Offseason Notes for December 20th
Sean Burroughs and Jose Lopez are two peas in a weird, giant pod.
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Offseason Notes.
1. Assorted Headlines
2. SCOUT Leaderboards: Venezuelan Winter League
3. Time-Wasting Quiz: Sean Burroughs vs. Jose Lopez
Assorted Headlines
Baltimore Signs Richardson
The Baltimore Orioles have signed outfielder Antoan Richardson (along with three others) to minor-league deals, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. I mention it because I remember that Richardson, 28, used to have incredibly favorable fielding projections per CHONE, when that was still public. In the last available iteration of CHONE, released in August of 2010, Richardson was projected for +17 defensive runs in just 111 games/336 plate appearances.
Nationals Sign Cameron
The Washington Nationals have signed outfielder Mike Cameron to a minor-league deal, reports MLB.com’s Bill Ladson. Cameron, who turns 39 in January, approached league-average offensively in 2010 with Boston; last year, he posted only a 75 wRC+ — although, using Bradley Woodrum’s Should Hit calculator, replacing Cameron’s .228 BABIP with his career .301 figure would produce a 106 wRC+. Regarding Cameron, don’t neglect to drink in the particulars of the following WAR Graph.
Source: FanGraphs — Mike Cameron, Jim Rice
SCOUT Leaderboards: Venezuelan Winter League
Batting Leaderboard
Here is the SCOUT batting leaderboard for the Venezuelan Winter League (VWL). SCOUT represents an attempt to derive something meaningful from small samples and is the average of a player’s standard deviations from the VWL mean in three important (and regressed) stats: walk rate, strikeout rate, and home-run rate. (Click here for more on SCOUT. SCOUT leaderboards for the Venezuelan and Dominican Winter Leagues appear on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.)
| Name | Org | PA | xBB% | xK% | xHR% | BBz | Kz | HRz | SCOUT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luis Rodriguez | SEA | 137 | 18.6% | 8.8% | 1.3% | 2.07 | 1.48 | -0.31 | 1.08 |
| Luis Jimenez | SEA | 231 | 17.5% | 16.9% | 3.4% | 1.80 | -0.08 | 1.03 | 0.92 |
| Gregor Blanco | SF | 221 | 21.0% | 18.6% | 1.8% | 2.63 | -0.40 | 0.01 | 0.74 |
| Oscar Salazar | FLA | 241 | 13.5% | 15.4% | 3.0% | 0.86 | 0.21 | 0.78 | 0.62 |
| Alexi Amarista | LAA | 212 | 11.4% | 13.2% | 2.9% | 0.38 | 0.63 | 0.68 | 0.56 |
| Sean Burroughs | MIN | 154 | 11.3% | 7.8% | 0.9% | 0.34 | 1.66 | -0.59 | 0.47 |
| Mike Wilson | SEA | 173 | 18.3% | 26.6% | 3.8% | 2.00 | -1.94 | 1.25 | 0.44 |
| Jesus Guzman | SD | 156 | 16.7% | 16.0% | 1.2% | 1.61 | 0.09 | -0.38 | 0.44 |
| Bryan LaHair | CHN | 173 | 16.8% | 27.2% | 4.4% | 1.65 | -2.05 | 1.68 | 0.43 |
| Jose Lopez | CLE | 145 | 7.7% | 9.9% | 2.6% | -0.50 | 1.26 | 0.51 | 0.42 |
Notes
Veterans Sean Burroughs and Jose Lopez each make their first appearance on this week’s SCOUT leaderboard for the VWL. Lopez, who turned 28 towards the end of November, signed a minor-league deal with Cleveland this past Friday. Burroughs, now 31, signed a minor-league recently, too — with the Minnesota Twins.
Pitching Leaderboard
For pitchers, SCOUT is the average of a player’s standard deviations from the VWL mean in (regressed) strikeout and walk rate.
| Name | Org | G | GS | IP | BF | xK% | xBB% | Kz | BBz | SCOUT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrique Gonzalez | DET | 21 | 0 | 23.0 | 92 | 26.7% | 9.0% | 2.10 | -0.05 | 1.03 |
| Eric Junge | LAA | 9 | 8 | 44.2 | 183 | 24.6% | 7.9% | 1.65 | 0.26 | 0.95 |
| Yusmeiro Petit | MEX | 12 | 12 | 78.0 | 318 | 21.1% | 5.4% | 0.85 | 0.98 | 0.91 |
| Dylan Owen | NYN | 9 | 7 | 41.2 | 168 | 23.3% | 7.9% | 1.34 | 0.25 | 0.79 |
| Renyel Pinto | FA | 11 | 11 | 69.2 | 280 | 22.9% | 9.1% | 1.25 | -0.07 | 0.59 |
| Josh Schmidt | NYA | 6 | 6 | 32.1 | 135 | 23.0% | 9.2% | 1.28 | -0.11 | 0.59 |
| Les Walrond | PHI | 10 | 10 | 49.1 | 212 | 21.2% | 8.0% | 0.87 | 0.24 | 0.56 |
| Mike Parisi | LAN | 9 | 8 | 51.2 | 203 | 19.2% | 6.5% | 0.44 | 0.66 | 0.55 |
| Deunte Heath | CHA | 7 | 7 | 35.1 | 151 | 22.5% | 9.1% | 1.16 | -0.09 | 0.54 |
| Kendy Batista | IND | 22 | 0 | 25.2 | 111 | 22.5% | 9.4% | 1.18 | -0.17 | 0.50 |
Notes
The SCOUT pitching leaderboard is largely unchanged since last week, except for Enrique Gonzalez replacing Eric Junge after he (i.e. Gonzalez) struck out three and walked one in 2.2 innings over the past week. Regarding the prospect of finishing first in the SCOUT ratings, Gonzalez was rendered speechless. One assumes.
Time-Wasting Quiz: Sean Burroughs vs. Jose Lopez
As noted above, Sean Burroughs and Jose Lopez are both currently among the top performers in the Venezuelan Winter League. Also, both have recently signed minor-league contracts. Who, though, has had the more productive career, as measured by WAR?
Find out the answer to that question and so many others via this time-wasting quiz.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
They may be tied in fWAR, but Jose Lopez obliterates Burroughs in bWAR: 6.3 to 1.2. The difference is that while Burroughs has a 2 run advantage in UZR, Lopez has a 31 run advantage in TZ.
Fascinating.
first it’s rWAR, 2nd rWAR is not anywhere close to fWAR for fielders because UZR is so much better than TZ. It’s because UZR has Burroughs at 11.2 and Lopez at 9.0, but TZ has Burroughs at -13 and Lopez at +18. rWAR is useless for position players.
Yes, because any one defensive metric is demonstrably more reliable than any other. Holy cow, did you pay attention the massive uproar over UZR this season? Defensive metrics are a mess. All of them.