Seventeen years ago, a man named Ichiro Suzuki came east over the ocean to play baseball in Seattle. He was 27 years old then, and very good at what he did. Today, multiple reports indicate that Suzuki, now aged 44, will return to the Mariners. And it doesn’t matter, really, how good at baseball he is or isn’t anymore.

It matters a little, of course. The Mariners announced today that Ben Gamel will be out for four-to-six weeks with a strained oblique, and although that injury does not necessarily prohibit him from serving as the team’s unofficial hair model/Adonis, it does probably preclude him from playing the outfield, because Opening Day is about three-and-a-half weeks away. Suzuki, for all of his recent decline in offensive skills, can still play the outfield with reasonable competence — and certainly well enough to cover for Gamel where Guillermo Heredia and Taylor Motter cannot while also coming off the bench when needed.

I’m guessing that had a little to do with the timing of the deal, but it probably wasn’t everything.

In another sense, though, Ichiro’s performance on the field won’t matter a whole lot. Suzuki is a shadow of the player he once was, but the player he once was was one of the greatest to ever play the game, and he did most of it in a Mariners uniform. Only Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez generated more wins in teal than did Suzuki, and both of them will be in the Hall of Fame eventually. So will Ichiro. This year may well be his last on a big-league field — there was talk that he’d retire, or head to Japan, if not offered a big-league contract — and there’d be no better way to go out than in Seattle, no matter what form that exit takes.

Maybe Ichiro will make contact with the ball 90% of the time again, like he last did in 2015. Maybe he’ll strike out less than 10% of the time again, like he last did in 2012. Or maybe he’ll hit .300 again, like he last did in 2010. I doubt any of those things will happen. What will happen, I’d hazard to guess, is that he’ll play at about replacement level for the first few months of the season, run out of opportunities in the late spring, and make a dignified exit from a legendary career during some sunny Seattle homestand this summer. If that’s how it goes, there are worse ways to end a career. Ichiro is back home, heading west into the sunset.

Position: Baseball Systems Software Engineer

Location: Chicago, IL

Description:
This role will primarily focus on the development and maintenance of the Cubs internal baseball information system, including creating web interfaces and web tools for the user interface; building ETL processes; maintaining back-end databases; and troubleshooting data sources issues as needed.

Responsibilities:

• Assist in the design and implementation of web interfaces for the Baseball Ops information system
• Develop and maintain ETL processes for loading, processing and quality-checking new data sources
• Identify, diagnose and resolve data quality issues
• Build and/or support mobile-friendly user interfaces and experiences
• Build and/or support web services and business-layer applications that speak to both back-end databases and front-end interfaces
• Provide development support and guidance to Baseball Operations power users and general support to all Baseball Operations front-office and field personnel, as needed
• Examine, and where appropriate, prototype new technologies in the pursuit of creating competitive advantages through software, applications and tools
• Partner with Data Architects and Infrastructure/Operations resources on the Information Technology team to ensure secure, scalable and high-performing applications

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering or Related Quantitative Subjects
• Expertise with modern database technologies and SQL
• Expertise in Python, Java or C#
• Experience with Javascript
• Experience with front-end Javascript frameworks like ReactJS, Angular or Vue
• Experience with HTML/CSS
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Working knowledge of advanced baseball statistics and sabermetric concepts

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with the R programming language
• Experience with Pandas, NumPy and SciPy Python Libraries
• Experience working in a Linux environment
• Experience building web or native applications for mobile devices
• Experience building and supporting ETL processes

To Apply:
Visit this site to submit your application.

Position: Baseball Systems Developer

Description:
The Minnesota Twins are seeking a Full Stack Software Developer to join the Baseball Research and Development group. This position offers wide-ranging exposure to current programming methods and frameworks in a fast-paced agile environment. With creativity and passion, this candidate will collaborate with the Baseball Operations staff to develop, deliver, and maintain data driven solutions for player evaluation, player development, and leading-edge baseball research. This position requires strong full stack web development skills and experience as well as a demonstrated ability for independent curiosity and a commitment to excellence while working within a team framework. Strong communication and interpersonal skills will enable the candidate to enjoy direct relationships with product users.

