Author Archive

FanGraphs Audio: Dave Cameron Analyzes All Baseball

Episode 285
FanGraphs managing editor Dave Cameron analyzes all baseball — and, in particular, the part of baseball concerning the James Shields-for-Wil Myers (etc.) trade. Also: the Dodgers. Also-also: how the guest refuses to read the host’s work even once.

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 44 min play time.)

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Daily Notes, Ft. The Best Unaffiliated Hitter, Probably

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

1. Baseball’s Best Unaffiliated Hitter: Probably Chris Nowak
2. Only Slightly Shaky Video: Chris Nowak This Summer
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Venezuelan Winter League

Baseball’s Best Unaffiliated Hitter: Probably Chris Nowak
In the absence of actual empirical data*, it wouldn’t be entirely unreasonable, I think, to suggest that the Atlantic League is among the most competitive of baseball’s independent leagues. Even less ridiculous, I think, would be to suggest that 29-year-old corner infield-type Chris Nowak was the best overall hitter in that same League by kinda a lot this past season.

*In the presence of said data, too, it turns out. Brian Cartwright, proprietor of the OLIVER projection system, informs me that the Atlantic League is No. 1 among all indy leagues “by a fair margin.”

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What Every Utility Infielder Was Worth in 2012

Yesterday, the Chicago White Sox warmed the cockles of the present author’s heart by taking 29-year-old infield-type Angel Sanchez from the Angels in the Rule 5 draft. Because Sanchez can play the infield (including shortstop) and because he has some kind of offensive upside (owing to his excellent contact skills) and because he’s cheap (he still has just two years of service time and will likely make the league minimum), Sanchez will allow the White Sox to spend money elsewhere. Or, otherwise, to not spend money elsewhere and just keep that money and use it for whatever, like for a donation to an important New England boarding school.

Players who are chosen in the major-league phase of the Rule 5 draft (as was Sanchez) must be kept on the selecting team’s 25-man major league roster for the entire season after the draft — which suggests, if he’s retained by the White Sox, that Sanchez will fill some manner of utility role behind Gordon Beckham, Jeff Keppinger, and Alexei Ramirez.

Paying a player like Sanchez at or near the league-minimum salary would seem to give the signing time a competitive advantage. It’s also possible that that’s not the case at all. What the author found himself wondering — and what he attempted to answer by means of this post — is the question: “How much are utility infielders worth these days?”

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Daily Notes, Ft. Nerd Stats for Every Rule 5 Pick

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

1. Custom Leaderboards: Nerd Stats for Every Rule 5 Pick
2. Largely Unhelpful Video: Houston Rule 5 Pick, Josh Fields
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Australian Baseball League

Custom Leaderboards: Nerd Stats for Every Rule 5 Pick
The Rule 5 draft took place Thursday morning, on the last day of the Winter Meetings in Nashville — results of which draft can be found by clicking this hyperlinked text.

Clicking on other hyperlinked texts will bring the reader to other, more different things — namely, in this case, to custom FanGraphs hitting and pitching leaderboards for all the players picked during the draft in question.

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FanGraphs Audio: Ben Badler of Baseball America

Episode 284
Ben Badler (@BenBadler) writes for Baseball America, for which publication he provides all manner of prospect-related coverage, with a decided emphasis on the international-type of prospect-related coverage. Ben Badler also appears on this edition of FanGraphs Audio from the Winter Meetings in Nashville.

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 35 min play time.)

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Daily Notes: Insider Info from Anonymous Sources

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

1. Insider Information from Anonymous Sources
2. Beautiful Photo from the Internet of Mexico
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Mexican Pacific League

Insider Information from Anonymous Sources
A source with knowledge of the situation reports that certain colleagues of the author (including, but not limited to, Dave Cameron and Eno Sarris and Jeff Sullivan) had the temerity after dinner on Wednesday night in Nashville to suggest that this edition of the Notes — which includes state-of-the-art and cutting-edge SCOUT batting and pitching leaderboards for the Mexican Pacific League — that this edition of the Notes would be something less than a great peak presiding mightily over the landscape of sporting journalism.

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FanGraphs Audio: Emma Span from Sports on Earth

Episode 283
Emma Span writes for Sports on Earth alongside the talented (and, it seems, elusive!) Joe Posnanski among others. Emma Span also appears on this edition of FanGraphs Audio from the Winter Meetings in Nashville.

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 19 min play time.)

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Daily Notes: Now Actually Pitching, Javier Vazquez

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

1. Three Notes Regarding the Puerto Rican League
2. Video: Johnny Monell Hitting Home Runs Enthusiastically
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Puerto Rican League

Three Notes Regarding the Puerto Rican League
Javier Vazquez Debuts Again for First Time
As Peter Gammons reported last month would be the case, right-hander Javier Vazquez has started pitching for Ponce in the Puerto Rican League. As Peter Gammons likely didn’t report — because he’s not clairvoyant, I mean — is that Vazquez appears on this week’s edition of the SCOUT pitching leaderboards for the Puerto Rican League.

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Daily Notes: Live from the Winter Meetings, Day 2

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

1. Notes from the Day 1 at the Winter Meetings
2. Dominican Winter League-Leading Pitcher: Kyler Newby
3. Very Thorough Video: Oakland’s Kyler Newby
4. SCOUT Leaderboards: Dominican Winter League

Notes from Day 1 at the Winter Meetings
It’s been a matter of some debate within my own person how best to use these Notes to report on the Winter Meetings while I’m here in Nashville. Because, allow me to it very make clear, I do not have any sources who are close to any situations — unless, of course, the source is my colleague Jeff Sullivan and the situation is the volume and pitch of my other colleague Dave Cameron’s colossal snoring habit*.

*I think probably habit isn’t the precise word. Habit would seem to connote some agency. Also, though: I don’t know what the actual precise word is and likely no one cares.

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FanGraphs Audio: Jonah Keri at the Winter Meetings

Episode 282
Jonah Keri of Grantland — and, before that, of FanGraphs — both (a) walked by the host of FanGraphs Audio and then (b) condescended to speak to that host.

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 17 min play time.)

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