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

1. Select Televised Games
2. Largely Inconsequential Table: Pitchers with Three Fastballs
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: San Diego Radio

Select Televised Games
Milwaukee at Texas | 16:05 ET
Very famous Japaniranian Yu Darvish makes his third start of the spring today, according to MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. Here’s his (i.e. Darvish’s, not T.R Sullivan’s) line so far: 2/2 G/GS, 5.0 IP, 6 K, 4 BB, 0 HR.

MLB.TV Audio Feed: Texas Television.

Read the rest of this entry »

Episode 154
RotoGraphs editor Eno Sarris joins this edition of FanGraphs Audio from a small room, somewhere in the American Desert. Among the topics discussed: the SABR Analytics Conference, currently taking place in Phoenix; Eno’s 10 Bold Predictions for 2012; RotoGraphs’ position-by-position power rankings; and game theory in auctions and drafts, mostly where getting one’s opponents soused is concerned.

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 40 min. play time.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

You can try to dispense of these notes on the Alcides Escobar extension, but you won’t be able to: as the title of this post suggests, they’re indispensable.

Regarding Alcides Escobar, The Extension He Signed
The 25-year-old shortstop Escobar and the Royals agreed Thursday to a four-year, $10.5 million extension that includes a pair of club options that could bring the overall value of the contract to $21.75 million. Per the Associated Press, “Escobar will make $1 million this season and $3 million each of the next three seasons. The options are for $5.25 million in 2016 and $6.5 million in 2017 with $500,000 buyouts each year.”

Read the rest of this entry »

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

1. Experiment: SCOUT+ Batting Leaderboards
2. SCOUT+ Leaderboard: Spring Training Batters
3. SCOUT+ Leaderboard: Arizona Fall League Batters, Revisited

Experiment: SCOUT+ Batting Leaderboards
For the past year-plus, I’ve frequently published in these pages what I’ve called the “SCOUT leaderboards” for winter leagues and (recently) spring training. I’m quoting myself when I write that “SCOUT represents an attempt to derive something meaningful from small samples” and is the average of a player’s standard deviations from the league mean (or, z-score) either in regressed strikeout and walk rate (for pitchers) or regressed home-run rate, walk rate, and strikeout rate (for hitters). SCOUT builds off of work done by Pizza Cutter on when samples for different stats become reliable. By taking a batter’s strikeout rate, for example, after X plate appearances and figuring in the league-average strikeout rate for the remaining plate appearances — up to the reliable sample size for strikeout rate — we’re able to reach a conservative estimate of what that batter’s “true talent” strikeout rate is. (Click here for more on SCOUT.)

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: San Francisco at Seattle
2. SCOUT Leaderboard: Spring Training Batters
3. Graph: Home Run vs. Walk Rates, 2002-11

Featured Game: San Francisco at Seattle
Regarding Seattle’s Starting Pitcher
Right-hander Erasmo Ramirez will start for the Mariners, reports MLB.com Chris Haft. As a 21-year-old last season, Ramirez struck out 17.4% of batters while walking only 4.8% over 152.2 innings between Double- and Triple-A. In terms of velocity and walk rate last season, he approached the accomplishment that was Michael Pineda’s 2010 minor-league season.

Read the rest of this entry »

Episode 153
Baseballing scholar and internetting gentleman Marc Normandin, of Red Sox site Over the Monster and other assorted SB Nation blogs, is the guest on this Wednesday edition of FanGraphs Audio, during which episode Normandin — after discussing briefly his career and the current state of the Hometown Nine — promotes shamelessly and without shame the forthcoming e-book project he’s co-editing with Sky Kalkman, The Hall of Very Good.

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 45 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. Select Televised Games
2. Lightly Annotated Video: Aaron Crow
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: San Francisco Radio

Select Televised Games
Washington at Atlanta | 18:05 ET
Stephen Strasburg is scheduled to make his second start of the spring, according to MLB.com’s Bill Ladson, while Bryce Harper is expected to return to the Nats’ lineup after missing six game due to a tight left calf. Meanwhile, Joe Frisaro reports that right-hander Julio Teheran will start for the Braves (although, as of Tuesday night, the MLB scoreboard suggests it could be other Braves right-handed prospect Randall Delgado). Teheran was ranked first — and Delgado third — in the Atlanta system by our Marc Hulet. The pair were ranked No. 5 and No. 32, respectively, on Hulet’s top-100 prospect list.

MLB.TV Audio Feed: Braves Television.

Read the rest of this entry »

Episode 152
Dayn Perry, contributor to CBS Sports’ Eye on Baseball and poor role model for the children, makes his usual Tuesday appearance on this Tuesday edition of FanGraphs Audio. Topics discussed: Dayn’s poor conduct on Team FanGraphs’ recent trip to the American desert; Dayn’s picks for the Final Four; various and sundry Hot Sports Opinions, served up hot.

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 37 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. Select Televised Games
2. SCOUT Leaderboards: Spring Training Pitchers
3. Video: Yu Darvish’s First Start, Lightly Annotated

Select Televised Games
St. Louis at New York Nationals | 13:10 ET
Both Adam Wainwright and Maikel Cleto are expected to pitch in this game for the Cardinals, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch reports. The former (i.e. Wainwright) is interesting for obvious reasons; the latter (i.e. Cleto), because his fastball averaged 97.9 mph during the 4.1 major-league innings he threw last season.

MLB.TV Audio Feed: New York Television.

Read the rest of this entry »

Episode 151
Managing editor Dave Cameron makes his usual Monday appearance — from the American desert city of Phoenix, AZ, where a number of FanGraphs writers spent the weekend participating in a variety of team-building exercises. Topics discussed: the positional power rankings, what they teach us and how they might look different next year; a status update on 49-year-old Jamie Moyer’s comeback attempt with Colorado; and your team’s top-four pitching prospects, what they will and won’t become.

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 32 min. play time.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS