JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 5/6/24

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Ben Clemens

2:21

the vibes are very bad

G0 Fish?????????

2:21

Why do you think Peter Bendix (the Marlins GM) gave up on the season so early? I mean I know we were doing bad but like?

Ben Clemens

2:21

Because their three best pitchers are injured and they started 9-25

like....

sad giants fan

2:22

why are the giants so bad

Ben Clemens

2:22

I feel like they set their team up for a delightful dip into free agency over the past two years

get Judge or Ohtani, keep the farm system around them to develop depth, etc.

Then they whiffed across the board and signed everyone else they could, but those guys have mostly been pretty bad

2:23

Chapman isn't hitting, Snell was bad and is hurt, Conforto hasn't hit aside from a two-week stretch, Jung Hoo Lee might end up great but he has been getting the bat knocked out of his hands so far

like.... when you earmark a ton of money to add star power to your team and it adds 0-ish WAR, it's gonna be bad

Phil W.

2:23

Would Kyle Stowers for Mason Miller make sense?

Ben Clemens

2:25

I'm not sufficiently plugged into O's prospectdom to have a strong take on how Stowers's stock has changed this year with a fair start in Triple-A. If I were Oakland, I'd want more, htough. I think Miller was a better prospect, he's turned out better so far, and you can imagine trying him as a starter in 2025 which gives him some upside juice

Adam

2:25

How many of these trades do you think the Marlins need to make to be viable in 2026?

Ben Clemens

2:25

infinity

DNE

2026 is too soon given the state of their farm system and the fact that they won't spend

like, that's so sad

but it's true

Raymond

2:25

Cole Irvin is absolutely rolling. Do you think it's legit?

Ben Clemens

2:26

I think it depends on what you mean by legit

I've written a lot about Cole Irvin, believe it or not, though mostly in the 'why it makes sense for Baltimore to acquire guys like Irvin' sense than about him specifically

Guys of his general quality make little leaps forward all the time

I think he could be an above average starter, yes

Sir Nerdlington

2:27

My sense is that the nature of FG is shifting to include more NotGraph-ian content (I’m here for it, fwiw). I’m curious if it’s harder to write on analytical topics now that the teams are more advanced than the publicly available data allows ‘us’ to be? Is the shift conscious?

Ben Clemens

2:27

I can only give you my take on this, I don't speak for the whole site or anything

2:28

I got into analytical baseball writing because I like all three of baseball, analysis, and writing

Doing pure count up the wins or analyze this new thing articles doesn't really scratch the writing itch as much as I'd like

and some of my favorite baseball writing isn't 'look at this stat'

some of it is, too, to be clear!

2:29

But I've always wanted to write goofy stuff as well as serious analysis

When I submitted a portfolio to FG, it had some stats articles, and then one about John Gant not getting a hit or walk in his first 26 PA's

2:30

and giffing how silly he looked while doing it

here, this one:

https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2018/7/30/17628794/john-gants-descent-int...

Like, I've always wanted to do NotGraphs-y stuff, and yeah, teams are pretty advanced but that doesn't mean I can't paint a good story for you folks with numbers. I just also enjoy writing without numbers

Grandal Richuk

2:30

So in Dan's article about the O's having too many good young players for their lineup spots, there was a chart showing WAR accrual by players under 27. St. Louis was bottom 5 and negative, which really bummed me out because the two big vets have been bad...anyway thanks to Willson Contreras for hitting.

Ben Clemens

2:30

Victor Scott has a lot to do with that, ugh

TKDC

2:31

Speaking of replay, can we just get rid of the rule that says catchers can’t block the plate if it is just never going to be enforced?

Ben Clemens

2:31

I'm assuming this is about the Mets game

I thought it was the right call

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