We've reached the true dead period of the offseason. There's little to no action, as teams have already finished putting their rosters together and are merely mopping up some depth in the form of minor-league deals, and there isn't likely going to be any other large moves. Roy Oswalt will sign somewhere, teams will sign their final arbitration cases to contracts or extensions, and the season will creep toward us at a snail's pace. Yesss.
One of the biggest news stories yesterday was that the Yankees are hoping to trade A.J. Burnett in order to free up a bit of payroll space. If true, this throws yet another starting pitcher onto the market, and gives us yet another reason to not expect Niemann or David to go anywhere before the season. A cheap Burnett would be a good buy-low addition for a number of teams...and his departure would weaken the Yankees' rotation, so I'd be all for it.
But considering Roy Oswalt is still sitting out there on the market, I just don't see it happening.
- Elvis Andrus and Nelson Cruz both signed extensions with the Rangers over the past 12 hours. Neither deal buys out any years of free agency, but it provides both sides with some security.
- If you're looking to prepare for fantasy baseball season, FanGraphs+ (formerly known as The Second Opinion) is now available for purchase. It's only $5, but you get access to fantasy player profiles for over 1,100 players, access to ESPN Insider articles written by the FanGraphs staff, and access to a number of fantasy-related articles to help you prepare for this season.
- Oh, and also, if you're interested in playing fantasy baseball against Dave Cameron, he's joining his first fantasy league in ages this year in order to raise money for cancer research. It's a great cause with a great potential reward, so check it out.
- Keith Law ranked the Rays' farm system as the 2nd best in baseball. Considering that most other analysts had dropped the Rays down to around the #7-10 level, that's an exciting endorsement. And if you're into prospect lists, MLB.com released their own version of the Rays' top 20 prospects.
- As a follow up to his pieces on "Finding the Next Michael Pineda", Carson Cistulli created a table of starting pitcher xFIP by fastball velocity. The results are unsurprising -- yes, pitchers that throw harder are generally better -- but the size of the difference is rather dramatic.
KLAW's top 100 comes out today.
This is an exciting time for prospect hounds as we get that today, BP’s Monday, and BA’s is coming.
rglass44 - February 9, 2012
I'm still disgusted BA had us 13th(?).
mr. maniac - February 9, 2012
I'm really starting to get scared with the Davis/Niemann/Moore situation.
Hopefully Davis or Niemann goes to the pen, or else it is the minor leagues for Moore.
mr. maniac - February 9, 2012
Nah, don't worry. It's pretty simple for them to work out.
Maybe someone starts the season injured, and if not, Davis goes to the ’pen and likely Gomes/McGee/(someone with an option) goes down for the time being.
Davis might end up in the bullpen regardless, so it wouldn’t be that horrible.
Steve Slowinski - February 9, 2012
I hope you are right.
mr. maniac - February 9, 2012
No other scenario makes that much sense.
I’m kinda excited to see what Davis looks like out of the ’pen for an extended period of time.
Steve Slowinski - February 9, 2012
MLB.com's top prospect list is awful. The reports are awful and the rankings are awful.
Just read this report on Markel:
So let me get it straight. He has a plus changeup, but he needs to work on it and get it better to stay in the starting role?
mr. maniac - February 9, 2012
You would
Sandy Kazmir - February 9, 2012
Yanks trading Burnett to buy Oswalt?
playjoyce - February 9, 2012 via mobile
So I walk into the bar last night and one of my buddies that's a bouncer there is a huge Red Sox fan
First thing he tells me is that he won some ticket lottery that gives him rights to get opening day tix for face value (as well as any Yankees-Red Sox tix he wants). The Rays just happen to be playing at Fenway on opening day this year. He has no interest in going and knows that I’m a huge Rays fan he offered to get the tix and then sell them to me for face. So basically I’m looking at going to the first three Rays-Yankees games in Tampa. Working for a week outside Tampa, then flying up to Boston for the Fenway opener against the Rays. Going to 4 of the first 7 games, especially against our rivals, would be amazing to kick off the season.
Sandy Kazmir - February 9, 2012
Living the high life, Sandy
Jason Collette - February 9, 2012
This is me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K82nMSy-IWQ
Sandy Kazmir - February 9, 2012
This is more accurate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e22Ar4eS3Q
Jason Collette - February 9, 2012
Ya brunt
firemangreg - February 9, 2012
I do have a fantastic set of tits, love America, and can barely speak English
Sandy Kazmir - February 9, 2012
Your moobs are magnificent
Jason Collette - February 9, 2012
we better win 'em.
rglass44 - February 9, 2012
Yeah it would suck if we start out 1-8. No way to make the playoffs after that. Not possible
Sandy Kazmir - February 9, 2012
i'd call you a jinx.
rglass44 - February 9, 2012
Living a Collette type lifestyle
Dome Biscuit - February 9, 2012
Klaw's list is out
http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7547690/mlb-top-100-prospects-2012-mike-trout-bryce-harper-more
6 Rays are listed in there, 2 in the top 12, and then 62, 84,87, and 88. The last 2 come from the latest draft
Jason Collette - February 9, 2012
Oh look. Archer still top 75.
rglass44 - February 9, 2012
I like how he had Matt Moore 16th last year
Sandy Kazmir - February 9, 2012
the upside was HUGE if he gained command. he did.
my fave thing about the KLAW lists is he seems less afraid than others to make gambles. it’s probably a result of him making his own top 100 as opposed to BA where it is compiled, so different people’s “hunch” players kind of wash out.
rglass44 - February 9, 2012
This.
