JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/17/23

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/17/23

powered by

Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page

Ben Clemens

2:37

there's tons of noise in running stats in general, because you can hit well if your pinkie toe hurts but you might not run well

2:38

I'd give that a bit more time to stabilize, and honestly his speed is mostly valuable as it translates to outfield defense anyway, so for me it comes down to whether he continues to play a good center field

early results are mixed

bosoxforlife

2:38

It must be safe to bring up prospects now and gain a year of service time, The Mets don't have to put Escobar in the lineup any more.

Ben Clemens

2:39

I happen to think Escobar is a useful player, or well, I did before this year

he's a dead average veteran, and I think most teams would be happy to have him as a utility guy

tongue

1

but clearly Baty should be up, I'm glad he is

Leland

2:39

I'm going to ask about the most talked about Seattle Mariner....Kolten Wong! Is this another one of his slow starts, or is there something to worry about?

Ben Clemens

2:40

Honestly I'm worried

His power is just gone gone gone

Not that he ever had a lot but he had SOME

2:41

now he has essentially zero, and that just will not play. His game works really well but the margins are thin, and if pitchers can just throw everything down main street and not even worry about a double, I don't see it continuing to hold up

Leland

2:41

What do you think of Brent Honeywell looks really good so far and earning holds

Ben Clemens

2:41

Love him

Would be interested in him in a holds league

Mitchell

2:41

Why in the name of Abner Doubleday does Willie Calhoun - he of 82wRC+ & -2.7 fWAR over 950-some PAs at age 28 - continue to get opportunities to prove he’s not a Major League baseball player?

Ben Clemens

2:42

He has an enticing skillset, and teams really think they can turn him into a great hitter because it just feels so close

but if I were a team that was even sniffing contending, I'd pass

jj

2:42

E Ruiz has 5 HBP and just 3 BB, doesn't seem like his .400 OBP is sustainable right?

Ben Clemens

2:43

Haha yeah, probably not gonna sustain a .400 OBP with so few walks

Guest

2:43

How does Lars Nootbaar have a positive UZR in CF when he’s had no plays there?

Ben Clemens

2:43

Wonderful question, and I have absolutely no idea what the answer is

2:44

We don't use UZR for anything anymore, though

It's just there as another defensive statistic you can look at if you want to

love

1

Pablo Lopez

2:44

Thoughts on his 4 year, $73.5M extension with the Twins?

Ben Clemens

2:44

We should write an article about that

I'll get Dan Szymborski right on it, and it'll come out tomorrow morning

(he already claimed it hours ago)

Reliever Watch

2:45

would love to see kolten wang get it together. not sure who the M's run out at 2B if he doesn't work out. Dylan Moore?

tongue

1

Ben Clemens

2:45

Yeah, Wong is gonna have a long leash

the team works a lot better if he works out

Fan

2:45

Does pitching finish consistency ,matter? I've noticed some guys sometimes have a huge leg kick after throwing a pitch and sometimes they don't; or they finish in a different spot

angry

2

Ben Clemens

2:46

This is definitely not my area of expertise. My guess is that some specific mechanical repetitions matter, something with your arm path and so on

in the same way that a follow through matters most for how it makes you release the ball

bosoxforlife

2:46

Pablo Lopez looks like he might have opened a new chapter in his career. He has looked very, very good.

Ben Clemens

2:47

Heck yeah

He looks awesome

So does Arraez

Someone should write about him too, I nominate Michael Baumann

Danny

2:47

Your thought on Bellinger getting a clock violation during a standing ovation? Can something like that be fixed mid-season?

Connecting…

Register

Message History

On Off

On Off

On Off

Your current subscriptions

None

Register now to continue managing your subscriptions

E-mail Address	Chat Owner	Status	Remove

Enter your email address to be notified when Ben Clemens hosts a chat