One of these is Don Kelly’s hand.

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

1. Reminder: Arbitration Deadline Imminent
2. SCOUT Leaderboards: Australian Baseball League
3. Prospecting: Catching Up with John Sickels, Part I

Reminder: Arbitration Deadline Imminent
The deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to exchange figures is noon ET today. A lot of players remain unsigned — probably many of them on the team you spend all your time thinking about. (Not Don Kelly, however. He settled with the Tigers this morning, so don’t worry.) MLB Trade Rumors is pretty excellent at tracking this sort of thing.

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Neither Bert Blyleven nor Bert from Sesame Street have much need for pants.

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

1. Assorted Headlines
2. Projecting: ZiPS for Kansas City
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: Minnesota Television

Assorted Headlines
Baltimore With Two More Interesting Acquisitions
New Baltimore GM Dan Duquette has found talent a number of ways this offseason, acquiring infielder Ryan Flaherty from the Cubs during the Rule 5 draft, signing left-handers Wei-Yin Chen and Tsuyoshi Wada out of Japan, and using a major-league deal to secure the services of infielder Matt Antonelli. Nor do the team’s two most recent acquisitions represent a departure from this trend. This weekend, the O’s signed (per Patrick Newman, per Nikkan Sports) 36-year-old left-hander Yoshihiro Doi out of the NPB and (per Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun) 24-year-old infielder Peter Fatse out of the independent Can-Am League. Here are stats for both players: Doi, Fatse.

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Brad Emaus is people, too.

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

1. Correction: Brad Emaus Not Inconsequential, Too
2. Assorted Headlines
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: Milwaukee Television

Correction
Yesterday, while reviewing five recent moves of not no consequence, I omitted the recent acquisition by Boston of Colorado infielder Brad Emaus. The Emaus move is decidedly less inconsequential than the one by the Brewers including Jeff Bianchi. (H/T hawk-eyed reader BoSoxFan).

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Here are five recent — and not entirely inconsequential — moves.

Baltimore Signs Taiwanese Left-Hander Chen
The Baltimore Orioles signed Taiwanese left-hander Wei-Yin Chen to a three-year, $11.3 million deal on Tuesday, reports a large portion of the internet. Our man David Goleblahblahblah, writing for RotoGraphs, looked at Chen in some depth yesterday. The salient details: Chen is 26 years old. His strikeout rates have plummeted over his four years in the NPB (8.4, 8.0, 7.3, 5.1 K/9). His walk rates have also declined (2.6, 2.2, 2.3, 1.7). All things being equal, more strikeouts with more walks — like, with the same strikeout-to-walk ratio — is better than fewer strikeouts and fewer walks (i.e. a pitcher with a 9.0 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 is more valuable than one with a 3.0 K/9 and 1.0 BB/9). His fastball velocity has declined about 1-2 mph over that time (per Patrick Newman’s NPB Tracker). He only needs to produce, like, 2.5 wins to earn his contract. He’ll probably have a better 2012 than Brian Matusz had a 2011.

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Like many prospect mavens, Eddie Vedder is keen on Oakland prospect Michael Choice.

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

1. Assorted Headlines
2. Prospecting: John Sickels’ Top-20 List for Oakland
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: L.A. Dodgers Television (Away Games)

Assorted Headlines
Bowker Released, Will Likely Play in Japan
The Phillies have released outfielder John Bowker to allow him to pursue an opportunity with a professional team in Japan, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. Even as I type these words, I realize the reason I regard this news as noteworthy has everything to do with a .342/.451/.596 (.362 BABIP) line Bowker posted as a 25-year-old at Triple-A Fresno in 2009. In fact, he’s been worse than replacement level in over 600 major-league PAs.

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It’s three Shawon Dunstons!

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

1. Shame-Filled Introduction
2. Reckless Power (RECK) Leaderboards
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Australian Baseball League

Shame-Filled Introduction
Announcement
It’s with, like, 75% chagrin that I present today’s edition of Offseason Notes — which, it turns out, is mostly a collection of leaderboards and omits entirely any “news” or “current events.”

