Episode 289
FanGraphs managing editor Dave Cameron analyzes all baseball — and, in particular, the part of baseball concerning the trade of R.A. Dickey to the Blue Jays from the Mets for prospects. Also: how the Angels’ signing of Josh Hamilton doesn’t particularly represent a huge payroll spike for them. Also-also: the Phillies spend more on a relief than starting pitcher — why that might be.

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

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Audio after the jump. (Approximately 31 min play time.)

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

1. Crowdsourced vs. Actual Contract Values
2. Video: Cuadrangular de Evan Gattis
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Venezuelan Winter League

Crowdsourced vs. Actual Contract Values
Before the end of the season, FanGraphs asked readers to project what sort of contracts the league’s free agents would receive, both in terms of years (Yrs) and average annual value (AAV). Now, in mid-December, many of those same free agents have received actual, real-live contracts.

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Episode 288
Prospect analyst Kiley McDaniel discusses players he’s seen — including, among others, pitching prospects Marcus Stroman (Blue Jays), Lance McCullers (Astros), and Jose Fernandez (Marlins) — and the larger concerns each raises with regard to prospect analysis generally.

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 38 min play time.)

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

1. News Information: Tampa Bay Acquires Belnome in Trade
2. Other News Information: Cubs Sign Korean Closer Lim, Seems Like
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Australian Baseball League

News Information: Tampa Bay Acquires Belnome in Trade
Tampa Bay traded left-handed reliever Chris Rearick, 25, on Thursday to San Diego in exchange for mostly infield-type and 24-year-old Vince Belnome, reports Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. A brief inspection of Rearick’s player page here at the site reveals that his numbers are rather interesting (including an 85:23 K:BB, for example, in 70.0 IP this past season), but that both his first and last names are of a decidedly less Mediterranean extraction than the Rays’ new acquisition. Slightly further inspection reveals that Belnome received a rather optimistic hitting projection courtesy ZiPS last offseason (although never made it to the majors). Bated breath, is the thing with which the author is awaiting Belnome’s 2013 projections.

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Episode 287
Chris Nowak, of both the Atlantic League’s York Revolution and (this winter, in Venezuela) Navegantes del Magallanes, is very likely the best hitter not currently playing affiliated baseball. He’s also the guest on this edition of FanGraphs Audio.

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 38 min play time.)

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

1. GIF Explosion: Three of Trevor Bauer’s “Reverse Sliders”
2. Information: Top Mexican Pacific League Reliever, Mike Benacka
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Mexican Pacific League

GIF Explosion: Three of Trevor Bauer’s “Reverse Sliders”
Right-hander Trevor Bauer was traded from Arizona to Cleveland on Tuesday as part of a three-team deal that sent, among others, Shin-Soo Choo to the Reds and Drew Stubbs to the Indians. Among his repertoire is an excellent curveball — notable examples of which pitch the author examined yesterday in these pages.

Also among Bauer’s repertoire is something known as a “reverse slider” — a pitch not entirely dissimilar to a changeup, except also different than a changeup. Below are three notable examples of that pitch (probably) from his (i.e. Bauer’s) first four major-league starts — where “notable” is determined by a combination of (a) result, (b) movement, (c) strength of opponent, (d) camera angle, and (e) the author’s infallible aesthetic judgment.

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Episode 286
Dayn Perry, contributor to CBS Sports’ Eye on Baseball and author of two books (one of them serviceable), is a threat both to himself and also to everyone.

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 58 min play time.)

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

1. Very Assorted Notes
2. Rankings of GIFs: Trevor Bauer’s Best Three Curves So Far
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Puerto Rican League

Very Assorted Notes
Spring Training Schedules Available
Organizations — like the Yankees on Tuesday afternoon, for example — have begun releasing their spring-training schedules over the past week-plus. Both the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues begin play around the 22nd or 23rd of February, it appears — a little earlier than usual, owing to World Baseball Classic play scheduled for this spring.

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In the wake of the Kansas City and Tampa Bay trade from Sunday night, many have speculated upon — and Jeff Sullivan has considered with something not unlike aplomb — how Wade Davis might perform in his return to the starting rotation (i.e. the role he’s likely to assume with the Royals). As Sullivan notes, Davis was a not particularly excellent starter from 2009 to 2011. Then, he (i.e. Davis, not Sullivan) was a considerably above-average reliever in 2012. One is compelled to wonder, naturally, if Davis learned something from his year as a reliever that will aid him as a starter — or, alternatively, if he was merely benefiting from the sort of improvement one sees while working out of the bullpen.

That, as I say, is something a person would wonder. It is not, however, my ambition to meditate on that question at the moment. One reason is because Sullivan mostly did that. A second reason is because the answer (see: “we don’t know”) merits only so much attention.

Instead, what I’d like to examine here — with the aid of, like, 10 or 50 animated GIFs — is what Davis’s likely ceiling is. What, in other words, does Wade Davis look like — and what, in particular, does his repertoire look like — when he is being the best possible Wade Davis.

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

1. Very Assorted Headlines
2. Largely Unhelpful Video: Cubs Prospect Nelson Perez, Homering
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Dominican Winter League

Very Assorted Headlines
Detroit Signs Catcher Brayan Pena
The American League champion Detroit Tigers signed catcher Brayan Pena on Monday to a one-year deal “likely to be worth less than $1 million,” reports Tony Paul of the Detroit News. Pena, who was originally signed by Atlanta in 2000, played for Kansas City over the last four years, posting something like 0.5 WAR in a little over 800 plate appearances.

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