This folder is revealed AFTER the December 22, 2001 cutoff. MB7 is a December 30, 2001 Associated Press report of a later agreement; it describes an earlier December 20 free-agent status without proving that this report was published on December 20. The 2002 season rows were not accessible to the December 22 analyst. Baseball data source: SABR Lahman Database 1871-2025 CSV edition, https://sabr.org/lahman-database/ . Copyright 1996-2025 SABR via Sean Lahman's donation. This filtered educational adaptation is CC BY-SA 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ . Readme/release history: https://sabr.box.com/shared/static/qtgh1olzcaauz5x234wqx8huixizff8l.txt . Its revision note explicitly lists 2001 statistics in version 4.5, March 2002, and describes version 5.0, December 2002, as a major revision with new tables and data; it does not explicitly identify the first release of 2002 statistics. This extract uses the 2025 edition released January 2, 2026.

The 2002 season rows belong in the reveal session only. Teams-2002.csv contains Oakland team totals; Batting-2002.csv has all Oakland batting stints plus two departed players' 2002 batting rows; Salaries-2002.csv has all Oakland 2002 salaries plus three departed players' new-team salaries; Pitching-2002.csv contains Jason Isringhausen's 2002 pitching row; People-2002.csv contains matching names plus the historical player named in the agreement excerpt. David Justice and Billy Koch had ALREADY been acquired by December 22, 2001 (MB4 and MB5), and must remain in the pre-cutoff evidence column. Hatteberg's Dec 30 reported agreement (MB7) is later. A 2002 Oakland batting row proves a player appeared for Oakland in 2002, not a contract-signing date or how a transaction was financed. Recorded salary is nominal roster salary, not team cost net of the Mets' cash contribution. Compare the blind scenario against the observed season, but do not claim a speculative candidate actually signed merely because a name appears or disappears.
