Daily Notes for March 27th

I’m Daily Notes Mystery Guest Author No. 1. It’s all down hill from here.

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

1. Select Televised Games
2. Preparations for Opening Day-Japan

Select Televised Games
Notable games available on MLB.TV.

Atlanta at New York NL | 13:10 ET

The Red Sox aren’t the only team with a competition for Opening Day shortstop. The Braves came into camp expecting to name Tyler Pastornicky to the position with a mid-season call-up for prospect Andrelton Simmons. But Pastornicky’s been ho-hum this spring and some inside the Braves camp are pushing for Simmons to make the jump from Single A to the majors to start the year. Watch to see if either or both play against the Mets.

Los Angeles AL at San Francisco | 16:05 ET

Tim Lincecum will be on the mound for the Giants after a less-than-stellar outing in minor league camp his last start. Last Thursday, Lincecum threw 91 ptiches in 5 1/3 innings, giving up four runs on six hits and one walk. Lincecum is readying for Opening Day when he will start for the Giants against Ian Kennedy of the Diamondbacks on April 6th at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Toronto at New York AL | 19:05 ET

The Blue Jays sent Travis Snider to Triple-A over the weekend, opting to start the season with Eric Thames in left field.  Which is too bad, because a left field of Snider, seen here in this photo from our friends at The Score, and a center field of Colby Rasmus, seen here in this NotGraphs post, would have been all sorts of 1970s hair-tastic. At least you’ll probably get to see Brett Lawrie play third base before he’s enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Preparations for Opening Day, in Japan

The A’s and the Mariners kick off the 2012 major league baseball season at 6:00 am ET Wednesday morning with a game at the Tokyo Dome. But you knew that, right?

What you might not know are the roster rules for the two-game Japan Series which are, shall we say, a bit odd.  The A’s and the Mariners were each permitted to 30 players to Japan, all of whom were eligible to play in the exhibition games played Sunday and Monday. Before Opening Day in Japan, the teams have to squeeze down to a 28-man roster. But three of the players on the 28-man roster will not be eligible to play in either of the two games in the Japan Series. So they will play the two games with, essentially, 25-man rosters. Got that?

Wait, there’s more! Before Opening Day-America next week, the A’s and the Mariners will set their “real” 25-man rosters from among the twenty-eight players who made Japan Series cut. Oh, and one more thing. The players on the 28-man Japan Series roster did not need to travel to Japan. Kevin Millwood, for example, did not travel to Japan with the Mariners but is expected to be on the Opening Day-America 25-man roster.

While all of those complicated roster moves have been taking place, A’s Opening Day-Japan starter Brandon McCarthy has been preoccupied with other, more basic matters.