JotCast | 2025 FanGraphs Opening Day Chat

2025 FanGraphs Opening Day Chat

Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page

Ben Clemens

8:43

I disliked the circumstances that led them to trade a great player hoping to get other great players. Not sure what the Harper part means but eh, other than that

Brian

8:43

They had to hit on 18 against a likely dealer 19 and got a 3?

Ben Clemens

8:43

So ending up having to trade Soto is like staying at the casino until 6 a.m.

8:44

but getting three good players back in the deal is like hitting 00 on your last roulette roll

Guest

8:44

Should Riley Greene really be batting this high against lefties?

Ben Clemens

8:44

I think it's fine. he's a really good hitter, you know?

8:45

Like, not all your ABs always come against lefties, you're not gonna stack the top 5 with all righties, get him more PA in general

Michael Rosen

8:45

also snell isn't a classic lefty killer, he's got the super over-the-top arm angle and doesn't throw that many sliders

Kwah

8:47

Has there been any recent gravitational change in the nexus of MLB - celebrity such that there is any >0% chance that Sabrina Carpenter will soon date a famous baseballer? #AskingForASurvey

Ben Clemens

8:47

I know Baumann said he's seen her in a Phillies jersey

but..... no

I've spent more time than I would have expected wondering about that particular question

millville meltdown

8:47

what is snell's mix anyway? fastball, curveball?

Ben Clemens

8:48

fastball/curveball/slider/(rarely used) changeup

Bosoxforlife

8:48

A broader question than just about the games played today has been in my mind all spring. There is no place whatsoever on the Red Sox roster for Yoshida with Devers morphing into Little Papi. He can hit, an OPS over .775 and an OPS+ of 111 would look good in lots of lineups, and I think he was injured last year. Is there any market if some middling prospect, Mikey Romero or Franklin Arias perhaps, is included.

Michael Rosen

8:49

sort of think the mariners should've taken the yoshida/casas for castillo trade (if that was a real thing)

Ben Clemens

8:49

I'm not really sure, tbh. it's not so much that he's a monster creation as that he MIGHT be a monster creation, didn't really carve out playing time with the team that clearly had the highest opinion of him, and isn't cheap

if the Sox eat the money, I'm sure some teams would be interested. But, good teams? I dunno, risky to give up something of value for a platoon DH

8:50

maybe if he comes back from injury and looks GOOD

millville meltdown

8:50

dinner, dishes, more work time for me soon. gnight all, enjoy your night at the ball

Ben Clemens

8:51

night! thanks for chatting

Bosoxforlife

8:51

I agree that I couldn't imagine the Mariners passing up that deal if it was real.

Ben Clemens

8:51

I didn't follow the reporting around it closely but that seems like a win/win that the M's wouldn't accept b/c they have a very high valuation on their pitching

8:52

man, Gleyber looks so much different with a beard

Michael Rosen

8:53

casparius's stuff is so nasty

Ben Clemens

8:54

the broadcast was very out of sync with what I was perceiving. I was like 'man this slider and cutter look good' and they were saying he was trying to work through not having his best stuff

glad you agree with me

Craig Goldstein

8:56

I agree, Casparius' stuff looked amazing

Brian

8:56

So looking briefly at Yoshida... Is it common for batted ball profiles to be so different with platoon splits? He is bad yandy Diaz against lefties.

Ben Clemens

8:56

It is probably, though not definitely, a sample size issue. He only has about 200 batted balls against lefties in his career

8:57

I haven't watched enough of him l/l to know more specifically than that. The Sox definitely don't like letting him face lefties

Re; Riley Greene

8:58

He has a 95 wRC+ against lefties in the past two seasons though? It actually shocked me when I read it because I’d never heard anyone mention his platoon splits before

Ben Clemens

8:58

What about the last three years?

seems like his career platoon split is not too far away from league average (8% wOBA gap), and with a small enough sample size that it's definitely within the 'noise' band

8:59

Freddie Freeman has a meaningfully higher platoon split, for example

9:00

I just wouldn't be that worried about it. If Greene absolutely can't hit lefties, we'll find out eventually. But I think a bigger question is can he hit like an MVP or at leats a perennial All Star, so I'd throw him 1 or 2 in the lineup and find out

9:01

Like, the Tigers got Manuel Margot more or less off the street and he's batting fifth on opening day

Farhandrew Zaidman

9:01

Ben - Snell actually threw over 20 (!) change ups tonight, to the slider's detriment.

Ben Clemens

9:01

whoa

that's kinda wild

Connecting…