JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 2/9/26

Ben Clemens

2:01

Hey everybody, welcome to the chat. Let's get going.

Caleb Durbin's here, guys

2:01

Seems like a sneaky-good, albeit unsexy, signing for Boston. If you were Alex Cora, how would you best sort out the Durbin/Mayer/overall infield situation for the Red Sox now?

Ben Clemens

2:01

Oh yeah, I'm really into this trade for the Sox. Like, is it Alex Bregman? It is not. But I've been saying 'sign an infielder' over and over again about the Sox for the entire winter

what, I'm gonna be mad when they do it?

2:02

I think I'd start with Durbin at third, Mayer at second, but I don't feel strongly that I know better than the Sox who should play where

Well-Beered Englishman

2:02

Are the Brewers fathomable? How far can you get with five or six No. 4 starters and zero 3Bs?

Tacoby Bellsbury

2:02

Durbin and Monasterio feels like a lot to give away to get Kyle Harrison, who seems to have plateaued, but the Brewers are so good at these sorts of transactions. What are your initial thoughts on the Brewers-Red Sox trade?

Guest

2:02

Who the heck is playing third base for the brewers now? Any chance they teach Jett third and he’s solid there? Another move coming?

Ben Clemens

2:02

You get the idea

2:04

We're writing something up for tomorrow, but the way I look at it, the Brewers aren't really bought in on the Durbin experience. I concur with them! He has a little David Fletcher to him, in my opinion, and I'd be afraid of his game collapsing if pitchers just commit to bullying him in the zone. I'm not saying that's a base outcome but when you have 6th percentile bat speed, 4th percentile exit velo, 4th percentile hard hit... it's an unstable profile

2:05

so I think they're trying to cash that in by acquiring some guys they think are relatively undervalued, while Durbin is at the height of his value

2:06

Given that we're a year removed from him being worth 50% of one year of Devin Williams, selling high makes sense to me

that said, I'm on the record as being very down on Kyle Harrison's potential as a starter, so I'm not exactly in love with the return

2:07

I'm interested in reading what Davy writes about it, but for me, I think I somehow don't like either side?

2:07

Do you think MLB will evolve into having more 6-man rotations over the next decade?

Ben Clemens

2:07

Oh, 100%

2:08

With the Brewers trading away their top three 3B candidates all in the same trade, do you think another external move is imminent? ...or will the Brewers just be the Brewers and make it work with what they have.

Ben Clemens

2:08

Oh yeah, one last point: the Brewers churn out versatile infielders like Durbin. I think they're probably pretty sure they can assemble another Durbin in the aggregate, whether it's with Jett Williams or some other way.

Guest

2:09

seems hard to believe but do they like Made or Pena for the spot?

Ben Clemens

2:09

maybe they just want to preserve flexibility for those guys

2:11

Harrison was a top 100 prospect not all that long ago, Drohan is interesting, Monasterio is not exactly a big loss - I can make it all make sense

I just.... I don' tlike Harrison that much, what can I say?

Josh

2:11

Trevor Megill for Isaac Paredes. Who says no?

Ben Clemens

2:11

The Astros

Baleb Curbin

2:11

What to make of Isaiah Kiner Falefa's role and workload with the Sox in light of today's Durbin trade? In years past he has played 100-120 games with low 400 plate appearances. If Mayer is playing every day did they really just spend $6MM on a bench piece?

Ben Clemens

2:12

so maybe.... but also, do you think Trevor Story is gonna play the whole season? Are you 100% certain that Mayer is a bona fide major league batter?

heck, are you 100% certain that by August, Durbin won't have turned into a pumpkin?

2:13

depth is very important. The Red sox should absolutely be willing to spend a few percetn of their payroll to massively increase their floor

Half Street

2:13

Just wanted to say how awesome the Washington Post's nats coverage has been, recently with Andrew Golden and Spencer Nusbaum as well as for my entire life, and how sad it is that it's gone. Also, Mark Zuckerman (longtime beat writer for MASN who was laid off) will be covering the team independently on Substack, so every nats fan should support! He'll be the only beat writer besides mlb dot com.

Ben Clemens

2:13

Yeah, man, it's all so sad

2:14

I really recommend Bryan Curtis's obituary for the post sports section:
https://www.theringer.com/2026/02/04/media/washington-post-sports-depa...

my grandparents are from northern Virginia and I grew up reading cut-outs of Tony Kornheiser that my grandpa saved for me, I feel this loss keenly

Michael - FG since 2016

2:15

Can you explain to us how the challenge system will work this year and can you make your guess which type of players will benefit from it?

Ben Clemens

2:15

If you've seen the minor league implementation for it or are a tennis fan, it'll be intuitive: batter, catcher, pitcher can challenge a call if they do it promptly. You get 3 misses per game, I believe

2:16

I suppose we'll have to see but my initial assumption is that while players with incredible batting eyes (and senses of the zone, say as a catcher) will be moderately favored, the noise will be huge

and that mostly, we'll just have fewer bad calls and be pretty fine with it

PinstripedPride

2:16

Which (or how many) of the unsigned quality starters do you think signs before the start of the season? What does it say about the state of baseball that Bassit, Gallen etc. remain unsigned?

Ben Clemens

2:16

mmmmm.... I think they'll all be signed before the start of the regula season

2:17

and honestly I don't think it says a ton about the state of baseball, so much as the state of these particular pitchers

free agency spending this winter has been totally normal

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