Ideas for this post came from conversations with Dave Cameron on recent episodes of FanGraphs Audio. Most scouting info is courtesy Baseball America.

Allow me to establish immediately that the title of this post is, in part, disingenuous: insofar as every player is unique, there is no “Next Michael Pineda.” There are pitchers who will surprise us with their success in 2012, for sure — some of them in a way similar to how Michael Pineda surprised us in 2011 — but none of them, obviously, will do it in precisely the same way that Pineda did.

Having said that, allow me to also submit that Michael Pineda absolutely represents a type of pitcher who is perhaps more likely to succeed than we (or, at least, than the present author) has, at one point, assumed.

To get a sense of what I mean, let’s consider the relative prospect statuses, over the last three years, of Pineda and the player (Jesus Montero) for whom he was traded this offseason.

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The curiously formidable Estadio Quisqueya.

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

1. Caribbean Series Notes
2. Video Tribute to Caribbean Series, Set to AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell”
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: San Francisco Television

Caribbean Series Notes
Current Standings
Here are the current standings of the Caribbean Series, after four days of games, presented in a sortable HTML table.

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This edition of the player-profile game is appearing at 11:30am Central Time because the author is an idiot.

As announced Wednesday, FanGraphs will once again be offering to the public its fantasy companion guide, The Second Opinion. We’ll have more details on the guide — set to be released on Monday — very shortly.

In the meantime, however, we’re playing the player-profile game I intoduced in these pages a couple offseasons 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.

First reader to guess correctly (in the comments section below) gets a free copy of this year’s Second Opinion — approximately a $1000 value!

Today’s entry comes in form of three shorter profiles. To answer correctly, respondents must identify all three players.

Because of the difficulty of this round, multiple attempts are allowed. If no one has the correct answer by 1pm ET, we will select the closest answer.

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Not Joe Saunders.

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

1. Caribbean Series Notes
2. Projecting: ZiPS for Arizona
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: San Diego Television

Caribbean Series
Scores from Yesterday
Puerto Rican team Mayaguez defeated Venezuelan Winter League champion Aragua, 3-1 (box).

Escogido of the Dominican Winter League defeated Mexican Pacific League side Obregon, 2-1 (box).

Notes on Those Games
• Mayaguez right-hander Nelson Figueroa did this: 6.2 IP, 8 K, 2 BB, 0 HR.
• There was precisely one extra-base hit between the two games: Mayaguez center fielder Jesus Feliciano’s second-inning ground-rule double.
• Right-hander Jairo Asencio recorded the save for Escogido, striking out two in an inning of work. Asencio was the boss of the DWL for much of the season, finishing second on the SCOUT pitching leaderboard.

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Episode 135
Bill Baer is the proprietor of Phillies internet weblog Crashburn Alley, a volume tweeter, and — of late — author of a real book called 100 Things Phillies Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. Topics discussed: Bobby Abreu, how he’s good; cheesesteaks, how they’re delicious; Domonic Brown, how he’s blocked.

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 43 min. play time.)

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Per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, 28-year-old right-hander Edwin Jackson and the Washington Nationals have reached an agreement on a one-year deal worth somewhere in the $8-12 million range. Pending a physical, Jackson joins a rotation that includes Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, and recent acquisition (in a trade with Oakland) Gio Gonzalez.

What is there to say about Jackson, specifically, that FanGraphs hasn’t said already? The market for him has been — and continued this offseason to be — underwhelming relative to his production (link). It’s likely to continue to be underwhelming (link). He (Jackson) has become a journeymen despite possessing youth, physical tools, and an increasingly robust resume (link).

For three consecutive years now, Jackson has been worth between 3.5 and 4.0 WAR — which suggests that, provided he’s healthy, another season in the 3.5-4.0 WAR range wouldn’t be shocking. It also suggests that, even were a team to have given him $15 million, that would still probably have been on the low-end of fair market value.

The question that’s more interesting for the time being is this one: what, precisely, are the Nats hoping to accomplish with the Jackson deal?

Let’s start first of all by establishing this: the addition of Jackson — and subtraction, presumably, of either John Lannan or Chien-Ming Wang — doesn’t make the Nats insta-contenders. Per a too-early standings projection conducted last week by the Replacement Level Yankees blog (using Marcels as an input), the Nats finished with 83 wins; the Phillies and Braves, with 90 and 89, respectively. The most recent iteration of OLIVER standings projects the Nats to finish with 81 wins — a full 10 games behind the would-be first-place Braves.

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Play the player-profile game again tomorrow (Friday) at 11:30am ET. 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).

As announced yesterday, FanGraphs will once again be offering to the public its fantasy companion guide, The Second Opinion. We’ll have more details on the guide — set to be released on Monday — very shortly.

In the meantime, however, we’re playing the player-profile game I intoduced in these pages a couple offseasons 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.

First reader to guess correctly (in the comments section below) gets a free copy of this year’s Second Opinion — approximately a $1000 value!

Today’s entry comes to us courtesy of Mr. Patrick Dubuque.

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Today’s edition of Offseason Notes concerns the Caribbean Series entirely.

Programming Note: Caribbean Series Begins Today
As noted previously in this column, the Caribbean Series begins today in Santo Domingo.

The first game, between Aragua (of the Venezuelan Winter League) and Mayaguez (Puerto Rican Winter League) begins at 1:45pm ET. Obregon (Mexican Pacific League) and Escogido (Dominican Winter League) play later in the day, at 5:55pm ET.

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Episode 134
Mr. Aaron Gleeman is world famous, both for his contributions to NBC’s Hardball Talk and for his longstanding blog AaronGleeman.com. Did you know, however, that his application to write for the Univ. of Minnesota’s newspaper was rejected a full nine (9!) times? We examine that, and other personal weaknesses, 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 49 min. play time.)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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GM Alex Anthopoulos and the Blue Jays have made their deal with former Reds, Brewers, and Rangers closer Francisco Cordero — to a one-year deal worth $4.5 million — official, reports Jon Heyman of CBS.

A successful high-leverage reliever at one point, who struck out more than 25% of batters faced every season between 2003 and 2008, Cordero’s velocity — and with it, his performance — has declined in recent seasons. Last season, with his fastball velocity having dropped to 93.0 mph per PITCHf/x — from 95.0 mph in 2009, for example — Cordero posted his worst strikeout rate (15.3%) since 2000 and second-worst xFIP- (108). His fastball usage from last season — at a career low 37.4%, per PITCHf/x — reflects Cordero’s changed approach.

However, the deal is notable less for the specifics regarding Cordero (about whom Jim Breen wrote last week) and more for what it represents in terms of the Blue Jays’ capacity for rebuilding a bullpen that was entirely gutted by the end of last season after a trade that saw Octavio Dotel, Jason Frasor, and Marc Rzepczynski go to St. Louis and Chicago variously for center fielder Colby Rasmus.

This offseason, Toronto has traded for Sergio Santos (due just $1 million), reacquired Frasor ($3.75 million), signed Darren Oliver ($4.5 million), and now Cordero. That’s almost an entire bullpen for just under $14 million — i.e. only slightly more than what Jonathan Papelbon will be making per annum for the next four years. As Alex Lewin demonstrated in a piece from late November, the risk associated with that sort of long-term reliever contract generally doesn’t merit the potential rewards. The Blue Jays are clearly proceeding with that notion in mind.