Archive for Daily Notes

Daily Notes: To Miami’s Credit, Very Briefly

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

1. Featured Game: Miami at New York NL, 19:10 ET
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: Miami at New York NL, 19:10 ET
Introduction
It is very much the case that the Miami Marlins, as an organization, are prone to damnable fiscal maneuvers and deserve censure on those grounds. It is also very much the case that, while an equally hopeless club (in terms of available present talent) like the Houston Astros entered the season with rather an obvious commitment to youth, that the Marlins gave contracts and starting spots to Casey Kotchman and Juan Pierre and Placido Polanco.

Indeed, while that aged triumvirate remains employed by the club, one is compelled, in the interest of fairness, to note that there are other pieces who’ve gotten regular playing time of late and who are interesting for one or the other reason. Below are three of those players, none of whom began the season on the major-league roster.

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Daily Notes: Most Basic Possible Guide to the Draft

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

1. Most Basic Possible Guide to the Draft
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Most Basic Possible Guide to the Draft
Introduction
Baseball’s amateur draft begins today and extends through Saturday. Below is a collection of the most basic possible information — like, totally elementary — concerning it.

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Daily Notes: Ft. Corey Kluber, AKA Mr. Appointment Television

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

1. Featured Game: Cleveland at New York AL, 13:05 ET
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: Cleveland at New York AL, 13:05 ET
Regarding This Post, Its Purpose
The purpose of this internet post is to alert the public to how right-hander Corey Kluber, a top-10 pitcher in May by strikeout rate and park-adjusted xFIP and SIERA, starts today for Cleveland against the New York Americans.

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Daily Notes: May’s Leaders, Not in WAR

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

1. May’s Leaders, Not in WAR
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

May’s Leaders, Not in WAR
Introduction
In yesterday’s stirring edition of the Notes, the author considered the nearly definitive WAR leaderboards for the month of May. In today’s edition, we consider four metrics that aren’t WAR and then the leaders from May by those same metrics.

(Note: the various “links” to the metrics in question are, in some cases, links to the relevant custom leaderboard from which that metric is derived. Because at least one of the stats is made-up, is why.)

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Daily Notes: May’s WAR Leaders, Almost Definitively

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

1. May’s WAR Leaders, Almost Definitively
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

May’s WAR Leaders, Almost Definitively
Introduction
Insofar as (a) it is now June and (b) the most recent weekly UZR update was conducted at the time of day when the present author’s parties most frequently conclude (i.e. around dawn), what follows are the complete WAR leaderboards for May. Insofar, however, as the seasonal baseline for UZR changes by small increments over the course of the season, altering perhaps players’ monthly WAR figures by a tenth of a win here or there, what follows are not the entirely definitive, but just mostly definitive, WAR leaderboards for May.

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Daily Notes: Very Emergent Rick Porcello to Start Today

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

1. Featured Game: Detroit at Baltimore, 13:35pm ET
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: Detroit at Baltimore, 13:35pm ET
Regarding This Game, Who’s Starting It for Detroit
Starting this game for Detroit, in terms of a pitcher, is right-hander Rick Porcello.

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Daily Notes: Breathless Corey Kluber Status Update

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

1. Breathless Corey Kluber Status Update
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Breathless Corey Kluber Status Update
What the Attentive Reader Will Know
One thing the particularly attentive reader will know is that Cleveland right-hander and arch-nemesis of danger Corey Kluber started Friday night against the Tampa Bays Rays.

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Daily Notes: Corey Kluber Shall Be Appreciated, Post-Haste

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

1. Featured, Free Game: Tampa Bay at Cleveland, 19:05pm ET
2. A Different Notable Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured, Free Game: Tampa Bay at Cleveland, 19:05pm ET
Regarding the Author’s Attention, What Has Come to It
It has recently come to the author’s attention that Cleveland right-hander and figurative saint among saints Corey Kluber is not universally appreciated by the teeming, gross, unlettered public.

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Daily Notes: Three True Outcome Leaders and Laggards So Far

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

1. Three True Outcome Leaders and Laggards So Far
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Three True Outcome Leaders and Laggards So Far
Introduction
Recently in these pages, Cleveland corner infielder Mark Reynolds characterized his hitting approach for the benefit of David Laurila, saying, “I would say my swing is… a controlled train wreck. I just get it down and let it eat.” Will the comment win him a much deserved Pulitzer Prize for Joyous Remarks? It remains to be seen. What it reveals beyond his gift for the language, though, is the means by which he has consistently found himself among the league’s leaders both in strikeouts and home runs.

Below are the current leaders and laggards by all three true outcomes — both by overall percentage and then by averaged z-score (i.e. average standard deviations from the mean in all three categories). Numbers don’t include Wednesday games.

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Daily Notes: A Brief Review of Rick Porcello’s Tuesday Start

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

1. Brief Review: Rick Porcello’s Tuesday Start
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Brief Review: Rick Porcello’s Tuesday Start
Introduction
Detroit right-hander Rick Porcello, known typically for his power sinker and attendant ground-ball rate, recorded numerous career bests against Pittsburgh on Tuesday night with 11 strikeouts, a 1.04 single-game xFIP, and a 4.03 RE24 (which metric measures runs added relative to the 24 base/out states and is useful for measuring single-game performances by hitters or pitchers). What follows is a brief review of that second start.

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