Offseason Notes for October 28th
In the sweat of Carlos Zambrano’s face shalt he eat bread — and also per the terms of his contract.
Assorted Headlines
Zambrano May Pitch in Venezuelan Winter League
Carlos Zambrano — who hasn’t pitched since an August 12th incident that saw him concede five home runs, attempt to hit Chipper Jones, and perform emotional hara-kiri — might pitch for Caribes in the Venezuelan Winter League, MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat reports. The right-hander, who posted the highest xFIP- of his career (113) in 2011, is owed $18 million in 2012. Reports suggest that he maybe also eats children*.
*These reports come from a dream I had last night.
Diamondbacks Sign Impressive-Sounding Indy League Reliever
The Joliet Slammers of the independent Frontier League announced Thursday that they’ve sold the contract of closer Ryan Quigley to the Arizona Diamondbacks, according to Our Sports Central. That same source indicates that Quigley has a fastball that reaches 96 mph and an excellent slider. In 42.2 innings with Joliet this season, Quigley had 72 strikeouts and 25 walks.
List of Super Two, Arbitration-Eligible Players
The well-groomed gentlemen of MLB Trade Rumors have published a list of players who’ve achieved Super Two status. Super Two players, briefly stated, are those who, owing to service time, earn a fourth year of arbitration eligibility before they reach free agency. Notable names on this year’s Super Two list include Dexter Fowler, Gio Gonzalez, Rick Porcello, David Price, Ryan Roberts, and Jordan Zimmermann.
SCOUT Leaderboards: Dominican Winter League
Say Hello to the Dominican Winter League
Like the Venezuelan Winter League, at which we looked yesterday, the Dominican Winter League (DWL) has a number of interesting young players in it, if not the toppest of top prospects. Some names you won’t find in the following leaderboards but which belong to players currently participating in this year’s DWL are: Brett Wallace, Brandon Allen, Jerry Sands, Brian Bogusevic, Starling Marte, and Milwaukee pitching prospect Wily Peralta.
Batting Leaderboard
Here is the SCOUT batting leaderboard for the DWL. SCOUT is the average of a player’s standard deviations from the DWL mean in three important (and regressed) stats: walk rate, strikeout rate, and home-run rate. (Click here for more on SCOUT.)
| Name | Org | PA | xBB% | xK% | xHR% | BBz | Kz | HRz | SCOUT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricardo Nanita | TOR | 35 | 10.3% | 16.9% | 3.3% | -0.06 | 0.34 | 0.37 | 0.22 |
| Efren Navarro | LAA | 40 | 11.5% | 17.6% | 2.6% | 0.15 | 0.25 | 0.13 | 0.18 |
| Willy Aybar | IND | 39 | 11.1% | 15.7% | 1.9% | 0.07 | 0.50 | -0.10 | 0.16 |
| Anderson Hernandez | HOU | 41 | 11.0% | 17.4% | 2.2% | 0.06 | 0.27 | 0.01 | 0.11 |
| Brandon Belt | SF | 41 | 12.5% | 19.4% | 2.2% | 0.32 | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.11 |
| Erick Almonte | MIL | 44 | 12.3% | 18.4% | 1.9% | 0.29 | 0.14 | -0.11 | 0.11 |
| Jhonatan Solano | WAS | 28 | 10.6% | 17.1% | 2.0% | 0.00 | 0.31 | -0.07 | 0.08 |
| Luis Jimenez | LAA | 39 | 10.1% | 17.0% | 2.3% | -0.10 | 0.32 | 0.02 | 0.08 |
| Jordany Valdespin | NYN | 42 | 9.9% | 16.0% | 1.9% | -0.13 | 0.47 | -0.11 | 0.08 |
| Wilin Rosario | COL | 34 | 9.3% | 19.0% | 3.3% | -0.23 | 0.05 | 0.37 | 0.07 |
Pitching Leaderboard
For pitchers, SCOUT is the average of a player’s standard deviations from the mean in (regressed) strikeout and walk rate.
| Name | Org | G | GS | IP | BF | xK% | xBB% | Kz | BBz | SCOUT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juan Perez | PHI | 5 | 0 | 7.2 | 26 | 23.7% | 7.7% | 0.37 | -0.05 | 0.16 |
| Chris Leroux | PIT | 2 | 2 | 9.0 | 31 | 23.0% | 7.4% | 0.28 | 0.02 | 0.15 |
| Carlos Pimentel | TEX | 4 | 0 | 6.2 | 20 | 22.5% | 7.4% | 0.23 | 0.02 | 0.13 |
| Tom Cochran | CIN | 3 | 3 | 13.1 | 58 | 22.6% | 7.4% | 0.23 | 0.02 | 0.13 |
| Raul Valdes | FA | 3 | 3 | 16.2 | 63 | 21.3% | 7.0% | 0.09 | 0.13 | 0.11 |
| Willy Lebron | KC | 3 | 3 | 13.1 | 58 | 23.2% | 8.0% | 0.31 | -0.12 | 0.09 |
| Matt Meyer | LAA | 7 | 0 | 6.1 | 21 | 22.3% | 7.6% | 0.20 | -0.02 | 0.09 |
| Aneury Rodriguez | HOU | 3 | 2 | 8.2 | 36 | 21.7% | 7.4% | 0.13 | 0.03 | 0.08 |
| David Quinowski | SF | 4 | 0 | 6.2 | 25 | 21.2% | 7.2% | 0.07 | 0.09 | 0.08 |
| Brandon Sisk | KC | 4 | 0 | 6.1 | 24 | 21.2% | 7.4% | 0.08 | 0.04 | 0.06 |
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Carson, loving the offseason notes! Can I make suggestion? Could you include a HOT STOVE section where you highlight some juicy transaction gossip?
Two things:
1. Your wish is my command — provided your wish isn’t something gross. In which case, why are you wishing me to do that gross thing?
2. Unfortunately, the transaction gossip has been decidedly un-juicy so far. After the Series, though, things should become more interesting, and that will be reflected in the Notes.