Scouting The Scouting Directors, Part Two

In Part 1 yesterday, I didn’t mention the work of scouting directors with three years or fewer on the job. That’s because directors with such limited work are prone to wild swings and outrageous bWAR+ figures based on a single player. One way to remedy this is to look at individual drafts. Let’s look at the top individual drafts now. (Since most recent draftees haven’t even started their major league careers, these data will exclude drafts from 2009 and later.) Here are the 10 best using those criteria. This is for total talent drafted (signed and unsigned), relative to league:

The Hardball Times

Mark Hendrickson Announces Retirement

Eduardo A Encina Twitter

Orioles Release Mark Hendrickson

Roch Kubatko Twitter

Tigers, Diamondbacks Have Interest In Dioner Navarro

There is a market for Dioner Navarro.

Toronto Sun

Joey Butler's Clutch Hits Not Enough In Rays Spring Opener

There is a major irony in spring training–everyone comes to see the stars, but it is usually the unknowns who decide who wins and loses. Of course, that is exactly why the games mean so little. However, breaking through the irrelevancy is far from impossible–while people came to see Evan Longoria, Kevin Kiermaier, and Asdrubal Cabrera, they will leave remembering Joey Butler as well.

Rays Colored Glasses 

Orioles Sign Mark Hendrickson To Minors Deal With Spring Invite

Brittany Ghiroli Twitter

Orioles May Give Mark Hendrickson A Spring Invite

It sounds as though the Orioles are leaning toward inviting veteran left-hander Mark Hendrickson, who had a tryout earlier this month at the minicamp in Sarasota.

MASN Sports

York Signs Mark Henderickson For 2014 Season

Roch Kubatko Twitter

Orioles Grant Randy Winn Unconditional Release

Dan Connolly Twitter

Orioles Send Mark Henderickson To Minors, Can Opt Out

Brittany Ghiroli Twitter

Orioles Sign Mark Henderickson To Minors Deal

Jeff Zrebiec Twitter

Orioles May Bring Cesar Izturis Back

Wigginton and Izturis remain the most likely to return, although much of that depends on how the team lands its biggest need: a power bat.

Orioles Official Site

Orioles: Deciding Which Free Agents To Keep

When manager Buck Showalter was asked late in the season about his timetable for announcing which coaches would return in 2011, he said it would be "sooner rather than later."

MASN Sports

Adam Wainwright's Big July 4th Boom Stick

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright was the team’s top pitcher – and hitter – on Sunday.

The Cardinal Nation Blog

Orioles Recall Alberto Castillo

The move to recall Alberto Castillo in Hughes' spot is one that replaces a lefty with a lefty. Given that Hendrickson is starting the O's pen would be shorthanded, so Castillo gives the club some depth.

Britt's Bird Watch

Orioles Call Up Alberto Castillo

After optioning starting pitcher Brad Bergesen to Triple-A Norfolk on Tuesday, the club was able to provide some help to the beleaguered bullpen by bringing up lefty Alberto Castillo. He arrived about a hour before Tuesday's game against the Mariners.

Orioles Official Site

Cesar Izturis Back In The Orioles Lineup On Sunday

Cesar Izturis is in today's lineup and said he's feeling much better. He had a sore throat and was a late scratch from Friday's game as well.

Britt's Bird Watch

Looking At Todd Wellemeyer, Jason Pirdie, Mark Hendrickson, & Willy Taveras ( Yes, Things Are Slow)

Todd Wellemeyer is coming off an injury-marred season with the Cardinals where he posted a 5.89 ERA and 5.21 xFIP. The year prior, he was considered another one of Dave Duncan's success stories, but had been essentially the same pitcher (looking at FIP/xFIP) from 2006-2008. He's not someone who will ever hold down a permanent job, but his 90+ mph fastball will keep getting him looks despite his poor control. Any team that can sign him to a minor league contract will be getting a league-average pitcher who can start and relieve. As depth in Triple-A, you can have much worse pitchers.

The Hardball Times

Orioles Expected To Meet With Aroldis Chapman During Winter Meetings

The Orioles will meet with the agents of Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman during the meetings.

Baltimore Sun

Prospectus Today: Starting Pitcher Free Agents Review

There are very few good buys among the available starting pitchers. As with the first two pieces in this series, these pitchers are sorted by the chance that they'll return value on the contract they can be expected to sign.

Baseball Prospectus