Archive for July, 2013

2013 Trade Value: #40 – #36

Honorable Mentions
#50 to #46
#45 to #41

We move away from high salary, high risk players into a group of players on the opposite end of the spectrum. While the players below might not be seen as superstars yet, they all possess significant potential and have some very appealing contracts.

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Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat — 7/16/13

9:02
Jeff Sullivan: Good ol reliable Jeff, always unreliable

9:02
Jeff Sullivan: FanGraphs chat!

9:07
Jeff Sullivan: All right, finally, errors overcome. Jesus

9:07
Jeff Sullivan: This thing, sometimes…

9:08
Comment From bdhudson
Did you read Rick Reilly’s article about the lying scumbag that apparently is Chris Davis? What do you think about his ‘we have to accuse everybody’ approach?

9:08
Jeff Sullivan: I was told about Reilly’s article, which gave me enough information to know to just skip it.

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FanGraphs 2013 Mid-Season Top 50 Prospects

The mid-season Top 50 prospects list is here as we celebrate the most exciting players at the minor league level. There is lots of room for debate and I’m excited to hear what others have to say about the players listed below. For a refresher, check out the pre-season Top 100 prospects list here.

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Manny Machado’s Real Record Pursuit

If it seems like there’s always a lot of talk about all-time records in the earlier months of seasons, there’s a good reason why. With less and less of a season complete, the sample sizes are smaller and smaller, and over smaller sample sizes, one will observe greater statistical volatility. Basically, it’s easier to be on a record pace after a month or three than it is after five months or six. The trouble with on-pace statistics is that they fail to factor in regression, and regression is a part of our reality. Sometimes record paces are kept up, but most often they aren’t after a player starts to play more like his normal, non-record-setting self.

This season, we’re hearing about some records that might fall, and these days there’s a lot being written about Chris Davis‘ pursuit of the “legitimate” home-run record. But one of Davis’ teammates is also pursuing a long-standing record, as Manny Machado is approaching the single-season record for doubles. Earl Webb’s record isn’t as sexy as Roger Maris‘ was, and still is in some corners, but Machado’s pursuit has drawn attention to itself as Machado the player establishes himself as one of the game’s elite young talents.

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Daily Notes: In Which Andy Marte and Jake Fox Are Invoked

Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of the Daily Notes.

1. SCOUT Leaderboards for the Atlantic League
2. Unhelpful Video: Andy Marte Pitching Once

SCOUT Leaderboards for the Atlantic League
Introduction
For four consecutive years between 2003 and -06, Atlanta third-base prospect Andy Marte appeared on Baseball America’s top-100 prospect list — three of those times, within the top-15 overall. He hit 21 home runs in the Class-A Sally League as just an 18-year-old. A few years later, at age 21, he recorded 20 more home runs and a very promising 64:83 walk-to-strikeout ratio in 460 Triple-A plate appearances.

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Job Posting: Yankees Mobile Application Developer

Mobile Application Developer, Baseball Operations – New York Yankees (Bronx, NY)

Primary Responsibilities:
• Assist in the development of our next-generation scouting application
• Analyze existing systems to extract requirements
• Develop an application architecture/design
• Integrate with existing analytics tools, web-applications, and databases

Qualifications and Experience:
•Proficient in mobile web development technologies: HTML5, CSS3, jQuery Mobile, Sencha Touch, and/or other mobile-optimized JavaScript frameworks.
• Knowledge and experience in native application development (iOS, Android, Windows) and the use of native application wrappers such as PhoneGap, Appcelerator, etc.
• Experience developing backend SOAP/REST web services in .NET/C#
• An understanding of mobile UI/UX design concepts, and a demonstrated ability to deliver an outstanding user experience in a mobile environment
• Strong SQL skills developing complex queries, stored procedures, functions in Microsoft SQL Server or other relational databases
• Experience in handling the entire lifecycle of mobile application development (requirements, design, code, test, debug, deploy, and maintain)
• Ability to decompose existing systems, extract functional requirements, and develop an application architecture with minimal technical guidance
• Ability to work independently with strong worth ethic and communication skills
• Bachelors degree in Computer Science or equivalent
*Full-time telecommuting available under the right circumstances.

This description is intended to describe the type of work being performed by a person assigned to this position. It is not an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities required by the employee. The New York Yankees is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The company is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants for employment.

Note: When you apply for this job online, you will be required to answer the following questions:

1. Do you have experience in handling the entire lifecycle of mobile application development (requirements, design, code, test, debug, deploy, and maintain)?

Apply for this position


The All-Stars Versus The Outsiders

When Major League Baseball announced the 143 — or however many they ended up taking — players that had been picked to play in this summer’s All-Star Game last week, I noticed a few names that were missing. Not names that necessarily deserved to be there based on how they had performed so far this year, but names that you’d have expected to be easy picks before the season started. There are some pretty terrific players who weren’t selected to be part of this summer’s festivities.

The collection of names got me wondering whether it would be possible to build a roster of guys who didn’t get an invite to the All-Star Game that could compete with the AL and NL squads head to head. In other words, if I assembled a line-up from the leftovers after MLB was done selecting its All-Stars, could I field a team that was just as good?

So, I shot Dan Szymborski a note and asked if I assembled a line-up of players, would he use his rest-of-season ZIPS projections to simulate match-ups between my squad of outsiders and both All-Star squads. He said he would, so now I just had to figure out if there were enough pieces left to build a roster that could compete after MLB skimmed off the top.

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Effectively Wild Episode 244: Thoughts on the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game/The Real Home Run Record

Ben and Sam talk about the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game, then discuss Chris Davis’ comments about the home run record.


FanGraphs Audio: Dave Cameron Analyzes All Trade Values

Episode 360
Dave Cameron is both (a) the managing editor of FanGraphs and (b) the guest on this particular edition of FanGraphs Audio — during which edition he discusses the first volleys in his annual trade-value series.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio after the jump. (Approximately 49 min play time.)

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The Season’s Most Clutch Hit, So Far

People customarily like to think of the All-Star break as separating the first half from the second half. The season right now is well past halfway over, with the Red Sox having played 97 games, and the Mets having played 91. Last year’s Reds finished 97-65, and no one would say they finished .500. But the terminology isn’t really important, and what the All-Star break really provides is an opportunity to look back on everything that’s happened, without much new stuff simultaneously happening. One of the things that’s happened is the season’s most clutch hit, objectively determined by Win Probability Added. Below, said hit is explored.

We know there exists a hit of maximum clutchness. It’s a home run, a grand slam, with the bases loaded and two outs while trailing by three in the bottom of the ninth, or beyond. If you want to get really detailed, it would be hit in an 0-and-2 count, and the best hit ever would be this hit in Game 7 of the World Series. We haven’t seen such a grand slam yet in 2013 — they’re rare! — but we have seen one somewhat comparable hit, one hit that has a good lead in the WPA leaderboards. It took place all the way back on May 11.

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