Offseason Notes for November 30th

Pittsburgh’s Starling Marte: kinda, sorta baseball’s top prospect.

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

1. Projecting: Some Notable OLIVER Projections
2. Projecting: ZiPS for Seattle
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: Baltimore Television

Projecting: Some Notable OLIVER Projections
Brian Cartwright’s OLIVER projections are now available at The Hardball Times. Some minor technical issues might remain with the functionality, although I personally have had no problems.

As I did last year, I’ve assembled below what can most accurately be described as a “Kinda, Sorta” Prospect List — in that it’s simply a list of the top-10 rookie-eligible batters sorted purely by OLIVER’s projected 2012 WAR. (Projections assume a full MLB season.)

Note that Jesus Montero, Mike Moustakas, Jason Kipnis, Todd Frazier, and Ryan Lavarnway — i.e. all players who both (a) made their major-league debuts in 2011 and (b) played decently while doing so — were all on this same list last season.

A Kinda, Sorta Prospect List

1. Starling Marte, OF, PIT
2. Jedd Gyorko, 3B, SDN
3. Derek Norris, C, WAS
4. Andrelton Simmons, SS, ATL
5. Adam Eaton, OF, ARI
6. Anthony Rendon, 3B, WAS
7. Matt Carpenter, 3B, STL
8. Jaff Decker, LF, SDN
9. Brian Dozier, SS, MIN
10. Joe Panik, SS, SFN

Projections: ZiPS for Seattle
Dan Szymborski has published his ZiPS projections for the Seattle Mariners. Below are some of the notable ones. (All numbers assume major league competition. OPS+ and ERA+ are park-adjusted.)

Vincent Catricala, 3B, 23: .259/.321/.401 100 OPS+
Catricala has the third-highest OPS+ projection per ZiPS of any player on the Mariner offense — and second-highest once you adjust for position. The third baseman (although it might be more like “third baseman”) slashed .347/.420/.632 (.389 BABIP) as a 22-year-old in 276 plate appearances at Double-A Jackson in 2011. That’s certainly promising, but not ideal to have as the player who — again, per ZiPS — ought to be one of your starters.

Luis Rodriguez, SS, 32: .252/.319/.360, 89 OPS+
You watch your mouth, ZiPS: Luis Rodriguez is a saint.

David Aardsma, RHP, 30: 32.0 IP, 35 K, 16 BB, 3 HR, 108 ERA+
Josh Lueke, RHP, 27: 54.1 IP, 45 K, 20 BB, 4 HR, 103 ERA+
Aardsma and Lueke are the second- and third-most highly rated Mariner relievers, per ZiPS. Unfortunately, the former is a free agent; the latter, a Tampa Bay Ray. (Note: there’s no John Jaso projection yet.)

Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: Baltimore 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.

Image courtesy Pirates Prospects.