JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 2/19/26

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Ben Clemens

12:13

I think it's Webb? I get to watch him pitch a lot, I enjoy his un-flashy greatness, and also I like to see how he tinkers

Eminor3rd

12:13

Do you ever sense yourself getting tired of analyzing baseball THIS closely? I had a good 10-year run of a voracious appetite for info and cutting edge takes, and I've found myself over the last five years or so kind of sliding into "maybe I just want to watch it and not think about it too much," which wasn't a feeling I expected to have.

Ben Clemens

12:14

Oh, this is a real thing for sure. It's actually a big reason behind the Lab. Doing the same thing for a long time wears on you even if the thing is interesting. So doing something totally different - the big questions in the lab for me are about computer programming and design, not sabermetrics - keeps everything feeling fresh and fun

12:15

re: small/big market bias - was discussing with a colleague the other day and i think if you're interested in small market battles more it's because you're already so plugged into baseball that you've heard ad nauseum about rafael devers picking and or not picking up a glove that other things are just MORE interesting, right?

Ben Clemens

12:15

Yeah, I think that's similar to what I meant and maybe a better way of saying it

Like, you're just gonna hear enough about the Red Sox

I promise you

same with the Dodgers, Giants, Mets, etc.

12:16

but yeah, if you don't follow much, that might not be true, and at that point hearing about the stars is more interesting

aiyer917

12:16

What's your favorite coffee brew?

Ben Clemens

12:16

I hate to confess how basic I am, but just drip coffee from whatever local roaster

I have a nice oxo coffee maker and a burr grinder, and they work super well

12:17

I'm also very unsnobby about coffee. I mostly just like hot drinks. I think the first podcast I did for FanGraphs involved Meg lightly mocking me for my predilection for drinking hot water by itself

Oaktown Blues

12:17

Does a team like the A's with a strong position player core have more upside cases than a team like the Pirates with strong pitching? My thinking is that pitching development is more volatile than hitting, so it's likelier that the A's stumble into a good staff than it is the Pirates stumble into a good lineup

Ben Clemens

12:17

It's an interesting question. So on one hand, yes. But on the other hand, you have the offsetting issue of top pitching being incredibly expensive in trade and free agency

12:18

like, the point about the development is very true. but also, the Pirates did a pretty good job of getting solid hitters for cheap this winter. there's no 'get solid pitchers for cheap' button

so I'd say that the Pirates strategy might be lower ceiling. If the A's spike on a few pitchers, man, that's a good team

12:19

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/hitters-keep-getting-younger-pitchers-stay...

aiyer917

12:19

I know you talked about it in your recent piece(which was awesome), but do you think there's a world where the Red Sox holding all 4 OFs works out nicely for them? (One of abreu breaking out, duran holding at this current level, or rafaela hitting a bit more)

Ben Clemens

12:19

Oh, for sure

It doesn't even have to be that complicated. What if one of them gets hurt?

or what if one of the guys we thought was good enough to be a starter just sucks?

having extra options lowers your risk of ruin substantially, there are definitely ways that it works out

12:20

I'm a lot more okay with their plans now that htey managed to get a solid infield together anyway. I still suspect that they could have found a better way to move an outfielder, but the issue wasn't 'too many outfielders', it was 'too many outfielders and not enough infielders' and at least they fixed the second part

Guest

12:21

Is the refresh to Eno’s Stuff+ coming soon? Also, looks like there’s a ton of new plate discipline/pitch arsenal/general Statcast stats buried in the custom leaderboard options. Playing around with them, it looks like there are some slight disagreements between some of them and what’s displayed on Savant. (I’m thinking of Z-Contact% (mlb) and O-Contact% (mlb) specifically.) Is this intentional? Are the new stats going to be made more forward-facing at some point?

Ben Clemens

12:21

as to stuff+, probably. I am a little less involved on that side of things, but I expect so. Also, I've got my grubby little paws into the PitchingBot code, as a side effect of working on the Lab, and I think I'll have some newer stuff with that at some point this spring too

12:22

as to the slight disagreements, I haven't looked through all of them, but i have a strong suspicion for those two specifically: how we treat foul tips

I really don't know what the right answer is here. Savant treats them as swinging strikes. We treat them as foul balls. I think I lead the swinging strike way? But I definitely don't think it's cut and dried, and Jon Becker would tell you with very strong conviction that counting them as swinging strikes is dumb

Brooks Robinson stan

12:23

Any chance the O's can swing a package deal including some of their 1B surplus, to strengthen pitching? I don't mind the Eflin/Baz/Bassitt moves, but if we could only just elevate one of them a leetle bit…

Ben Clemens

12:23

So, I guess this would mean Ryan Mountcastle?

12:25

ummm.... basically, no. Just as an example, ZISP has Mountcastle down for a 107 wRC+, 31st best among first basemen. That's about the same as Nathaniel Lowe (minor league deal with CIN), and meaningfully lower than Luis Arraez (1/12, plus he 'plays second base')

and Mountcastle has 1/7 plus a club option.... not a lot of daylight there to what you can get for basically free

teams just don't need 'surplus 1b' anymore

unless it's star-level 1b

War2D2

12:25

I would always drink way too much coffee, to the point that it was affecting my sleep and attitude. Then I realized all I really wanted was something hot to drink. Team Hot Water for the win.

aiyer917

12:26

Do you feel like your background in trading/finance formed a pretty nice segway into your current work? Currently have a very similar set of interests myself.

Ben Clemens

12:26

oh, 100% yes

not with the writing, necessarily. but with idea generation and that knid of stuff, absolutely

Guest

12:26

I'm really curious about Castellanos at first base for the Padres. Is there any similar move to compare his position switch to best? Feels different than Harper as that was also injury related.

Ben Clemens

12:26

I don't really have an easy comparison for you but I guess a lot of guys have switched to first over the years

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