Daily Notes: Ft. A Javy Vazquez Status Update Update
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. Status Update: Javier Vazquez’s Status, Updated
2. Video: Javier Vazquez’s Most Recent Major League Start
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Puerto Rican League
Status Update: Javier Vazquez’s Status, Updated
Right-hander Javier Vazquez, 36, has made four starts since joining Ponce of the Puerto Rican League at the beginning of the month — most recently on Dec. 19 at Mayaguez, when he posted this impressive line (box): 6.0 IP, 27 TBF, 11 K, 2 BB, 6:2 GO:AO.
Vazquez has now posted this other, more different line during those same four starts: 17.0 IP, 23 K, 3 BB, 1 HR. His performance has given him the league’s best regressed kwERA despite a relatively small sample — which, because of the way SCOUT- (discussed below) is calculated, it’s actually more difficult to produce excellent numbers in a small sample like that.
Apropos Vazquez, famous George Plimpton-impersonator Peter Gammons noted at the beginning of November that he (i.e. Vazquez) would use his experience in the Puerto Rican League as a means by which to assess the credibility of a major-league return. Given Vazquez’s performance hitherto, it doesn’t appear as though lack either of (a) interest or (b) ability will be what prevents him from pitching in 2013.
Video: Javier Vazquez’s Most Recent Major League Start
Here’s video from Javier Vazquez’s last and/or most recent major-league start, during which start he posted this line (box): 9.0 IP, 31 TBF, 9 K, 0 BB, 10 GB on 20 batted-balls (50.0% GB), 1.86 xFIP.
SCOUT Leaderboards: Puerto Rican Baseball League
Below are the current SCOUT leaderboards for the Puerto Rican League. (Ages as of July 1st, 2012. Players listed with most recent team. Click here for more on what is SCOUT.)
SCOUT Leaderboard: Puerto Rican League Hitters
Below is the current SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Puerto Rican League. SCOUT+ is calculated using regressed home-run, walk, and strikeout rates, where 100 is average and above 100 is above average.
| Player | Team | Age | Pos | PA | xHR% | xBB% | xK% | SCOUT+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pedro Valdes | N/A | 39 | 1B | 131 | 1.6% | 16.1% | 12.4% | 133 |
| Carlos Rivera | MEX | 34 | 1B | 122 | 3.0% | 11.0% | 14.8% | 130 |
| Andy Gonzalez | Brewers | 30 | SS | 145 | 2.5% | 13.5% | 18.6% | 124 |
| Johnny Monell | Giants | 26 | C | 105 | 3.4% | 10.8% | 20.9% | 122 |
| Angel Sanchez | Astros | 28 | SS | 133 | 1.6% | 10.5% | 11.4% | 118 |
| Irving Falu | Royals | 29 | 2B | 136 | 1.2% | 9.4% | 8.4% | 117 |
| Ramon Vazquez | IND | 35 | 2B | 103 | 1.4% | 13.9% | 16.5% | 116 |
| Luis Matos | MEX | 33 | OF | 112 | 1.4% | 11.0% | 12.0% | 116 |
| Ruben Gotay | Braves | 29 | 2B | 139 | 0.9% | 12.2% | 11.4% | 115 |
| Jesus Feliciano | Rays | 33 | OF | 152 | 0.8% | 8.7% | 5.9% | 114 |
SCOUT Leaderboard: Puerto Rican League Hitters (Prospects)
Here is the SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Puerto Rican League, but only populated with players who are 25 or under — i.e. something more like “prospect” age relative to the league.
| Player | Team | Age | Pos | PA | xHR% | xBB% | xK% | SCOUT+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jaime Ortiz | Marlins | 23 | 1B | 51 | 2.4% | 9.7% | 17.0% | 114 |
| Jeff Dominguez | Marlins | 25 | 3B | 116 | 1.7% | 12.8% | 18.9% | 111 |
| Enrique Hernandez | Astros | 20 | 2B | 142 | 1.5% | 7.6% | 10.3% | 111 |
| Juan Centeno | Mets | 22 | C | 90 | 1.5% | 9.4% | 14.1% | 108 |
| Brandon Snyder | Rangers | 25 | 1B | 12 | 1.9% | 9.9% | 17.8% | 108 |
| Michael Perez | D-backs | 19 | C | 15 | 2.2% | 9.3% | 19.4% | 106 |
| Martin Maldonado | Brewers | 25 | C | 93 | 1.8% | 10.3% | 19.1% | 105 |
| Jared Hoying | Rangers | 23 | OF | 49 | 1.4% | 9.3% | 15.2% | 105 |
| Sergio Miranda | Braves | 25 | 2B | 134 | 1.6% | 6.0% | 12.0% | 103 |
| Eddie Rosario | Twins | 20 | OF | 122 | 2.3% | 8.0% | 19.5% | 103 |
SCOUT Leaderboard: Puerto Rican League Pitchers
Below is the current SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Puerto Rican League. SCOUT- is calculated using regressed strikeout and walk rates where 100 is average and below 100 is above average.
