JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 1/25/21

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 1/25/21

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George

2:20

Is the Nats bullpen going to actually be good for once? I'm so sick and tired of the Nats just trading away good bullpen pieces and then ALSO having bad pen.

Ben Clemens

2:20

I think it will be acceptable

Not great, maybe

I'm down on Hand relative to consensus

2:21

I would hardly be surprised if he's the 4th-best reliever for the Nats this year behind Harris, Suero, and Rainey in some order

But that's an okay bullpen

Gonna be higher than the recent Nats versions, I think?

45 blows billygoats

2:21

Are you expecting a bounce back year from Matt Olsen or was he truly exposed as not being able to hit the wicked bender?

Ben Clemens

2:22

Bounce back

His numbers weren't even *that* awful last year under the hood, more of a 'he didn't bat enough times' thing

2:23

His strikeout rate went up but so did his walk rate. Seems to me from a quick look like he maybe got too passive at the plate

That said, he was an above-average hitter despite a .227 BABIP

2:24

Not saying he's going to replicate his short-season 2017 but I totally buy the projection systems (steamer and zips both think he'll OBP around .340 and wRC+ above 120 next year)

Handy Hand

2:24

Brad Hand will be Handy. Before the signing, the Nats had a bad Hand in the bullpen. He will have a Hand in improving in it. On the other Hand, he is expensive.

Ben Clemens

2:24

I was intrigued by the idea of writing the Brad Hand signing up

Just to lean RIIIIIIIGHT up to puns

then ignore them

George

2:25

How do you personally separate rooting for a player and feeling repulsed by their personal beliefs? I want to root for players on my favorite team but also find it hard to ignore their less than desirable personal opinions.

Ben Clemens

2:25

This is a wonderful question that I don't have a satisfactory answer for

2:26

I think that you need to make up your own mind on this, but it's worth being mindful of the fact that yeah, there are probably a lot of players, and certainly owners, whose personal beliefs you m ight disagree with

2:27

Following baseball while being conscientious about the bad things that the sport and the people involved in it do isn't easy

The one thing that I think you should under no circumstances do is defend a bad actor's bad actions b/c you like how they play baseball

You can say "this is a bad thing, but sports are fraught and I choose to root for the players on my team who are good on the field"

that's fine

Even though that's not how I feel

2:28

But don't start defending people for one thing b/c you like another thing they do

See! You! Later!

2:28

On the subject of Hand getting a $500,000 raise: I don't think it is that teams were trying to get cute, just that they thought the market would be weaker than it was, like most fans and writers. We saw it with the Astros giving Brantley 2/32 after not giving him the QO.

Ben Clemens

2:28

Yeah exactly. Teams thought Hand was worth less than the option given the deal they expected him to get

The market turned out stronger than expected, now his value has gone up

Good deal for him

Guest

2:28

So the Red Sox have actually done some hot-stoving! They don't seem like a great team, but they've shown a willingness to spend money and be creative. What else do they need to get back to wild card level, while not messing up their win-later moves?

Ben Clemens

2:29

They should sign a starter

Not necessarily a good one

but just someone who can eat some innings for them

Tyler Anderson? sure

Griff

2:30

Any good SPs that might be surprisingly available? Flaherty?

Ben Clemens

2:30

Surprisingly rules out Castillo, I guess

So, this is definitely not my area of expertise

I don't really have any inside dirt or anything

2:32

That said, I think that Brandon Woodruff might be available in the right deal. The Brewers don't strike me as the kind of team who wants to tie up resources on long-term deals for starters, and if you're going to deal him, this year is a good time

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