JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 2/13/23

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 2/13/23

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Ben Clemens

2:16

I feel like the Pirates are intermittently in this category, and the Orioles six or seven years ago as well

2:17

The thing Oakland has that keeps them out of 'worst franchise' territory is that I kinda believe in the front office

Does it look good now? No, but maybe they'll be able to turn it around

Dave

2:17

Speaking of expansion, isn't the current great untapped market opportunity moving an established franchise (Tampa, Oakland, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland...name a low revenue/cheap billionaire owner team) to a market such as Nashville, San Antonio or Charlotte where they'd get a free stadium, eager local fans and absurd tax breaks to move?

Ben Clemens

2:18

That's certainly an untapped market opportunity. But you could also use those cities to play the existing cities into committing more money, then collect some juicy expansion fees by also adding a team there

2:19

I think that's the move if you're truly profit maximizing as mlb

RTJ

2:19

Do you buy Jazz having a breakout year to coincide with his video game cover?

Ben Clemens

2:19

The only breakout Jazz needs is health

If he keeps up last year's rate numbers, that's a breakout

Broken Bat

2:20

Alex Reyes and the Dodgers… if anyone can fix him it’s those guys. Right?

Ben Clemens

2:20

That's certainly how I feel

Dave

2:20

not sure if this falls under your cooking area of expertise but i'll ask anyways. i have an electric stove and have attempted a few recipes using a cast iron. the recipes will call for cooking on high, which i do, but then everything seems to cook extremely faster than what the recipe says. like this led to me attempting a medium rare steak that turned out well done, and a pork tenderloin that ended up alright but smoked the house up. is there something i'm missing in setting heat levels when using a cast iron?

Ben Clemens

2:21

I'd love to know the answer to this from a scientiic stnadpoint. What I can tell you is that I have encountered this problem and have come up with a homemade solution

2:22

I run it on high for about a minute to start up, then lower it to medium high

I think it has something to do with the interplay of the large cooking surface of an electric stove and cast iron's high heat retention, but I do not know the specficis

Greg

2:22

Why are many publications saying that Tatis Jr will play right when he comes back. Wouldn't it make more sense to keep Soto in right and let Fernando learn left ?

Ben Clemens

2:22

Presumably because someone has told them that

ryan

2:23

Any particular baseball books you recommend, beyond the big ones like Moneyball and Ball Four?

Ben Clemens

2:23

Veeck as in Wreck is great

I really like The Arm by Jeff Passan, underratedly good

Guest

2:24

Hey Ben. Did you find any interesting difference in your list of ev gainers when changing the pctile threshold?

Ben Clemens

2:24

Not really, though I only plyaed around with it for a few different rate

rates*

Colton

2:24

What was the point of the Puk-Bleday deal for the A's? Like it doesn't seem to make any sense except for the fact that Bleday is further from arb..

Ben Clemens

2:24

I'd say you hit the nail on the head

matt

2:24

Is there a date set for Prospect Week? The (meaningless) games are less than two weeks away now!

Ben Clemens

2:24

Last week of Feb, I believe

matt

2:24

At least PNC Park is nice!

Ben Clemens

2:25

Can't argue with that. The Coliseum is the worst stadium I've been to, and PNC is one of the top 5 or so

matt

2:25

Why do young players consistently sign what appear to be below-market deals to stay with the Braves? Are other teams missing out by not offering those deals?

Ben Clemens

2:26

I think that if you exclude the Albies deal, it's a matter of the Braves being willing to offer a lot of financial certainty quickly

I don't think below market is a perfect definition, because sure they're below free agent market level but not really extension level

I do think that teams should be more willing to offer extensions to good young players. I get the sense that the Astros are on this general model too, and it's working out well for them

Lou Perltzman

2:27

Have you read about the Ohio train derailment story or, like the New York Times, are you more obsessed with UFOs today?

Ben Clemens

2:27

Yeah it's very scary

I don't know a lot about toxic chemicals but like.... they seem bad? And it seems particularly bad that they're shipped by trains that don't have a sterling safety record

Wireless Joe Jackson

2:27

Regarding electric stoves - the radiant coils are terribly unresponsive. Electric induction, however, is fantastic and pretty cheap these days..

Ben Clemens

2:28

Now this I have done some research on. When I buy my own place, I'm getting an induction stove for sure

Not every chef loves them but the downsides seem extremely small relative to how great they are

Guest

2:28

The Yankees and the Braves are both large-market teams going into the season with a big ?? in left field. Is that a sensible strategy? In other words, if after 2-3 months it's still a train wreck, do you think there will be relatively easy-to-find talent to upgrade the position and they won't be overly harmed by those initial months with a black hole in the lineup?

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