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Talking to a player like Sam Fuld — one with an analytical mind and questions about the game — can be all sorts of fun. Like this week, he suggested that teams might switch corner outfielders in the middle of a game for defensive reasons.

“If you have extremely varied skill levels in the outfield in the corners, between right and left field, like an elite right fielder defensively and a slugger in left,” Fuld said, “I think we’re going to see those guys flip flop within an inning depending on who’s coming up.”

This isn’t something that would make sense on most teams. Most left and right fielders are too close in talent to move around just because a right-handed pull hitter is at the plate. Even with a recent high-profile defensive whiff, it wouldn’t make sense to move Jayson Werth to left and Bryce Harper to right when lefty pull hitters are at the plate. The small defensive upgrade would be negated by the unfamiliarity with the other outfield corner.

“It would only occur when you have one really good and one really bad defensive corner outfielder,” Fuld agreed, adding: “If you get a right-handed pull hitter, you might want that elite defender in left.”

Let’s look at the defensive numbers of teammate corner outfielders over the past two years and see who might be a candidate for this switch. The following teammates had more than a 15-run discrepancy in defensive prowess (measured by Ultimate Zone Rating per 150 games):

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By at least one stat, Giants rookie second baseman Joe Panik is top-two at his position in the National League. Look at his numbers coming up, and this seems about what you might expect. It turns out that, while he’s had to adjust to the big leagues, much of his current success can be attributed to not changing.

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“I wake up fine,” said John Jaso of his relative morning clarity, as he recovers from a concussion he suffered when a mid-August pitch rattled his face mask. “As the day goes on, I get all the visual stimuli and start getting foggy.” And this he said after a relatively good day gave him the encouragement to pronounce he’d be back this season, and probably soon.

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Over the last two years, only one National League third baseman has had better defensive numbers than Nolan Arenado. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

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It makes sense, on a day like Labor Day, to highlight the struggles of a middle reliever. Even a great one like Danny Farquhar has had to work hard to find his niche on the fringes of the big leagues. Turns out, some of Farquhar’s particular success has come from ignoring management even.

If you remove the guys that have closed for their teams this year, Farquhar is probably the eighth or ninth best middle reliever in the game right now. He’s done it with lots of strikeouts based on 93-94 mph gas and a great cutter/curve combo. And the best command of his career.

It’s been a long winding road to this point. And it’s required ignoring some of the voices in his ear.

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Edwin Escobar, who came from the Giants in the Jake Peavy deal, debuted with the Red Socks on Tuesday. One inning of work is not enough to know much other than perhaps velocity, but that point alone started a discussion. He sat just under 92 mph, and once you correct for his appearance coming out of the bullpen, you might say he had average velocity. I even said this, on twitter. And Mike Newman responded:

@enosarris I had Escobar 91-93… That's plus velo from the left side.

— Mike Newman (@MikeNewmanRS) August 28, 2014

I’ve heard this before. I’ve thought it maybe untrue, for whatever reason. So I decided to check out a few splits among starters this year.

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Madison Bumgarner was only a dinked double away from a perfect game last night. A few aspects of his standout game reveal trends in his personal approach — and those trends match up fairly well with league trends. Even the major difference between Tuesday night’s start and his season reveals something about the way the league adjusts and adjusts again.

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