Daily Notes, Ft. Vince Belnome News Informations

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

1. News Information: Tampa Bay Acquires Belnome in Trade
2. Other News Information: Cubs Sign Korean Closer Lim, Seems Like
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Australian Baseball League

News Information: Tampa Bay Acquires Belnome in Trade
Tampa Bay traded left-handed reliever Chris Rearick, 25, on Thursday to San Diego in exchange for mostly infield-type and 24-year-old Vince Belnome, reports Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. A brief inspection of Rearick’s player page here at the site reveals that his numbers are rather interesting (including an 85:23 K:BB, for example, in 70.0 IP this past season), but that both his first and last names are of a decidedly less Mediterranean extraction than the Rays’ new acquisition. Slightly further inspection reveals that Belnome received a rather optimistic hitting projection courtesy ZiPS last offseason (although never made it to the majors). Bated breath, is the thing with which the author is awaiting Belnome’s 2013 projections.

Here’s video of Belnome hitting a grand slam for San Diego Triple-A affiliate Tucson in August. The footage serves — if no other purpose — serves to give one a sense of Belnome’s body type, which is mostly politely described as “compact.”

Other News Information: Cubs Sign Korean Closer Lim, Seems Like
While the Cubs had declined to comment on the matter as of Thursday late-ish, it appears likely that 36-year-old sidearm pitcher Chang-Yong Lim has signed with the club, according to Reuters. Lim, who pitched most recently for Yakult in Japan, has averaged about a strikeout per inning as a reliever over the last five seasons. In terms of repertoire, PITCHf/x data from Patrick Newman’s NPB Tracker suggests that Lim throws mostly a fastball at 88-90 mph and slider at around 78. Owing to surgery on his elbow, Lim is unlikely to pitch until late in 2013, at the earliest.

Here, at Newman’s suggestion, is some representative video footage of Lim from 2008:

SCOUT Leaderboards: Australian Baseball League
Below are the current SCOUT leaderboards for the Australian Baseball League. (Ages as of July 1st, 2012. Players listed with most recent team. Click here for more on what is SCOUT.)

SCOUT Leaderboard: Australian Baseball League Hitters
Below is the current SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Australian Baseball League. SCOUT+ is calculated using regressed home-run, walk, and strikeout rates, where 100 is average and above 100 is above average.

SCOUT Leaderboard: Australian Baseball League Pitchers
Below is the current SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Australian Baseball League. SCOUT- is calculated using regressed strikeout and walk rates where 100 is average and below 100 is above average.