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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Tim Lincecum was once one of the joys of baseball.

At just 5-foot-11, 170 pounds and with hair past his shoulders, he could be mistaken for someone at your neighborhood skate park, only he could also throw 98 mph. His frame dropped him to the 10th pick of the 2006 draft even after he struck out almost all of Division I while pitching for the University of Washington. The Giants took the risk and were rewarded for betting on his unorthodox delivery and build. His mid-90s fastball, sharp-breaking curve, and elite changeup led him to two Cy Young awards. He was part of three world-championship clubs.

Then Lincecum and his velocity went missing before resurfacing this winter.

Now 33, Lincecum has been quietly working out at Driveline Baseball with the hope of rediscovering some of his stuff and returning to the majors. He worked out for MLB teams on Thursday, and the results are reportedly encouraging.

This is an instance where the radar-gun readings really mean something.

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Position: Pro Scouting Trainee

Location: Atlanta, GA

Description:
Assist and provide support to the Atlanta Braves Professional Scouting Department and Staff, and gain exposure to a MLB Baseball Operations department.

Position responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Organize information on all Professional players including Depth Charts, Player Lists.
• Coordinate stats, video, and other information on Major and Minor League players
• Read and think critically about submitted Scouting Reports
• Provide written and verbal assessments on Major and Minor League players
• Assist with day to day administrative needs of Professional Scouts

In addition to the general requirements, the ideal candidate will possess:

• Strong foundation in the application of statistical concepts to baseball data and the translation of data into useable scouting information
• An active listener – ability to quickly discern the information needs of Scouting Staff
• Experience producing a reliable work product under stressful circumstances
• Experience working with individuals of a wide variety of backgrounds and beliefs
• Demonstrated track record in role as a self-starter
• Ability to work extensive hours as dictated by the Major League season schedule (including weekends and holidays throughout the season)
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office
• Familiarity with programming language SQL is a plus
• Preferred: Professional/collegiate playing experience
• Must be detail oriented with excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Must be able to work in a team atmosphere and handle multiple projects at one time
• Must complete a successful background check

To Apply:
Qualified candidates can apply online at www.braves.com/employment

The Atlanta Braves are an Equal Opportunity Employer

Position: Business Development Associate

Location: Lehigh Valley, PA

Position Overview:
Would you be interested in working closely with a small team to bring sabermetrics to a larger audience? Baseball Info Solutions is seeking a full-time Business Development Associate to work out of their Lehigh Valley, PA office. This is a great opportunity in a casual office environment with the leading provider of in-depth sports analytics.

The candidate will develop new sales opportunities as well as help maintain existing client relationships. Strong candidates will possess a self-motivated attitude, great communication skills, and be able to work in a collaborative team environment or independently as needed.

Responsibilities:

• Build new business relationships independently or as part of a business development team
• Maintain and expand existing client relationships
• Assist with marketing efforts and represent the company in professional settings
• Communicate with clients and prospects in-person, over the phone, and via email
• Educate current and future clients on cutting-edge data and analytics from SIS
• Collaborate with BIS Operations, R&D, and IT colleagues to build new products and fulfill customer needs
• Travel to meet with clients as needed

Qualifications:

• A track record (1-2 years) working in a business development environment
• Experience with Salesforce or CRM tool preferred
• A firm grasp on the baseball, football, fantasy sports, and sports media industries, including the latest sabermetric research
• Open-minded approach and ability to think creatively to anticipate client and industry demands
• Outgoing personality and flexible sales style to engage with a wide variety of prospective clients
• Professional demeanor with excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong organizational skills as well as diligence and high attention to detail
• Initiative to voluntarily commit long hours, night, and weekends as when needed
• Proficient in Microsoft software, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint

To Apply:
To apply, please use the following link: Business Development Associate Position

At the beginning of the offseason, Travis Sawchik suggested in these pages that, at a moment in the game defined by the presence of Haves and Have Nots, that the Cubs would need to sign right-hander Yu Darvish in order to retain their standing among the former group. Much later in the offseason — just a couple weeks ago, in fact — Craig Edwards asserted that the Cubs still needed to sign him.

As of this afternoon, however, the Cubs no longer need Yu Darvish. Because they already have him, is why. Please allow Ken Rosenthal to explain.

Given the strength of their offense, the Cubs were never in danger of failing to compete at some level this season. Chicago’s field players recorded the fifth-best WAR collectively among the league’s 30 clubs last season. They’re currently forecast to improve upon that finish, situated second at the moment in FanGraphs’ depth-chart projections for 2018.

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We covered a bunch of prospects this week. While I can’t provide analysis in the same way Eric and Kiley have, I can summarize the prospects into a sortable table by team and grade.

You are able to toggle between the Top 100 group and then a second group that features the Top 100 plus the 115 additional prospects mentioned at the end of the Top 100 and 45/40 grade post. Have fun!

Position: OnDeck Digital Cape Cod Baseball League Video Scouting Internships

Location: Cape Cod, Mass.

Description:
OnDeck Digital provides outsourced video scouting services to Major League Baseball Organizations. OnDeck Digital’s system for processing full-game video and statistics for is industry-leading and revolutionizes the way amateur baseball video is captured.

OnDeck Digital is seeking qualified candidates to work as Video Scouting Interns for the 2018 Cape Cod Baseball League season. Interns will track rosters, capture live video footage from every game of the CCBL season, and chart those games using our specialized software. The internships run from June 8, 2018 to August 14, 2018 and will include compensation.

Responsibilities:

• Manage video and computer equipment for data capture.
• Score and chart live games using specialized software.
• Track and update rosters and player information.
• Verify data accuracy and video quality.
• Provide daily updates to OnDeck Digital staff and content partners.

