JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/12/21

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Ben Clemens

2:12

I think of wooing as manual vuvuzelas

Matt

2:13

No questions, just saying I got to be on tv after harper's hr last night and was very happy to be back at a baseball stadium

Ben Clemens

2:13

Congrats

Baseball is great

Micah

2:13

How many live games do you plan to attend this season?

Ben Clemens

2:13

I hope a lot, like 10-20. I live pretty close to Oracle and it's really fun to watch games there

Marko from Tropoja

2:13

Have to disagree with the guy claiming the new GLF in Arlington sucks. The sight lines are pretty good. And this is coming from an LA native now living in Dallas.

Ben Clemens

2:14

I'm a really big fan of sightlines, I think they're the most underrated part of parks

Do they have clean lines to the field all the way around the lower concourse? I wish more stadiums did that

Kiermaier's Piercing Green Eyes

2:14

How many pitchers do you think will hit 200 IP this season coming off the shortened season? And how many IP will lead MLB?

Ben Clemens

2:14

Hm.... I think that 2 pitchers will top 200 IP this year

2:15

Gerrit Cole and Jacob deGrom

I'm far more likely to be low than high on that, but I think teams will just be super cautious

Bernie

2:15

Is there a better 1-2 in baseball than Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes?

Ben Clemens

2:16

I'm a really big buyer in the Burnes stay-broken-out hype

I think he might be better than Woodruff

That said, I'll take deGrom and whoever you want to call the Mets' #2 over them for sure

deGrom is ludicrous

Tom

2:16

Should the Cardinals worry? About pitching, hitting, the Brewers?

Ben Clemens

2:17

Let's take these one at a time

Pitching, yeah

Their plan of coming into the season with an unsettled starting rotation has gone roughly how you'd expect

I really like Oviedo, but you can't be thrilled that he's looked like the second-best starter so far despite not making a start

2:18

But the broader problem is that they're using swingmen as their 3-5 starters due to injury

Maybe 4-5 depending on how you feel about Martinez

Hitting, nah, looks fine. The Brewers? Eh, they'll be good, but maybe not more of a threat than the other good NLC teams

Guest

2:18

Ha. Terrible food (not local at all, generic Tex-Mex), the view is the old stadium, surrounding area is a parking lot, nothing Texas about the park itself. Two great screens, but one is only usable by 40% of the park and the smaller one is too small for most.

2:19

Also, beer it is terrible. Hopadillo and that is about it.

Ben Clemens

2:19

Now these things sound not great

Food and beer are right up there as well for me

Beside sight lines

Cool Papa Bell

2:19

Corey Knebel: Taking Jensen's job this season?

Ben Clemens

2:19

Yes. Why did the Brewers trade him??

2:20

I just don't quite get why they needed to give up a reliever of that caliber, but hey, the Dodgers get richer

I'm kinda out on Kenley at this point, and Knebel looks like as good of a bet as any to take over the role

2:21

Another Kenley question from earlier:

BettsBellingerCaruso

2:21

Kenley jansen just baffles me

Against A's he averaged like 89 mph on the cutter

yesterday he averaged 93.5 mph and his vertical movement on the cutter was basically the same as his 2017 version, average spin ont he cutter going from 2553 on the year to 2856 that day

He was averaging 90.9 mph on the cutter this year. yesterday he averaged 93.5 mph just like his 2012-17 self.

I honestly just don't get it.

Ben Clemens

2:21

Yeah, this is why I think he's going to lose the job

That's just too hrad to rely on

BringBackDeSpanielHair

2:21

I flipped Ohtani for L. Castillo after his brutal first start. Odds that Shohei the pitcher makes me regret that?

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