JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 11/9/20

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 11/9/20

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Ben Clemens

3:07

I'd also be fine with the top two division winners getting byes, then the next four teams playing a three- or five-game play-in round

So 12 teams

Guest

3:07

Ben I found an awesome fun fact today I wanted to see if you can get ...
There are only two players who've done the following in the same game:
* Played infield
* Played outfield
* Pitched and allowed an HR
Who do you think they are?

Ben Clemens

3:07

Boy, I'm not going to get this, though I'm happy to guess at it

3:08

Okay, I guess I don't even have any guesses now that I'm thinking about it

W.B. Mason

3:08

Surprised to see Semien ranked so highly in the FA list. I had him in fantasy and considered keeping him for wayyy cheap value but didn't/wouldn't. Wondering if he can really elevate

Ben Clemens

3:08

Semien is a question of weightings. How much do you care about his breakout 2019, how much do you care about his dud 2020, and is the defense real?

3:09

I think he's going to come in lower than Craig's projection, personally

I put down 3 years at 14 per in my own crowdsource ballot

Guest

3:10

I'll give two hints: One is a top 5 HOFer and the other is one of the most famous utility men of the 2010s...

Ben Clemens

3:10

In that case, Babe Ruth seems reasonable, though I'm not sure he found time to play infield when he was pitching

Most famous utillity men of the 2010s, so my first guess was going to be Sandoval but he's not really a utility man

So, Ben Zobrist?

Derek

3:11

Well apparently in his lawsuit Luhnow is claiming he had "no knowledge or involvement in" the sign-stealing... So yeah, unlikely to win that argument, I think. But hey he's going after $22 million and people already think he's an asshole so I guess there's not much downside there on his end!

Ben Clemens

3:12

Here's a reason you could logically file this lawsuit if you're Luhnow. Let's say you've called your contacts around the league and everyone is like 'lol Jeff pass'

So there's no issue of you burning bridges; they're all burnt

You might not think you can win the lawsuit -- but Jim Crane is probably suuuuuper uninterested in a lengthy discovery process

3:13

So you file a lawsuit for $22 million and immediately offer to settle for $3 million

B

3:14

Does MLB perceive the problem that so much of the game now revolves around home runs, Ks, and BBs? There's much less action in the field now, and even casual fans that I talk to are starting to really notice and cite it as a reason that they think baseball is boring. Can MLB do anything about it?

Ben Clemens

3:15

I think they absolutely do. It's a tricky problem, without an obvious answer

Which is why Manfred just targets time of game instead

But I'm sure that they're working on ideas for how to handle it, and just keep coming up withones thath don't work

Guest

3:15

Correct! Babe Ruth was the first (He played LF-1B-P, went 1-4, Stole a base and allowed 6 ER with one Homer, the Yankees won 7-6). The second I guess I probably exaggerated being a "famous" utility man, but it was Kiké Hernandez in 2018. The other fun fact was both were against Philadelphia teams! The then Philadelphia Athletics and the Phillies

Ben Clemens

3:15

oh that's a solid one. I htink he counts as famous

3:16

Gonna call this a wrap on the chat; my chatting muscles have atrophied from a month off and I'm falling really behind on answering questions, so gonna call it and get some lunch. Thanks so much for hanging out with me, everyone, and sorry if I didn't get to your questions. See you next week!

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