On Whose Fault That Is
Decidedly not mine.

On Whose Fault That Is, Part II
Probably either my parents’ or society’s.

On What the Name Is of the Game I’m Playing
The Blame Game.

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Note: there was an error in calculating the very essential RECK leaderboard you’ll find below. It has been fixed, and the changes are minimal. Also, it still looks totally like the Richter Scale.

Yuni Betancourt, in front of a post-apocalyptic hellscape, finished second per a non-extant stat.

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

1. Projecting: ZiPS for Cincinnati
2. Stat That Doesn’t Exist: RECK
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: L.A. Dodgers Television (Home Games)

Projections: ZiPS for Cincinnati
Dan Szymborski has published his ZiPS projections for the Cincinnati Reds. Below are some of the notable ones, accompanied by very rough WAR projections (for the hitters, per 600 plate appearances, at least) calculated by the method outlined here. All numbers assume major league competition. OPS+ and ERA+ are park-adjusted.

Devin Mesoraco, C, 24: .248/.322/.432, 100 OPS+, 3.5 WAR
Mesoraco is likely to become the Reds’ starting catcher this year. So long as he’s something like average defensively, he projects to be above average overall — per plate appearance, that is.

Juan Francisco, 3B, 25: .267/.297/.480, 104 OPS+, 2.6 WAR
Here’s a stat that doesn’t exist: ISO / (OBP – AVG). Let’s call it Reckless Power — or RECK, for short. Francisco’s projection calls for a RECK of 7.1. That figure would have placed him second (to only Adrian Beltre among the league’s 145 qualified batters in 2011. (For 2011’s top-10 RECKers, look below.)

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

1. Assorted Headlines
2. Prospecting: John Sickels’ Top-20 List for Cleveland
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: Los Angeles Angels Television

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

Seattle Signs Japanese Right-Hander Iwakuma
The Seattle Mariners have signed 30-year-old Japanese right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma to a one-year, $1.5 million contract with a potential $3.4 million possible in incentives, MLB.com’s Greg Johns reports. Iwakuma is the player with whom Oakland won the rights to negotiate last year but failed to reach an agreement. Per his player page at Patrick Newman’s NPB Tracker, Iwakuma appears to throw six pitches with some frequency. (Mike Axisa provides a more thorough look at Iwakuma today at the site.)

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Ricardo Nanita relaxes near a white tiger in heaven.

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

1. Assorted Headlines
2. Final (!) SCOUT Leaderboards: Dominican Winter League
3. Projections: ZiPS Converted Poorly to WAR

Assorted Headlines
Trumbo’s Foot: Still Not Healed
The stress fracture in Mark Trumbo’s right foot isn’t healed yet, nor does the cornerman expect it to heal until around late February, reports MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez. With the addition of Albert Pujols over the offseason, Trumbo obviously won’t be playing first base much; however, the injury prevents him from taking reps at third base and likely also hurts his trade value for the short-term, if that’s a direction in which the Angels were interested.

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Ladies and gentleman, the Astros front office.

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

1. Lone Headline: Houston Gets Its Nerd On
2. Projecting: ZiPS for Milwaukee
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: Houston Television

Lone Headline
Houston Gets Its Nerd On
The Houston Astros hired Sig Mejdal for the newly created position of Director of Decision Sciences, reports (recent FanGraphs Audio guest) Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle. Eric Seidman reminds me that Mejdal was Sam Walker’s right-hand nerd in the latter’s (excellent) book Fantasyland. Mejdal worked most recently with the St. Louis Cardinals, from which organization new GM Jeff Luhnow has also recently arrived. Per Levine (per Luhnow) Mejdal’s most immediate concern will be consolidating, for easier access and more effective decision-making, much of the information that the club has, but that “you have to go look up in various different pieces.” (Thanks to Mike Axisa for note on this.)

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