THE SMARTEST MAN IN BASEBALL - PART II

***IS JETER WORTH THE MONEY?***
Mr. November will turn 36 in June of 2010. The Yankees will be paying him $22.6 million. There are a lot of people that will say a 36-year old shortstop shouldn't be paid that much on the 'downside' of his career (A word of warning: don't say this in earshot of Annie-O).
Last April a sportswriter for the NY Daily News researched Jeter's supposed potential and actual value for the 2009 season, using "Diamond Dollars," which details the value of players, including what they call "marquee value," and Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA system to predict his season. How these two systems do this and how they can claim any kind of accuracy is a complete mystery to me.
First of all, Diamond Dollars projected Jeter's value at $15.5 million for 2009. Baseball Prospectus, only $5.55 million. Why so low? BP's System had him hitting .288 (actual .334), On Base Pct, .353 (.406), Slugging, .383 (.465) with 6 home runs (actual 18). Jeter was actually paid $21.6 million.
Bottom line: with those under-estimates, it's obvious they don't do any work for Scott Boras. Think your systems need overhauling, guys?

***JIM ARMSTRONG, DENVER POST***
As spring training draws near for the Yankees: "Only two more weeks before pitchers, catchers and butlers report."

***SPEAKING OF OVERRATING***
Coastal Carolina & Harvard both received more votes in the AP Top 25 poll than North Carolina, who received zero. Even Old Dominion got 11. This has got to make Vod feel better.

Anybody know who won the football game?
CP-