JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/24/23

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Ben Clemens

2:37

Yeah, like I said, let's get the whole year in the books

Guy Who Asks The Multiple Choice Question

2:37

Which bird do you most enjoy seeing in the wild?

a) Blue Jay
b) Cardinal
c) Oriole

Ben Clemens

2:38

It's actually oriole by a hair, the orange is really striking

Then Cardinal, then blue jay, though I'll be honest, I think I mistake a lot of blue birds for jays

Inaccessible Rail

2:38

I just looked at the FG position player WAR rankings and Brandon Nimmo is tied for #1! April? Or is he really this good?

Ben Clemens

2:38

April, but c'mon, he's very good

He's been very good for a while

I know it’s early but

2:38

Do you think James Outman is top 3 for NL ROTY?

Ben Clemens

2:38

I do

Pumpsie Green

2:39

Pearson being called up by the Blue Jays. Does he work himself into leverage situations by year-end?

Ben Clemens

2:39

Yeah, I thikn so, I have a lot of belief in his talent

Ozuna from the Braves

2:39

Which young bat are you buying into the most—Suwinski, Duran, or Alek Thomas

Ben Clemens

2:39

You looking at my fantasy team or something?

I have both Suwinski and Duran and I'd have Thomas if I could. I think Duran is the most undervalued, but can it just be a yes for everyone?

Inaccessible Rail

2:40

Just read your Alonso story. I feel like the comparison to Sosa & McGwire is a little unfair because there were so many homers hit in that era. How does Alonso's total compare to his competition vs Sosa/McGwire compared to theirs?

Ben Clemens

2:40

Just depends what that means. There are a lot of home runs in baseball these days, and Alonso debuted in the homer-happiest season ever

It'd have to be some kind of standard deviation deal, which I haven't come up with a framework for yet

Morbo

2:40

Dylan Carlson for Ryne Nelson. Who says no?

Ben Clemens

2:41

In case you're wondering how Cardinals fans are feeling about Carlson right now....

Oddball Herrera

2:41

Gunnar has struggled in such a weird way…I can’t remember a prospect not hitting his weight but running a 20% BB rate over a decent sample. I don’t know if the stratospheric walk rate is reason to be optimistic or just *shrug*

Ben Clemens

2:41

I think I'm on team shrug for now

THP

2:42

How worried are you about STL's starting rotation? Monty looks fine, but everyone else is getting destroyed, hard hit% trends are bad as well...

Ben Clemens

2:42

I'm absolutely terrified. It looks awful! Flaherty looks broken, Mikolas is struggling, there's not much of a backup plan in sight

Billy James

2:42

many minor leaguers think Charlotte deserves a team before Nashville. didn’t Charlotte lead AAA in attendance recently? why would minor leaguers want Charlotte over Nashville?

Ben Clemens

2:42

I'm not sure, but I could see that too. Charlotte is a bigger city, I think

2:43

Yup, google confirms. And I love the Charlotte minor league team. I used to see clients in Charlotte occasoinally and I thought it was really cool that they would just go to minor league games after work as a happy hour

2:44

Not sure that vibe would translate to the major league team but yeah, the Knights are doing a lot of things right

BenB

2:44

Thoughts about replacing T. O'Neil with J. Outman or B. Rooker ?
O'Neil feels like he is being used as a 4th OF and isn't exactly mashing

Ben Clemens

2:44

Yeah, chase playing time and replace him with Outman

Andy Dufresne

2:44

Mookie looked great at SS. If he’s above average there, shouldn’t LA play him at SS? It increases his value

Ben Clemens

2:44

I don't think so, tbh. I think the most important thing with someone like Mookie is availability. If they've decided it's easier on his body then fine, but keeping him in the lineup is way more important than getting some marginal WAR improvement

bosoxforlife

2:45

Speaking of the Twins great pitching, Joe Ryan is really, really good and very underrated.

Ben Clemens

2:45

Agree

Doug

2:45

A lot of SD fans are upset over the 500 start. Shouldn’t they be encouraged that played 500 through the toughest portion of their schedule and with only Bogaerts hitting?

Ben Clemens

2:45

And with Tatis missing most of it

2:46

I'm not sure whether they should be encouraged or discouraged, but not much of the season is in the books yet, let's give it a little more time to breathe. The only Padre I'm really worried about so far is Machado, and I'm worried in the maybe he'll only be very good instead of great kind of way. Soto is edging that way for me but I still believ

Oddball Herrera

2:46

Cardinals are wishing the could call backsies on that Johan Oviedo trade right about bow

Ben Clemens

2:47

I acdtually don't think that's true. Quintana was really key last year

Greg

2:47

Did you make any kind of hand motion as you were typing "mine at a month"?

Ben Clemens

2:47

Oh yeah, a lifting motion with palm upward