| Player | Team | Age | G | GS | IP | TBF | xK% | xBB% | SCOUT- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jose De La Torre | Red Sox | 26 | 17 | 0 | 21.0 | 81 | 26.2% | 8.1% | 76 |
| Javier Vazquez | N/A | 35 | 4 | 4 | 17.0 | 73 | 24.5% | 8.1% | 80 |
| Jason Urquidez | Red Sox | 29 | 15 | 0 | 22.0 | 86 | 23.6% | 7.5% | 81 |
| Scott Kazmir | N/A | 28 | 5 | 5 | 22.2 | 103 | 23.7% | 8.5% | 84 |
| Giovanni Soto | Indians | 21 | 11 | 0 | 15.1 | 57 | 23.7% | 9.2% | 86 |
| Rob Bryson | Indians | 24 | 14 | 0 | 14.2 | 54 | 23.5% | 9.1% | 86 |
| Randy Fontanez | Mets | 23 | 10 | 0 | 18.2 | 74 | 21.8% | 7.9% | 87 |
| Shoki Kasahara | NPB | 21 | 7 | 7 | 31.0 | 137 | 21.6% | 8.0% | 88 |
| Ricardo Gomez | Indians | 34 | 15 | 0 | 16.1 | 67 | 22.5% | 9.1% | 88 |
| Xavier Cedeno | Astros | 25 | 3 | 0 | 3.2 | 13 | 21.7% | 8.6% | 89 |
SCOUT Leaderboard: Puerto Rican League Pitchers (Starters)
Here is the SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Puerto Rican League, but only populated with pitchers who’ve made at least half of their appearances as starts.
| Player | Team | Age | G | GS | IP | TBF | xK% | xBB% | SCOUT- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Javier Vazquez | N/A | 35 | 4 | 4 | 17.0 | 73 | 24.5% | 8.1% | 80 |
| Scott Kazmir | N/A | 28 | 5 | 5 | 22.2 | 103 | 23.7% | 8.5% | 84 |
| Shoki Kasahara | NPB | 21 | 7 | 7 | 31.0 | 137 | 21.6% | 8.0% | 88 |
| Deinys Suarez | IND | 28 | 11 | 6 | 34.2 | 147 | 22.4% | 9.6% | 90 |
| Tomas Santiago | N/A | 30 | 9 | 5 | 40.2 | 167 | 21.6% | 9.3% | 92 |
| Kelvin Villa | IND | 26 | 8 | 7 | 37.0 | 162 | 20.4% | 8.1% | 92 |
| Josh Romanski | Yankees | 25 | 7 | 7 | 35.0 | 144 | 20.1% | 7.8% | 92 |
| Derek Blacksher | IND | 27 | 1 | 1 | 4.0 | 18 | 19.8% | 8.4% | 94 |
| Mark Cohoon | Mets | 24 | 7 | 7 | 31.1 | 140 | 18.5% | 7.2% | 94 |
| Shinya Kayama | NPB | 22 | 7 | 7 | 37.1 | 168 | 20.2% | 8.9% | 94 |
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Is there any real reason to believe that Ervin Santana will be a better pitcher in 2013 than Javier Vazquez? The Nats ought to go get him as insurance against Haren’s health and it would be cool to see another ex(po) back in the fold
Javy Vazquez was an above average pitcher when he retired, and not that long ago. I can’t see why he’d come back just to languish in someone’s AAA affiliate as injury insurance. If he’s for real there are plenty of teams that could use him in their MLB rotation.
Yeah if Liriano gets 2/13 coming off of 100ip of 76ERA+ then Vazquez would get a MLB contract after averaging 209ip of 110ERA+ between 2000-11 I am just thinking that if Haren turned out healthy then Detwiler who has options would get the bump either to the pen or AAA, if Haren isn’t healthy Vazquez probably matches his production
Some kind of insurance for Haren is desirable, but after a 2012 in which he posted a 117 ERA+ and 1.8 WAR in 27 starts, Ross Detwiler is not going back to the minors.
