Second Opinion Player-Profile Game: Question #3

This edition of the player-profile game is appearing at 11:30am Central Time because the author is an idiot.

As announced Wednesday, FanGraphs will once again be offering to the public its fantasy companion guide, The Second Opinion. We’ll have more details on the guide — set to be released on Monday — very shortly.

In the meantime, however, we’re playing the player-profile game I intoduced in these pages a couple offseasons ago.

The game is easy: one person (me, in this case) offers the text of single player profile, being careful to omit any proper names that might reveal the identity of the player in question. The other person (you, the reader) attempts to identify the player using only the details provided in the profile.

First reader to guess correctly (in the comments section below) gets a free copy of this year’s Second Opinion — approximately a $1000 value!

Today’s entry comes in form of three shorter profiles. To answer correctly, respondents must identify all three players.

Because of the difficulty of this round, multiple attempts are allowed. If no one has the correct answer by 1pm ET, we will select the closest answer.

Who are they?

One:

This portly slider specialist saw his ERA drop over a run from 2010 to 2011 (from 4.76 to 3.62), but that was due to better luck on fly balls than any change in skill (his xFIP increased from 3.85 to 4.06). [BLANK’S] sprint to the mound will continue to be the most pulse-pounding part of his relief appearances. (David Golebiewski).

Two:

No field player improved his prospect status more than [BLANK] during this year’s Arizona Fall League, as the outfielder finished among the league’s leaders in strikeout rate, walk rate, and home-run rate. Unfortunately, a broken hamate ended his AFL run. He may not be a factor at the MLB level in 2012, but is only 22 and has a nice base of skills. (Carson Cistulli).

Three:

[BLANK] will be 40 years old entering 2012 and had a wRC+ lower than Chone Figgins in 2011. Look kids — Big Ben, Parliament. (Michael Barr).