JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 5/23/22

Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page

BaseballFan

2:56

Re: board games in the last 30 years: I think the changes have been revolutionary, not evolutionary. A number of new mechanisms (deck building, worker placement, tableau building, engine building, and others, plus the minimization of luck) make today's games categorically different. Not everyone will like every mechanism, but there's a good chance that there's a mechanism out there for anyone.

Ben Clemens

2:56

Well said

2:57

Deck building games are a personal favorite, the idea of honing down your own deck and having it change the way you play the game is just really satisfying

Sharps

2:57

From Friday though Sunday I'm playing boardgames with my friends at a homemade con. What can I do to sell them on Baseball while it is happening (assuming you don't feel like coming to DC to help me convince them Baseball is awesome)

Ben Clemens

2:57

a)that's really cool. b)at some point, introduce them to Strat-o-Matic

2:58

it's such a good game, I can't recommend it enough. You get the deck-building feel if you draft teams, you get the satisfaction of it being a dice chucker, you can pick an era of baseball that people like, there's just a ton to recommend it

Logan

2:58

Is Nelson Cruz cooked? His statcast metrics look mostly the same to me, but all the results are really ugly so far

Ben Clemens

2:59

I have learned my lesson about declaring Nelson Cruz cooked, but I'm certainly worried. He's the kind of hitter who couldn't afford a huge dropoff, he needed every bit of his power numbers to be a good hitter in 2021 already

3:00

And hte ball has really kinda killed that. I think that he'll be hard-pressed to be a 120 wRC+ hitter with this dead ball. He just won't get on base enough. But I think he's due a bit of positive regression. He's still hitting the ball hard. Just, don't expect it to be back to his peak numbers

T(win)s

3:00

Re: Minor league pitching development... How many seasons do you need to see to buy into an organization developing good pitching? Example, the Twins look like their pipeline is starting to deliver and they have been good at unlocking pitchers who come in from other organizations.

By no means am I comparing them to the Yankees, Dodgers, etc... Just notice the past few seasons have been much improved

Ben Clemens

3:01

They have looked really good of late. I don't think it's too early to say that they're clearly doing something right. I don't know where I'd slot them in in the hierarchy of player dev, but the years of getting guys who don't miss bats and then telling them not to miss bats are over

Liz

3:01

Is RBI a skill separate from other aspects of hitting? eg. - are there any players who are very good at timely singles/sac flies/squeeze bunts/etc without being particularly good hitters otherwise?

Ben Clemens

3:01

I think that's basically just 'contact'. There are players who are really good at avoiding strikeouts. When they bat in RBI situations, they have a tailwind

Appa Yip Yip

3:02

The thing about Espinal is that infield defense and doubles are two of the very best things in baseball

Concerned Canadian

3:03

What do you think of this baseball event approaching in London? To me it seems extremely gimmicky and disconnected from the sport itself.

Ben Clemens

3:03

I'm reading about this right now

3:04

oh, Home Run Derby X? I'm generally in favor of it, I don't think it's supposed to be a replacement for baseball or anything

But if my friends and I could play home run derby x at a batting cage, we totally would

If baseball thinks this is gonna create lifelong fans who previously had never heard of the sport, I think they are probably in for a rude awakening. If they think it might be kinda fun, I could see it being kinda fun

Bravos

3:04

William Contreras in LF tonight for Braves. The offense has been underperforming/performing pretty badly with meh defense in the OF. Where do they go from here?

Ben Clemens

3:05

I... William C... wow that seems strange to me

3:06

I guess you have to rest Duvall and Demeritte sometimes and they don't really have a backup outfielder on the roster, but is he a better option in left than Ozuna?

That really surprises me

Cristian Javier

3:07

What happens to me when Odo/McCullers are healthy?

Ben Clemens

3:08

I think you'll go back to being a sometime starter, sometime relieve.r I think the Astros might go 6-man rotation off and on, though, which will give you more times to start

also, McCullers isn't exactly close to being ready yet. He threw off a mound for the first time yesterday

Alex

3:08

Do you think the Mariners have dug too deep a hole to get out of? The offseason looks like a total dumpster fire at this point.

Ben Clemens

3:09

I do. 10 games back is just a lot of games. It'd be one thing if they were 10 games back and .500.... but below .500, that many games back, I don't see how they win either a WC or the divisoin

Jeremy Pena

3:11

Please overreact to the start of my career.

Ben Clemens

3:11

Best shortstop to come out of Houston ever

Best Astro since Neil Armstrong

The Real Ben Clemens

3:11

Does Dayton Moore still have his job at the end of July?

Ben Clemens

3:11

Yeah.... largely because we ask this question every year and he's always there

Guest

3:11

I'm intrigued by some of the board games you mention, but don't have space in my tiny apartment (DC rents, man) to set up and play board games; are there any good computer adaptations out there?

Ben Clemens

3:12

I've heard Root has an incredible online version on Steam

Some Guy

3:12

Carlos Correa just looked up and was like "I have no idea who Ben Clemens is, but he's on the naughty list".

Ben Clemens

3:12

I'd consider my day a success if Carlos Correa learned who I was

Optimistic Cards Fan

3:12

The Cardinals young hitters have looked really good so far this year. Do you think the Cardinals are potentially a top 5 hitting team with the infusion of these hitters plus there veteran hitters or is the team in a just played the Pirates and is actually pretty average at hitting spot?

Ben Clemens

3:12

I tihnk it's a bit of both. The Pirates are really bad!

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