JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 3/1/21

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mmddyyyy

2:36

Does it bother you when different announcers pronounce player names differently?

Ben Clemens

2:36

It does, although a little less during spring training tbh

2:37

There are media guides! The pronunciations are in there

It's literally their job

In Spring Training, where teams have wildly expanded rosters, I can kinda see it

In the regular season, do your job

jamesdakrn

2:38

I think the Braves 10-K filing (LIberty Media that is) showed us some interesting findings, that a self-sustaining team like that (for better or worse, they use their own budget essentially from their own earnings as part of Liberty Media), it is going to be essential that we move back to "normal" by summer. otherwise their payroll next year might be...brutal

Ben Clemens

2:38

Kinda depends on what you mean by a lot of these words

If you're saying that htey've literally retained every dollar of profit over the years, that's just not true

2:39

They've put some into the battery, but they've also paid out some profits

That said, if you wash away every dollar of profit every year either via paying it out or via investment, yeah, downturns can be tough

But let's say that they made $500 million in profit over the last ten years andn spent it all on improving the area around the park

2:40

If they lose $50 million this year, and that somehow blows up their business and forces them to give up on being competitive, they're clearly running this business wrong

mmddyyyy

2:40

If you had to field a team and could only roster active shortstops, who would you put in the outfield?

Ben Clemens

2:40

Good question, let's see

2:41

Chris Taylor, Jonathan Villar, Nick Senzel

jamesdakrn

2:41

And by rough I meant not in like Rays terms or anything, but that they probably won't be able to spend as much as their fans would want, not even close & possibly contract payroll with a competitive team

Ben Clemens

2:41

Well yeah, if they claim they can't lose money on ongoing operations

Then it's gonna be rough

2:42

But have you ever heard of a business that makes huge profits in boom times, then has to blow it up the second there's an economic downturn? Smart businesses understand that there's a business cycle

Now, will they CRY poor?

8000%

But if whether you spend is wholly dependent on how many tickets you've sold in the past year, and you're a team that is making the kind of long-term money that the Braves are, that means your management is doing it wrong

Trea Turner

2:42

I played a pretty good centerfield back when I came up for that SS question

Ben Clemens

2:43

Ooh, that's an oversight on my part

There are actually a lot of SS/OF types these days, and Turner just slipped my mind because he hadn't done it in a while. He'd be great

Appa Yip Yip

2:43

Jerry Howarth used to have a list in front of him when he was on air with all player names spelled phonetically specifically so he'd never mess one up.

Ben Clemens

2:44

If I were an announcer, I'd probably do this for visiting teams

Or you know, the other team if my team is on the road, etc

It's just smart, you know?

Ben

2:44

I always forget that Madison Bumgarner is younger than Strasburg. Do you think MadBum will have a rebound?

Ben Clemens

2:45

From his 2020? I think so. I don't think he's a below replacement level pitcher

But some pitchers are Felix, while others are Scherzer. You have to be worried about a 3 mph drop in velo over a single year

Derek

2:46

Assuming you're making an entire lineup (9 players) out of shortstops, would any of Taylor/Villar/Senzel even sniff consideration? Wouldn't it just be like, Corey Seager and Xander Bogaerts in the corners or something?

Ben Clemens

2:46

That's a fair point, I was just thinking fielding. Presumably you'd have Lindor play actual shorstop, maybe Tatis at second

2:47

Yeah, I think you could argue that Taylor would play against lefties, but in all likelihood every position except center would just be some dudes who can hit

like, 1B/LF/RF

So center is the only place where these guys could fit, and that would be Turner

2:48

does Ketel Marte count?

fake baseball fan

2:48

On the shortstop question, who would catch?

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