Around the SaberSphere 10/22: An Alex Rodriguez salary dump, a Japanese phenom, BeaneBall

I went a little overboard with the links today; which I personally think is a good thing:

SABR President Vince Gennaro makes an argument for why the Yankees should maybe dump Alex Rodriguez: A-Rod’s Future with the Yankees « Diamond Dollar$

I’m advocating trading Alex Rodriguez because it makes financial sense for the Yankees and gives them the flexibility they need to maintain a championship caliber team over the next several years. Aside from the debate around the expectations of A-Rod’s future performance, he has five years and $114 million in salary remaining on his contract. In addition, he is entitled to a potential $30 million in milestone bonuses for achieving various historic home run totals, beginning with his 660th HR (he currently sits at 647)

Eno Sarris of FanGraphs writes about Japanese phenom Shohei Otani: Japanese RHP Shohei Otani Coming to MLB | FanGraphs Baseball

That’s okay. A six-foot-four 18-year-old with mid-nineties gas and at least one workable secondary pitch will get a lot of chances in American baseball before he’s through, even if there are some asterisks.

Also at FG, Jack Moore analyzes the Athletics move for outfielder Chris Young: Athletics Stockpile Another Asset In Chris Young | FanGraphs Baseball

Young’s situation is an ideal buy low opportunity. He owns a 104 wRC+ over the last three seasons and could still have his peak in front of him at age 29. The counterpoint — and perhaps the reason the Diamondbacks were willing to take on Cliff Pennington despite his horrid offensive season (65 wRC+ in 125 games) — was a decline in 2012 from Young. After notching a 109 wRC+ as a 26-year-old in 2010, Young slipped to 101 last season and 97 this year.

R.J. Anderson also analyzed the trade for Baseball Prospectus:Baseball Prospectus | Transaction Analysis: Offseason in October

And this is without considering Collin Cowgill or Jonny Gomes, whom Beane expressed an interest in re-signing. Early word suggests the A’s will look to keep all of their outfielders and create a massive rotation in the outfield and at designated hitter. But keeping the outfield options would seem like a waste of resources with the A’s needing help at third base and, potentially, shortstop. A general manager bluffing in October? Why I never.

Also at BP, Russell Carlton writes about whether three-true-outcomes players are better in the playoffs: Baseball Prospectus | Baseball Therapy: Are Three-True-Outcomes Players Better in the Playoffs?

To answer Rany and Joe's question, guys who are TTO heavy during the regular season actually put up more walks and home runs in the postseason (but not more strikeouts) relative to what we expect of them after we correct for the fact that they are facing better pitching. They also hit more fly balls than we would otherwise expect. Their increased walks and HR come at the expense of other types of hits and outs in play. All told, a TTO hitter is actually a little bit better in the playoffs than he is in the regular season, again correcting for the better pitching that he is facing

Brendan O'Toole of Over the Monster posits theories for why the Red Sox hired John Farrell: Why John Farrell? - Over the Monster

After a year of Bobby Valentine starting fires wherever he went, it's possible this is Boston's plan now. Farrell certainly looks the part of a manager, strong of jaw and steady of gaze. The general sense seems to be that he's comfortable with the sort of metrics and win-expectancy theories that the Sox front office dotes upon. So perhaps this is less about what Farrell brings to the Red Sox and more about what the Red Sox know they can bring to Farrell.