As both managing editor Dave Cameron and large swaths of the internet have noted, outfielder Shane Victorino has been traded by the Phillies to the Dodgers. Despite the fact that he’s probably a superior defender to Matt Kemp, it’s unlikely that Victorino will push the incumbent Kemp to left field. (This is what’s known in legal terms as the Derek Jeter Precedent.)

It stands to reason that, owing to how Bobby Abreu has played a considerable amount of left field for the Dodgers this season, that installing Victorino as the club’s full-time left fielder will make a not-insignificant contribution merely in terms of runs saved over the Dodgers’ final 58 games of the regular season.

“How much of a difference, though?” the curious reader might be wondering. “This much of one,” the irresponsible author is now answering, in the form of the following, mostly haphazard calculations.

Read the rest of this entry »

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

1. Featured Game: New York NL at San Francisco, 22:15 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: New York NL at San Francisco, 22:15 ET
What’s Notable About This Game
What’s notable about this game is how Mets right-hander Matt Harvey is starting it for the Mets.

Regarding Matt Harvey, Who That Is
Matt Harvey is the 23-year-old pitching prospect who, in his debut this past Thursday against Arizona, made love to the strike zone with his ample repertoire.

Regarding Harvey, His Line from That Arizona Start
Here’s Harvey’s line from that start against Arizona on Thursday (box): 5.1 IP, 23 TBF, 11 K, 3 BB, 3 GB on 9 batted-balls (33.3% GB), 1.73 xFIP.

Read the rest of this entry »

Episode 221
FanGraphs managing editor Dave Cameron, as per usual, makes his weekly appearance on FanGraphs Audio and analyzes all baseball.

Discussed:
• The Zack Greinke deal, some really important stuff about that.
• A potential Cliff Lee deal, some really interesting stuff about that.
• Other possible trades, some mega-wise stuff about that.

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 44 min. play time.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Source:Cliff Lee is in play in trade talks today. Rangers obviously the most logical landing spot, with 3B Mike Olt as possible centerpiece.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 30, 2012

With the unnerving (and, it should be noted, unexpected) success of the first edition of Hypothetical Trade Theater, in which the author suggested that Jean Segura and someone resembling (or actually being) right-handed pitching prospect Ariel Pena would likely be part of an Angels’ trade package for then-Brewer Zack Greinke, the same author now presents a sequel — in this case, in response to suggestions that the Texas Rangers might have interest in Phillies left-hander Cliff Lee.

Read the rest of this entry »

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

1. Updated Leaderboard Update: First-Rounders
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Updated Leaderboard Update: First-Rounders
Regarding What This Is
Last Monday, I provided a link to an updated version of the custom leaderboard I’d made available to readers about a week before that — a leaderboard of all the first-round picks from the recent draft (plus, because the author’s True Nature dictated it, Astros shortstop prospect Nolan Fontana and Angels infielder Sherman Johnson) to’ve made their professional debuts.

Regarding What This Is, Part II
What follows is an update of last week’s update, with three players added, as follow:

• Albert Almora, OF, Chicago (NL)
• Nick Travieso, RHP, Cincinnati
• Richard Shaffer, 3B, Tampa Bay

One Other Addition
Also added to the leaderboard is Rangers’ third-base prospect, taken 39th overall in the most recent draft, Joey Gallo — mostly on account of, as Baseball America’s Ben Badler notes, he’s hitting furiouser and furiouser.

Read the rest of this entry »

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

1. Featured Game: Tampa Bay at Los Angeles AL, 15:35 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: Tampa Bay at Los Angeles AL, 15:35 ET
Regarding What the People Want
What the people want — mostly owing to the unstoppable force that is human biology — what the people want is to reproduce. Like, in a sexual way.

Regarding Another Thing the People Want
Another thing the people want — the second thing, really, when you think about it — is an array of bold predictions.

Regarding What the Author Is About to Provide
The author is about to provide, in this internet post, no fewer than one bold predictions in re Zack Greinke, the very talented right-hander who makes his debut for the Angels this afternoon following a recent trade that sent prospects Jean Segura, Ariel Pena, and Johnny Hellweg to Milwaukee.

Read the rest of this entry »

Episode 220
In which Dayn Perry, contributor to CBS Sports’ Eye on Baseball and author of two books (one of them serviceable), sees his leisure time threatened by the demands of the impending trade deadline.

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 41 min. play time.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

1. Featured Games, Plural
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Games, Plural
Regarding What’s Happening Today
The thing that’s happening today is three pitchers who were recently traded are starting for the teams to which they were traded today.

Regarding What Makes That Notable
What makes that notable exactly is, like most things, beyond the purview of the author; however, were that same author to wax authoritative on the matter, he’d suggest that novelty had something to do with it — which is to say, the novelty of seeing this one player pitch for this other, different team.

An Additional and Related Explanation
It’s also possible that a player’s debut with a new team — especially when that player has been acquired in a midseason trade — allows the home audience the opportunity to gather information about, and begin to form opinions on, the success of the trade in question.

Read the rest of this entry »

Episode 219
RotoGraphs editor Eno Sarris is the guest on this Fantasy Friday edition of FanGraphs Audio.

Discussed:
• Trades that have happened, their effects on myriad depth charts.
• Lucas Duda, Eno’s irrational optimism regarding him this preseason.
• J.A. Happ, how he’s not an Astro anymore, turns out.

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 56 min. play time.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

1. Actual Transaction News: Three Recent Promotions
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Actual Transaction News: Three Recent Promotions
Regarding What the Author Did Yesterday
Yesterday, the author meditated at some length upon the promotion of Mets right-handed pitching prospect Matt Harvey — which, on account of how Harvey struck out, like, 11 or a hundred Diamondbacks in his debut and posted a single-game xFIP of 1.45, that was probably pretty effing prescient of the author to do that.

Regarding What the Author’s Doing Today
Today, the author has what you might call — if you know how to speak even the littlest English — what you’d call a “full plate.” He’ll be editing the fantasy podcast he recorded Thursday afternoon with RotoGraphs editor Eno Sarris; he has plans to record an episode of FanGraphs Audio with Dayn Perry at 1pm CT, maybe; and, later, he’s attending a Northwoods League game in Madison, Wisconsin, with actual, real-live friends who aren’t going against their well like you’re thinking they are.

Read the rest of this entry »