Archive for February, 2012
Second Opinion Player-Profile Game: Question #1
February 1, 2012
Play the player-profile game again on Thursday and Friday of this week at 11:30am ET. Each day, we’re giving away a free copy of the 2012 Second Opinion to the first reader who guesses correctly the identity of that day’s mystery player. (Limit one copy per customer).
Next Monday (or so says my colleague Eno Sarris), FanGraphs will release the third annual edition its very useful and even more affordable fantasy companion, The Second Opinion. Thanks to the vision of Mr. Sarris, along with the hard work of many of FanGraphs’ own contributors, this year’s edition promises to build upon last season’s sophomore effort, while still maintaining the white-hot analysis that is FanGraphs’ trademark.
We will have more details on the guide very shortly. In the meantime, however, it makes sense to offer some previews of what readers can expect from this year’s Second Opinion. These peeks promise to be especially sneaky as they’ll come in the form of the player-profile game I intoduced in these pages not so long ago.
The game is easy: one person (me, in this case) offers the text of single player profile, being careful to omit any proper names that might reveal the identity of the player in question. The other person (you, the reader) attempts to identify the player using only the details provided in the profile.
For the first reader who guesses correctly (in the comments section below), we offer you, if you can even believe it, a free copy of this year’s Second Opinion — approximately a $1000 value!
Today’s entry comes to us courtesy the unbearably handsome Mike Axisa.
South Korea, Japan and The MLB
Earlier this week, the Baltimore Orioles announced the signing of 17-year-old South Korean pitcher, Kim Seong-min, amidst little fanfare.
At least, little fanfare in the United States.
The Korean Baseball Organization, on the other hand, strongly rebuked the Orioles and Major League Baseball for “indiscriminately signing [Korean] players.” Kim was the nation’s top left-handed pitching prospect and was expected to join the KBO upon his completion of high school. Instead, he becomes just another face amongst the hundreds of young men from across the globe in Major League organizations who are all trying to realize a life-long dream of playing in the big leagues.
Offseason Notes for February 1st
February 1, 2012
This same truck once brought Jose Lopez from Seattle, WA to Peoria, AZ.
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Offseason Notes.
1. Assorted Headlines
2. Projecting: ZiPS for Cleveland
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: St. Louis Television
Assorted Headlines
Teheran and Delgado Possible Bullpen Options
Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez told David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Tuesday that top pitching prospects Julio Teheran and/or Randall Delgado would be bullpen options in the event that they didn’t, either one of them, make the opening-day rotation. John Sickels recently ranked the pair first and third overall in the Atlanta system; Baseball America has them in the spots. The clubs already has what would appear to be five able starters in Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, Brandon Beachy, and Mike Minor.
Josh Johnson’s Curveball
We’re happy to welcome Albert Lyu back to the FanGraphs team. His work will again appear regularly here on the site.
Before Josh Johnson was lost for the season with shoulder injuries in May, he was ready to dominate the National League yet again as an early 2011 Cy Young Award candidate. He flashed a 1.64 ERA and a 2.64 FIP — and he was whiffing 8.35 batters per nine innings, while allowing 2.98 BB/9 and 0.30 HR/9. While much of his hot start through April and May last year wasn’t sustainable because of a .239 BABIP and an 82.2% strand rate (LOB%), he did add a curveball to his arsenal that should keep NL hitters on their toes in 2012. Johnson was five outs from a no-hitter against the Braves in April, which left Chipper Jones to comment that Johnson had a new pitch to toy with.
Johnson had shown a curveball during his rookie season in 2005, but he dropped it early on. He thrived as an starter for several seasons with just three pitches: a mid-90s fastball, a high-80s hard slider and a mid-to-high-80s changeup. Mixing and matching three pitches at different speeds brought success — but adding the new curveball now forces Johnson’s opponents to change their approach against him even more. While his power slider can range anywhere between 85 mph and 91 mph, his curveball was in the high-70s.
Here’s an MLB.com video of Johnson’s 12-6 curveball, which appears on the first two pitches (later pitches in the video showcase his high-80s hard slider and his mid-90s fastball):
Phils Sign Qualls To Unnecessary Deal
The Phillies signed reliever Chad Qualls to a one year deal worth $1.15 million on Tuesday. The move is likely their last of the offseason as the major league roster is close to filled and the team is right up against the luxury tax threshold. While one year deals almost always benefit the team, and while $1.15 million isn’t exactly a king’s ransom, the deal doesn’t make much sense for the Phillies, who have a number of relief pitching prospects knocking on the door.
For a team that reportedly does not want to pay any luxury tax, signing Qualls for three times what one of Michael Schwimer, Justin De Fratus or Phillippe Aumont would make is an odd course of action.
Every half-a-million dollars is of material significance to the Phillies at this juncture, and the potential trade-offs here are the stunted development of prospects and reduced payroll flexibility down the road to bolster the roster if the need arises.