JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/24/23

Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page

Ben Clemens

2:26

I'm gonna say yes. The pitching has looked phenomenal and sustainable to my eyes

Morbo

2:26

RTJ I'm going to an RTJ concert in ATL in October, super excited! Follow up, if I'm the Cardinals FO I'm really really hoping the team turns it around soon because if they don't I'm probably not going to be able to go out in public by the end of the summer

Mateo

2:26

Why haven't the Dodgers traded for me yet?

Ben Clemens

2:27

Because they traded for Rojas and it didn't really work, but they were trying to do the same thing

Jeff

2:27

Is Kyle Tucker a fringe MVP candidate in your opinion? Continues to mash with GG-level defense. Seems underrated (still)

Ben Clemens

2:27

Oh yeah. He's hurt because there's a better lefty hitter on his own team, but he's absolutely in that category

Guest

2:27

Discuss Jordan Walker. Yeah, the K’s are atrocious, but do you really think AAA reps would have been helpful? Do you think he stays up?

Ben Clemens

2:29

I don't think the reps would have helped; I think the reps would have given the Cardinals more idea of how Walker adjusts to upper-level pitching. I don't think the idea of not bringing him up to start the year was that he could get a lot better in a short time in AAA, it's that you could learn more about whether he was ready

I think that the major league data has been such that if the Cardinals knew this is how he'd hit, they would not have promoted him to start the year

2:30

they have plenty of league average outfield bats, way too many in fact. But one thing they absolutely can't do is play Walker only part-time, that would be very bad for his development, and his development is the most important thing going on in Cards player dev right now

I think he'll stay up but I was on the record saying I don't think he should have been up to start hte year, and I think things would work out a lot better if he were in Triple-A at the moment

RTJ

2:30

Shiver me timbers! Let's talk about the Pirates, Arrr!

Ben Clemens

2:30

Heck yeah

2:31

The Pirates are really fun right now. I don't think the pitching staff can keep this up, but I'm kinda in on their bats, and the McCutchen resurgence is amazing

2:32

I wish Oneil Cruz were there for more fun players, but I'm in on the Bucwagon for now. It's not a playoff team, but mannnnnn it's a more fun team to watch than Pittsburgh has had in a while

Guest

2:32

Machado's underlying data (see: Statcast page) looks really bad. More Ks (career high 23%), less BBs (career low 4%), lower hard hit rate (career low 33%)! What the heck? Hold and pray he regresses to his career norms? Or trade for pieces? (ex: Kelenic + RP)

Ben Clemens

2:32

Sell sell sell for me

Eno Sarris pointed out that his exit velocity has been on a worrisome downward trend

Appa Yip Yip

2:33

Why does the AL East have to be the way it is?

Ben Clemens

2:33

This is just how the world works

bosoxforlife

2:33

The pace of the game is sooooo much better but with the batting average still at an anemic .245 all we are seeing is the same old TTO games but condensed. The shift ban has not added much offense. Does something have to be done to lessen the dominance of velocity like moving the mound back?

Ben Clemens

2:34

I don't think that will happen anytime soon, but yeah, what a shock, banning the shift didn't do much

I think at the very least, baseball is gonna take a year to see what goes on in the fullness of time

But Ben Lindbergh's prediction that they'll have switched to a wedge-based rule (no one behind second base) by next year is looking good

Chip

2:34

With the benefit of 'hindsight' (given everyone knew the outfield was a problem) do you think the Yankees should regret not offering money to Benintendi + instead of throwing the bag at Rodon? Starting an infielder with a 30 grade hit tool in CF seems to not be working out for Cashman and co.

Ben Clemens

2:34

I mean.... given hindsight, yes

2:35

Rodon hasn't played!

But short of that, no

They should just trade for an outfielder. Doesn't even have to be a very good one

I might be writing about the IKF CF experiment, at least as one of my 5 things this week

The guy is so willing to do whatever the team needs him to do to succeed

even when the things the team asks him to do are nowhere near his specialty

Rick Manning

2:36

Jasson Dominguez...... Bored with the minors, or super streaky and not so good?

Ben Clemens

2:36

Wait, it can only be one of these two options?

I'm gonna go with neither, he has 55 PA this year and 15 of those have been walks

I'm gonna go with everyone take a deep breath into a paper bag

Morbo

2:37

"They should just trade for an outfielder. Doesn't even have to be a very good one" the Cardinals have a surplus of those and would probably be better off with na injured Rodon than their current pitching staff

Ben Clemens

2:37

Yeah, although the last trade for a Cardinals outfielder didn't fix the problem either

Harrison Bader coming back should make things work a bit better, though

Phil

2:37

League batting average was .232 in April of last year...so that is actually quite a noticeable improvement yoy. BAs generally are lowest in early months due to weather (amongst other things, i imagine).

Connecting…

Message History

On Off

Your current subscriptions

None

E-mail Address	Chat Owner	Status	Remove

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