a nice translation of minor leaguer stats into majr league equivalents. And they are pretty funny with their comments.

[The_Met_Threat]

I've never paid attention to Shandler's stuff, but read BP regularly. It's important to keep in mind that BP foecasts are NOT made for fantasy purposes. So, it's difficult to use them because their method underestimates counting stats. But, I think they are very good for rate stats like batting average and give a nice translation of minor leaguer stats into majr league equivalents. And they are pretty funny with their comments.

So is BF better for fantasy?

[HOOTIE]

Why not get both for $29? BP isn't fantasy based. BF is. Both have interesting stuff.

[GotowarMissAgnes]

I've never paid attention to Shandler's stuff, but read BP regularly. It's important to keep in mind that BP foecasts are NOT made for fantasy purposes. So, it's difficult to use them because their method underestimates counting stats. But, I think they are very good for rate stats like batting average and give a nice translation of minor leaguer stats into majr league equivalents. And they are pretty funny with their comments.

So is BF better for fantasy?

If you are just interested in numbers, yes, particularly the counting stats. Personally, I think BP does a better job forecasting how teams and prospects will do, and prefer to supplement BP with finding more accurate counting stat forecasts elsewhere.

[RynMan]

I like BP.

[acapulco]

In the old days Bill James used to put out an annual that I think he published himself. It wasn't useful for fantasy baseball--don't know if it existed yet--but it was entertaining, informative, thought provocative, and sometimes funny as all get out. Then he lost interest and moved on to other things.

There are more cheat sheats out there all the time but as for thinking about baseball players or teams...to lay some of the groundwork so I can do my own cheat sheet...what is there?