Last month I attended a demonstration session for a new baseball analytics tool from Bloomberg which is based on the company’s analysis and projection models for stocks, bonds and all things financial.

Now available to all fans, the Bloomberg folks opened the site to media and bloggers to kind of kick the tires, and there’s a lot to go through, but my first impressions are quite good.

The tools remind me a little of my cell phone or my computer:  there are so many features that I might never even get to.  But if that happens, it won’t be for lack of trying.  So far, I’ve been digging through the player ratings and scouting, and I can see how this will be even more valuable once spring games have begun and teams have taken shape. 

The focus here is clearly on fantasy baseball, though I think the avid baseball fan who doesn’t play fantasy will also find a lot to like.

There’s a feature that I like called “Demand vs. Scarcity,” as it’s one of the most important elements in a fantasy draft.  For each position, a graph charts where each player lands in value, making it easy to determine the cut-off point for top players at that spot.  The first base chart, for example, shows that there are about 15 players at four or five stars, with four — Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder and Mark Teixeira in a cluster above the rest.  After another group of eight or so, there’s a little drop off, then a huge fall off after the top 15.  The shortstops, however, are much more elite; after the top six, there isn’t much difference betweent he rest.  This position analysis is helpful in maximizing the value of each pick.

News tickers and updated stats will be helpful during the season to maintain lineups and look for MLB roster changes that might necessitate an add/drop.