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Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 1/26/26

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The Skubal Deadline

2:54

How likely is it that come July many of us will be watching for a Skubal trade like hawks?

Ben Clemens

2:54

yeah, very likely I think

Non-Baseball Hobbies

2:54

Michael Baumann is apparently cycling-obsessed. Ben Lindbergh is a video game nerd. Dan Szymborski is all about his cats and will debate chili with the best of them. What, good sir, is your biggest non-baseball hobby?

Ben Clemens

2:54

oh man, I must be doing a bad job of branding lately

I used to have so many lanes, now none!

2:55

Cooking and board games are probably my two main ones

I cook a lot, I play a ton of games overall, and since 'online writer who likes video games' is a contested beat, I lean more into the board game side. Also, I'm an outlier in terms of how much I like games, we own at on

2:56

I have a dog and like dog things. I love skiing. Love watching tennis, we have a lot of tennis chats here during slams usually

I dunno why we haven't during the Aussie Open, maybe next week we can talk results

Welland Jackfish

2:56

Have you played any of the Ticket to Ride expansion maps?

Ben Clemens

2:56

you know, I have not. But I need to buy a copy of ticket to ride (we are outfitting a vacation home) and I'd love to hear of any awesome maps people love

my wife has never played before, which is shocking considering how many games we play, so I want to get a really fun one for her first try

Sandwich

2:57

Something that's been driving me crazy: is there any actual functional difference between opt-outs and player options? A three-year deal with opt-outs after each year is just a fancy one-year deal with player options, right?

Ben Clemens

2:57

there is not. there might be technical differences but they're treated the same both by the CBT and the way you described it, in terms of practical use

I model them interchangeably and if you read my articles, I bet you'll find several times where I've mixed them up

Welland Jackfish

2:57

IMO Europe is better than original, Switzerland is also fun (but I may be biased because I have ridden the actual trains in Switzerland)

Ben Clemens

2:58

I am not exaggerating by much here: 'the trains of Switzerland' could have been one of my hobbies

i went to Zurich straight out of college for a trip and thought the trains were really cool.

15 years later, i was thinking I might have built them up too much in my head. then we took a train from Geneva to Zermatt and nope, they're the best trains in the world

2:59

the only competitors, for trains I've been on, are Japan and Norway, two places that would also be sweet for ticket to ride

Destination Stadium(s)/Game(s)

2:59

I like to travel and I desperately want to see an NPB game, a game somewhere in Mexico (maybe in Mexico City, which peers down its nose and the lowly town of Denver), and elsewhere around the world. Having lived almost all of my life in California, I haven't been to most MLB stadiums. Any suggestions on which stadiums I should prioritize?

Ben Clemens

3:00

Oh man, sure. Yeah, first, go see an NPB game. In Tokyo, though I'm not too picky about which team. I saw the Marines (Ohtani was on the Fighters still and was in town) and it was just a 10/10 experience

if you're mostly west coast, you should try to go to one of Fenway or Wrigley just for the shocking anachronism. And for me, Baltimore and Pittsburgh are also unique stadiums that you'll be happy you went to

bosoxforlife

3:01

I always saw the Devers trade as a salary dump and the way the market is turning its looks like the industry has decided that huge AAV's are better than ridiculously long contracts which turn into albatross contracts at the end. Xander Bogaerts is a perfect example.

Ben Clemens

3:01

I think I agree with you in the short term. Taht said, I think that this particular facet of front office valuation swings back and forth all the time

I remember writing about the sudden, unexpected pivot to long-term deals two winters ago

3:02

I concur that the Devers trade was always a salary dump and that most of the messaging around it was obfuscating that fact, though

long-term contracts do have a cost in optionality, no doubt. the question is whether you're getting enough back for that

I think that teams are always changing their evaluation of 'enough back' and thus constantly swinging back and forth in what they'd prefer their contract structure to look like as a whole

Interested person

3:02

Do you think the Twins are making a mistake holding on Ryan, Lopez? Even in a division that weak I can't imagine their internal projections love their odds to win that division. Value for Ryan and Lopez might be better at the deadline with more of a bidding war for services I just think this is a gross miscalculation for a club without direction.

The Actor for Al Pacino

3:03

Re: Dave Dombrowski and the Phillies' pitching. Everybody and their mother knows the team is built to win now and not for long-term success. Do you think they are at a point where they'd start to dangle serious prospects for, say, a Joe Ryan or someone similar who is approaching FA?

Ben Clemens

3:03

Love these two when looked at together

My guess, as I mentioned, is that the Phllies will wait until closer to the deadline for anything like this

3:04

but I really don't get what's going on in Minnesota. I think that they're just still trying to find their lane. I can't imagine they aren't engaging on Ryan discussions, and I am surprised that we saw as many starters as moved last week get traded without them being one of the teams trading their guy away

Big Buxton

3:04

I'm a Twins fan living in Philly. The Twins open the season in Baltimore just down I-95. Do I go down for the weekend and gives this team a chance to not utterly embarrass me? Or do I watch from my house in Philly like a coward?

Ben Clemens

3:04

oh, what? go

three games don't matter, they could go 0-3 and win the world series

but you get to see your team on opening day!

3:05

i very rarely remember the results of games I go to

partially, that's because I go to a lot of games and baseball has a lot of games. Mostly, though, it's because being at a ballpark is delightful, totally unrelated to the outcome of the game on the field

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