JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 6/28/21

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ralphd627

2:23

Are we seeing the "real" Lindor or does he regain former status?

Ben Clemens

2:24

I think this is just who Lindor is

Mike Petriello wrote a good article about his recent surge here:

https://www.mlb.com/news/francisco-lindor-offensive-improvements

And I looked at it earlier here

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/whats-eating-francisco-lindor/

Twins Fan

2:25

How much money do you think the Twins have to kick in to trade Donaldson at/by the trade deadline? Would it just be a salary dump or could they get something of value for him?

Ben Clemens

2:25

They'd definitely need to chip in money, because teams don't like trading for contracts like that for old players at the deadline

2:26

That said, he'd be a useful piece, and the Twins have already budgeted for the contract, so they m ight eat some of it, and if they do they could get real value in return imo

He's stlil a good player

The big problem would be finding a fit

ihateerichosmer

2:26

is hosmer +$10M + a mid-level prospect a fair offer for bumgarner? im assuming dbacks want to get out completely rather than just save. hosmer has partial no-trade but i can't find which teams.

Ben Clemens

2:26

Definitely not

Why would the DBacks want Hosmer?

2:27

He's arguably a worse contract than Bumgarner

So basically you're asking them to trade financial flexibility for a mid-level prospect

I do not see teams heading in that direction

skwalla

2:27

what percent of the time would a player have to beat the shift for teams to begin playing them straight up?

Ben Clemens

2:28

Kind of depends on what you mean by beating the shift

2:29

If you bunt for a hit, say, 50% of the times you try to bunt

Miss 40%

and make an out 10%

that would already cross the threshold

If you're making more outs, you need more success

It's a tricky balance

Base Ball

2:29

Do you think Andrew Heaney has some untapped potential that could be accessed by the right trading team, or is he just who he’s been at this point?

Ben Clemens

2:29

I'm going to perpetually think that

2:30

I've just always been too high on Heaney

But I do think that pitching even more than hitting is a place where it's worth trading for a guy with stuff but without results

And hoping your pitching coach/team can get something to click

2:30

Is it my imagination, or are there fewer elite hitting first baseman than we've had in the past?

Ben Clemens

2:30

Not your imagination

2:31

This year is a bump up b/c Olson and Vlad are mashing (in my eyes at least)

But in 2019, for example, there were no 1B with a wRC+ over 150

and 2 over 140

2:32

IN 1999, there were 3 at 150 or higher and another 2 at 140 or higher

I htink we're in a bit of a lull, but Vlad goes a long way towards fixing that

And Freddie Freeman was doing it last year, though he's scuffling this year

I think we'll get back to the same level of elite 1B's, but hte overall position is definitely worse at offense than it's been in past eras

Guest

2:33

Trey Mancini or JD Martinez for AL comeback player of the year? Mancini obviously has the better narrative, but Martinez has seen the bigger overall improvement from 2020 to 2021.

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