Author Archive

Daily Notes: Unhelpful Reports on the Mostly Obscure

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

1. Assorted Headlines
2. SCOUT Leaderboards: Venezuelan Winter League
3. Largely Unhelpful Videos: Free Agent Infielder Darwin Perez

Assorted Headlines
Frazier Likely to Become Third-Base Starter for Cincinnati in 2013
Scott Rolen‘s status for the 2013 season is still unclear, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reports. Todd Frazier’s is less so, it seems. “Right now,” Reds general manager Walt Jocketty appears to have declared somewhere in the vicinity of Sheldon, “Frazier would be penciled in as our third baseman next year.” Frazier posted a 120 wRC+ (.316 BABIP) and 2.8 WAR in 465 plate appearances this past season.

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FanGraphs Audio: Dave Cameron Analyzes All Baseball

Episode 277
FanGraphs managing editor Dave Cameron analyzes all baseball — and, in particular, the part of baseball concerning how the Marlins have made a mistake by abandoning all hope so far as the 2013 season is concerned. Also: both guest and host make multiple unsubstantiated claims regarding the art world. Also-also: Your 2013 Blue Jays, Toronto.

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 29 min play time.)

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Daily Notes, Ft. The Top Performances of the AFL

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

1. Final SCOUT Leaderboards: Arizona Fall League
2. Video: St. Louis Prospect Boone Whiting’s Whole Repertoire
3. Audio: Polish People Pronouncing Szczur

Final SCOUT Leaderboards: Arizona Fall League
The Arizona Fall League ended this past weekend. Below are the final SCOUT leaderboards for said League’s 2012 season. (Ages as of July 1st, 2012. Players listed with most recent team. Click here for more on what is SCOUT.)

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FanGraphs Audio: Prospects with Marc Hulet

Episode 276
Prospect analyst Marc Hulet discusses his first four organizational top-15 prospect lists for the 2012-13 offseason, with particular attention to Daniel Vogelbach (Cubs), Dillon Maples (also Cubs), Matt Szczur (also-also Cubs), and Garin Cecchini (Red Sox). Additionally, Hulet previews his Astros top-15 list (with specific notes on George Springer and Nolan Fontana) — and shares some material/analysis that’s frigging exclusive (!) to 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 47 min play time.)

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Daily Notes, Ft. WBC Games You Can Really Watch

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

1. World Baseball Classic: Qualifying Games This Weekend
2. Video: Brazil Upsets Panama
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Arizona Fall League

World Baseball Classic: Qualifying Games This Weekend
The third ever World Baseball Classic takes place this March. Unlike its predecessors, which featured just four pools of four teams each, this iteration of the Classic has an expanded qualifying round of 16 teams designed to produce four total qualifiers — which four clubs will be added to 12 automatically qualified teams.

Qualifying Rounds 1 and 2 were played in September. Rounds 3 and 4, however, are currently in progress and available for real watching on your computer. Owing to the double-elimination format, the precise schedule is undetermined. A reader could hypothetically click this hyperlinked text, though, with a view to finding updated box scores and links to the relevant live feeds.

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FanGraphs Audio: Aaron Gleeman, Aamerican Hermit

Episode 275
A free-flowing conversation with Aaron Gleeman — contributor to NBC’s Hardball Talk and longtime proprietor of AaronGleeman.com — that occasionally touches on mature subjects.

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 1 hr 33 min play time.)

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Daily Notes, Ft. All the Big Hector Santiago Coverage

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

1. Hector Santiago Coverage, Featuring Hector Santiago
2. Action GIFs: Hector Santiago’s Changeup vs. His Screwball
3. Premature SCOUT Leaderboards: Puerto Rican League

Hector Santiago Coverage, Featuring Hector Santiago
The Puerto Rican League is approximately a week old, and, as the (very premature) leaderboards below reveal, White Sox left-hander Hector Santiago has been quite effective in his first two appearances (both starts), posting a 13:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 11.0 innings.

Despite some difficulties at the beginning — difficulties which got him removed from the closer role rather early on — Santiago’s 2012 season was entirely adequate (70.1 IP, 106 xFIP-). Notably, he made four starts in September and October, with surprisingly proficient results. To wit: 19.1 IP, 26 K, 11 BB, 55.8 GB%, 3.41 xFIP.

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Daily Notes: How Marcell Ozuna Is Perhaps a Monster

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

1. People Who Could Be or Definitely Are Monsters: Marcell Ozuna
2. SCOUT Leaderboards: Dominican Winter League
3. Video Footage: Marcell Ozuna, Wreaking Considerable Havoc

People Who Could Be or Definitely Are Monsters: Marcell Ozuna
It has long been the concern of the author — in particular, within these Notes that are published Daily — it has long been the concern of this author to identify for the Betterment of Society those baseball players who either (a) could be or (b) definitely are monsters. As certain Japanese films — and their more expensive, less charming American remakes — have demonstrated, monsters are a threat to our urban centers and non-native English speakers who have some difficulty with the alveolar lateral approximant. We must, it goes without saying, guard ourselves against them perpetually.

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FanGraphs Audio: Dayn Perry, Arch-Patriot

Episode 274
Dayn Perry, contributor to CBS Sports’ Eye on Baseball and author of two books (one of them serviceable), reveals himself (once again) to be America’s No. 1 American.

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 1 hr 2 min play time.)

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Daily Notes, Ft. A Possible Solution for Texas at First

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

1. Texas First Baseman Someday, Maybe: Chris McGuiness
2. SCOUT Leaderboards: Arizona Fall League
3. Double-Video Situation: Chris McGuiness Homering

Texas First Baseman Someday, Maybe: Chris McGuiness
Chris McGuiness is a 24-year-old first base-type in the Texas system who has sat (sitted?) atop the SCOUT batting leaderboard (below) for almost the entirety of the Arizona Fall League season. He was also — again, per SCOUT — he was also one of the top hitters in the Double-A Texas League this season. In both cases — that is, both the Arizona Fall and Eastern Leagues — McGuiness has been old relative to his league/level (or, at least older than a prospect proper would be).

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