JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 11/29/21

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Ben Clemens

2:51

and it's not like he's the only person at his agency, but his smaller clients have always seemed to wait to sign until the big names are out of the wya

Uncle Charlie

2:52

If Eugenio Suarez's September is an indication that his extended hitting woes may be a thing of the past, would a Reds-Jays swap of 3B Suarez for INF/OF Cavan Biggio seem plausible? Biggio looks to be in like an odd man out situation in Toronto. And Suarez never lost his power, just his eye which he seems to have righted.

Ben Clemens

2:52

Uh.... it does not, to me

I don't think Suarez is a good bet to rebound. I think that Steamer's 98 wRC+ prediction looks pretty reasonable

2:53

Now, he's on a very solid contract, 3/33 with a 15 million dollar option afterwards

2:54

But that's not a steal for a guy who looks like he might be kind of done

Like, a lot of guys look better with a .432 BABIP, but his August was pretty putrid

2:55

His second half was encouraging.... and also, he still struck out 30% of the time and is 30

I think Biggio's star has fallen, but not quite that much

Guest

2:55

Michael Lorenzen is gonna show Ohtani how *real* two-way players do it right? Pitch *and* play the field?

Ben Clemens

2:55

Haha I think so

It's a strange fit for the Angels to me, but I guess they're going six-man rotation anyway

2:56

It's starting to feel like one of my OOTP teams

Three two-way players, jam them in all around the depth chart when they're not starting

TomBruno23

2:56

Good to see a guy who is key in the labor battle, and going so far back as the draft days went indy ball to force the issue with AZ, single handedly advancing the average annual value record by over 20% from Cole's 36M

Ben Clemens

2:56

You absolutely love to see it

D Lew

2:56

If Castellanos comes off his 7 year dream. You think the Phillies are a good fit?

Ben Clemens

2:56

Yeah, totally

2:57

Depends on what they're looking to spend on... it wouldn't shock me to see them as a mystery suitor in some of the shortstop markets

But if they're not doing that, I don't hate hiding him in left field or DH (pending universal DH etc) and their outfield is NOT good right now outside of Harper

The Opener

2:57

What are your thoughts on the Kluber signing and what could you see the Rays doing more (if anything) to their rotation before opening day?

Ben Clemens

2:58

I thought that Jake Mailhot's writeup was excellent

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/rays-restock-their-rotation-with-corey-klu...

I think they might sign one more very-low-dollar pitcher, but that they're almost done

Guest

2:58

How much risk is there on Scherzer actually pitching well for three more years?

Ben Clemens

2:59

Oh, there's risk for sure!

I don't think there's much in year one

3:00

But it definitely increases as time goes on

I don't have a good quantitative answer for you, I haven't looked into it that deeply, but I do think that Scherzer is a good bet to be either hurt or good even at age 40

Appa Yip Yip

3:00

Matt Chapman has been trending down offensively for two seasons now. The defense is superlative, but what makes you think the bat will bounce back? A no hit all defense third baseman isn't really all that compelling.

Ben Clemens

3:01

I think that he'll be JUUUUST a bit better offensively than he was this year, say to the tune of a .325 OBP or more slug or something like that

And if you're a 110 wRC+ (ish, random number) third baseman with gold glove defense, that's pretty good

All Star caliber player, which is about where I'd peg him. Borderline All Star

Pitcher’s duel

3:01

Would you rather have Logan Webb or Sandy Alcantara?

Ben Clemens

3:02

Boy, I'm going to continue being too low on Sandy forever aren't I?

I'd take Webb

Kozmania

3:02

Is it possible to structure a contract that is almost entirely front loaded? Let’s say a team has a young nucleus, and a relatively low payroll. This would allow them to absorb the FA contract, and provide flexibility down the road?

Ben Clemens

3:02

So, you *could*

There are a few problems

One, owners don't want to spend money now that they could spend in the future

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