JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 11/16/20

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3:18

Blue Jays offseason:

Springer 5/110
Paxton or Morton 1/14
La Stella 2/14
May 2/14

Does this team challenge Tampa Bay and New York in the AL East?

Ben Clemens

3:19

Depends on what you mean by challenge

But yes!

3:20

I don't think they'd be favorites but I would put them roughly on par with Tampa Bay I think

Joe

3:20

Seems to me that trades should be way off in the future because of all the uncertainty with how things will play out in 2021 - especially trades that would only give you 2021 control. could that be driving some Free agent prices up - I'm assuming that if games aren't played teams won't pay the salaries for those games, but if you trade a player away, he is gone for good, so wouldn't you wait.

Ben Clemens

3:21

Not an unreasonable point at all. If 2020 had been canceled entirely, woof that Mookie Betts trade would have been bad

Joe

3:21

What position would LaStella play in that Scenario above?

Ben Clemens

3:21

3:22

Plus back up Biggio

Guest

3:22

Alejandro Kirk HOF chances +/- .1%?

Ben Clemens

3:22

Gimme the over

Mostly b/c I'll bet on a lot of things at 1000 to 1

3:23

But reaching the majors at 22 as a catcher is a promising sign

Enough to make me smash the over on a very unlikely occurrence

DRB

3:23

Forget CBA stuff, what does the league need to do to get fans interested in the game more? I’ve been a fan all my life, but unless I have $ on the game, I really don’t care that much anymore.

Ben Clemens

3:23

This is tough. Marketing stars more would help, but I think that sports in general is facing this problem now

3:24

Viewership is down in EVERYTHING, Red Zone is doing way better than actual NFL broadcasts

I think that the best thing they could do would be to get better announcing crews

I think that a lot of on-field stuff would have little impact

3:25

But making the games more interesting to listen to would be great

I listen to A's games in the background b/c I have a good time listening to the announcers

I do not listen to Cardinals games in the background, even though they're my team, b/c I don't enjoy listening to the announcers

Hal

3:25

Be honest: did you know Grady Sizemore made appearances in 10 different seasons before the HoF ballot came out this morning? Can you name the teams he made appearances for in 2015?

Ben Clemens

3:26

I would have guessed he'd appeared in ten seasons, but not as recently as 2015

3:27

Hm... I'll go Braves and Dodgers but I just have no idea

Rays and Phillies, who knew

Joe

3:27

Jays scenario, so Shaw would be benched/traded? but they still have an extra hitter OF/DH, do they try to trade someone or just have Tellez on their bench. I feel like they don't really need LaStella.

Ben Clemens

3:28

Yeah, I tihnk that La Stella is a meaningful upgrade from Shaw

Hal

3:28

Does Josh Hamilton have the best career since integration of anyone who didn't make it the 10 years to become Hall-eligible?

Ben Clemens

3:28

This might be more of a question for Jay, because I'm not a great baseball historian, but I'm trying to think of recent players who might fit that bill

Mike Hawk

3:29

How many ABs do you see Bobby Dalbec getting next year?

Ben Clemens

3:30

I'll level with you; I don't think I'm better at guessing this than Jason is, and our depth charts have him in the 500-600 range, so I'll go iwth that

3:31

Still looking at the HoF questoin, it's a fun one

3:33

Oddly in the weird way I'm filtering it, Corey Koskie comes up

He was better than I thought

Guest

3:33

Every play Pirates of the Spanish Main/Pirates Constructible Strategy Game? Old but underrated

Ben Clemens

3:33

No but sounds like I should check it out

Guest