Offseason Notes for October 13th

Aaron Laffey, pictured here beside a floating baseball.

This edition of Offseason Notes contains the following important information:

1. Recent and Minor Transactions
2. Transaction Glossary: Outrighted
3. Arizona Fall League Action

Recent and Minor Transactions
Below are some recent minor transactions with vibrant notes on same.

Colorado Rockies claim Andrew Brown off waivers from St. Louis Cardinals
The Colorado Rockies are in search of someone to platoon with Seth Smith in left field and Ian Stewart at third base, and will very likely give the newly acquired — and right-hand batting — Brown an opportunity to try doing at least one of those things. Brown, who just turned 27, played all four corner spots at Triple-A Memphis (although his single appearance at third suggests he’s not a natural at the position), batting .284/.382/.501 (.340 BABIP) in 428 plate appearances. Notably, 2011 was only Brown’s first season at the level.

Kansas City Royals claim Aaron Laffey off waivers from New York Yankees
Aaron Laffey (a) posted a 4.38 SIERA and 4.69 xFIP in 53.1 innings this season, exclusively in relief, and (b) is a left-hander who’s only 26, which means he’ll be in the majors until your children and your children’s children have gone through college — which, that also raises the question as to why your children have had children.

Kansas City Royals designate Jesse Chavez for assignment
In order to make room on the 40-man roster for Laffey, the Royals designated right-handed reliever Jesse Chavez for assignment. Chavez, 28, is mostly notable for trades in which other, more impressive pieces have played a part — as in the deal that sent Rafael Soriano to Tampa Bay from Atlanta, for example, and the one that saw Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth move to Atlanta at the 2010 trade deadline. Chavez has a 4.12 SIERA and 4.50 xFIP (108 xFIP-) in 152.2 major-league innings, and is likely destined to spend more time straddling Triple-A and the majors… if you know what I mean. (I mean he’ll play in the majors a little and in the minors a little.)

Transaction Glossary: Outrighted
Occasionally, this winter — or at some other time in your life — you’ll hear that a player has been “outrighted.” This is something that can happen after a player has been designated for assignment and, luckily for all of us, Wikipedia has some thoughts on what that words means:

Typically a player is placed on waivers after being designated for assignment for the purpose of outrighting him to one of the club’s minor league teams. A player who is outrighted to the minors is removed from the 40-man roster but is still paid according to the terms of his guaranteed contract. A player can only be outrighted once in his career without his consent. However, a player must clear waivers (that is, no other team may place a waiver claim on the player) to be sent to a minor league team. Also, if the player has five or more full years of major league service, he must give consent to be assigned to the minors. If the player withholds consent, the team must either release him or keep him on the major league roster. In either case, the player must continue to be paid under the terms of his contract.

Arizona Fall League
Arizona Fall League Action
This is the time in the show when we look at Arizona Fall League action.

Notable Performances
Here are some notable performances from said AFL action:

• Colorado third-base prospect Nolan Arenado continued expressly not striking out, going 3-for-4 Wednesday. He’s still struck out just once in his 22 plate appearances.

• Baltimore minor-league right-hander, 24-year-old Steve Johnson, isn’t a prospect really but did strike out four of the 13 batters he faced last night and has now recorded eight strikeouts in six innings, against only two walks. His line from Triple-A this season (87.1 IP, 6.49 K/9, 4.84 BB/9, 0.72 HR/9, 4.55 FIP) doesn’t scream “ace” — doesn’t scream anything, for that matter, on account of its inanimate.

• After hitting a home run and walking in four plate appearances last night, Nick Franklin now has five walks, four strikeouts, and a homer in 19 plate appearances — giving him an early AFL Three True Outcome percentage of 52.6%. Beware, Mike Olt!