Essential Functions:

• Work closely with all groups within the Baseball Department including Baseball Operations, Scouting, Coaching, and Player Development to develop, maintain, and expand strategic web and mobile baseball applications.
• Design and develop web services and APIs to be consumed by web and mobile applications.
• Create easy to understand interfaces and reports with data visualizations that showcase data and analysis in a creative and effective way for a variety of different users and use cases.
• Use an agile software development approach for quick roll-outs combined with incremental improvement process to existing systems and environments.
• Work closely with Infrastructure team to ensure secure, scalable, and high-performing applications.
• Provide courteous and timely first-level contact and problem resolution for all Baseball Department users with application issues.

Technical Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field or equivalent work experience.
• Software development experience, including requirements definition, design, development, testing, implementation, and iterative improvement.
• Full stack experience with Angular, JavaScript/TypeScript, HTML, CSS, .NET, ASP.NET, Entity Framework, C#, and API design patterns preferred.
• Experience with SQL, relational databases, and database design.
• Familiarity with data visualization and graphical packages such as Tableau, Power BI, D3.js, or ggplot is a plus.
• Mobile development experience a plus.
• Strong work ethic, initiative, and problem-solving skills.
• Interest in optimizing user experience through effective UI/UX design.
• Understand software development best practices and long-term maintainability of code.
• Strong curiosity and interest in researching and learning new technologies as needed.

Requirements:

• 2-5+ years of relevant work experience.
• Knowledge of baseball player evaluation techniques and concepts.
• Ability to relocate to the Twins Cities area.

To Apply:
To apply visit www.twinsbaseball.com/jobopportunities and look for the Baseball Systems Developer position.

Angels righty Shohei Ohtani, who appeared first overall on our recent top-100 prospect list, made his spring debut on Saturday at Tempe Diablo Stadium against the Milwaukee Brewers. He threw 1.1 innings, surrendered two hits (including a solo homer to Brewers OF Keon Broxton on a fastball, up), walked one, and struck out two. Ohtani was removed after he threw 31 pitches (17 for strikes) because he had reached his pitch-count limit.

Ohtani struggled to find a consistent release point during his brief outing, which is of little concern given that he barely pitched last year and this was his first spring-training appearance. A source at the game had Ohtani’s fastball ranging 91-97 mph. He threw all of his secondary pitches, the best of which was a plus to plus-plus splitter in the 84-88 mph range. He also threw one knee-buckling, change-of-pace curveball at 70 mph and a few sliders in the 79-80 mph range.

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Other pro scouting notes

Rockies SS prospect Brendan Rodgers homered in the big-league spring-training game Friday on a ball that left the bat at 102 mph. He hit a ball 105 earlier in the game.

Cleveland 1B prospect Bobby Bradley singled today on a ball that left the bat at 109.5 mph.

D-backs righty Taylor Clarke was 91-94 with an average curveball in a scrimmage against Arizona State on Wednesday.

So far, at least, Jeffrey Loria’s defense against the suit filed by Miami-Dade related to his claim of no net proceeds in his sale of the Marlins isn’t going so well. Loria’s lawyers attempted to argue that the summary they turned over to Miami-Dade was legally sufficient under the stadium contract and that no further explanation was necessary. Judge Beatrice Butchko disagreed, contending that Loria’s summary was “a problem.”

Here’s why that matters: because, on a basic level, it’s never a good sign for a defendant when the judge suggests that his case has “a problem” at the beginning of proceedings. And here’s why else: the court also vacated the previously set deadline for Miami and Miami-Dade to object to Loria’s numbers — and, more importantly, opened discovery. Which means Loria now has to start turning over his financial and supporting documents to Miami-Dade attorneys.

Below are scouting reports on the prospects who changed hands in the three-team trade on Tuesday night that sent OF Steven Souza, Jr. from Tampa Bay to Arizona and INF Brandon Drury from Arizona to the Yankees.

Anthony Banda, LHP
In 2017, Banda struggled at notoriously unforgiving Triple-A Reno, where he posted a 5.39 ERA. He made a spot start in Arizona in July and then was up again in August for a three-start look before he finished the year in the D-backs bullpen. Despite his poor on-paper production in 2017, his stuff remains intact and he profiles as a No. 4 starter. Banda sits 92-95 and will touch 96 with his fastball. He has an above-average changeup that he should probably throw more often and an average curveball in the 77-82 mph range. In light of what’s going on with Tampa Bay right now, he’ll probably exceed rookie limitations in 2017. He’s a 50 FV prospect who appeared within the honorable-mention section of our top-100 list.

