Episode 233
Dayn Perry, contributor to CBS Sports’ Eye on Baseball and author of two books (one of them serviceable), makes his weekly appearance on FanGraphs Audio from his own, real bed.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

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Audio after the jump. (Approximately 28 min. play time.)

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

1. Dan Straily-Related Information
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Dan Straily-Related Information
Regarding Who Dan Straily Is, First of All
Dan Straily is the 23-year-old and right-handed Oakland prospect who entered play Tuesday leading all minor-league pitchers in strikeouts, with 179.

Regarding Who Dan Straily Is, Also
Another thing about Dan Straily is, is he posted this line with Oakland in three minor-league starts not that long ago: 17.0 IP, 17.1% K, 5.7% BB, 28.3% GB, 4.56 SIERA, 116 xFIP-, 0.0 WAR.

Regarding One Type of Reader, What He Might Say
It’s entirely possible that a certain type of reader — inspecting Straily’s line, etc. — a certain type of reader might utter something to the effect of “Pshaw.”

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In today’s edition of the Daily Notes — and by way of previewing Tommy Milone’s start later tonight in Cleveland — the author presented a leaderboard of the league’s best changeups this season, as determined by pitch-type runs. Indeed, one of the names on that leaderboard was Tommy Milone’s own, whose changeup has been worth 16.1 runs above average. In fact, Milone is first on that list — tied with another AL West left-hander, Seattle’s Jason Vargas.

Vargas and Milone have a lot in common. They’re both left-handed, they both have fastballs that sit at 87-88 mph, and they’ve both held right-handed batters to a lower wOBA-against this season (.296 and .290, respectively) than they have left-handed ones (.322 and .319) — largely on the strength of their plus changeups, one assumes.

A final thing they have in common is how the present author made animated GIFs of them this afternoon. Nor are these GIFs of either the haphazard or slapdash variety, but rather the carefully and artisanally crafted sort. Indeed, in so making these GIFs, the author sought to find instances in which each pitcher had thrown in front of one of the league’s better cameras — of particular importance when dealing with left-handers, the angles of whose pitches are distorted considerably by cameras that are not straight-on from center field.

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

1. Tommy Milone’s Changeup
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Tommy Milone’s Changeup
What the Attentive Reader Might Notice
The attentive reader might notice that Tommy Milone is pitching for Oakland tonight, against Cleveland.

What a More Attentive Reader Might Notice
An even more attentive reader than that first one might notice that Tommy Milone has pitched quite well this season. Like, to the point where it would be entirely reasonable to suggest that he’s a slightly above-average major-league starter. To wit: 153.1 IP, 17.8% K, 4.8% BB, 39.2% GB, 3.97 SIERA, 96 xFIP-, 2.1 WAR.

What the Most Attentive Reader Might Notice
What the most attentive reader will notice is that Milone’s success is almost entirely due to his changeup. Consider, for example, the pitch values (runs relative to average) for his repertoire:

• Four-Seam Fastball: -6.3 runs, -0.53 runs/100.
• Two-Seam Fastball: -5.2 runs, -4.07 runs/100.
• Cut Fastball: -0.5 runs, -0.20 runs/100.
• Curveball: 0.7 runs, 0.28 runs/100.
• Changeup: 16.1 runs, 2.67 runs/100.

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Episode 232
FanGraphs managing editor Dave Cameron, as per usual, makes his weekly appearance on FanGraphs Audio and analyzes all baseball.

Discussed:
• The recent Mega Deal™ between Boston and Los Angeles.
• More about that same Mega Deal™.
• Max Scherzer, his performance from Max Scherzer Schunday.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio after the jump. (Approximately 26 min. play time.)

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Milwaukee right-hander Mark Rogers made his sixth start on Sunday since his late-July recall from Brewers Triple-A affiliate Nashville — and, while he was slightly less impressive yesterday (5.0 IP, 4.66 xFIP) than in previous outings, Rogers both (a) allowed zero runs (which is kinda the best number of runs a pitcher can allow) and (b) escaped with a still very reasonable 89 xFIP- through 33.2 innings.

The start was notable, as it represented Rogers’ first appearance in front of one of the league’s excellent center-field cameras, thus giving the best view yet of Rogers’ repertoire.

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

1. Featured Game: Atlanta at San Diego, 22:05 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: Atlanta at San Diego, 22:05 ET
Regarding This Game, Why It’s Notable
Tonight’s game between Atlanta and San Diego is notable, on account of it represents the major-league debut of real-live prospect Casey Kelly.

Regarding Casey Kelly, Who That Even Is
Casey Kelly is a right-handed pitcher whom the Padres acquired in the trade that sent Adrian Gonzalez to Boston in December of 2010. He’s also a player whom the Red Sox themselves originally took 30th overall in the 2008 draft out of a Sarasota (FL) high school.

Regarding Casey Kelly, His Rankings on Various Prospect Lists
In terms of where Kelly appeared on various prospect lists before the season, sixth is where our Marc Hulet ranked him among Padres farmhands. John Sickels of Minor League Ball, meanwhile, ranked Kelly eighth overall among Padres prospects, while Baseball America ranked him third.

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

1. Featured Game: Los Angeles AL at Detroit, 13:05 ET
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: Los Angeles AL at Detroit, 13:05 ET
Regarding What’s Possible
It’s entirely possible that a reader — a brazen sort of reader, that is — it’s possible that such a reader might confront the author regarding his choice of featured game today.

On What Grounds a Reader Might Do That
In the event that a reader were to confront the author on his selection of today’s Featured Game, it’s possible he would do so on the grounds that the NERD score — i.e. the infallible watchability metric created by the author himself — that the NERD score for the Angels-Tigers contest is decidedly not the highest among today’s games.

Other Games with a Higher NERD Score Than Angels-Tigers, A Brief List
Here’s a brief list of games with a higher NERD score than today’s Angels-Tigers game:

• The Cardinals-Reds game
• The Brewers-Pirates game

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

1. Information: Who Is and Isn’t on the Red Sox
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Information: Who Is and Isn’t on the Red Sox
A Note on What’s About to Happen
What’s about to happen — or, depending on when you’re reading this, what has happened already — is the Red Sox and Dodgers are going to conduct business with each other. Adult-type of business. Serious adult-type of business.

A Note on the Aforementioned Business, What’s Unclear About It
So far as the serious and aforementioned business is concerned, it’s not entirely clear — to the author, at least, who necessarily serves as the reader’s surrogate in such matters — it’s not entirely clear who’ll be on the Red Sox after the business has been conducted. Like, on the Sox’ 25-man roster.

Regarding Who’s Not on the Red Sox Anymore
As of this afternoon, here are the players who’ll no longer be on the Red Sox, it seems: Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, and Nick Punto.

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I’ve seen him pitch a few times in spring training, and a couple of years ago I saw him pitch a little bit. I think for the most part the comparisons are pretty well-founded. We both throw four pitches — curveball, slider, changeup, fastball. He’s got a little more of a sinker than I do. I probably have a little bit more of a curveball than he does. Otherwise, it’s pretty similar.

Actually, he’s got a much better changeup than I do, too.

— Collin McHugh on Dillon Gee, from a piece by Adam Rubin

Collin McHugh made his major-league debut on Thursday, and said debut was rather excellent, turns out. The 25-year-old right-hander struck out nine while walking just one in seven shutout innings of a Rockies offense that, while not among the league’s elite, is still full of men compensated pretty handsomely to play baseball (box).

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