Daily Notes: Garrett Richards to Start, Notably
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. Three Links Relevant to the Draft
2. Featured Game: Tampa Bay at New York AL, 19:05 ET
3. Other Notable Games
4. Today’s Complete Schedule
Three Links Relevant to the Draft
Here are three links relevant to the amateur draft, the first round of which (including all supplemental picks) was conducted Monday night.
Text of Marc Hulet’s Draft Chat
Our prospect man Marc Hulet conducted a live chat during last night’s draft. Read it over for the player profiles, if nothing else — like this one for first-overall pick, Puerto Rican high school shortstop Carlos Correa:
Correa was my personal favorite for the first overall pick. A big shortstop, he is very athletic and could stick at the position as long as he doesn’t keep growing. However, he may have the tools to be an above-average third baseman, as well. He has a very impressive approach at the plate with a well-balanced stance and smooth swing with excellent bat speed; he should hit for both power and average.
Baseball America Recap of First Round
Includes a list of 10 best remaining players and this quote from Houston scouting director Bobby Heck regarding the Astros’ pick of the aforementioned Correa:
“He’s a power-hitting shortstop and that’s a pretty good separator,” Heck said. “All of the players we considered had strong profiles as well, but it was tough to walk away from the shortstop with power potential.”
Wikipedia Entry on Conscription in the United States
Not relevant to baseball — but edifying!
Featured Game: Tampa Bay at New York AL, 19:05 ET
What the Reader Might Be Saying
Here’s a thing the reader might be saying right now: “A game involving the Yankees, hm? That’s fine — although, personally, I’d maybe rather stab myself in the genitals than watch it.”
What the Author Is Saying Back, In That Case
“I don’t entirely disagree with that sentiment.”
What the Author Is Adding, Also
“Don’t stab yourself in the genitals, actually.”
A Potentially Redeeming Quality in Terms of This Game
One potentially redeeming quality of this game is that it’s being started by James Shields for Tampa Bay, who’s been excellent this season and has a changeup that, owing to its potency, is projected by Nate Silver to defeat incumbent governor Scott Walker in today’s Wisconsin recall election — this, despite not actually existing as a material thing.
James Shields’ Line
Here’s James Shields’ line this season: 73.0 IP, 23.8% K, 7.1% BB, 59.0% GB, 2.84 SIERA, 69 xFIP-, 1.2 WAR.
Another Maybe Redeeming Quality
Another maybe redeeming quality in terms of this game is how the first (Tampa Bay) and last (Boston, Toronto) place teams in the AL East — of which Tampa Bay and New York are also a part — are separated by only 3.0 games.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast
Per the results of our offseason crowdsourcing project, FanGraphs readers prefer Tampa Bay Radio (link).
Other Notable Games
Atlanta at Miami | 19:10 ET
Note that selecting the Atlanta radio feed might prevent access to the straight-on Miami center-field camera.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Atlanta Radio.
Seattle at Los Angeles AL | 22:05 ET
Even after assigning Angels right-hander Garrett Richards — who makes his first start of the season tonight — a NERD of 17 on a scale of 0-10, the Game Score for this game is still lower than the featured Rays-Yankees one featured above. Richards has not been dominant (56.1 IP, 7.67 K/9, 4.63 BB/9, 0.80 HR/9, 4.41 FIP) at Triple-A Salt Lake this year, but his fastball sits at 94-plus mph as a starter and he’s generally exhibited good control in the minors — which, that’s a promising combination.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Tied, It Seems.
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 5.7.
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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ubaldo Jimenez | CLE | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | DET | Drew Smyly | 19:05 |
| Chad Billingsley | LAN | 5 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 10 | PHI | Cliff Lee | 19:05 |
| Chris Young* | NYN | 6 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 8 | WAS | Jo. Zimmermann | 19:05 |
| James Shields | TB | 10 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 8 | NYA | Andy Pettitte | 19:05 |
| Tim Hudson | ATL | 6 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 8 | MIA | Anibal Sanchez | 19:10 |
| Jason Hammel | BAL | 8 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 5 | BOS | Jon Lester | 19:10 |
| A.J. Burnett | PIT | 8 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 | CIN | Homer Bailey | 19:10 |
| Jaime Garcia | STL | 8 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 3 | HOU | Lucas Harrell | 20:05 |
| Ryan Dempster | CHN | 6 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | MIL | Yovani Gallardo | 20:10 |
| Francisco Liriano | MIN | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 3 | KC | Bruce Chen | 20:10 |
| Ricky Romero | TOR | 3 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 3 | CHA | Philip Humber | 20:10 |
| Jeremy Guthrie | COL | 0 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 5 | AZ | Ian Kennedy | 21:40 |
| Blake Beavan | SEA | 2 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 17 | LAA | Garrett Richards* | 22:05 |
| Tim Lincecum | SF | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 7 | SD | Anthony Bass | 22:05 |
| Derek Holland | TEX | 7 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 5 | OAK | Travis Blackley* | 22:05 |
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.
4.41 FIP or xFIP?
Ack. Meant “FIP.” For minor leaguers, that’s what I use, generally.
So you just gave him a 17 for no reason other than to show how uninteresting the game is? Discretional NERD is the best!
I believe Carson has a stash of Garrett Richards baseball cards. Also, seventeen is a better number than sixteen but not quite as good as eighteen.
C’mon now, it’s discretionary NERD!
I believe Richards was Cistulli’s most-likely-”Next Pineda” this offseason.
C’mon, everyone, let’s all sing:
“We’re the Skipmunks, rockin’ and managin’ like never before…” (apropos of nothing, just seemed like an appropriate addition to this board.)
Carson, would it be possible to list the MLB.tv free game every day? Would save some clicks. Thanks.
I could be mistaken, but I believe MLB didn’t make note of the day’s free game (BAL at BOS, 19:10 ET) until this morning — whereas, that information is typically available the night before, when I write the bulk of the Notes.
But, of course, I am committed to the dissemination of free-game information!
Hehe. Cistulli is committed to semination.
Am debating sitting Kennedy (at home vs Colorado) and Sanchez (at home vs Colorado) for today’s starts. Miami park not great for runs scored (even tho HRs are down vs other parks), and both Colorado and Atlanta are in the top 10 in runs scored.
Someone care to try and talk me into starting one or both?
I’d be more inclined to sit Kennedy than Sanchez, who’s numbers are actually better than last year’s already excellent ones.
You can also wait, of course, to see Atlanta’s lineup. Have you visited Baseball Press’s lineups page before? It’s really helpful for that sort of thing.
Link: http://www.baseballpress.com/lineup.php.
An unusually excellent edition!
I will appreciate any and all links to Wikipedia and/or reminders not to stab myself in the genitals whilst watching the Yankees. Exhortations to start on my 5th bottle of Newcastle Brown might be more conducive to Yankee-enjoyment.