JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 5/4/20

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Snacker

2:47

When is the next FangraphsLive?

Ben Clemens

2:47

I believe we'll be streaming an MLB The Show game this Friday

aaronsaron

2:47

I've been to every MLB stadium except Minute Maid in Houston, and many parks still only use a few advanced metrics on scoreboards at most, and some not at all. (Although some of the parks it was years ago that I was there so perhaps things have changed).

Ben Clemens

2:47

Yeah totally agree with tihs.

Sorry, crossed streams, let me finish answering Snacker first

2:48

My OOTP stream will either be tomorrow or Weds, and I'll let people know later today. It might end up covering some Perfect Team as well so that the people in my chat can teach me how to plya, since I am still figuring it out.

Derek

2:48

Why haven't "+" statistics (OPS+, ERA+, etc.) become more mainstream? They're about as high on the useful/understandable scale as statistics get...

Ben Clemens

2:49

That's a wonderful question, and I hope they start to more. I love all-in-one stats for that exact reason.

I'd love to talk to the people who put up scoreboard stats.

Like, Citi went from nothing to OPS over three seasons or so I think.

Meanwhile I went to a game in Milwaukee and it was BA/HR/RBI

2:50

Yet I find Brewers fans to be really knowledgeable about the team and think they'd be fine with at the very least OPS

Jeef Berky

2:50

Dan’s chats are down like 80% volume, how about you? You might have gotten a bump today from the KBO ESPN news.

Ben Clemens

2:50

Yeah they're way down.

2:51

Question volume is down less, but also down. I kinda get it: there are fewer things to ask about baseball when baseball is not happening.

Snacker

2:51

Probably just a change in personnel (for the Mets)

Ben Clemens

2:52

Yeah very likely. But I think that there's a happy medium, and maybe strikeout rate and OPS are that medium for now

Ezra

2:52

Don't mean to turn your Fangraphs chat into a Micheal Lewis chat, but do you find his two finance books to be accurate? Also getting through Astroball and The Only Rule, do you have any baseball book recommendations?

Ben Clemens

2:52

They're accurate but simplified. Boomerang is probably my favorite of them.

And I recently re-read Veeck as in Wreck, which was awesome.

That's a fun one.

Anything by Roger Angell is awesome too

Kiermaier's Piercing Green Eyes

2:52

What's wrong with "we're not selling jeans?" The idea of ignoring pre-conceived biases seems constructive.

Ben Clemens

2:52

Oh so that part is great

2:53

But as it turns out, athletic players actually were pretty valuable

And in fact, the A's are more or less selling jeans in some of their recent team constructions.

Yoenis Cespedes would have been an awesome jeans model, for example

Did you see that pre-signing workout tape?

Basically I'd say that the ignoring pre-conceived biases is hugely helpful. Just don't pay too much attention to *which* biases the A's ignored.

Reid

2:54

What would your vote be for a 10-part doc that is baseball-focused? I'd love to see a fully fleshed out series on the steroid years, including a deep dive on Selig's office, but feel there's an excellent chance that the half of baseball fans with terminal boomer brain would ruin the experience with their moaning.

Ben Clemens

2:54

So, I initially suggested a deep dive into the rise and fall of the Mariners.

But Jon Bois is already doing that at SB Naiton

https://www.sbnation.com/2020/3/26/21194222/history-of-the-seattle-mar...

2:55

You should totally watch this, by the way

Those Marniers were fascinating.

After that, Jackie Robinson is the obvious go-to, and last time we discussed this I think Denny McLain finished pretty high on the list.

2:56

I did think of one new thing since I last answered a similar question -- the last dance gives you a lot of time to think about questions like this

I'd watch a 10-part thing on Curt Flood and the rise of free agency, is my new contribution