JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/20/26

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/20/26

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Ben Clemens

2:18

so maybe what happened is just that all along, the Cards guys were right

and this is one of the best teams in baseball at hitting

2:19

but to be fair, the Guards are 19th in run scoring and 28th in BaseRuns run scoring

so I think the right opinion is that they're probably still kinda bad

AL Central Casting

2:19

You mentioned a couple weeks ago that you had been doing more Lego building than board games recently. Might I suggest Monkey Palace as an interesting intersection of the two? We got it for our kids, but it has a surprising amount of strategy to it and I've found it to be much more enjoyable than I initially thought for a 10+ game with Lego branding.

Ben Clemens

2:19

uh, that sounds great

I will definitely take a look

right now we are building the Lego Notre Dame. Big project, looks amazing though

Chucky

2:20

Astros retool? Rebuild? Or let it ride?

Ben Clemens

2:20

I'd be really tempted to blow it all up

But honestly I think that the better course is probably to let it ride. I don't think they get enough by blowing it up now rather than in July or in the offseason

2:21

so why not see if you coast back into the race. Best record in the division is 11-11, it's not like it's a runaway

Astros blow it up?

2:21

Does this mean trade Yordan?

Ben Clemens

2:22

oh man. That's a really good point. I guess I mean yes? Which is why I'd want to hope as hard as possible that I'm wrong, wait until I had every chance to be proven wrong

Yordan has two years remaining after this one on his current contract, and at 19 mil a year, it's quite the bargain

2:23

I think that yeah, if they're actually blowing it up, that means trading Yordan. And probably Pena too. Possibly Brown. That's why it's so tough to consider

2:24

Also Brown is only a year younger than Yordan, what??

but yeah.... a retool here feels weird. like, these dudes are all old, they'll be old next year. so that's why I'd just stay the course until it's CLEAR it's not working

didace

2:24

I knew I was successful when I could buy the good Lego sets without considering the price. Lego is the best.

Ben Clemens

2:25

oh yeah, please do not look up what the big lego sets cost, lol

Laurel and JJ Hardy

2:25

Which happens first? Mets get back to .500 or Mason Miller gives up a run

Ben Clemens

2:25

the odds have to be heavily tilted towards miller gives up a run

what are the odds the Mets NEVER hit .500 this year? Definitely not zero

DJ

2:25

Do you think there will be MLB regular season games being played one year from today?

Ben Clemens

2:25

I do

2:26

what the hell are these people even fighting over? 'gosh, it's frustratign that the Padres sold for so much money and we all have to agree how to count our riches'

So like, I bet there'll be plenty of posturing. And then it'll work out

hit tool risk

2:27

if Murakami’s start is for real, do the white sox flip him? It’d be pretty awful from a pr perspective but it seems unlikely they’d pay him (unless Ishbia ends up footing the bill)

Ben Clemens

2:27

I'm writing about Murakami for tomorrow. But no, haha, I dno't think that's gonna happen. I think that would have bad long-term consequences for them, perhaps, too; make a big deal and then basically welch on it. I think that an extension seems reasonable, though - yeah, Ishbia footing the bill.

Insert Witty Name Here

2:27

You worked in finance before, what do those people think when fighting over how to count their riches?

Ben Clemens

2:27

well, we never had a work stoppage

2:28

that's kinda my point

I was able to be angry at my bosses, hate the distribution of wealth, disagree with things... and then go hey, we sure do benefit a lot from keeping the lights on, let's keep the lights on

J

2:28

I just want to shout out how cool all the Fangraphs Lab stuff is. I was content with my membership as is but will happily play with all the free toys you give me

Ben Clemens

2:28

Thank you very much. Comments like these mean a lot to me.

2:29

It can be really hard to see your impact at a place where the articles of the day replace the articles of the previous day. Not a lot of stuff I did in 2025 is still useful. But the Lab is a place where that's not the case and that feels really good. Appelman's baseball sim is super cool, too

Pop

2:29

Should the Padres be concerned about Machado's drop in bat speed?

Ben Clemens

2:30

I don't really think so, but I would be pretty worried about the fact that his average launch angle has varied from 12.7 to 16 over his entire career and is 7.4 now

2:31

Machado without the ball in the air? Not nearly as good of a hitter

maybe those are correlated, though. This stuff is pretty hard to tease out early in the year

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