JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 5/4/26

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 5/4/26

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Ben Clemens

3:00

but that doesn't mean he stopped being good, it just takes some guys a while to adjust

Very pleased to see him crushing it, he was a great OOTP card the last time I played and I got very attached to him as a result

Bob

3:00

Mike Trout is still good. I am happy :)

Rays fan dan

3:01

Are the rays good? I’m not convinced…

Ben Clemens

3:01

Bob: concur
Rays fan dan: concur

I dunno what's going on with the Rays

they'r enot THIS good, I don't think. but banking those wins helps a lot

Bucco Fever

3:01

With Skubal's injury, does this guarantee that the a Yankee wins the Cy Young and, if so, what are the chances they pull of a threesome: MVP (Judge), Cy Young (Fried), and ROY (Schlittler)?

Ben Clemens

3:02

oh man. I hadn't thought about that, but it's probably fairly likely, huh? Schlittler is the prohibitive ROY favorite at the moment, Judge is Judge

eh, I guess it's him and McGonigle, sorry

sorry, completely off that

3:03

Schlittler isn't eligible

so, 0% odds

doughboy

3:03

This Skubal injury as a gut punch for the Tigers. Forgoing trade capital to go all in for one final season with a pitcher was risky. Is there any way to frame this positively for the team? Yes he may come back in August. I'm just a despondent Tigers fan riffing right now. What are your thoughts on it all?

Ben Clemens

3:04

I guess the positive frame is that this team is good enough to win the ALC without him. And him coming back fresh in the playoff chase will be a plus

but yeah, oof, that's a real bummer

Appa Yip Yip

3:04

The Rays are back at the Trop and it's sucking the life force out of their opponents like a cold, steel vampire.

Ben Clemens

3:04

so many catwalk balls

I forgot how funny they were

Okra

3:04

I feel like the theme of the season so far is that there is a lot of parity in the league because there are just a lot of good players now. My theory is that with the rise of data in baseball paired with all the outside hitting/pitching labs, that more players than ever are reaching their full potential. Thoughts?

Ben Clemens

3:04

could not agree more. This just popped up and I hammered 'post question' so I could respond to it

3:05

yes! baseball players are ALL improving far more than they used to

and that makes it much harder to understand who will pop. because there are more people trying to improve, and the tools of improvement have been democratizEd

also it's more valuable to succeed now. so people are more serious about it

it's a perfect storm

Matt VW

3:05

Has there ever been any work done on a potential ripple effect from a team's best hitter? As in, if you're a young guy called up to a team where the best hitter is Frank Thomas, you're gonna take different notes than you would where the best hitter is Vlad Guerrero Sr.

Ben Clemens

3:06

never seen any. seems fascinationg. wouldn't really know how to approach it without taking some more time to think about it but I do love the idea

bosoxforlife

3:06

I mentioned him earlier but the poster boy for giving a post- prospect who was considered a complete bust another shot is Mickey Moniak, a former 1 overall pick. He hit 24 dingers last year and is tearing the cover off the ball this year

Ben Clemens

3:06

great example of one

he's carrying the Rockies!

Hmmm

3:06

Mets fans are, clearly, done with Senga. But if he's "healthy" come June, what do you think is his role for 2026?

Ben Clemens

3:07

last week someone in the chat asked about Senga as a high-leverage reliever. I am more into that than i thought

Mr. Burrito

3:07

Has Dodgers management been playing with fire by letting their team age as much as it has? I'm not concerned about a bad week. But Teo, Freeman, Betts and, if you squint, Shohei, might be poised for a strong downturn, either this year or next, and the cavalry is mostly in A and AA. I'm not positive I see great alternatives to what the front office has done (except, perhaps, to trade T. Hernandez last off season), but can the up cycle of my favorite team last longer than this year?

Ben Clemens

3:07

they got some cash, you know?

they've*

like, they are to some extent, but on the other hand what do you want them to do, sign the best young free agent hitter available? They did that one!

3:08

their system relies on signing free agents. and it'll definitely come with some awkward moments later on, when they try to figure out how long to play their stars even as they decline

but it's hard to be too mad at it

Okra

3:08

What do I not know about San Diego or the Padres franchise in general to help explain how they just sold for $3.9B and the two most recent sales were Baltimore for $1.75B and New Yourk Mets for $2.4B. I'm so confused

Ben Clemens

3:08

well, the Mets one is super weird and involved all kinds of weird tv rights and debt stuff, so I think the purchase price there is all kinds of asterisked

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