Daily Notes: Contract Crowdsourcing, RH Relievers

by
October 25, 2012

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

1. What’s in Raul Ibanez’s Pocket: Five Theories
2. World Series Game Two Event
3. Contract Crowdsourcing: Five Right-Handed Relievers

What’s in Raul Ibanez’s Pocket: Five Theories
In yesterday’s edition of the Notes, dedicated largely to contract crowdsourcing for DH-type free agents, I asked readers to suggest what exactly — besides a game-winning home run, I mean — what exactly that might be in Raul Ibanez’s pocket. Here are five contributions, ranked in ascending order of merit:

5. Lou Ford [sic].

4. Wally Joyner minibat giveaway from 1989.

3. He got a little change in his pocket going jang-a-lang-a-LANG. Gonna call you on the telephone and give you a ring. But each time you talk its the same ole thang, always no huggy no kissy until I get a wedding ring. My honey, my baby, don’t put my love upon no shelf, she said don’t hand me no lines and keep your hands to yourself.

You Aren't a FanGraphs Member
It looks like you aren't yet a FanGraphs Member (or aren't logged in). We aren't mad, just disappointed.
We get it. You want to read this article. But before we let you get back to it, we'd like to point out a few of the good reasons why you should become a Member.
1. Ad Free viewing! We won't bug you with this ad, or any other.
2. Unlimited articles! Non-Members only get to read 10 free articles a month. Members never get cut off.
3. Dark mode and Classic mode!
4. Custom player page dashboards! Choose the player cards you want, in the order you want them.
5. One-click data exports! Export our projections and leaderboards for your personal projects.
6. Remove the photos on the home page! (Honestly, this doesn't sound so great to us, but some people wanted it, and we like to give our Members what they want.)
7. Even more Steamer projections! We have handedness, percentile, and context neutral projections available for Members only.
8. Get FanGraphs Walk-Off, a customized year end review! Find out exactly how you used FanGraphs this year, and how that compares to other Members. Don't be a victim of FOMO.
9. A weekly mailbag column, exclusively for Members.
10. Help support FanGraphs and our entire staff! Our Members provide us with critical resources to improve the site and deliver new features!
We hope you'll consider a Membership today, for yourself or as a gift! And we realize this has been an awfully long sales pitch, so we've also removed all the other ads in this article. We didn't want to overdo it.

2. Probably just his cell phone or car keys or something.

1. Phil Rizzuto Pez dispenser.

World Series Game Two Event
WS, Game 2 (1-0 SF) | Detroit at San Francisco | 20:00 ET on FOX
DET: Doug Fister (161.2 IP, 82 xFIP-, 3.6 WAR)
SF: Madison Bumgarner (208.1 IP, 88 xFIP-, 3.4 WAR)

Contract Crowdsourcing: Five Right-Handed Relievers
Free agency begins five days after the end of the World Series. FanGraphs is asking readers to estimate the years and average annual dollar values likely to be received by certain notable free agents. We continue today with the five most notable right-handed relievers (probably). (Click here for more on the contract crowdsourcing project.)

Other positions: Catchers / First Basemen / Second Basemen / Third Basemen / Shortstops / Corner Outfielders / Center Fielders / Designated Hitters.

Player Page: Mike Adams

Player Page: Octavio Dotel

Player Page: Francisco Rodriguez

Player Page: Rafael Soriano

Player Page: Koji Uehara





 

Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.

3 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Greg W
13 years ago

Any time you reference the Georgia Sattelites, you must be on the right track.

0
C BeisbolMember since 2026
13 years ago

I don’t know how to answer the question about Soriano’s contract. He doesn’t have an option, he has an opt-out. He won’t be exercising a $14 million option. He may exercise a his opt-out in which case he’ll get $1.5 million and free agency.

I’ll vote yes, he’ll exercise the option, and I’ll mean that he’ll opt out.

0
BipMember since 2016
13 years ago

Some notes on Koji Uehara:

-Over the past 3 seasons (his 3 as a reliever) he has posted a strikeout rate comfortably above 30% with a fastball velocity comfortably below 90mph. Despite the low velocity, his fastball is among the best in terms of vertical movement, which could help explain both its above average swinging strike rate (over 10% each of the last three years) and its insanely high fly ball percentage (touching 70%).

-Aside from his fastball, the only other pitch he throws with any regularity is a splitter which comes in about 7 mph slower than the fastball, suggesting he uses it like a changeup. What is particularly impressive about this pitch is that he has maintained a swinging strike rate of over 20% on it during each of the past three seasons despite throwing it over 30% of the time over that period. His contact rate on said pitch has been consistently at almost exactly 59% with a swing percentage that has increased over time. I wish I knew how to check whether anyone else has a swinging strike rate that high on a pitch thrown that often over such a long period.

-Perhaps public ignorance re Uehara is reflective of league ignorance re Uehara. Since hearing about him when he was traded to the Rangers, I have been fascinated by him. I think, if only the public would give him a chance and get to know him, they may find they like Koji Uehara. They may find they like him quite a lot.

-I have found that I like Koji Uehara. Quite a lot.

0