JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 3/1/21

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EbenezerBatflip

2:48

In this entire team of SS, which SS is playing catcher?

Ben Clemens

2:48

Kiner-Falefa

It's handy to have a C/SS

EbenezerBatflip

2:49

Seeing a bunch of smaller market/budget teams sign guys to smaller/team friendly deals and then seeing Mookie asking Red Sox for 400M+/12 years, do you think John Henry/Red Sox ownership want to change the narrative about them being big spenders since players see them as the type of organization that will sign record breaking deals instead of team-friendly extensions?

Ben Clemens

2:49

Eh, not really, because you can be both

I don't think that if the Red Sox were a smaller market team, they'd be MORE likely to be able to extend Mookie

2:50

He wanted to test free agency, and they missed their chance at guaranteeing certainty in exchange for a discount early in his career

I can see that it might matter slightly, but the Dodgers sign plenty of team-friendly extensions

Element of Surprise

2:51

Can a team choose to not disclose ST Statcast numbers?

Ben Clemens

2:51

I truly have no idea

My guess is that they cannot, they're used on the broadcast and such

But I just don't know

Hank

2:52

Will we ever see statcast numbers on body language?

Ben Clemens

2:52

I don't know if you have seen some of the mo-cap stuff that Darren Wilman occasionally posts, but I hope so!

mmddyyyy

2:52

When a pitcher practices in the offseason, does he pitch to a real catcher?

Ben Clemens

2:52

Depends on what you mean by a real catcher

2:53

As an example, I was reading about Lindblom's offseason workout, and he either threw to a pocket mat (when there was no catcher available) or a local college's bullpen catcher

2:54

The flatground app and things like that, and honestly Pitching Ninja's overall proselytizing of pitching, seems to have really helped pitchers link up with catchers and each other, which is awesome

cortezthakillah

2:54

Keeper league. Just traded Aaron Judge & Dustin May for Adalberto Mondesi and Daniel Espino. How'd I do?

Ben Clemens

2:54

I'm not incredible at fantasy, so take my advice with a grain of salt. There are also plenty of contextual questions in play here. That said, I'm very down on Mondesi, and more so now that Benintendi might be batting second

2:55

That's a lot fewer PA's over the year if Mondesi is hitting 6th/7th unless someone gets a day off

mmddyyyy

2:55

Do players ever have surgeries we don't hear about until years later?

Ben Clemens

2:55

I think it depends on the severity of the surgery, but probably yes

Knee scopes and such in the offseason might not come up

Moonlight Graham

2:55

Sale or Syndergaard for better bounce back after TJ?

Ben Clemens

2:56

I'm on Thor, but answering these types of questions correctly is a crapshoot. A lot depends on how their rehab goes and I can't observe that

Jack C

2:56

Ben! Do you play Strat-o-matic?

Ben Clemens

2:57

I haven't played in a while, but I used to. I got one of the steroid era boxed sets when I was a kid, and I used to spend the summer at my dad's house (where I didn't have any school friends), so he and I played a TON of stratomatic with those sets

mmddyyyy

2:57

Really is there any team that doesn't benefit from signing Odorizzi?

Ben Clemens

2:57

No, which is the magic of pitching. It's a cascade thing where it's just impossible that he's your 13th-best pitcher

2:58

There are teams where the improvement relative to the cost doesn't make sense when you consider what else they could do

But if a team tells you they don't think Odorizzi would improve their overall talent level, they're lying

BringBackDeSpanielHair

2:58

Halelujiah! Baseball is back!

Hmmmm

2:58

Would a team of all Mike Trouts in the lineup be able to overcome also having a Mike Trout pitch every inning? Would they win 100 games?

Ben Clemens

2:59

Effectively Wild has covered this in more depth, I think. But no, they would not win 100 games. Mike Trout pitching is a HUGE disadvantage

Same with him catching or playing shortstop

Guest

3:01

Is Purdue the "local college" where Lindblom threw to a bullpen catcher? (He went to my high school in West Lafayette, and still lives there, I think)

Ben Clemens

3:01

Just pulled up the article, and it sure is!

https://www.mlb.com/brewers/news/josh-lindblom-does-analytics-deep-div...

Question

3:01

In relation to the Trout hypothetical, do you think a team of all Mike Trouts would be better or worse than a team of all Jacob DeGroms?

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