JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 6/14/21

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Ben Clemens

2:36

It's just the kind of trade that the Rays have repeatedly been willing to make

2:37

They will sacrifice this year production for future production

They literally just traded Blake Snell for Luis Patino

Don

2:37

From where you stand, what’s the loudest tool/best pitch in baseball?

Ben Clemens

2:37

I'm gonna say deGrom's fastball

Brian

2:38

Between his 10/5 rights (probably eliminating Oak/TB), high salary (eliminating Cle, CHC, Mil) and cost in prospects (eliminating BoSox and ChiSox) isnt Scherzer's market limited to NYM and the California NL West teams?

Ben Clemens

2:38

The Nats could eat some of his salary

And I'd put the Cardinals on there b/c he's from St. Louis, assuming they're still in the race

2:39

But I just don't think they're going to trade him. The return would be light-ish and c'mon, give the fans an extra few months of Scherzer

Kevin

2:39

Who should the Astros be targeting at the deadline? Obvious answer seems like BP help, but I feel like that will resolve itself once they start getting healthy. I personally think they need a starter.

Ben Clemens

2:39

One of either, honestly

2:40

They're willing to let the back of the rotation and the bullpen bleed together, which makes sense to me

If there aren't any fifth starters available, I wouldn't hate seeing them get a reliever and let Javier start for a bit again, at least in a piggy-back kind of way

2:41

Now, if they can get a top of the line starter, that's great

Steve O

2:41

I'm starting to worry that Wander Franco won't be up until after the super two deadline in 2022. The Rays wouldn't keep him down that long... would they? Would be very Rays of them tbh. The logic is that you call him up next year so he'll be more seasoned and will be less likely to struggle. But that would be so bad.

Ben Clemens

2:41

I don't think they'll do that, but I am definitely starting to get worried

I do think they might just bring him up in August or late July

So that he doesn't even get Super 2 this year

Keep his days of ML time below 100, let's say

Super gross, but again, it's the Rays

2:42

I thikn that actually maximizes how much service time you'd get for your money

b/c he wouldn't qualify for super 2 so you'd get 1/3 of this year, then 3 years at the minimum, then 3 years of arb

2:43

so 6.33 years for a cost of 3 years of arb, as opposed to 6.9 years for a cost of 4 years of arb

Better rate, you get him sooner, what's not to like? aside from how stupid the structure of the league is that talking about how long it makes sense to hold down one of their best players is a thing we're doing

Kenny

2:43

if you're a betting man, where does gallo land?

Appa Yip Yip

2:43

Is Joey Gallo on the move this summer, and where does he go?

Ben Clemens

2:44

Let's piggyback on one of my earlier claims (the Brewers are real but need a bat) and say Milwaukee

2:45

He can play some first, he can play some right with Avi in center, and he's just a big bat

It's not a perfect fit, of course, but I think it's still kind of a fit

Duchess

2:45

What the heck happened to Jameson Taillon? K's are there but otherwise he has been terrible.

Steve O

2:45

Is Jameson Taillon a reliever? Really only one good pitch. Third time through numbers are terrible. Could be like a Chad Green type reliever with that fastball though.

Ben Clemens

2:46

I haven't looked into Taillon closely this year, but wow he's giving up a lot of loud contact

2:47

I dunno what the plan is there, I guess you just hope his four-seamer continues to come around and get sharper

Because it seems like when he throws it right, he's missing bats, but he's also scattershot with the command and leaving some meatballs

Cole

2:48

Is Miguel Rojas an underrated trade candidate? Haven't seen much buzz on him but he's put up 3.4 WAR in his last 88 games! MIA clearly has their future SS in Jazz and Rojas seems like he could help a number of teams (NYY, CIN, OAK, LAA, CLE come to mind)

Ben Clemens

2:48

I'm not 100% sure the Marlins want to trade him

He's definitely a team leader, and they seem to value that quite a bit

2:49

He's also hurt and rehabbing at the moment, which makes it harder to know what he'd fetch

But yes, if he's on the block and healthy, he'd fetch a nice haul

2:50

As best as I can tell, he's likely to hit his vesting option for 2022, but it's still a team option even if he doesn't hit it, and it's a good price

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