JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 1/25/21

View Full Chat Next Page

Ben Clemens

2:01

Hey everyone, happy Monday

Seems like we're back into the 'no big signings' portion of the offseason for a bit now that Springer has signed, but there are plenty of minor things going on

2:02

And let's be honest, you're reading a chat about baseball in the middle of January, minor things are probably something you're interested in

So let's chat!

Milton Bwadley

2:02

Why don't the Rockies rebuild?

Ben Clemens

2:02

Really good question that I don' know the answer to

Last year they thought (or at least Dick Monfort thought) they'd win 94 games!

2:03

It could be that they just disagree with the premise that they need to rebuild

YardGoat

2:03

Over/Under 83 wins for NL Central Division winner in 2021

Ben Clemens

2:03

Over

Even though I might not project any of the teams higher than that, someone will spike it

At 88 I'm not sure which way I'd go

Appa Yip Yip

2:03

So Brad Hand got himself a 15% raise (1 m buyout, 10.5 contract) because teams were trying to be cheap and galaxy brain their way through the off-season. Do any front offices take a lesson from this? Maybe just ... get the good player when he's available?

Ben Clemens

2:04

Not really clear. He got himself a 15% raise, but teams got some information too

They got to see what players signed for over 1.5 months

As it turns out, signings are mostly beating expectations

I think a lot of front offices will convince themselves they had a good process/bad outcome situation here

2:05

But overall, I agree with you that teams are a little too cute about trying to grab little edges

Swifty Mcvay

2:05

Good Day Ben. I know the Padres Signed Kim Ha-Seong for just Four years but do they control him through arbitration for 2 aditional years after that contract is up just like any first year player?

Ben Clemens

2:05

I haven't looked at Kim's contract specifically, but contracts can include a clause that requires teams to relinquish a player's rights and let them elect free agency after the contract is over

2:06

Look at Miles Mikolas for a good example

He technically only has 4 years of service time but he would have hit free agency after his first 2-year deal with the Cards

Kyle

2:06

Imagine Marlins get Benintendi and Phillies bring back Realmuto. Is there a single team in the NL East that doesn't go over .500 in that scenario?

Ben Clemens

2:06

Yes, the Marlins probably

2:07

It's really hard for every team to go above .500 even if they're all good

But also, are the Marlins THAT good?

Tigers Fan

2:07

Do you think any of these 3 players will have bounce back year (ie. All Star caliber numbers)...Cody Bellinger, Gleyber Torres, Shohei Ohtani?

Ben Clemens

2:07

Bellinger

2:08

Also I'd believe either of the other two, I'm just most confident in Bellinger

As the best defender of the group, he has the lowest bar to putting up All Star level numbers

As a bonus, he's the best hitter in the group

Ben Clemens Replacement

2:08

I have taken over Fangraphs and will chat every day.

Ben Clemens

2:09

My robot replacement is causing trouble again apparently. I will not be chatting every ady!

Rockies

2:09

Better question: Why don't the Rockies fire the whole FO?

Ben Clemens

2:09

My guess is that they don't think the front office is performing poorly

I'm pretty sure that if you asked the Rockies front office what they thought of their chances, privately

They'd be like 'yeah look this team is not equipped to compete'

Bring Back Mookie

2:10

Like that Ottavino trade for the Sox? Doesn't seem like much downside

Ben Clemens

2:10

Yeah I think it makes sense. Skeptical that the Red Sox are favorites to make the playoffs without another move, but they got a competent reliever for free in exchange for being friendly with the Yankees

What's not to like about that?

Connecting…

Message History

On Off

Your current subscriptions

None

E-mail Address	Chat Owner	Status	Remove

Enter your email address to be notified when Ben Clemens hosts a chat