JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 2/24/2020

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 2/24/2020

powered by

Ben Clemens

2:00

Hey everyone, welcome to the chat. Ruby, my puppy, is a little sick today, so if I disappear for a second here or there I'm taking care of her. But she should be mostly okay -- just ate some stuff she shouldn't have and has an upset stomach.

Let's start things up.

Domingo

2:00

Do you ever worry that Fangraphs is getting more and more focused on goofy articles and titles over quality content?

Ben Clemens

2:01

Not at all. I mean, we used to run NotGraphs! I think it's great that FG produces enough content that there's space for the ridiculous amount of prospect writing and also, let's say, Justin Klugh on rebellion making baseball cool, to pick an example from the front page.

2:02

If one were infringing upon the other, I could see people being annoyed by that, but FG is a place for great baseball writing and I don't want to only read xwOBA-based breakdowns all day forever.

Not that I don't like reading those too! Heck, I write a lot of them.

brad

2:02

Ben, could Houck and Burnes crack the season in the Red Sox and brewers rotations?

Ben Clemens

2:03

Burnes definitely could, because figuring out that Milwaukee rotation is difficult. As to Houck, I haven't read a lot of Red Sox beat reporting so far but sure, they have two starters, and one looks like Paul Sporer right now.

Buscon Bob

2:03

Did someone put a curse on Chris Sale? He looks like he's an extra from Breaking Bad...

Ben Clemens

2:04

Yeah uh, yikes. I am hopeful that the pictures were just at a weird angle but he looked gaunt.

John S.

2:04

How does the 3-batter rule for relief pitchers affect the value of Left-handed batters?

Ben Clemens

2:05

It's a small boost. It's not enormous, because teams still have lefties that can get both sides of batters out and will use them more specifically against lefties.

I was doing some research on this and then decided I'd just let the season start and see, because it's really hard to predict how teams will cope until I see at least a bit of data.

Sirras

2:06

As we enter Spring Training, what baseball-related thing are you most excited to see (other than baseball games being played)?

Ben Clemens

2:06

I don't know if this counts, but I haven't had soft serve out of a helmet in years.

Probably almost a decade.

And I'm 100% getting some when I go to Spring Training.

Puppy Details

2:07

Poor little Ruby! What kind of puppy is she?

Ben Clemens

2:07

She is a retriever/pit mix of some type. We are suckers and got a DNA test (she's a shelter dog), and it said 50/50 American Bully (rich people pit bull) and Golden.

But I mean, that's a weird combo.

So I'm willing to believe it was wrong.

Pumpsie Green

2:08

Is Joc Pederson a bona fide, full-time CF? Or is he better in a corner platoon?

Ben Clemens

2:09

I think he could absolutely handle a full-time role. Now, I'm not sure if it's center, because I don't think he's THAT great of a fielder.

2:10

And his platoon splits are terrifying -- he's been literally 44% better against righties than lefties in his career, over a not terribly insignificant sample.

But being the big side of a platoon and being a full-timer aren't hugely different. You could target his rest days for when lefties are going. And he can absolutely mash.

His biggest problem seems to be that the Dodgers just have too many options.

HeyNowYoureanAllStar

2:11

Oh man, we just had to put down our 16-yo pup this year. Her name was Ruby :( She had a good life.

Ben Clemens

2:11

:( I'm really sorry to hear that

But dogs DO have a great life

My wife got me one of those daily calendars this year for Christmas, the kind I haven't used in ten years.

But it's a Thoughts of Dog one, and it's just great. Makes me think about how fun it'd be to just lie around and eat and bark and play all day.

Gerig

2:12

Are there any areas in the FG projected standings where you disagree?

Ben Clemens

2:12

Not particularly, no. I think that the standings are maybe a bit too high on the Brewers, who I'm not enamored with, and too low on the Diamondbacks.

But this is small stuff.

brad

2:12

Ben, can you put to rest this nonsense about a fight for 1B job on Yankees, it is clearly Voit, before the injury he was a top 5 1B with good defense, no shot Andujar or Ford take the job from him unless he gets hurt again....

Ben Clemens

2:13

So, I'm gonna leave defense aside, because I honestly have no clue there.

I'm a Voit skeptic. I could absolutely be wrong, and projection systems are really divided as well: ZiPS has him at a 123 wRC+ while Steamer has him at 108, which is a pretty large gap

2:14

I'm very high on Ford.

And amusingly ZiPS and Steamer both have him right around the average of Voit's two projections.

2:15

I think Voit will start the season as their first baseman. But I don't think he's anything close to a lock to keep the job.

Load More Messages

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