Fish Bites

I apologize for the lack of Fish Bites recently. I know that some people don’t really care for link dumps, but I find that it is helpful to get the word out to everyone, so I like to do them. Let’s get these Bites out there everyone.

– The Sun-Sentinel’s Juan C. Rodriguez dug up some nice numbers on Cameron Maybin and his swing selectivity. Baseball Info Solutions provided some cool numbers on Maybin’s improved discipline when returning from Triple-A. I wouldn’t put much weight on it, as it could just be noise (everyone has good months), but if it continues in 2010, it’ll be very promising for the Fish. By the way, this is the sort of good stuff I wish all beat writers threw out there from time to time. You don’t have to be devoted to the numbers to appreciative of them. Kudos, Juan!

– Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post asked a few talking-point questions here. My short responses:

1) Yes, Chris Coghlan was fairly compensated, given the fact that most rookies receive that kind of salary bump during their minimum contract years.

2) Cody Ross is a pretty decent outfielder, but he’s not a Gold Glover most likely. Also (as later pointed out in the comments), the Gold Glove is a poorly managed award anyway.

3) Capozzi makes mention of the list of 20 most valuable commodities in baseball right now, and it’s a confusing list. Any list that does not include Evan Longoria at the top is absurd; Longoria is signed to a contract that could eat up almost nine years of his playing time while awarding him only $30M. For a superstar player, that makes no sense. And to the guy who says Joe Mauer should be much more valuable than Nick Markakis, you should consider that Mauer is only signed through next season, while Markakis is locked up for another four years. Of course Mauer is better, but that isn’t the only thing that goes into the question of the most valuable commodity.

– The Marlins are trying out Seth McClung among many bullpen retreads, but McClung seems to be most fun of all of them. As evidence, witness this discussion of the “Bullpen Olympics” that he created with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008. And here’s a video of one of the events. Would be cool to watch at the stadium.

– One of the newest members of the Florida Marlins contingent in the Baseball Bloggers Alliance is Marlins Diehards, headed up by Tom and Dave. There’s no doubt about it, they are diehards for our team, and so you should definitely drop by and visit. Here is Dave’s response to the “season preview” article Will Leitch of Deadspin put up. My thoughts? Will brought legitimate points, we just aren’t as numerous and plentiful as other teams’ fanbases are. Still, we do exist. I know it, I’ve talked to the fellow Maniacs who visit here and also drop by Fish Stripes. We’re screaming out to be known, to be heard!

– As Joe Frisaro of MLB.com writes, Ricky Nolasco is vying to be an elite starter. To be honest, Nolasco was pretty damn good last year, especially after that funky start. I’d hedge my bets on Nolasco’s “problems” not flaring up again whatever those problems were. (H/T Craig)

– Now, let’s move on to some FanSided content. Wally over at Kings of Kauffman read through these FIP primers and is intrigued by the concept behind FIP. Good stuff, Wally.

– Tom over at Rum Bunter has some reactions from ex-Pirates. Nate McLouth has his VORP this year at 100.8 runs. Yowzas.

– Ed over at Deep Left Field has some thoughts on Grady Sizemore batting second. It can’t hurt too much, as second is one of the three important lineup slots.

– Griffin over at SodoMojo just wrapped up his series on the Seattle Mariners’ top prospects. If you have even the slightest knowledge of the Mariners, you’ll know who is number one.

– Mat over at Jays Journal asks whether the Toronto Blue Jays should consider extending Aaron Hill? My gut says yes, but this season will tell how much regression Hill will have on his power numbers from last year.

– Finally, for those fantasy inclined, I have two links for you. First off, as you may or may not have heard, I will be a part of a new extension of the Baseball Prospectus fantasy brand, as I have been chosen as one of five new writers to come in write for the new BP Fantasy blog. This is a cooperation play alongside Heater Magazine, to which I have contributed for the past four weeks. Hopefully my inexperience with fantasy can be made up for by my experience in analyzing players. Second, if you’re interested in a more realistic fantasy game, check out our Beyond the Box Score Ball on a Budget draft, in which I am currently participating. Here are the rules, and this league, the Billy Butler league, is the one I’m in. Here’s our mostly-filled out draft board. I think my team is pretty good, what do you guys think?