JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 5/22/23

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Kiermaier's Piercing Green Eyes

3:02

Wander Franco, Randy Arozarena, Yandy Díaz, and Josh Lowe are all within 0.3 fWAR of each other right now (1.9-2.2, ranks 4-18 in all of MLB for position players). What will things look like at the end of the season?

Ben Clemens

3:02

I'm guessing Wander and Randy will end the year as the top two in some order, probably Wander ahead

3:03

I think that all of them will deliver All Star numbers in the long run, though

Frustrated Guardians Fan

3:03

Would Andres Gimenez benefit from being sent down? He's had an incredibly frustrating season

Ben Clemens

3:03

Hmmmm... I don't think so

but I do not know him personally

3:04

He could definitely use a reset, but doing it via a demotion after a big extension feels like it might not go over so well

Dan

3:04

Trea Turner or Wander Franco ROS?

Ben Clemens

3:04

Wander!

Erich

3:04

Could LaMonte Wade put up a season similar to 2021 Belt on the platoon this year?

Ben Clemens

3:04

Yeah, good comp imo

Retro

3:04

Do you think the new limits on options are having a significant impact on how teams manage their staffs? The intent was to cut down on stuff like having a reliever wear a blowout loss and then be immediately sent down for a fresh arm--is it working?

Ben Clemens

3:04

I think it is working, but only on the margin

Farhandrew Zaidman

3:04

To my completely uninformed brain, seems like the obvious correction to the rash of pitching arm injuries (allegedly from the pitch clock) is to disincentive 100% effort, 100% of the time. But are teams more willing to churn burn through waivers than to give that a shot?

Ben Clemens

3:04

I think that it's actually two-fold

3:05

If you're a pitcher, going max effort is a dominant strategy

you might blow out, but you also might make millions of dollars

If you're in the extremely wide middle class of guys who have major league stuff and fringe major league pitchability, I can't imagine toning it down, even if your team told you to

3:06

You tone it down, the other back of the bullpen guy doesn't, and then who do you think gets DFA'ed when the team needs another pitcher?

Matt Damon

3:06

MATT. DAMON.

Guest

3:06

Gunnar has been brutal for me this year, should I drop him for McLain? Or keep him on my bench and hope for the best?

Ben Clemens

3:07

I'd keep Gunnar for track record reasons

It'd be one thing if McLain had come up absolutely blasting and Gunnar was a complete bum

NobleHelium

3:07

Is Oswaldo Cabrera ever going to get back up to roughly league average hitting or is he the next Tyler Wade at this point?

Ben Clemens

3:08

I think he's better than that but I'm definitely losing confidence in that view slowly

Basically I like his power enough more that I don't think he falls into the Wade trap of not having any offensive carrying tools

Clem Benens

3:08

Dansby has been the best FA SS so far. He was also signed for the least $ of the 4. Nobody knows anything!

Ben Clemens

3:08

Baseball is so hard

Bob

3:09

Mooke Betts was ranked Ranked Baseball America's #75 prospect in 2014

Ben Clemens

3:09

We had Kwan in our top 100 last year

I think both still count as mostly under the radar types

But yeah, point taken

Also, the proliferation of prospect lists means that fewer and fewer players will make it to the bigs without being on top 100 lists

JWR

3:09

Do you know if rest of season (ROS) projections on fangraphs are simply prorated estimates of the pre-season projections or are the various projection systems (i.e., ZIPS, Steamer, etc.) updated throughout the season?

Ben Clemens

3:09

ZiPS and Steamer are both updated in-season

3:10

I know for ZiPS at least, Dan runs a different in-season model than the full ZiPS model

Scrapper

3:10

My crazy idea for Ohtani is letting him be a full time right fielder, where he would most likely be a Gold Glover, and letting him pitch 1-2 times/week as a high leverage reliever. Am I crazy?

Ben Clemens

3:10

I thought this kind of idea was interesting before he debuted stateside

At this point, I don't think you can justify it. He's just too good as a starter

Nick

3:11

Y or N? Alvarez and Baty will hit a combined 60HR this year,

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