Around the Sabersphere 10/31: Volstad? Trick or Treat! Top Prospect Lists! Baseball Might Not Be Dying!

Rany Jazayerli over at his blog talks about the Royals waiver claim of Chris Volstad: For Want Of A Pitcher: Really?!

Last off-season, after I sorted through dozens of options to upgrade the Royals’ beleaguered rotation, they went off the board by trading for Jonathan Sanchez. I have barely begun to look at this off-season’s pitching options, but I can tell you with a fair degree of certainty that I could have put together a list a hundred deep and wouldn’t have gotten to Chris Volstad.

Adam Sobsey for Baseball Prospectus looks at the Giants Halloween costumes that they wore to the World Series: Sobsequy: The Freaks and Geeks Go All the Way

Well, and what did you expect? It’s Halloween, and the Giants wear black and orange.

Yes, I know, those are not stats. But to push on this a bit harder: it’s costume week, and the time of the dead, and the Giants dressed the part. Look at them. Brian Wilson, who is spending a year-plus dead, has the fake-looking beard, andSergio Romo went trick-or-treating in the closer costume (beard included) Wilson used to wear. Pablo Sandoval went as the power hitter he used to be (his ISO dropped 70 points this season and he hit 12 home runs). In Game One he went as Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson, and/or Albert Pujols.

Not exactly sabermetrics, but fun for us nerds nonetheless- Jim Callis for Baseball America releases Baseball America's top 10 Red Sox prospects: Boston Red Sox Top 10 Prospects

The Red Sox shipped Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, who joined the club in blockbuster moves three days apart in December 2010, to the Dodgers. World Series hero-turned-malcontent Josh Beckett and Nick Punto also headed to Los Angeles. Boston not only shed $261 million in salary commitments, but also managed to acquire a pair of quality arms in Rubby de la Rosa and Allen Webster, along with James Loney, Jerry Sands and Ivan DeJesus Jr.

Wendy Thurm explores the meaning of the record-low World Series ratings: National TV Ratings for World Series Tell Only Part of the Story

First, the national TV ratings for the World Series were released. The lowest in history!Lower than the last time the San Francisco Giants played in the World Series! Then came the commentary about how boring the series was — how it lacked national stars, how the ratings show interest in baseball is dying.