JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/3/23

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 4/3/23

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Ben Clemens

2:33

If they have, I haven't heard it. I also listened to that discussion!

party

2

Joe Buck Showalter

2:33

Is the Soto trade return package ever going to look like it was worth it? Abrams looks like a AAAA guy and Gore has no control. And that was supposed to be the centerpiece of the trade...

Ben Clemens

2:34

I do not think that those were the centerpiece of the trade. Woods seemed like the best prospect to a lot of the prospecting types, and honestly I've just been waaaaaay down on Abrams for years

I still have a lot of hope for Gore, though

He really needs to find some control but if he does, the stuff can play

I would have ranked the players in the deal Gore/Woods/Hassell/Abrams, fwiw

I just don't see how a guy like Abrams can make it work without getting way stronger or suddenly turning into a great plate discipline type

Ghost of Wade Boggs

2:35

RE: Infield Hits
That's interesting that it went down. I would have thought the shift banning would have increased it alongside bigger bases, instead of decrease. Sure the shift would take away hard hit balls that reach the OF, but I would still wager that the cumulative affect of the shift would be to make infield hits harder to achieve.

Ben Clemens

2:35

Yeah, it's such a small sample that I wouldn't read much into it yet

Kiermaier's Piercing Green Eyes

2:35

2022 fWAR ranks:
34 Cole 3.3 (200.2 IP)
40 Springs 3.0 (135.1 IP)
Springs doesn't need to have turned over a new leaf yesterday, he was already really good. Not 18 K/9 good, but he could very realistically end up having the best season for a Rays pitcher this year.

trophy

1

Ben Clemens

2:35

Well said. This is how I feel about him: he's already good. He didn't sign a nice extension this offseason because the Rays thought he would take a step forward this year. Maybe they did, but he signed it because he was already really effective

Appa Yip Yip

2:36

Chris Bassitt was throwing 91 mph yesterday, down from 94 last year. Seems bad?

Ben Clemens

2:36

That's a big yikes. He was number one on my "I'm worried about the pitch clock with this guy" list, and I have no idea if that's what's going on, but it was certainly not an inspiring first start

Let's hope Berrios rebounds

RobertoBeers

2:36

Looking at the rule changes while squinting, they could've been generated by a 4th grader. They all seem so childish. Bases? BIGGER; You gotta make eye contact or else, No more throwing at me til I cry. If you could propose an extreme, saber-driven rule change, what would it be?

vomit

3

Ben Clemens

2:37

Okay, I'm going to give you a non-extreme one first: if you start an inning, you face three batters, period

cool

2

now that they stripped out the dead time between pitches, the dead time of managers letting a guy face one batter to start an inning to game platoon splits and then pulling him REALLY stood out to me this weekend

2:38

Before, it was just lost in a sea of inefficiency. Now, it's yelling at me

Nate

2:38

It’s still super early, but any new thoughts on Torkelson as whether or not he can start to be more of a thing now?

Ben Clemens

2:38

Yeah, no different than before, which is that of course I think he can be

Rocco Baldelli's Head Polish

2:38

Wander Franco eyeballs emoji

Ben Clemens

2:38

Love me some Wander Franco

2:39

I don't really have anything more than that to say

Now that I've had a minute to think about it, my more extreme change: One called shot, where you can bring up your best hitter regardless of what's going on batting order wise. If they're on the basepaths, that's fine, the guy who was scheduled to bat swaps with them

peanut-gallery

1

2:40

You want to have some tough pitching decisions? Try to bring in a pitcher knowing they might face David Fletcher, Mike Trout, or Shohei Ohtani

daro

2:40

"if you start an inning, you face three batters, period" great one but only if it applies to relievers

Ben Clemens

2:40

Yeah, that's fine with me

2:41

It's really the 'loogy type goes one extra batter' that's leading to my grumpiness about it

Dan

2:41

If an offense if able to force their opponent to replace a pitcher (non injury) mid inning they get rewarded with an runner runner to start next inning. Less pitching changes, more baserunners, more stretegy. Everyone wins except tradition.

trophy

2

Re: Violation

2:41

I thought I head they were going to just circle the K and BB to indicate that. maybe i heard wrong

Ben Clemens

2:41

Ah, there's an answer then

bosoxforlife

2:42

In my almost 80 years of watching baseball I have never seen a finish like Saturday's Red Sox-Orioles game. There can't be many games ecer played when a team had .000000001 chance of winning and won.

cool

1

crying

1

Ben Clemens

2:42

That entire series was wild

Loooooooved it

Joey Baggadonuts

2:42

Is there anything to be optimistic about w/Kopech this year? His spring seemed up and down - not awesome after the great 1st start - but seems like he was struggling w/feel and a sinus infection later in ST. Can he finally realize his upside this year, or is he Just A Guy?

Ben Clemens

2:43

I regret to inform you that I think Kopech is just a guy. That doesn't mean he'll always be just a guy, though. One thing that really great stuff means, to me, is that you're always an adjustment or two away from finding yourself and becoming dominant

Look at Dylan Cease. He was totally just a guy, and then he worked on changing his fastball shape a little, emphasized his already-great slider, and he's contending for Cy Youngs

Yeah Well Hiura Towel

2:44

xwOBA seems to be missing from this website

Ben Clemens

2:44

Oh weird, I'll run it up the flagpole

trophy

1

Matt Damon

2:45

MATT. DAMON.

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