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August Fagerstrom FanGraphs Chat -- 1/5/16
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august fagerstrom
12:50
he won't want to play through trash for a full season to *hopefully* have a bunch of prospects pan out
Derek
12:51
As a Phillies fan who was so high on Carrasco only to see him flourish years later with the Indians, can you tell me what exactly he's done to become so successful? I'm still biased and think it's all just a fluke and he still sucks (sour grapes, I know).
august fagerstrom
12:52
well he was always supposed to be an ace, so he's just gotten back to doing the things that made him so hyped in the first place
he's healthy, for one
in a better headspace than he was in for awhile when he was moving back and forth between minors and majors, hurt and healthy, bullpen and rotation
12:53
the big one though was when he went to the bullpen in 2014, he started a) pitching out of the stretch exclusively, b) limited his repertoire to ditch his meh curveball and throw his nasty slider/change combo more and c) started pitching with more intent, as guys do when they transition from the rotation to pen. then, when he moved back to the rotation, he just kept doing all that same stuff
it's definitely not a fluke. he's a top 10 pitcher in baseball and the best pitcher in Cleveland, IMO
Jordan
12:53
I get the feeling the Jays are heading into a rebuild that could start as soon as the trade deadline but I imagine latest next off season, would you agree?
august fagerstrom
12:54
yeah if they're falling out of contention at the deadline this year Joey Bats and/or EE could definitely be moved
Tony
12:54
Should the Indians sign Steve Pearce? He seems like a perfect fit for a 3 men bench (with Jose Ramirez and Roberto Perez) that Tito prefers
august fagerstrom
12:55
definitely thought so at the start of the year, but after the Davis/Napoli signings I'm not so sure. he'd probably be taking Collin Cowgill's roster spot, and he's better than Cowgill, but the Indians value Cowgill's defense and vs. LHP split, so they might not think upgrade would be worth the cost
Oneear
12:55
What park has cheap beer?
august fagerstrom
12:55
$4 beers at Progressive Field!
JZ
12:55
In the Cleveland clubhouse, Bauer and Moss always gave interesting baseball insight. However, Kipness and Lindor seem to say more dull things. Anyone else who seems particularly engaged in there?
august fagerstrom
12:56
Lindor is one of the best interviews there just not with super technical baseball stuff, though he's great when you ask him about defense
Roberto Perez is awesome for pitching stuff. Salazar is really in-tune with the advanced/"art" side of pitching however you want to call it. and Cody Allen is a big sabermetrics guy who's great to talk to about pitching
it all comes from Mickey Callaway, though, who is the absolute best
Derek
12:57
LCD Soundsystem question: How do you feel about bands (cough, Grateful Dead, cough) that put on such a huge farewell concert that fans shell out hundreds if not thousands of dollars for, only to keep doing more shows later? I'm kind of okay with it because who wouldn't love more live music, but it's still kind of hokey.
august fagerstrom
12:57
yeah, I'm on the side of more live music is better as long as it's not forced
12:58
also very possible that those bands totally intend to do one-offs and then get overwhelmed by the experience or fan reaction and have a new fire lit to do more
Josh
12:58
Best fit for Gordon, Cespedes, & Upton.
august fagerstrom
12:58
Angels, Giants, White Sox in that order
oblig
12:58
do you get annoyed with people who complain about free things?
august fagerstrom
12:59
yeah I mean it doesn't ruin my day or anything but it's kind of a silly endeavor
EC
12:59
Could Austin Jackson be a good 1 year fit for Nats?
august fagerstrom
12:59
yeah, he could serve as a decent fallback option for the handful of contending teams that could use a little boost in CF
also entirely possible that Nats evaluators would prefer Taylor
mtsw
1:00
Does the fact that Chris Davis used to play 3B and can still play fairly cromulent corner OF indicate he might age better than a typical slugging 1B?
august fagerstrom
1:00
could give him a little boost
but also you have to wonder how much of Davis playing those positions was a product of his ability or his team's roster construction
Oneear
1:01
I enjoyed your article on Heyward in CF. If it was your team would you stand pat or try to bring in another CFer?
august fagerstrom
1:01
in a vacuum I wouldn't mind Heyward in center
that he's being flanked by Schwarber and Soler gives me some pause
Ernie Camacho
1:01
Tribe pitching had the AL's lowest wOBA-against and a low BABIP-against last year, and will pitch in front of what looks like one of the AL's best defenses. Are you skeptical of ZiPS's projection that almost all of the team's 2016 pitchers will underperform their FIP by a significant spread?
august fagerstrom
1:01
yeah I would bet on the ERA's being closer to their projected FIP's
1:02
but I can totally see why ZiPS projected the way it did
Kluber, Carrasco, et al have underperformed peripherals due to defense, but ZiPS can't know it was due to defense that's since been improved, so it has to bet on those guys just being peripheral underperformers
which could be the case, to an extent! Kluber does have something of a hard-contact issue at times
Jim
1:03
Would Calhoun Skaggs besrosian and coward net arenado and dickerson
august fagerstrom
1:03
no
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