“I’m just saying, I think Eddie Stanky has a couple-few good seasons left.”

Unsolicited Commentary
Some Notes on Scott Boras
Agent Scott Boras tells Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post that (a) “a lot of teams” have inquired about free agent 40-year-old catcher Ivan Rodriguez and also that (b) “We have not seen [other free agent Rick Ankiel’s] best years.” The former statement is possible: despite the fact that Rodriguez is only a backup at this point, perhaps teams are interested in him as a mentor of young catchers. The latter statement, regarding Ankiel, is — as you’re already thinking in your own head — very likely false. Ankiel is 32 and, while he switched to hitting late-ish in his career (25), his offensive skills already appear to be eroding, as this painstakingly crafted graph suggests:

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Episode Ninety-Five
Mere husk of a man Dayn Perry discusses the Marlins’ free-agent spending power in light of the expected revenue from their new stadium, Cuban defector/prospect Yoenis Cespedes, and more. We also open the Mail Sack for the first time ever on FanGraphs Audio. On that not, don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

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Audio on the flip-flop. (Approximately 20 min. play time.)

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I’m sorry, were you not expecting a terrifying monkey logo?

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

1. Assorted Headlines
2. SCOUT Leaderboards: Venezuelan Winter League
3. Prospecting: BA’s Top-10 Lists for Miami, New York NL, Philadelphia

Assorted Headlines
All the nerd that’s fit to print.

Cubs Name Saber-Friendly Bohringer Director of Pro Scouting
The Cubs have added Joe Bohringer as director of pro scouting, MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat reports. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he (i.e. Bohringer) participated in both of our live events in Arizona this past March, when he was still scouting for the Diamondbacks. To say that Bohringer is “saber-friendly” is just another way of saying that he’s both curious and open to the best possible information.

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Episode Ninety-Four
Dave Cameron not only defends, but more or less celebrates, the Giants’ end of the Melky Cabrera-Jonathan Sanchez deal with the Royals. Other topics include David Wright and the Mets, Michael Cuddyer as a potential Philly, and the necessity of flu shots.

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Audio on the flip-flop. (Approximately 22 min. play time.)

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“Tear down this wall,” trade candidate David Wright said with his actions.

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

1. Assorted Headlines
2. SCOUT Leaderboards: Arizona Fall League
3. Notable Minor League Free Agents

Assorted Headlines
All the nerd that’s fit to print.

Mets Willing to Trade Wright
“We will listen on [David] Wright for sure,” a Mets official, cloaked in secrecy and/or an actual cloak, has told Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The 29-year-old third baseman, who batted .254/.345/.427 (.302 BABIP) in 447 plate appearances this season — good for a 118 wRC+ and, minus 10 or so runs for fielding, a 1.9 WAR — is due to make $15 million in 2012, with a club option for $16 million ($1 million buyout) for 2013.

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A couple weeks ago, we spent some time in these pages attempting to crowdsource the forthcoming contracts of some of this offseason’s key free agents and also Nick Punto. Below are the results of that exercise.

But first, it makes sense, perhaps, to revisit some of last year’s crowdsourced contract values and compare them to the actual contracts received by the same players.

Last year’s effort was of a slightly more ad hoc nature; however, our full-time employee Dave Cameron did publish all of the first-base results together.

Below are those results (Crowdsourced Contract) along with the actual contracts received by each corresponding player. (Note that contract values are of the average-annual variety.)

Player: Paul Konerko
Crowdsourced Contract: 2.4 years, $11.0 million
Actual Contract: 3 years, $12.5 million

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Wang cited Washington DC’s beautiful flora as his main reason for staying with the Nats.

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

1. Assorted Headlines
2. SCOUT Leaderboards: Arizona Fall League
3. Projection: ZiPS for New York (NL)

Assorted Headlines
All the nerd that’s fit to print.

Wang Re-Signs with Washington
Ground-balling right-hander Chien-Ming Wang has signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Washington Nationals, reports Amanda Comak of the Washington Times. The move gives the Nats a 2012 rotation along these lines: Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, John Lannan, Chien-Ming Wang. Ross Detwiler, Tom Milone, and Brad Peacock are likely to compete for the fifth-starter role. For more on Wang, read Jim Breen’s piece on him from only two weeks ago.

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Episode Ninety-Three
Matt Klaassen discusses his peculiar fascination with Sino-Panamanian lefty Bruce Chen and Alex Gordon’s defensive skills. He also makes some particularly touching and thoughtful observations on fatherhood.

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Audio on the flip-flop. (Approximately 25 min. play time.)

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Jose Reyes won’t take a hometown discount to sign with Santiago’s Águilas Cibaeñas.

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

1. Assorted Headlines
2. SCOUT Leaderboards: Dominican Winter League
3. Prospecting: John Sickels on Detroit

Assorted Headlines
All the nerd that’s fit to print.

Reyes Will Not Take Hometown Discount
There is almost no chance that Jose Reyes will accept a hometown discount to remain with the Mets, Reyes’s friend’s girlfriend’s house cleaner’s postmaster told Mike Puma of the New York Post. “Reyes is also a reggaeton musician and owner of a record label,” according to his Wikipedia page.

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Episode Ninety-Two
Bradley Woodrum (FanGraphs, D-Rays Bay, Cubs Stats) discusses the Cubs as they transition into the Theo Epstein Era and also fails a quiz regarding the top prospects in the NL East.

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

Audio on the flip-flop. (Approximately 25 min. play time.)

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