Archive for May, 2012

Daily Notes: It Feels Wrong, But It’s So Wainwright

Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

1. Featured Game: Pittsburgh at St. Louis, 20:15 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
4. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: Boston Radio

Featured Game: Pittsburgh at St. Louis, 20:15 ET
Regarding What a Person Could Assume About Adam Wainwright
A person — even a person with, like, a degree from an important liberal arts college and health insurance through his work — even that sort of person could reasonably assume that, owing to how Adam Wainwright (tonight’s starter for St. Louis) has conceded 16 runs in 19.2 innings (i.e. has posted a 7.50 ERA), that Wainwright has pitched poorly this season.

Regarding What Is More Likely the Case
It’s more likely the case that, owing to his excellent defense-independent numbers (24.1% K, 5.8% BB, and 52.5% GB in 19.2 IP), that Adam Wainwright has performed like a pitcher who would normally allow fewer than three earned runs per nine innings.

Regarding Wainwright’s Numbers, Career-Wise
Here’s how some of Wainwright’s current defense-independent numbers would compare to past years for him:

• Strikeout Rate: Career-High
• Walk Rate: Career-Low
• Ground-Ball Rate: Career-High

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Red Sox Should Recall Cook For Some Relief

The Red Sox have to decide toda whether or not to call up Aaron Cook from Pawtucket. The former Rockies starter signed a non-guaranteed, minor league deal with the Red Sox this offseason, but negotiated in an opt-out clause. The clause offered the 33-year old Cook some form of a guarantee on a non-guaranteed deal: if he wasn’t on the major league roster by May 1, he could elect free agency and latch on with another team willing to give him a better opportunity.

With the deadline fast approaching, the decision is really a no-brainer that the Red Sox should call him up. He hasn’t exactly been tearing up the International League, but he has done what he always does: limit walks and keep the ball on the ground. If healthy after two straight injury-plagued campaigns, he could be a big boon to the Red Sox pitching staff.

However, his real benefit to the Red Sox right now is as a reliever. Nowhere in his contract does it stipulate that the May 1 call-up must automatically push him into the rotation, and the Red Sox could best utilize his elite groundballing status as a means of helping to stabilize a messy relief corps.

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