JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/26/21

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/26/21

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Ben Clemens

2:01

Hey everyone, and welcome to the chat. I filed an article literally five minutes ago, so my brain is full of random details about pitchers losing or gaining velocity... I might be a little flighty at the start of the chat. You've been warned, as it were.

JJ

2:01

So. How about Padres-Dodgers? Seems like everything about these matchups so far is great for the game. Intensity, stars, memes! How can MLB market this more?

Ben Clemens

2:02

I'm not sure how they can market it more than they have, aside from using the Statcast broadcasters more often. I missed most of Sunday's game due to weekend plans, and when I turned it on and heard A Rod talking, I got very annoyed IMMEDIATELY

Then Meg told me there was a Statcast broadcast and things got great

So I'd say mainly less A Rod ruining the game's premier matchup

Matt Damon

2:02

MATT. DAMON.

Ben Clemens

2:02

Hello there Matthew

Mike Tyson: designated hitter

2:02

Kimbrel is back? Top 7 closer?

Ben Clemens

2:03

Kind of seems that way. Jay Jaffe wrote about him two weeks ago and most of it still holds:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/craig-kimbrel-is-dominant-once-again/

brad penny for your thoughts

2:03

Mo had some pretty frank comments re: carpenter recently. how close do you think carp really is to be moved off team (in whatever capacity)?

Ben Clemens

2:04

Oh I think it's getting close

Er, off the team is maybe a stretch, because he backs up three infield positions

It's not hard to imagine 8 starters, then a bench of a backup catcher, a 4th outfielder, a middle infield backup, and Carpenter

2:05

I think continuing to use him as a starter is sketchy at this point, though. There's a good deal of evidence that his bat, right now, is just not gonna get it done

Roy Hobbs

2:05

Do you see Josh Rojas becoming viable with his recent improvement? In a 14 team league with 5 player benches. I like his versatility and love his minor league stats.

Ben Clemens

2:05

Yes

I'm not good at fantasy baseball, so take this with a grain of salt

2:06

but lots of good fantasy people love Rojas

And I don't see why he wouldn't

Lawrence

2:06

When looking at EV for hitters, whats the general breakdown of the tiers? For example, what number/range is considered excellent, very good, good, average, poor, terrible, etc.

Ben Clemens

2:06

First rule of thumb: don't look at average EV

I know it's annoying, but basically, average is the wrong way to think about it

Look at percentage of balls hit over 100mph, maybe?

Or average EV of the top 50%?

It's frustrating that average EV has very little correlation to production on contact, but those are the facts

2:07

It's a misleading stat

love

1

Bubba

2:07

I asked this to Kevin too, but here goes. On a practical level is it better to get 10 WAR out of a Pitcher (deGrom) or 10 WAR out of a position player (Trout). My thought is that there must be diminishing returns on squeezing excellence into one game (you can't make your chances of a win = 100%), and so the position player is probably better. Thoughts?

Ben Clemens

2:07

Posting this not to answer it (I'd have to take too long thinkingn about it), but to flag it as something I'm going to investigate and see if it merits an article

What a cool idea

brad penny for your thoughts

2:08

Rockies GM Jeff Bridich has resigned.

Ben Clemens

2:08

We now go live to Dan Szymborski, trying and failing to suppress a giggling fit

party

2

2:09

I mean, it's about time!

2:10

Bridich has been doing bizarre stuff for quite some time now

How many hundreds of millions have they spent on middle relievers?

Derek

2:10

What in the world would compel Bridich and the Rockies to part ways now, less than a month into the season, that wouldn't have been reason enough before??

Ben Clemens

2:10

I truly have no idea

But I'm very excited to hear more

Roberto Beers

2:10

How late is too late to drink coffee?

Ben Clemens

2:10

Bobby Beers (can I call you Bobby Beers?), let me tell you, this problem vexes me to no end

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