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Position: New York Mets Intern, Analytics

Location: New York

Description:
The New York Mets are seeking an intern to work with the club’s Research and Development team. The employee will analyze baseball data and use their findings to support different areas within Baseball Operations. These may include player development, amateur and international scouting, and Major League advance scouting.

Responsibilities:

• Conduct research in the field of baseball analytics and communicate insights with Baseball Operations department.
• Research, develop, and test predictive models to support Baseball Operations decision-making (i.e., player evaluation, roster construction, player development, in-game strategy).
• Assist development team in creating new analyses and tools and integrating with existing Baseball Operations web application.
• Write scripts for the purposes of data collection, automation, and report generation.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree (applicant may be a current upperclassman pursuing degree) or equivalent experience in Statistics, Data Science, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, Operations Research, or similar quantitative field.
• Strong experience querying and managing data with SQL.
• Demonstrated experience using statistical tools and packages in R or Python.
• Strong understanding of baseball specific datasets (i.e., Trackman, Statcast, PITCHf/x) and knowledge of current baseball research. Please provide a sample of your work.
• Preference for candidates who have demonstrated experience building web applications in Python, Java, PHP, Javascript, etc. Please provide a link to the application and/or codebase (Github) if possible.

To Apply:
Interested applicants should apply through this link by March 18, 2018.

At the end of last week, I explained how Miami could possibly get back some money from Jeffrey Loria by filing an accounting suit and seeking to freeze the $50 million still escrowed from the sale of the club. On Friday, Miami-Dade County did exactly that, asking for Loria to explain his “fuzzy math” and asking the court to freeze the escrowed monies.

It’s still not terribly likely that Miami-Dade gets back anything close to its investment, although there is a good chance that the County could get something. And depending on what the protective order in this case looks like, it’s possible that Jeffrey Loria could be compelled to open his books.

Late Saturday, the Tampa Bay Rays acquired SS prospect Jermaine Palacios from Minnesota in exchange for RHP Jake Odorizzi. Palacios has a fairly long track record of offensive performance — he’s a career .290/.345/.426 hitter over four pro seasons — and is a viable defensive shortstop, but his game has some blemishes that may be exploited at the upper levels of the minors.

Chief among those is Palacios’s approach. He is not a selective hitter. Palacios has a quick bat, is loose-wristed, and has terrific hand-eye coordination, but his propensity to swing at just about everything is likely to be exploited as he reaches the upper levels of the minors. The physical tools to hit are here and, after flopping at Low-A in 2016, Palacios seemed to adjust to full-season pitching last year. (Nothing obvious changed mechanically, he just looked more comfortable than he did the year before.) This might be something he’s slow to do at each level. It’s tough to project Palacios’s hit tool because his barrel quickness and bat control are both excellent, but his on-paper production is going to play down unless he starts hunting driveable pitches.

Defensively, Palacios has a 55 arm, enough to play the left side of the infield, and average range, hands, and actions. He makes the occasional acrobatic play but he’s also a bit prone to mental mistakes. He’s a shortstop prospect but isn’t such a good defender that he’ll profile without providing dome offensive value, too. Whether or not that happens will depend on how his approach and general baseball acumen matures. If it doesn’t, he looks more like a utility guy, and he might be that anyway with Willy Adames in the farm system. Look for Palacios to start playing positions other than shortstop, which he hasn’t done since 2015.

Earlier this month, Craig Edwards contended in a post at this site that the Twins really needed starting pitching. Actually, “really, really” was the precise verbiage he used. That’s two reallys. The addition of some rotation depth was an urgent matter for the Twins’ success, Edwards claimed.

The timing of his post helps to explain the urgency. Just the day before, reports indicated that Ervin Santana would miss roughly the first month of the season. Santana was an important part of a Twins club that unexpectedly qualified for a Wild Card game last season. For a team that entered the offseason with something less than a full complement of major-league starters — and which had little margin for error in a division also featuring the Cleveland Indians — the loss of the staff’s nominal ace for any amount of time would be damning.

Last night, the Twins went some way to addressing their lack of rotation depth. Marc Topkin gets right to the heart of the matter in this post on social-media platform Twitter dot com:

By the version of WAR calculated with FIP, Odorizzi produced just one-tenth of win last year in 143.1 innings. He didn’t fair much better by the run-allowed version of that metric (1.1 RA9-WAR). He had also just won his arbitration case against the Rays, entitling him to $6.3 million in 2018. For a Tampa Bay club that appears to have no interest in adding — and, in fact, appears intent on subtracting — payroll.

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