Daily Notes, With Notes of Import™
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. Notes of Import™
2. Notable MLB Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
Notes of Import™
Need to know information for men and women who need to know.
Scouting Report of Cole’s July 2nd Start
Internetting Gentleman mattp31 attended top-ranked Pittsburgh prospect and right-hander Gerrit Cole’s start against the Binghamton Mets on Monday and has written a detailed report of same for Minor League Ball. Cole’s fastball seemed to sit at around 94-96 mph and, according to the aforementioned author, hit 96 or higher about a third of the time. The start was the 21-year-old Cole’s third at Double-A. Here’s his line from same: 5.2 IP, 25 TBF, 5 K, 1 BB, 0 HR, 7:3 GO:FO, 6 H.
Tabata Demoted
Pittsburgh outfielder Jose Tabata was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis on Tuesday, reports Karen Price of the Tribune-Review. Tabata, who signed a six-year, $14.75 million deal last season — with three options that could make it nine years and $37.25 million — has done this so far in 2012: 280 PA, .230/.295/.341 (.267 BABIP), 69 wRC+, -0.5 WAR. The club promoted outfielder Gorkys Hernandez in a corresponding move, bypassing both Robbie Grossman (whom Marc Hulet ranked fifth this preseason among Pirates prospect) and Starling Marte (whom Hulet ranked sixth) in so doing. Drew Sutton (80 PA, 133 wRC+, .460 BABIP, 0.5 WAR) started in right field for Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
Mariners Introduce Zunino
The Mariners introduced third-overall pick Mike Zunino to an adoring public on Tuesday, a day after the University of Florida catcher signed with the club for $4.0 million, reports Tim Booth of the Associated Press. The allotted value for that third pick was actually $5.2 million this season, meaning yet another top draftee has signed at or (in this case) below MLB’s suggested slot valuation.
Notable MLB Games
New York AL at Tampa Bay | 15:10 ET
Left-hander David Price (104.2 IP, 81 xFIP-, 2.0 WAR) starts for Tampa Bay. Here’s his average fastball velocity, per PITCHf/x: 95.6 mph. And here’s where that ranks among qualified starters: second (to Stephen Strasburg’s 96.1).
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Tampa Bay Radio.
Boston at Oakland | 16:05 ET
Left-hander Franklin Morales, who pitches for Boston this afternoon, continues to shock — if not the world — then at least the present author. His line as a starter so far this season: 18.0 IP, 71 TBF, 33.8% K, 4.2% BB, 50.0% GB, 2.28 xFIP.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Boston Radio.
Texas at Chicago AL | 20:10 ET ***MLB.TV Free Game***
As of Tuesday, Texas had the highest WAR winning percentage in the majors — at .670, or 53.6-26.4. The next-closest team: Washington — at .608, or 46.8-30.2.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Texas Radio.
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 4.3.
Note: the following Game Scores include the poorly conceived playoff-odds adjustment discussed in a recent edition of Daily Notes. Also note: the following table is entirely sortable.
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mad. Bumgarner | SF | 8 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | WAS | Edwin Jackson | 11:05 |
| Cliff Lee | PHI | 9 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | NYN | Chris Young | 13:10 |
| Dallas Keuchel | HOU | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | PIT | Kevin Correia | 13:35 |
| David Phelps* | NYA | 7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 9 | TB | David Price | 15:10 |
| Ervin Santana | LAA | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | CLE | Derek Lowe | 16:05 |
| Franklin Morales* | BOS | 9 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 8 | OAK | A.J. Griffin* | 16:05 |
| Chris Tillman* | BAL | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | SEA | Hector Noesi | 16:10 |
| Josh Johnson | MIA | 7 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 2 | MIL | Randy Wolf | 16:10 |
| Brian Duensing* | MIN | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 9 | DET | Justin Verlander | 19:05 |
| Luis Mendoza | KC | 2 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 4 | TOR | Carlos Villanueva* | 19:07 |
| Paul Maholm | CHN | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 5 | ATL | Randall Delgado | 19:10 |
| Scott Feldman | TEX | 3 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 4 | CHA | Dylan Axelrod* | 19:10 |
| Jeremy Guthrie | COL | 1 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 8 | STL | Adam Wainwright | 19:15 |
| Mike Leake | CIN | 7 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | LAN | Aaron Harang | 21:10 |
| Jason Marquis | SD | 3 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 6 | AZ | Ian Kennedy | 21:40 |
To learn more about Pitcher and Team NERD scores 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.
FYI: Franklin Morales isn’t starting for Boston today. Aaron Cook is. It got switched this morning.