Qualifications:

• Knowledge of baseball rules and scorekeeping.
• Proficiency with computers (Windows, Mac).
• Experience with video equipment including cameras, sd cards, and basic cabling is preferred.
• Strong work ethic and attention to detail.
• Must have access to reliable transportation and housing on Cape Cod.

To Apply:
To apply, please send an email with the subject “2018 CCBL Internship”, your resume, and cover letter to jobs@ondeckdigital.com.

The Marlins are hiring a Head Software Developer and a Software Developer.

Position: Head Software Developer

Position Summary:
The Head Software Developers will be responsible for creating the code that power the applications used by the entire Baseball Operations department. Opportunities for full stack and skill specialists exist at this time. The successful applicants will work in a collaborative, result-oriented, team environment.

Essential Functions:

• Writing clean, concise, modular code
• Backend – Java 8, Spring, SQL
• Frontend – web fundamentals (HTML, JS, CSS), Angular, Bootstrap, jQuery
• Build tools – Maven for Java; Gulp (or similar) for JS

Qualifications & Requirements:

• Proficiency in more than one of the stated development skills
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communications, decision-making, and organization skills
• Passion to learn and create

Suggested Education & Experience Guidelines:

• Experience with agile development lifecycle
• Experience with source control
• Development experience in other languages such as .NET / C#, Python, and R
• Experience working in a development team
• Degree in Computer Science or Information Systems, or equivalent job experience
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience

Bonus Experience:
Experience with Mobile iOS development – Objective C & Swift

To Apply:
Please email materials (resume, cover letter, etc.) to marlinsanalyticsjobs@gmail.com.

…

Position: Software Developer

Position Summary:
The Software Developers will be responsible for creating the code that power the applications used by the entire Baseball Operations department. Opportunities for full stack and skill specialists exist at this time. The successful applicants will work in a collaborative, result-oriented, team environment.

Essential Functions:

• Writing clean, concise, modular code
• Backend – Java 8, Spring, SQL
• Frontend – web fundamentals (HTML, JS, CSS), Angular, Bootstrap, jQuery
• Build tools – Maven for Java; Gulp (or similar) for JS

Qualifications & Requirements:

• Proficiency in more than one of the stated development skills
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communications, decision-making, and organization skills
• Passion to learn and create

Suggested Education & Experience Guidelines:

• Experience with agile development lifecycle
• Experience with source control
• Development experience in other languages such as .NET / C#, Python, and R
• Experience working in a development team
• Degree in Computer Science or Information Systems, or equivalent job experience
• A minimum of 1 year experience

Bonus Experience:
Experience with Mobile iOS development – Objective C & Swift

To Apply:
Please email materials (resume, cover letter, etc.) to marlinsanalyticsjobs@gmail.com.

Here’s your chance to vote for the 2018 SABR Analytics Conference Research Award winners.

The SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards will recognize baseball researchers who have completed the best work of original analysis or commentary during the preceding calendar year. Nominations were solicited by representatives from SABR, Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs, The Hardball Times, and Beyond the Box Score.

To read any of the finalists, click on the link below. Scroll down to cast your vote.

Contemporary Baseball Analysis

• Glenn Healey, “The New Moneyball: How Ballpark Sensors Are Changing Baseball,” Proceedings of the IEEE (Vol. 105, No. 11), November 2017.
• Ben Lindbergh and Mitchel Lichtman, “The Juiced Ball is Back,” The Ringer, June 14, 2017.
• Harry Pavlidis, Jonathan Judge, and Jeff Long, “Introducing Pitch Tunnels,” Baseball Prospectus, January 24, 2017.
• Travis Sawchik, “Dictating the Action with Joey Votto,” FanGraphs, May 31, 2017.
• Stephanie Springer, “Get a Grip,” The Hardball Times, October 25, 2017.

Contemporary Baseball Commentary

• R.J. Anderson, “The Year of Catcher Concussions and MLB’s Battle to Do Better With Head Trauma,” CBS Sports, September 28, 2017.
• Emma Baccellieri, “Major League Baseball’s Statcast Can Break Sabermetrics,” Deadspin, December 18, 2017.
• Sam Miller, “Forget the Ninth Inning — Andrew Miller is Here to Save the Game,” ESPN The Magazine, March 30, 2017.
• Jeff Passan, “The Home Run is the King of Baseball. Is That a Good Thing?” Yahoo! Sports, September 19, 2017.
• Eno Sarris, “Matt Cain: The Giants’ Horse That Changed Baseball Stats … Twice,” The Athletic, September 27, 2017.

Historical Analysis/Commentary

• Grant Brisbee, “Why Baseball Games Are So Damned Long,” SB Nation, March 28, 2017.
• Jay Jaffe, “Analyzing the ‘Giant’ Controversy Surrounding the Indians’ 22-Game Winning Streak,” Sports Illustrated, September 15, 2017.
• John LaRue, “The Homogenization of Ballparks,” The Hardball Times, February 13, 2017.
• Rob Mains, “One Entire Season of Baseball from the 1960s”, Baseball Prospectus, September 11-14, 2017, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
• Stew Thornley and Bob Tholkes, “From Recorder to Judge: The Evolution of the Scorer in the Nineteenth Century,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, Fall 2017.

Voting will be open through 11:59 p.m. MST on Monday, February 12, 2018. Details and criteria for each category can be found here. Only one work per author was considered as a finalist.

Results will be announced and presented at the seventh annual SABR Analytics Conference, March 9-11, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona. Learn more or register for the conference at SABR.org/analytics.