Daily Notes, With Three Earth-Shaking Transactions

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

1. Three Basically Earth-Shaking Transactions
2. Featured Game: Washington at Boston, 19:10 ET
3. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
4. Today’s Complete Schedule

Three Basically Earth-Shaking Transactions
Here are three transactions from Thursday that shook the planet Earth — owing to their magnitude, one imagines.

Correa Signed
The Houston Astros signed Puerto Rican high school shortstop Carlos Correa with a $4.8 million bonus on Thursday, just days after taking him first overall in this year’s amateur draft, according to the Associated Press.

Scheppers Recalled
Right-handed reliever Tanner Scheppers, 25, was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock on Thursday and made his debut that same night in relief of Yu Darvish. Here’s what he did last night (box): 1.2 IP, 6 TBF, 2 K, 0 BB, 2 GB on 4 batted-balls (50% GB). Here’s what he did at Triple-A this year in 25 appearances, all in relief: 29.0 IP, 8.38 K/9, 1.24 BB/9, 0.62 HR/9, 2.96 FIP. Scheppers was, at one point, a highly thought-of prospect, but his inability to start has tempered expectations.

Danks Also Recalled
Like Scheppers, White Sox outfielder Jordan Danks, 25, was also recalled Thursday and also made his major-league debut — although only as a pinch-runner, turns out, for Paul Konerko (box). Unlike Scheppers, Jordan Danks is the younger brother of White Sox left-hander John Danks. The younger Danks at Triple-A Charlotte this year: 230 PA, .302/.417/.503 (.397 BABIP).

Featured Game: Washington at Boston, 19:10 ET
What the Reader Will Want to Know About This Game
In point of fact, I wouldn’t presume to guess at what the reader wants to know — about this game, or about anything else in life.

Why That Is
Because the reader is famous for his eccentric tastes, is why.

Like What
A little bit of this, from what I understand. A not inconsiderable amount of that.

Regarding What the Alternative Is
The alternative is to consider what I, the author, would want to know, and then write about that.

What the Author Would Want to Know About This Game
That Stephen Strasburg (65.0 IP, 68 xFIP-, 2.1 WAR) is pitching in it.

What Else
That the Red Sox straight-on center-field camera is the ideal sort for watching a Pitcher of Note, like Strasburg.

And What Third Thing
That Washington outfielder Michael Morse has recently returned from a lat injury (maybe it was) and done this since said return: 22 PA, 0 HR, 2 BB, 4 K. Furthermore, that this is his ZiPS projection for the remainder of the season: 299 PA, .272/.331/.474 (.312 BABIP), 1.2 WAR.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast
Per the results of our offseason crowdsourcing project, FanGraphs readers prefer Washington Radio — although note, of course, that that might prevent access to the equally excellent and aforementioned center-field camera (link).

Other Notable Games
Note: as of Thursday night, MLB.com hadn’t published the day’s MLB.TV Free Game. Moreover, the author is very likely still asleep as of press time, which is limiting his editing abilities at the moment.

Philadelphia at Baltimore | 19:05 ET
One of these is a first-place team; the other, a last-place one. Also, it’s Opposite Day.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Philadelphia Radio.

Cleveland at St. Louis | 20:15 ET
As of Thursday, St. Louis had created more runs than any other team (52.0 above league average). Stars: Carlos Beltran (150 wRC+, .290 BABIP, 1.9 WAR), Yadier Molina (150 wRC+, .333 BABIP, 2.4 WAR), Allen Craig (212 wRC+, .380 BABIP, 1.0 WAR), Rafael Furcal (128 wRC+, .335 BABIP, 2.1 WAR).

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland 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 5.0.

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
Luke Hochevar	KC	5	5	4	2	5	PIT	Erik Bedard	19:05
Johan Santana	NYN	7	1	6	6	3	NYA	Hiroki Kuroda	19:05
Joe Blanton	PHI	7	5	7	4	7	BAL	Jake Arrieta	19:05
Rick Porcello	DET	6	5	5	4	5	CIN	Bronson Arroyo	19:10
Jer. Hellickson	TB	3	5	5	4	3	MIA	Ricky Nolasco	19:10
Ste. Strasburg	WAS	10	5	9	5	7	BOS	Felix Doubront	19:10
Kyle Drabek	TOR	2	7	5	7	5	ATL	Brandon Beachy	19:35
Travis Wood	CHN	4	2	1	2	3	MIN	P.J. Walters	20:10
Wan. Rodriguez	HOU	5	5	4	5	5	CHA	Gavin Floyd	20:10
Edinson Volquez	SD	4	6	4	6	6	MIL	Shaun Marcum	20:10
Josh Tomlin	CLE	7	4	7	10	5	STL	Jake Westbrook	20:15
C.J. Wilson	LAA	4	3	5	8	6	COL	Alex White	20:40
Tommy Milone	OAK	5	2	5	5	6	AZ	Daniel Hudson	21:40
Nathan Eovaldi*	LAN	6	5	4	5	2	SEA	Kevin Millwood	22:10
Matt Harrison	TEX	5	10	4	4	0	SF	Barry Zito	22:15

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.