Agreed that Detwiler has earned a Spot, in my head I would see him as a replacement for Gorzelanny/Burnett/Gonzalez LH hole in the BP. Probably won’t happen and for that matter CLE, TEX, TB, KC and TOR all make more sense than WSN anyway but it would be cool to see the Expos 94 4th rounder back in the fold
If the guy is going to come out of quasi-retirement, i find it highly unlikely that hes gonna want to live on a bus, checking in and out of below-average motels, all while pitching to the Matt LaPorta’s and Daric Barton’s of the world. “languishing in someone’s AAA affiliate as injury insurance” is pretty much the exact opposite of what he would want to do…i think, if anything, he could sign on with someone in June, as an injury replacement, ala Roy Oswalt.
I wasn’t suggesting that Javi would go to AAA rather that he would push Detwiler to the pen that is very short of LH now.
people keep saying vazquez is planning to come back, but about a month ago i used chrome to translate a spanish-language article that had actual quotes from vazquez and he clearly said that he wasn’t currently planning on pitching in MLB ever again. he said he couldn’t rule it out if the desire suddenly returned, but to this point it hadn’t. the reason he’s pitching winter ball is to get ready to pitch for puerto rico in the WBC next spring, which he does want to do. & i haven’t seen anything to contradict any of that since.
note the exact words gammons used:
“Alltime good person Javy Vazquez will pitch for Ponce after Thanksgiving, Puerto Rico in WBC and see if he wants to come back”
which is totally consistent with what i saw in the spanish article. winter ball, WBC and then “see if he wants to come back”. but what i saw JV saying was, he currently doesn’t want to come back and has no plans to. if he suddenly woke up one day wanting to, then he would, and who knows what psychological effect pitching competitively again might have, so he won’t firmly rule it out when people ask him about it. but he doesn’t expect that and it’s not part of his motivation for doing what he’s currently doing. it’s all about the WBC.
that was my understanding, anyway. maybe it’s all a smokescreen! who knows! i wish i could find the article again but i can’t
It’s good to see Scott Kazmir pitching well! Hopefully he can mount a successful comeback with the Indians.
jose de la torre must have a lot of unresolved anger at his father for never acknowledging him. probably why he signed with the red sox, to spite him
Aaaaaaaa! What happened to the homepage? Has my browser gone insane?
mine too! i figured it was the pre-noon mushrooms though
I tried multiple browsers in the vain hopes of it being a rendering issue, but that only confirmed the horror. Did someone move the site to geocities without telling anyone?
Good God. Please change it back. It looks awful!
STOP RAPING MY EYES! THIS SITE IS RAPING MY EYES!
My guess is that the site is a betta. And by that, I mean one of those fighting fish that will latch on to the first appendage that you put into the water and refuses to let go until you or it is dead.
Don’t worry guys, in a week your brain will have assimilated this new visual format and you will complain about the next time something in your hamster cage changes.
Totally. Because we have no concept of UI design and we LOVE scrolling. And, because we joined MySpace and continued using it because, heck, who cares about visual format? Let’s just throw in some animated gifs to cap it off. Maybe like 100 of them. We’ll get used to it.
Or, for a fun party game, go to chapter 2 of http://www.usability.gov/guidelines/guidelines_book.pdf and take a shot for every user optimization guideline this format violates. Pro-tip: bring activated charcoal as not to die.
If you have a particularly hardy crew, you can continue on to Chapter 5 (homepages) or Chapter 6 (page layout). But only if your idea of a good time is doing handle races. I’m being a bit dramatic for the sake of humor, but the problems are quite real and objectively defensible.
It’s tough, I understand that it is hard to make a good web design. Oh, how I understand. But if a student came to me with this page, I would strongly encourage then to revise it before I did any grading on it. The problems are glaring like a stick in the eye.
i agree with this dude. i think it’s really exasperating the way people post 10,000 whiny comments whenever facebook changes any little thing. so i’m not one of those people. but this is pretty bad. i really have no idea what’s going on. and i thought the old one was pretty good. not just because it was familiar. i’d go to five websites i always go to and on this one, and only this one, now and then i’d stop for a second and think, “you know, this site has a damn good layout.”
now you’re blowing it