Ben and Sam discuss the events of Opening Day that reinforced preseason expectations.

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Sean Doolittle is a lefty and throws one pitch 87% of the time. Even without knowing his back story — he was a first base prospect that couldn’t stay healthy on the field, and pitching was his chance to “activate his insurance plan” as he put it — you’d be forgiven for throwing the dreaded “LOOGY” moniker on him. First basemen aren’t generally known for their arms, he can’t have a great breaking ball with so little experience pitching, and he’s a lefty with one pitch. He must be there to get lefties out.

But no, Doolittle is not a LOOGY, and he talked to me a little about how he makes that one pitch work for him.

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At long last, one whim of Carson Cistulli’s is now available on FanGraphs!

In the leaderboards, you can now view just yesterday’s stats!

Sunday was the beginning of the 2013 MLB regular season, and it kicked off with a bang, as the Astros bombed the Rangers and we all learned a lesson about the real value of a one-game playoff. Not like the stakes were the same, so the game was managed differently from how it could’ve been, but in any one given game, a team like the Houston Astros can beat a team unlike the Houston Astros. Of course, it should be noted that the difference between the Astros and the best team in baseball might be like the difference between a city’s best restaurant and a city’s 29th or 30th best restaurant. That 29th or 30th best restaurant is probably still a very good restaurant! It’s just outclassed relative to the elite. It still beats the hell out of Hardee’s.

Monday is more of a baseball extravaganza, with several games on the schedule, none of which involve the Astros. Monday feels more like a true opening day, and below, I’ve assembled some quick thoughts based on some of the early games. I didn’t watch a single inning from spring training so, for me personally, baseball couldn’t feel more fresh. It will feel like this for the rest of the day, and then tomorrow, it will feel like baseball as usual. Savor the feeling of today, or tomorrow.

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Trevor Story is one of the minor league’s best shortstops. Today, elite shortstop prospects are plentiful. As they develop, the next generation of Major League shortstops could be spectacular. Jurickson Profar is a blemishless prospect, the perfect blend of tools and ability. Carlos Correa, last June’s top draftee, is joined by Xander Bogaerts, Javier Baez and Addison Russell to form a cadre of shortstops who could reintroduce offense to the position. Trevor Story rarely appears in the discussion, but he should. Read the rest of this entry »

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

1. How Ought FanGraphs Writers Use Their Access?
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Game Odds, Translated into Winning Percentages

How Ought FanGraphs Writers Use Their Access?
This offseason, both the present author and Eno Sarris joined Davids Cameron and Laurila among the ranks of FanGraphs authors with membership in the Baseball Writers Association of America. While the BBWAA will certainly have been a source of consternation for some readers for its conduct in award- and Hall of Fame-voting, it also plays an important role in allowing baseball writers to go about their jobs unencumbered.

Laurila’s ongoing Q&A series and, for example, Sarris’s recent discussion with uberhitter Joey Votto regarding the latter’s swing represent cases in which FanGraphs writers have been able to integrate the observations of actual players and coaches into the analytical work being done constantly at the site. (The present author’s own recent conversation with Brewers closer John Axford, on the other hand, represents a different sort of case — one in which, for example, a FanGraphs writer abuses his access to talk about Canada and mustaches.)

What I’d like to ask now, however — with the idea very much of appealing to the collective wisdom of the crowd — is to ask how FanGraphs writers might best use the access having been granted by the BBWAA. Between the PITCHf/x data, assorted DIPS-type metrics, plate-discipline stats, etc., available here at the site, there are a number of objective measures that could be enriched by the personal narratives of actual major-league players. Apart from stats, there are many other questions to be asked of major-league players which might appeal to our readership, but which remain unasked in other publications and at other sites.

Readers are invited, then, to make suggestions in the comments section below as to how this access might best be utilized. Will all these same suggestions be embraced? Oh, absolutely not. (Generally speaking, you people are bananas.) Rather, the idea here is to get a sense of what’s possible, and to let those possibilities serve as the outer bounds of what might be reasonable.

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Ben and Sam discuss the recent news about extensions for Justin Verlander, Buster Posey, and Elvis Andrus.

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The Texas Rangers have the best prospect in baseball, a 20-year-old shortstop named Jurickson Profar who the public projection systems think could be a league average player in the big leagues right now. He’s going to start the year in Triple-A, though, as neither middle infield position is currently available in Arlington, with Elvis Andrus and Ian Kinsler currently entrenched at shortstop and second base respectively. Kinsler is beginning the first year of a five year contract extension, and after posting the worst year of his career at age 30, he wouldn’t be particularly easy to trade at the moment. Thus, the presumption has been that Andrus was going to be the odd man out, especially since he’s represented by Scott Boras, an agent known for encouraging his players to get to free agency when they have the chance.

Well, apparently, we can throw that assumption down the drain, because Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Rangers are getting close to signing Andrus to an eight year extension that would total approximately $120 million. Because it’s eight new years on top of the two he’s already signed for, the Rangers’ obligation to Andrus now runs $131 million over the next 10 years. It’s a long contract and a lot of money, but given Andrus’ skills and value, this is a deal worth doing for Texas.

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