JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 1/27/25

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 1/27/25

powered by

Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page

Dodgers fan

3:06

Will we see the free spending padres ever returning? I enjoy the SD/LA rivalry and hate seeing the padres have to trade off Cease or King and not sign any big free agents

Ben Clemens

3:06

I think it's definitely possible

the succession squabble there is making everything very confusing

3:07

but to be fair, the Padres are still running a fairly large payroll for 2025

9th in baseball, second in the NLW

that should make Giants fans VERY unhappy, btw

MLB fan

3:08

will we see mlb expansion soon or will they use Nashville as ransom for more tax payer funds in TB?

Ben Clemens

3:08

por que no los dos

Alf

3:08

A premise that underlies some of the salary cap arguments is that teams should be profitable, which I have always questioned. Do you think the sport can be healthy if teams are money-losing toys for billionaires?

Ben Clemens

3:08

I tend to agree, and also, at least backward looking, these teams have all been outrageously talented

3:09

whoops, outrageously profitable

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/how-to-make-750-million-cash-free/

LenFuego

3:10

I guess 6 years ago the Mets should have kept Alonso in the minors for a few weeks (or whatever it took) to keep him from accruing that league year of service time? I hear all the 'manipulating service time' talk and I have to laugh at the naivete.

Ben Clemens

3:10

The Alonso one was kinda silly, I agree, I thought the Mets mostly did well by him. But uh.... I don't see how that has any bearing on the present

3:11

like... they'd have more leverage if they'd behaved differently in the past, for sure

that different behavior would have been anti-competitive, making their team worse on purpose that year

Trent

3:11

Is Preller on the hot seat if the Padres play .500 ball this year?

Ben Clemens

3:11

probably

Theo be Praised

3:11

Seems like the Cubs went for innings volume by signing Boyd ($15 mil) and Rea ($5 mil), trading for Pressly ($8.5 mil cost). Would they have been better served consolidating spend to 1 high-end pitcher?

Ben Clemens

3:11

I liked their plan actually

3:12

I think that the way the market broke this year, the best place to get pitching was the middle

I think that in previous years, they've gone that way too much. Jameson Taillon, hello

but this year was a good year to be seeking the middle

dylan carlson

3:12

mike elias free agency strategy: sign all the former cardinals outfielders

cool

1

Mike Elias

3:12

Orioles offseason enough to fix postseason woes?

Ben Clemens

3:13

I mean... .they didn't do anything, haha

they're definitely worse than they were in 2024

I"m looking at our offseason tracker here, and yeah, Santander to TON is a downgrade, Burnes to Morton/Sugano is a downgrade, and uh....

that's it?

if they succeed, it won't be b/c of their offseason

it'll be b/c their team has a ton of good players that were already on the roster

O'Honk

3:13

Did you have any thoughts on the Red Sox and Pirates swapping Nick Yorke for Quinn Priester last year ? I saw it as a challenge trade of guys with down stocks since their top 100 prospect days. But in his ranking this morning Keith Law actually had Yorke still in the mid 50s.

Ben Clemens

3:14

I have some thoughts, but I don't think they're particualrly wise. I'm a big Yorke guy b/c he had an awesome card in Out of the Park a few years ago

and I'm down on Priester b/c I have pitching prospect fatigue

Preller for a day

3:14

Would you trade King, Cease, and Arraez and use the trade returns + savings to fill holes? If yes, where would you spend the money?

Ben Clemens

3:14

I would trade Arraez if there were value to be had

I think he's a properly compensated player

3:15

solid regular, not a consistent all star, spike-level All Star seasons likely. that's what he's getting paid

but I think teams mostly agree with my valuation and thus there probably isn't a home run deal to be had. If there were no budget constraints, I'd basically just set high prices on my pitchers and see if teams get desperate. And otherwise, roll with the existing squad, who were quite good in 2024

J

3:16

Just throwing out there that Jameson Taillon tied Luis Castillo in WAR last year. He's not worth that contract the next two years, but he's been fine/

Connecting…

Register

Message History

On Off

On Off

On Off

Your current subscriptions

None

Register now to continue managing your subscriptions

E-mail Address	Chat Owner	Status	Remove

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