Daily Notes: Tender (Deadline) Is the Night
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. Baseball Event: Tender Deadline, Tonight
2. GIF: Mark Reynolds Bat Toss
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Australian Baseball League
Baseball Event: Tender Deadline, Tonight
The deadline by which teams must tender contracts to their arbitration-eligible players is tonight (Friday) at 11:59pm ET. Players to whom contact offers are extended then have the opportunity to negotiate with their respective teams until January 18th, when arbitration figures are due for exchange. Players to whom contracts are not tendered become free agents and are free to negotiate with all 30 teams.
Using some combination of a slide rule, abacus, and cheat codes from early and beloved Nintendo game Contra, Matt Swartz has projected salaries for all arbitration-eligible players and published the results at MLB Trade Rumors.
Here are three notable players who might become free agents tonight:
Player: Mark Reynolds, CIF, BAL
Proj. Salary: $8.9 million
Notes: Reynolds has been worth less than a win in over 1100 plate appearances as an Oriole. Owing to his power, he’d certainly receive attention as a free agent, but likely not $9-million-annually of attention.
Player: Ryan Sweeney, OF, BOS
Proj. Salary: $1.8 million
Notes: Provided he remains healthy, Sweeney would likely have little trouble producing the less than half a win his 2013 salary would require. Health has been an issue, however, and the Red Sox are a team that is seeking (and can afford) something closer to above-average talent at every position.
Player: Brian Wilson, RHP, SF
Proj. Salary: $8.5 million
Notes: By the terms of the present CBA, teams cannot cut a player’s salary by more than 20 percent — which is to say, the least Wilson could earn (were he tendered a contract) is $6.8 million. The Giants are likely to regard that as excessive for a reliever coming off of Tommy John surgery — and without whom they did, in fact, win the World Series.
GIF: Mark Reynolds Bat Toss
Here’s a GIF from September of Mark Reynolds disposing of his bat with something not unlike total celerity:
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.
| Player | Team | Age | Pos | PA | xHR% | xBB% | xK% | SCOUT+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brad Harman | N/A | 26 | 2B | 34 | 2.1% | 9.9% | 17.8% | 114 |
| Carlo Testa | Royals | 25 | OF | 45 | 1.7% | 11.4% | 18.3% | 113 |
| Josh Roberts | N/A | 25 | OF | 39 | 2.0% | 8.2% | 17.1% | 110 |
| Michael Ohlman | Orioles | 21 | C | 24 | 1.8% | 9.4% | 17.9% | 109 |
| Ji-Man Choi | Mariners | 21 | 1B | 16 | 1.5% | 11.2% | 19.0% | 109 |
| Elliot Biddle | N/A | 23 | OF | 43 | 2.3% | 7.5% | 18.6% | 109 |
| Corey Adamson | Padres | 20 | OF | 29 | 1.4% | 10.7% | 17.8% | 109 |
| C.J. Beatty | IND | 23 | OF | 11 | 1.8% | 10.0% | 19.6% | 108 |
| Justin Howard | Pirates | 24 | 1B | 42 | 1.4% | 11.6% | 19.4% | 107 |
| Trent D’Antonio | N/A | 26 | C | 19 | 1.5% | 10.6% | 19.2% | 106 |
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.
| Player | Team | Age | G | GS | IP | TBF | xK% | xBB% | SCOUT- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Oxspring | N/A | 35 | 3 | 3 | 22.2 | 81 | 30.1% | 7.6% | 68 |
| Chris Smith | IND | 23 | 3 | 3 | 17.1 | 66 | 28.7% | 8.4% | 74 |
| Matthew Williams | N/A | 25 | 5 | 0 | 6.0 | 21 | 24.9% | 8.6% | 86 |
| Adam Bright | IND | 27 | 2 | 2 | 11.2 | 45 | 23.0% | 8.6% | 91 |
| Virgil Vasquez | IND | 30 | 3 | 3 | 22.0 | 90 | 22.8% | 8.6% | 92 |
| Hirotaka Koishi | NPB | 25 | 3 | 3 | 11.2 | 53 | 22.6% | 8.8% | 93 |
| Rhys Niit | IND | 21 | 3 | 0 | 7.2 | 25 | 21.7% | 8.6% | 95 |
| Anthony Claggett | IND | 27 | 3 | 3 | 19.0 | 75 | 21.5% | 8.6% | 96 |
| John Holdzkom | Reds | 24 | 1 | 1 | 3.1 | 19 | 22.4% | 9.6% | 96 |
| Brendan Wise | Twins | 26 | 3 | 0 | 5.0 | 19 | 21.8% | 9.0% | 96 |
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Great title, nice tribute to an under-appreciated book.