Daily Notes: How 2012’s Best Relievers Were Acquired

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

1. Table: How 2012’s Best Relievers Were Acquired
2. Of Note: Evan Gattis’s Past Week in Venezuela
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Venezuelan Winter League

Table: How 2012’s Best Relievers Were Acquired
On Sunday, the Boston Red Sox agreed to send youngish corner-type Jerry Sands, right-handed prospect Stolmy Pimentel, and (likely) two others to Pittsburgh in exchange for closer Joel Hanrahan and (likely) one other. It represents the third not-insubstantial trade — after last year’s deals for Andrew Bailey (which required conceding Josh Reddick and Miles Head) and Mark Melancon (which cost them Jed Lowrie and Kyle Weiland) — the third not-insubstantial trade the Red Sox have conducted over the last two seasons in search of quality, high-leverage relief.

It raises the question, of course: are quality, high-leverage relievers generally acquired by means of trade? And, if not by trade, then how are they acquired?

Below is a (sortable) table of 2012’s best relief pitchers, as measured by the differential between shutdowns (SD) and meltdowns (MD). For each pitcher, I’ve included how he was acquired by the team with which he concluded the 2012 season — either by draft (DR), free agency (FA), trade (TR), or waivers (WV).

Here are the results:

Name	Team	IP	App	xFIP-	SD	MD	Diff	Acq.
Jim Johnson	Orioles	68.2	71	88	46	3	43	DR
Aroldis Chapman	Reds	71.2	68	50	41	6	35	FA
Craig Kimbrel	Braves	62.2	63	23	37	4	33	DR
Fernando Rodney	Rays	74.2	76	64	34	2	32	FA
Vinnie Pestano	Indians	70.0	70	90	37	7	30	DR
Ryan Cook	Athletics	73.1	71	84	37	8	29	TR
Rafael Soriano	Yankees	67.2	69	91	36	7	29	FA
Grant Balfour	Athletics	74.2	75	92	37	8	29	FA
Chris Perez	Indians	57.2	61	88	34	7	27	TR
Jared Burton	Twins	62.0	64	90	31	6	25	FA
Luke Gregerson	Padres	71.2	77	86	34	9	25	TR
Jonathan Papelbon	Phillies	70.0	70	72	34	9	25	FA
Jonathan Broxton	– – –	58.0	60	89	33	9	24	TR
Eric O’Flaherty	Braves	57.1	64	85	28	5	23	WV
Sergio Romo	Giants	55.1	69	67	28	5	23	DR
Joe Nathan	Rangers	64.1	66	62	30	7	23	FA
Huston Street	Padres	39.0	40	70	23	1	22	TR
Steve Cishek	Marlins	63.2	68	97	29	7	22	DR
Tyler Clippard	Nationals	72.2	74	106	32	10	22	TR
Mitchell Boggs	Cardinals	73.1	78	94	30	9	21	DR

Some Notes
• Of the 20 pitchers included here, seven (7) were acquired by free agency, six (6) by the draft, another six (6) by trade, and one (1, O’Flaherty) by means of waivers.

• Of the seven players acquired by free agency here, Jonathan Papelbon’s four-year, $50 million contract is the largest.

• Of those same seven free-agent signees, Jared Burton‘s one-year, $0.75 million and Fernando Rodney’s one-year, $2 million deals for 2012 were the smallest.

• Of the players acquired by trade, the one which sent Ryan Cook, Collin Cowgill, and Jarrod Parker from Arizona to the Oakland for Craig Breslow, Trevor Cahill, and cash was likely the most substantial — although one could argue with some ease that Cook wasn’t precisely the centerpiece of the deal.

• Craig Kimbrel, taken by Atlanta in the third round of the 2008 draft out of an Alabama community college, was signed for just $391 thousand and made only slightly more than that amount in 2012.

Contract and acquisition data courtesy Cot’s Contracts and Baseball Reference, respectively.

Of Note: Evan Gattis’s Past Week in Venezuela
On last Monday’s iteration of the SCOUT batting leaderboards for the Venezuelan Winter League, Atlanta Braves catching and outfielding prospect Evan Gattis had a 128 SCOUT+ in 182 plate appearances. Now, as one will note below, Gattis has a 147 SCOUT+ in 211 plate appearances — which is to say, Gattis has increased his regressed offensive production relative to the rest of the league by about 20 percentage points in 29 plate appearances.

