Several books are on the Balls, Sticks, & Stuff radar -- one is available now, while another will be available soon.
The latter is The Hardball Times 2006 Annual. I purchased last year's edition, the inaugural edition, and perused it many times over the winter. Probably the most interesting article to me was the examination of batted ball types and their value in predicting future performance. I'm eager to see what types of things Gleeman, Studeman, et al have in store for us in this year's edition.
The other book I am scouting is the 2006 Bill James Handbook, from which several blurbs from columnists have been excerpted. Peter Gammons reports that James predicts 44 homeruns for Ryan Howard in 2006, and Rob Neyer [a former James research assistant] published this recently:
Matthew LeCroy, who is "built like a catcher, only more so," was 0-for-23 last season on opportunities to take an extra base on a teammate's hit. This comes from a short essay by James, based on comprehensive baserunning data (which is also in the book).
First, "built like a catcher, only more so" is a great line, especially if you have ever laid eyes on LeCroy. Second, applying objective measures to things like fielding and baserunning are the final frontier of sabermetrics and as usual, I'm curious to know what the new stats have to say about Phillies players.
Most of what is important about batting has already been deciphered, truth be told, OPS is much of what you need to know about an individual player at the plate. But knowing more about baserunning can help an entire team's offense flow more efficiently, something the Phillies could improve upon.
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Did you vote for Whitey today?
