JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 6/28/21

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Ben Clemens

3:10

I picked him for Rookie of the Year in our preseason polling, and that doesn't look likely at this point, but his bat has been as advertised, and I feel very good about his plate discipline

3:11

His WAR total doesn't look great b/c of his defense, and I think he's miscast in center, but I don't hate that he can fake center in a pinch

Tati

3:11

Are there some guys who still haven't recovered from the weird Covid schedule of 2020? I am thinking of a guy like Max Kepler who consistently improved through 2019 - tanked in last year's short season and still has not returned to his pre-Covid form.

Ben Clemens

3:11

There definitely are

3:12

It will be difficult to know which are those types of players and which are just players whose skills hvae declined

But the COVID season was such a huge outlier to the usually regimented life of a professional athlete that it would be crazy to think it didn't affect some players

It certainly affected my motivation at times

And the bar between success and failure is quite thin

Ben Clewomans

3:12

Do you look at the chatters names at all? If so, which ones do you find the cleaverest/funniest?

Ben Clemens

3:13

I do, but I can't pick. Everyone's comical nickname is my favorite

I laugh easily, good news!

Giant Gonzales

3:13

On the flip side, even though Downs is not lighting it up at the plate at AAA, he's not going to move Bogaerts off of SS. Do you move him to 2B now and hope that an easier defensive position helps the rest, or do you wait for the bat and then start giving reps at another position?

Ben Clemens

3:13

This is a great question that I don't have a strong answer to

I'd probably move him now, but the Sox haven't, and they've clearly thought about it

3:14

It does increasingly feel like continuing to play the more demanding infield position as long as possible is the best way to make people good defenders

Because you'll shift all around at the big league level anyway

DeGrom

3:14

Is he one of the ultimate underdog stories? 9th Round Draft Pick, TJ survivor, a career Met (thus far)...

Ben Clemens

3:14

For sure!

He didn't really pitch in college

3:15

He's an absolutely great story

I think it gets a little lost in the weeds b/c he's so good you don't really need another story

'jake degrom is great, more at 11' is all you really need when someone is THIS good

but yes, what a tremendous career and against long odds

Mustaches

3:16

Not a good weekend for Canadian big leaguers. That Naylor injury was truly awful. And Soroka.. ugh. Do you think back-to-back achilles tendon tears could be career-threatening?

Ben Clemens

3:16

Sadly, I do

I know Dan is writin about SOroka

I love seeing him pitch, and I'm quite grumpy that I won't get to for a long time now

Ben Clewomans

3:16

I haven’t read your OOTP articles (sorry!) but how do you adjust the settings to make it realistic? I’ve played it on the hardest difficulty but still got some trade offers which would be absolutely laughable IRL. Like some would put the Shelby Miller/Dansby Swanson trade to shame.

Ben Clemens

3:17

Ah, I play in an online league run by Brad Johnson with 30 real owners

I too have found that making your sims realistic is tough

You can do whatever you'd like with the AI, you're just goin to get some easy trades

brad penny for your thoughts

3:17

give us your homerish take, if you were in StL front office right now, would you be leaning towards next year/future or try to make 2021 work?

Ben Clemens

3:17

I'd try to make 2021 work

There's just not much to do in terms of a shallow sell-off

You wouldn't get meaningful value back, imo

3:18

Don't sell the farm, but the NLC is winnable

I'd shuffle deck chairs and hope something works

3:19

You don't always have to take drastic actoin

ihateerichosmer

3:19

since you mentioned pham: what do you think he gets in FA assuming the cba talks don't muddle the offseason? late bloomer but i feel like his skillset should age very well. 3/50 + club/mutual option?

Ben Clemens

3:19

Sadly not, as I don't think teams are paying that kind of money for corner outfielders of his ilk these days

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