Plus KLAW actually gets his eyes on these guys. Not sure if all the other lists actually see them in person.
Peter Piontek - February 9, 2012
There's no doubt that last year Matt Moore broke out in a big way
benderbrodriguez - February 9, 2012
The Moore ranking at #16 was high, if I'm correct.
mr. maniac - February 9, 2012
Yeah
The above was more a pun than anything else though
benderbrodriguez - February 9, 2012
I missed that.
mr. maniac - February 9, 2012
opinions on posting Rays' players comments?
rglass44 - February 9, 2012
opinions on posting Rays' players comments?
rglass44 - February 9, 2012
I say let's link it as a FanShot.
Drop the Rays player names in the comments.
Steve Slowinski - February 9, 2012
I just didn't want to publicly disclose the info 5 min after its release given my business relationship with Law, Karabell, and Berry
I tried to be as vague as possible there and let people guess which one is slotted where. #84 is the biggest surprise to me.
Jason Collette - February 9, 2012
Well, Topkin just did, so now whatever I guess.
Steve Slowinski - February 9, 2012
Topkin is a hack
Peter Piontek - February 9, 2012
smh
That insider filter is how the money is made. I just find it disrespectful when you can’t even let a story cool 5 minutes before disclosing a part of it behind it. Why would a Rays fan want to think about subscribing now?
As others have said, Law alone is worth the money but if you’re doing fantasy baseball and aren’t subscribing to the insider thing, you’re missing out. Matthew, Nate, Karabell, Quintong, et al do great work.
Jason Collette - February 9, 2012
ESPN is a heartless corporation, you're in the minority
Sandy Kazmir - February 9, 2012
I don't know the corporate overlords
I know the minions, and they’re great people
Jason Collette - February 9, 2012
Do they have a bonus in their contract for subscribers?
Sandy Kazmir - February 9, 2012
implicitly
rglass44 - February 9, 2012
Yea, job insurance
Jason Collette - February 9, 2012
weren't you just pimping them earlier this week?
rglass44 - February 9, 2012
I don't see how the quality of work and the corporate philosophy are on the same plane, but have at it
Sandy Kazmir - February 9, 2012
how do you think they pay developers?
rglass44 - February 9, 2012
From their corporate war chest that numbers in the billions
Sandy Kazmir - February 9, 2012
Yeah, agree. It's a tough line to walk.
Considering every team blog/reporter ends up listing out the players from their org, you could probably reconstruct the whole list for free (if you wanted to waste a heck of a lot of time).
Steve Slowinski - February 9, 2012
And I know there are plenty of people who seriously copy/paste every stinkin insider piece without second thought.
It annoys me.
mr. maniac - February 9, 2012
Lots of people like Enny
I find it awesome that HJL is a notch above Wil Myers
Sandy Kazmir - February 9, 2012
a snippet on Romero
Jason Collette - February 9, 2012
That would be very nice.
Peter Piontek - February 9, 2012
HOW DARE YOU REPRODUCE THIS?!
firemangreg - February 9, 2012
reproduce this
Jason Collette - February 9, 2012
I actually think it's worse to include his analysis than to just list the players in the list and their ranking
Ryan Gilliss - February 9, 2012
+1
mr. maniac - February 9, 2012
I'd think the cliff notes would be okay.
I like how KLaw is so high on Lee
Peter Piontek - February 9, 2012
Law is the top prospect guru out there, imo.
mr. maniac - February 9, 2012
Hey Randy, awesome to see your boy Yonder come in at 69 too bad we didn't trade Matt Moore and Evan Longoria for him like you suggested
Sandy Kazmir - February 9, 2012
i feel like ive been pretty consistent on my yonder evaluation.
ive always said i wanted him, but i dont think he has star potential.
rglass44 - February 9, 2012
to all the archer haders: suck it.
still top 75. i also think i said we’d have more than 2 guys make top 100 lists and listed the ones i thought could make ones (torres and bex listed as possibilities as well) and these guys all were on it. maybe we do underrate our own guys…
rglass44 - February 9, 2012
Stefan is so good...
went to the Magic game last night with your cuzzo and started slipping into Hader’s Colonel Nast from the Cee Lo Green show.
Ryan Gilliss - February 9, 2012
I don't know what this means, but I'm offended.
Hatfield - February 9, 2012
I think Archer is more overrated than underrated
But we’ll see in due time
benderbrodriguez - February 9, 2012
I will say I'm more confident after seeing him on Milb TV.
His pitch sequencing and command are the two main issues, and both seems correctable to a degree.
mr. maniac - February 9, 2012
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of DRaysBay to post a comment.