Episode 218
David Laurila, curator of FanGraphs’ Q&A Series, talks with longtime Blue Jays radio voice Jerry Howarth.
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Audio after the jump. (Approximately 16 min. play time.)
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Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. Featured Game: New York NL at Arizona, 21:40 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
Featured Game: New York NL at Arizona, 21:40 ET
Regarding This Game, Why It’s Notable
The thing that’s notable about this game is how it represents the major-league debut of Mets 23-year-old right-handed pitching prospect Matt Harvey.
Regarding Matt Harvey, Who That Is
Harvey was the Mets’ first-round pick (seventh overall) of the 2010 draft out of UNC — and was, before that, a third-round pick by the Angels out of a Connecticut high school (although he didn’t sign).
Regarding Matt Harvey, His Prospect Status
Harvey was ranked first among Mets prospects this past offseason by John Sickels of Minor League Ball and first by Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus and second (to Zack Wheeler) by our Marc Hulet and second (also to Zack Wheeler) by Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com and second (to Wheeler, again) by Baseball America.
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. News About News About News
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
News About News About News
At Daily Notes, we don’t make the news — we copy and paste the news from other sources and then change maybe, like, every tenth word or whatever.
Oakland Prospect Choice Out for Season
Oakland outfield prospect Michael Choice was placed on the disabled list on Tuesday, and will miss the remainder of the 2012 season after suffering a broken hand from a hit-by-pitch on Saturday night, reports MLB.com John Parker. Choice, who was ranked second among Oakland prospects before the season by our Marc Hulet, produced one of the more impressive offensive performances of the Arizona Fall League, per a stat made up by the author. He was slashing .287/.356/.423 (.352 BABIP) in 402 plate appearances at Double-A Midland at the time of the injury.
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. All the Important Daniel Straily News
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
All the Important Daniel Straily News
Regarding What the People Want, Very Obviously
Despite the proximity of the trade deadline and, in fact, the myriad rumors concerning same, it’s obvious that what the people want is more Daniel Straily — that is, 23-year-old Oakland right-handed pitching prospect Daniel Straily — more Daniel Straily information news.
Daniel Straily Information News
In terms of Daniel Straily-related information news, here’s some of that: Straily pitched last night for Triple-A Sacramento against San Diego affiliate Tucson.
Straily’s Line from Said Start
Here’s Straily’s line from that start last night against Tucson (box): 6.0 IP, 22 TBF, 9 K, 1 BB, 0 HR, 3 H, 6:1 GO:AO.
Episode 217
FanGraphs managing editor Dave Cameron, as per usual, makes his weekly appearance on FanGraphs Audio and analyzes all baseball.
Discussed:
• Apropos Cameron’s piece from Monday afternoon, how the second wild-card spot will affect trade-deadline dealing.
• Apropos Cameron’s other piece from Monday, the respective trade values of this player and that player and this other player.
• Apropos nothing in particular, Oakland right-handed pitching prospect Daniel Straily.
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 42 min. play time.)
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Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. Not for Nothing, Daniel Straily
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
Not for Nothing, Daniel Straily
Regarding the Author, What He Did This Weekend
This weekend, the author went out to dinner twice to a pair of entirely satisfactory area restaurants, escorted his wife on a totally innocent and pleasant walk around the neighborhood, and watched (and enjoyed) Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World for the first time.
Regarding the Author, What He Mostly Did This Weekend
What the author mostly did this weekend, however — probably way more than that other stuff — is think about Oakland minor-league right-hander and 23-year-old Daniel Straily.
Regarding Straily, His Line at Double-A This Year
Here’s Straily’s line at Double-A Midland this year: 85.1 IP, 11.39 K/9, 2.43 BB/9, 0.63 HR/9, 2.57 FIP.
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. Glorious Custom Leaderboard Update: First-Round Draftees
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
Glorious Custom Leaderboard Update: First-Round Draftees
Regarding What This Is
Ten or something days ago now, I submitted for the reader’s consideration a leaderboard — a glorious custom leaderboard — of the first-round picks from the 2012 draft who had both signed and then started playing professionally. What follows is a hyperlink to an updated version of that same leaderboard.
New Additions to the Leaderboard
Here are the first-rounders who’ve been added to the leaderboard since that first iteration of the first-rounders leaderboard:
• Michael Zunino, C, Seattle
• Kyle Zimmer, RHP, Kansas City
• Michael Wacha, RHP, St. Louis
• Chris Stratton, RHP, San Francisco
• Marcus Stroman, RHP, Toronto
Two Other Additions to the Leaderboard
Here are two other players who’ve been added to the glorious and custom leaderboard — not because they’re first rounders, but because the author’s True Nature has dictated it:
• Nolan Fontana, SS, Houston — Because of his champion offensive line thus far.
• Sherman Johnson, 3B, LA AL — Because of his obvious personal magnetism.
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. Featured Game: Atlanta at Washington, 13:05 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
Featured Game: Atlanta at Washington, 13:05 ET
Regarding What’s Notable About This Game
What’s notable about this game is that Ben Sheets is making his second major-league start of the season in it and also his second major-league start of the last two seasons.
Sheets’ First Start
Here’s Sheets’ line from his first start of the last two seasons, home against the Mets on July 15th (box): 6.0 IP, 21 TBF, 5 K, 1 BB, 3 GB on 15 batted-balls (20%), 3.85 xFIP.
Video of Sheets’ First Start
Here’s video from that same July 15th start:
Episode 216
It’s a Fantasy (and Casual) Friday edition of FanGraphs Audio, as the host and his friend (and fantasy leaguemate) Danny Woytek broadcast from the shores of Lake Mendota at the University of Wisconsin’s Memorial Union.
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 49 min. play time.)
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Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. Expected wOBA Leaderboards: Last 30 Days
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
Expected wOBA Leaderboards: Last 30 Days
A Brief Explanation of What This Is
In yesterday’s edition of the Notes, I experimented with something called “Expected wOBA,” itself essentially a version of Bradley Woodrum’s Fielding Independent wOBA but with regressed (as opposed to raw) home-run, walk, and strikeout rates — and a (somewhat haphazardly) regressed version of Woodrum’s updated xBABIP formula, as well — as the inputs.
The idea behind Expected wOBA is to estimate something like a player’s true talent over the course of X plate appearances. However, because we looked — again, in those leaderboards yesterday — because we looked at Expected wOBA for all of 2012, we were dealing with samples that, in most cases, had passed the plate-appearance threshold for reliability for all the relevant inputs. For that reason, there was little deviation between those Expected wOBA figures and the Fielding Independent wOBAs posted by Woodrum last week.
For this edition of the Notes, I’ve published some new Expected wOBA numbers — except, in this case, using only the last month’s worth of data. This appeals more directly to the strength of Expected wOBA — namely, its capacity to express something meaningful even with small samples.
