No. 1: The Greatest Sports Book Ever

Hi Everyone —

Tomorrow’s the day! Finally! Tomorrow, I will tell you all about this amazing book I’ve spent the last year-plus writing — and give away a couple of the big (huge!) surprises that I’ve been so carefully guarding. Funny, I’m good at keeping secrets about other people. I’ve got secrets about friends I’ve been keeping for many decades now, like this one about Mike that …

See what I did there?

But I’m hopeless about keeping secrets about myself. I already feel the urge to tell you about my NEXT book, even though I’m only starting it now.

But that can wait. Tomorrow, at 8 a.m., I’ll be announcing the new book on the PosCast — for the first time in our 178-year history, Mike will be the actual official host, and I’ll be thanking him for having me! And then right here at 9 a.m., I’ll tell you all about the book, unveil some big surprises, reveal the cover (it’s a crazy cover), give you some special preorder links, the whole shebang! I promise, it’s fun.

But that’s tomorrow.

Today, it’s time to tell you the No. 1 sports book of all time.

But first, yeah, obviously, I have to talk about Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang. Obviously.

See, I can’t stop thinking about Brice Turang. I’m sure that is the first time those words have ever been written, but it’s true. Here’s my thing: I can’t tell if Brice Turang is a real, bona-fide, you-gotta-consider-him MVP candidate.

And the reason I can’t tell is that I don’t know if Brice Turang is a great defensive second baseman.

He might be a great defensive second baseman. He won the Gold Glove last year. John Dewan’s Defensive Runs Saved system (DRS) consistently has him as a great defensive second baseman. He SEEMS like a great defensive second baseman. What’s that old line — if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck… then Brice Turang is probably a great defensive second baseman.

BUT …

Statcast’s Outs Above Average (OAA) does not list him as a great defensive second baseman. Never has. This year, Turang has a negative OAA, which suggests he’s actually getting to fewer balls and making fewer plays than the average second baseman. His range factor is below league average, too.

So is he a duck?

This matters because Turang, pretty much out of nowhere, has become an offensive dynamo. He was always a fantastic baserunner, but now he’s added 170 points to his OPS. He’s hit more home runs this year than he hit in his first two seasons combined. And since the beginning of August, while the Brewers have separated themselves from every other team in baseball, Turang is hitting .351/.418/.687 — I mean, this guy who came into the season with a career 75 OPS+ is suddenly Ted Williams.

So, again, how good is his defense? Because if it’s great, you’ve really got to think about him as an actual MVP candidate — and I don’t just mean some down-ballot, reward-him-for-a nice-year candidate. I’m saying you write his name down next to Shohei’s and Schwarber’s and Turner’s and PCA’s… and compare.

But if he’s only a so-so defender, then, no, he’s not really an MVP candidate.

So which is it? Well, later in the week, I will deep dive into some defense, break down DRS and Statcast, and try to offer some insight into how we look at baseball defense in 2025.

I’m calling it: “Turang or Not Turang.”

That is the question. First, though, we have some books to talk about …