Offseason Notes for October 7th

Jesse Ventura: not the new White Sox manager.

Assorted Headlines
Ventura Named White Sox Manager
Former White Sox — and Mets and Yankees and Dodgers — third baseman Robin Ventura was hired Thursday to replace Ozzie Guillen as manager of those selfsame White Sox. Regarding Ventura’s qualifications as a Leader of Men, the present author is unqualified to comment; however, the announcement presents an opportunity for the Curious Reader to direct his attention to Ventura’s oeuvre as a player. In so doing, the Reader will learn again for the first time that Ventura was an excellent major leaguer, worth about 61 wins above replacement over the course of his career.

Wright to the Rockies?
According to the Denver Post’s Troy Renck, “[O]pposing executives expect the Rockies to be aggressive in their pursuit of the Mets’ David Wright.” Third base was, generally speaking, a carousel of mediocrity for Colorado this season, with neither Ty Wigginton nor Ian Stewart nor Kevin Kouzmanoff nor Jose Lopez distinguishing himself in any real way. Wright, who posted just a 1.9 WAR this season in 447 plate appearances, will make $15 million in 2012.

Chapman to Return to Starting Role
Cincinnati Red and Long-Limbed Cuban Aroldis Chapman will return to starting in 2012, reports John Fay of the Cincinnati Inquirer. Utters Fay: “Chapman will go to the Instructional League in Goodyear in a week or so. After building his pitch count, he’ll go to Puerto Rico to pitch in Winter Ball.” After a problematic start to his 2011 season, the 23-year-old went on to pitch 50.0 innings this season, posting a 3.50 SIERA, 3.47 xFIP, and 90 xFIP-, with a 34.3% K, 19.8% BB, and 52.7% GB.

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 AFL performances from Thursday — one of which, shockingly, belongs to a pitcher:

• Cardinal pitching prospect Tyler Lyons started for Peoria and struck five of the 12 batters he faced — the best pitching performance so far in the early days of the AFL season. Curiously, among the other seven batters he faced, one of them walked and three got hits — one of which was a home run. Lyons only struck out 19.7% percent of the batters he faced this season as a 23-year-old (i.e. old for the level) in the High-A Florida State League, making this performance more intriguing.
• Minnesota farmhand Brian Dozier went 4-for-4 with a home run and a walk. At 24, Dozier was old for High-A Fort Myers, but earned a promotion to Double-A at the beginning of June and proceeded to slash .318/.384/.502 (.357 BABIP) in 351 plate appearances. More interesting, perhaps, is his glove: Dozier has averaged about 10 defensive runs saved at shortstop each of the least three years, per Brian Cartwright’s OLIVER system — which system projects him (Dozier, that is, not Cartwright) as about a 1.5-win player right now.

Prospecting
Baseball America’s Texas League Top 20
Baseball America released its list of the Double-A Texas League’s top-20 prospects from 2011.

Here are the top five (with their 2011 Texas League stats):

1. Mike Trout, OF, Angels: 412 PA, .326/.414/.544 (.390 BABIP), 33-for-43 SB.
2. Shelby Miller, RHP, Cardinals: 86.2 IP, 9.24 K/9, 3.43 BB/9, 0.21 HR/9, 2.73 FIP.
3. Garrett Richards, RHP, Angels: 143.0 IP, 6.48 K/9, 2.52 BB/9, 0.63 HR/9, 3.68 FIP.
4. Martin Perez, LHP, Rangers: 88.1 IP, 8.46 K/9, 3.67 BB/9, 0.61 HR/9, 3.46 FIP.
5. Jake Odorizzi, RHP, Royals: 68.2 IP, 7.08 K/9, 2.88 BB/9, 1.70 HR/9, 5.09 FIP.