Offseason Notes for February 17th

Scott Kazmir will throw for scouts on Friday.

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

1. Assorted Headlines
2. Video: Cuban MVP Jose Abreu, Hitting a Homer
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: Washington Television

Assorted Headlines
College Baseball Season Starts
If I’m not mistaken, today represents the first day of the college baseball season. In any case, it represents the first edition of Baseball American Aaron Fitt’s Weekend Preview series for 2012. It’s a pretty mammoth work, that, but the weekend’s featured series appear to include 10th-ranked Vanderbilt at No. 2 Stanford and Cal State Fullerton (25) at Florida (1). The former series features Stanford right-hander Mark Appel — making the Friday night start for the Cardinal — and can apparently be viewed on the internets via CBS Sports ULIVE.

Kazmir Workout Delayed to Friday (Today)
Scott Kazmir’s workout for scouts in Houston, originally scheduled for Wednesday, was pushed back to today, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney. It will be interesting to see (and fortunate for him) if Kazmir has regained any velocity since his last stint in the majors.

Webb Throwing, Pain Free
Right-hander Brandon Webb is “is throwing on flat ground — free and easy and pain free, says agent Jonathan Maurer — and will throw for scouts at some [point],” reports Olney. Webb hasn’t pitched in the majors since Opening Day of 2009. Between 2003 and ’08, he was the third-best pitcher by WAR, with a mark of 33.1 — behind only Johan Santana (36.0) and Roy Halladay (34.4). In his three best years, 2006-08, Webb posted a 19.9 WAR — second only to CC Sabathia (20.2). He pitched 12.0 innings of baseball for Texas Double-A affiliate Frisco last year before eventually having rotator cuff surgery.

Video: Cuban MVP Jose Abreu, Hitting a Homer
Ben Badler, who covers Latin America for Baseball America, tweeted this last night:

Cuban 1B Jose Abreu went deep today. Reigning MVP leading Cuba in OBP, second in SLG. Just turned 25. Monster bat.

— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) February 17, 2012

When asked to produce some video of Abreu, Badler obliged, sharing this clip from the 2011 Pan Am Games:

Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: Washington Television
This offseason, FanGraphs is asking readers to rate the broadcast teams for all 30 major-league clubs. (Click here for more on this project.)

Rate other teams: Arizona / Atlanta / Baltimore / Boston / Chicago (AL) / Chicago (NL) / Cincinnati / Cleveland / Colorado / Detroit / Miami / Houston / Los Angeles (AL) / Los Angeles (NL, Home Games) / Los Angeles (NL, Away Games) / Milwaukee / Minnesota / New York (AL) / New York (NL) / Oakland / Philadelphia / Pittsburgh / St. Louis / San Diego / San Francisco / Seattle / Tampa Bay / Texas / Toronto.