Here’s what Gattis has done in those same 29 plate appearances:

• Hit five home runs.
• Walked four times.
• Only struck out four times.
• Stolen a base.
• Probably saved someone — like, either from danger or from their own self.

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

SCOUT Leaderboard: Venezuelan Winter League Hitters
Below is the current SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Venezuelan Winter 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+
Luis Jimenez	Mariners	30	DH	203	3.4%	18.2%	13.8%	148
Evan Gattis	Braves	25	C	211	6.0%	7.6%	14.2%	147
Carlos Maldonado	Nationals	31	C	198	4.7%	14.6%	20.7%	140
Chris Nowak	IND	29	3B	132	3.2%	12.7%	15.4%	127
Luis Valbuena	Cubs	26	2B	200	2.4%	16.0%	15.5%	127
C.J. Retherford	Dodgers	26	3B	250	3.0%	12.0%	13.6%	126
Jose Lopez	White Sox	28	2B	188	2.5%	12.6%	12.2%	124
Carlos Rivero	Nationals	24	3B	232	3.8%	11.6%	19.0%	124
Salvador Perez	Royals	22	C	136	3.9%	7.0%	12.3%	123
Justin Henry	Tigers	27	OF	106	1.4%	14.4%	10.4%	120

SCOUT Leaderboard: Venezuelan Winter League Hitters (Prospects)
Here is the SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Venezuelan Winter 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+
Evan Gattis	Braves	25	C	211	6.0%	7.6%	14.2%	147
Carlos Rivero	Nationals	24	3B	232	3.8%	11.6%	19.0%	124
Salvador Perez	Royals	22	C	136	3.9%	7.0%	12.3%	123
Darwin Perez	Angels	22	SS	179	2.2%	19.5%	24.6%	117
Ezequiel Carrera	Indians	25	CF	116	2.0%	11.9%	13.3%	114
Darin Ruf	Phillies	25	1B	137	4.5%	11.4%	29.5%	110
Dave Sappelt	Cubs	25	CF	124	2.9%	7.5%	14.3%	110
Yangervis Solarte	Rangers	24	OF	180	1.5%	9.4%	9.4%	109
Jairo Perez	Twins	24	3B	119	2.6%	6.8%	12.3%	108
Rossmel Perez	Diamondbacks	22	C	27	2.0%	10.6%	14.2%	108

SCOUT Leaderboard: Venezuelan Winter League Pitchers
Below is the current SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Venezuelan Winter 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-
Alex Torres	Rays	24	13	13	55.1	240	32.5%	9.4%	60
Enrique Gonzalez	NPB	29	26	0	26.2	104	27.8%	8.0%	68
Danny Farquhar	Mariners	25	21	0	24.0	98	25.8%	8.4%	75
Deolis Guerra	Twins	23	20	0	26.0	107	25.4%	8.1%	75
Austin Bibens-Dirkx	Nationals	27	12	10	53.2	226	25.3%	8.0%	75
Seth Etherton	N/A	35	6	6	27.1	112	24.9%	7.7%	75
Jarrett Grube	Mariners	30	7	7	27.2	120	24.7%	9.5%	80
Ryan Reid	Rays	27	21	0	22.0	94	23.6%	8.7%	81
Cesar Jimenez	Mariners	27	22	0	19.2	85	23.3%	8.5%	81
Josh Schmidt	Marlins	29	10	10	57.2	240	23.4%	8.7%	82

SCOUT Leaderboard: Venezuelan Winter League Pitchers (Starters)
Here is the SCOUT pitching leaderboard for the Venezuelan Winter 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-
Alex Torres	Rays	24	13	13	55.1	240	32.5%	9.4%	60
Austin Bibens-Dirkx	Nationals	27	12	10	53.2	226	25.3%	8.0%	75
Seth Etherton	N/A	35	6	6	27.1	112	24.9%	7.7%	75
Jarrett Grube	Mariners	30	7	7	27.2	120	24.7%	9.5%	80
Josh Schmidt	Marlins	29	10	10	57.2	240	23.4%	8.7%	82
Eric Berger	Indians	26	9	9	45.0	191	19.9%	7.8%	89
Sergio Perez	Astros	27	13	13	65.0	278	19.8%	7.9%	89
Donovan Hand	Brewers	26	7	7	34.1	148	18.9%	8.0%	92
Thad Weber	Tigers	27	5	5	23.1	106	18.9%	8.3%	92
Paolo Espino	Indians	25	6	6	26.0	112	18.2%	7.9%	93