Episode Sixty-Eight
In which Capitalism is kinda the good guy.

Headlines
The Maple Street Press Story — Told!
The Boston Red Sox — Mentioned Briefly!
Sample Article — Linked To!

Featuring
Jim Walsh, President and Founder, Maple Street Press

Finally, you can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio on the flip-flop. (Approximately 30 min play time.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Keep One Night Only away from skin, eyes… and grown-ups! They’re the worst!

Los Angeles Americans at Tampa Bay | 1:10pm ET
Starting Pitchers
Angels: Dan Haren
224.3 IP, 8.55 K/9, 1.81 BB/9, 3.23 FIP, 117 ERA+ (ZiPS)

Rays: Jeremy Hellickson
135.7 IP, 7.89 K/9, 3.12 BB/9, 3.42 FIP, 118 ERA+ (ZiPS)

On Jeremy Hellickson
Today marks the season debut of Jeremy Hellickson, one of the many PYTs the Rays’ farm system has to offer its adoring public. Hellickson made his major league debut last year after spending most of the season showing International Leaguers what’s what.

Read the rest of this entry »

Padre starter Aaron Harang approves of his new surroundings.

San Diego at San Francisco | 6:35pm ET
Starting Pitchers
Giants: Madison Bumgarner
165.0 IP, 5.84 K/9, 2.78 BB/9, 3.97 FIP, 106 ERA+ (ZiPS)

Padres: Aaron Harang
144.0 IP, 6.88 K/9, 2.44 BB/9, 3.99 FIP, 87 ERA+ (ZiPS)

Notes
Though you might not remember it, Aaron Harang has been good before. He’s compiled a 23.3 WAR over his career. He’s posted a five-win season as recently as 2007. He has a nickname, The Harangutan, capable of turning any manner of frown upside-down.

Read the rest of this entry »

Note: it’s come to my attention that Derek Holland and not Alexi Ogando will start tonight for Texas — proving that One Night Only is already in midseason form so far as “grievous errors” go.

Throw off the shackles of your ceaseless toil and let baseball into your life, ya dopes.

(Totally proprietary NERD scores to appear at end of April. Probably.)

Seattle at Texas | 8:05pm ET
Starting Pitchers
Mariners: Erik Bedard
55.3 IP, 8.79 K/9, 3.74 BB/9, 3.79 FIP, 114 ERA+ (ZiPS)

Rangers: Alexi Ogando*
64.3 IP, 9.38 K/9, 4.34 BB/9, 3.66 FIP, 147 ERA+ (ZiPS)

*Actually, Derek Holland. ZiPS: 125.0 IP, 7.42 K/9, 3.24 BB/9, 4.38 FIP, 100 ERA+.

On Alexi Ogando, Part I
Let it be known that this author trusts Ranger GM Jon Daniels implicitly. If that weren’t the case before FanGraphs’ Annual Desert Pilgrimage (a.k.a. our trip to Arizona), then it’s certainly the case after the same. For it was there, at the Rangers spring-training facility in Surprise, that I saw a be-sunglassed Jon Daniels operating a golf cart. To use the word “majestic” to describe that spectacle would be to use a word inappropriately. Unfortunately, as I’m pressed for time and possess little facility with a thesaurus, it’ll have to do for now.

Read the rest of this entry »

Regard: your weekend programming, laid out for you absolutely nothing like a patient etherized upon a table.

Friday, April 1st
Boston at Texas, 4:05pm ET
• I can’t verify that Michael Jackson’s hit single “P.Y.T.” was written about Boston signings Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, but that won’t stop me from listening to it (i.e. that song) right this second.
• In mid-March, Matt Klaassen asked the question, Who’s better, Josh Hamilton or Nelson Cruz? This game will give us a conclusive answer!
• Adrian Beltre is back… and he wants vengeance. (If by “vengeance,” that is, we mean “to post another +10 UZR.”)

Read the rest of this entry »

Just as last year, I’ll be previewing the most notable games of the day, where notable means something like, “interesting, for one reason or another, for the smarter baseballing fan.”

The NERD scores that all of America has come to love will be available at the end of April, probably.

Milwaukee at Cincinnati | 2:10pm ET
Starting Pitchers
Brewers: Yovani Gallardo
159.7 IP, 9.92 K/9, 3.83 BB/9, .313 BABIP, 3.29 FIP, 117 ERA+ (ZiPS)

Reds: Edinson Volquez
108.1 IP, 9.56 K/9, 4.57 BB/9, .293 BABIP, 3.80 FIP, 115 ERA+ (ZiPS)

Read the rest of this entry »

Episode Sixty-Seven
In which the guests tell the future, but tell it slant.

Headlines
MVPs and Cys Young — Predicted!
Good Taste — Transgressed!
Podcast — Destroyed!

Featuring
Dave Cameron of the American South
Matt Klaassen of the Frozen North
Joe Pawl of the Biggest Apple

Finally, you can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio on the flip-flop. (Approximately 50 min play time.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Introduction
#25-#21
#20-#16
#15-#11
#10-#6

#5 – Conor Gillaspie, 3B, San Francisco

Nominally, Gillaspie joins Team Joy Squad because, despite being considered only a marginal prospect, he was the only batter in the Arizona Fall League to match his strikeout total with his home run total (recording five of each). What that means, specifically, is that he was first overall on the SCOUT leaderboard — that is, the method this author devised for attempting to say something about a player’s performance in the absence of large samples. So, effectively, Gillaspie’s success would be my success; his failure, my conspicuous failure. Gillaspie was 19th on John Sickels’ top-20 Giant prospect list in 2010; he (i.e. Gillaspie) doesn’t appear to’ve made the 2011 version. Still, he’s only struck out in 14.2% of his minor league at-bats and has walked in 8.9% of plate appearances. Really, the thing that he hasn’t shown is power. But, at only 23, it’s entirely possible that his power could arrive — and that his AFL performance is an indication of that.

Read the rest of this entry »

Introduction
#25-#21
#20-#16
#15-#11

#10 – Yunesky Maya, RHP, Washington
#9 – Ivan Nova, RHP, New York (AL)

I’ll say this about Maya and Nova: there’s a good chance that neither becomes a particularly excellent major leaguer. They’re not totally devoid of promise, of course: Nova appears likely to induce ground balls at an above-average rate, if nothing else, while Maya won the Cuban version of the Cy Young award even while Aroldis Chapman was pitching in the league. As opposed to other players on this list, however, whose inclusion is largely a function of being underrated (not that I would dare say it so plainly), Maya and Nova are here primarily for aesthetic purposes. Specifically, each throws a pitch (or, in the case of Maya, pitches) that’s captured the imagination of this author.

Read the rest of this entry »

For reasons I’m not at liberty to share — but which mostly concern finding a wife who lived through the Depression — I’m in Jupiter, Florida this week. Against all odds, Jupiter also happens to be the spring training home of both the Florida Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals. It’s a Christmas miracle in mid-late-March, is what that is.

Yesterday, I went to Roger Dean Stadium for a game between the Twins and Marlins, but actually spent most of my time on the backfields where both Mike Stanton and Chris Coghlan were playing in a minor league game.

Read the rest of this entry »