JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 2/7/22

Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page

ThereHeGose

2:14

Has Gose's performance in the 2021 DOWL/MLB made him more likely to get traded or is he a potential closer for Cleveland?

Ben Clemens

2:15

Um.... probably not a closer SUPER soon, b/c Clase looks very legit. I actually think they'll end up trading him because of his service time. Cleveland doesn't pay money for baseball players if they don't have to

Tepid Soup

2:15

Following up on a comment from your sinker/4seam article, did you check for any evidence of catcher influence? Specifically regarding Castillo/Gray with Stephenson/Barnhart

Ben Clemens

2:15

I did, and there wasn't much there but I'm not confident I did a great job controlling for EVERYTHING when I was controlling for pitcher

So I dropped it and looked at a bunch of data on arb

Matt

2:15

Jigglypuff just ends the game because everyone fell asleep.

2:16

There's been smoke from the Padres about moving out salary in order to make sign FAs. Between Hosmer, Myers, Kim, and Profar, which of the players would you guess gets moved? And if you could hazard a guess, where?

Ben Clemens

2:16

Oh, I thikn it has to be Hosmer

The rest of the players you've named seem fine with being role players

Platoon bats or utility infielders or whatnot

Hosmer is convinced he's an everyday starter All Star and seems to kind of get that billing

If you're going to subtract, you might as well go for addition by subtraction

Bob

2:17

Are projections (and pundits) under-valuing the Cardinals defense? Their starting rotation doesn't exactly strike fear into anyone's heart, but Waino, Matz, Hudson, and Mikolas all get GB at over 45%. Pair that with elite defense at **every** infield position, and it could translate into those pitchers getting a lot of quality innings.

Ben Clemens

2:18

I don't think so. Dan's ZiPS standings have them winning the Central

Their outfield is projected to be one of the best in baseball largely on the back of its defense. The pitching is projected fairly well

I think that this is probably a good approximation of the Cardinals -- a team that will hit enough and field enough to make up for the fact that its pitchers aren't really strikeout types

2:19

There's been some Cubs / Padres smoke about sending Hosmer to Chicago. If the Cubs pick up Hosmer's entire deal, would adding Luis Campusano be enough for Jed Hoyer to justify taking his contract? Or would the Padres need to add more, for instance Paddack or Gore or even Hassell?

Ben Clemens

2:19

I do not think Campusano would be enough, personally

2:20

His contract isn't AWFUL but it's 20/13/13/13

So you're basically asking which prospect is worth $60 million

B/c our Depth Charts projections for Hosmer are 0.6 WAR in 560 PA, so that's basically a releasable player

2:21

And lest you think it's some weird projection bias -- in SD he's put up 0.6 WAR in 2065 PA

so maybe we're OVER rating him

171

2:21

Do you think a team that trades for Hosmer would just release him after the trade? Sounds like a super awkward situation to have a player who is so convinced that he is better than he actually is.

Ben Clemens

2:21

That is a great question

2:23

I dunno

Supposedly he's a good clubhouse presence (this is way outside my wheelhouse)

And cutting him would be really strange

I think I'd probably hold on

At least for this year

Because it's not like he's never been good, and he could put up a blowout year and opt out

x2R

2:24

Just look this Swing: https://tenor.com/bkfhc.gif

Ben Clemens

2:24

Okay, I don't know who Lucario is

and whoops, out of order

x2R

2:24

Pokemon stuff, like it. I go with Lucario, it's a fighter and get aura, so he can look the aura of the pitcher, and that ability makes it better the harder the situation.

Ben Clemens

2:24

But that's quite the uppercut swing

I'm into it

Give me Lucario over Machamp any day of the week

Appears to be quite fast, too, play some center field and get bonus Harrison Bader action

Laffy Tuffy

2:25

What do you feel about the Cardinals adding Aaron Brooks on a minor league deal after becoming a groundball machine in the KBO these last two years?

Connecting…