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.
Derek Dietrich, 2B, 23
Was acquired from Rays in trade that sent Yunel Escobar to Tampa Bay (shortly after Escobar himself had been acquired from Toronto). Ranked 13th by Marc Hulet on his preseason top-15 organizational list. Promoted to majors after Donovan Solano went on DL, and has played every day since May 12th. Has posted nearly average park-adjusted offensive line in just over 100 plate appearances despite .257 BABIP. Rest-of-season ZiPS projection: 342 PA, 85 wRC+, 0.2 WAR.
Ed Lucas, 31, IF
Not a prospect in any sense. By way of proof: at age 31, has been given 23 plate appearances this season; has also been given 23 plate appearances in his entire major-league career. Originally an eighth-round pick by the Royals in 2004 out of Dartmouth, Lucas’s minor-league CV includes 925 games and 3,731 plate appearances. Still, not a player without some use. Can play/has already played both third base and shortstop in majors. Has yet to strike out.
Marcell Ozuna, 22, OF
Has played right field every day for Miami since very talented Giancarlo Stanton went on disabled list over a month ago with hamstring injury. Ranked seventh on Marc Hulet’s top-15 organizational list before the season. Exciting power. Has posted 134 wRC+ and 1.2 WAR (albeit with very high .418 BABIP) in 139 plate appearances. Rest-of-season ZiPS projection: 343 PA, 92 wRC+, 0.7 WAR.
An Unrelated Note
On an unrelated note — but the one which actually makes this game watchable — is that Jose Fernandez (59.1 IP, 90 xFIP-, 0.8 WAR) and Matt Harvey (83.0 IP, 75 xFIP-, 2.7 WAR) are the game’s probable starting pitchers.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast
Per the results of our crowdsourcing project from the 2011-2012 offseason, FanGraphs readers prefer New York NL Television (link).
Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
San Diego at Colorado | 20:40 ET
Edinson Volquez (67.1 IP, 117 xFIP-, 0.1 WAR) faces Jorge de la Rosa (69.2 IP, 108 xFIP-, 1.3 WAR). The Rockies, for their part, are above average by nearly all the various criteria which promise to make a team watchable: park-adjusted home-run rate, baserunning runs, bullpen xFIP, batter age relative to league average (where younger is better).
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Diego Television.
Today’s Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 5.6.
Note: the following table is entirely sortable.
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Francisco Liriano | PIT | 10 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3 | CHN | Travis Wood | 14:20 |
| Kevin Correia | MIN | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6 | WAS | Gio Gonzalez | 19:05 |
| Nick Tepesch | TEX | 7 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | TOR | Esmil Rogers* | 19:07 |
| Ubaldo Jimenez | CLE | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 9 | DET | Justin Verlander | 19:08 |
| Tommy Hanson | LAA | 0 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 6 | BOS | Felix Doubront | 19:10 |
| Jason Hammel | BAL | 3 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 7 | TB | Chris Archer* | 19:10 |
| Jose Fernandez | MIA | 10 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 10 | NYN | Matt Harvey | 19:10 |
| Adam Wainwright | STL | 9 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 6 | CIN | Mike Leake | 19:10 |
| Jordan Lyles | HOU | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 7 | KC | James Shields | 20:10 |
| Jarrod Parker | OAK | 3 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 9 | CHA | Chris Sale | 20:10 |
| Cliff Lee | PHI | 8 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 6 | MIL | Alfredo Figaro* | 20:10 |
| Edinson Volquez | SD | 2 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 3 | COL | Jorge de la Rosa | 20:40 |
| Matt Cain | SF | 6 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 7 | AZ | Patrick Corbin | 21:40 |
| Paul Maholm | ATL | 5 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 7 | LAN | Hyun-Jin Ryu | 22:10 |
| Hiroki Kuroda | NYA | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | SEA | Jer. Bonderman* | 22:10 |
To learn how Pitcher and Team NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
I like to imagine that Cistulli talks like his posts in real life.
Regarding the Items We Require from Our Local Purveyor of Foodstuffs
Raisin Bran, milk of the two-percent variety, fusilli pasta, farro wheat, and steak-meat crafted from the flesh of a cow are among the items of food which are deemed not undesirable by members of this household.
Regarding the Cardigan Sweater Sitting on the Hall Table
It ought to be returned, in exchange, one should hope most earnestly, for cash monies.
Regarding Possible NotGraphs Post Ideas
Ask Eno Sarris to pronounce “fusilli pasta” and “farro wheat”.
If you listen to his audio podcasts, you’ll find that the answer is yes, he does talk like that too. Honestly, his style reminds me of nothing so much as Hunter S. Thompson.
Except at home, alone, and sober.
But still, there is a gonzo aspect to Cistulli’s decidedly appropriate missives.