JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 6/29/26

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Ben Clemens

2:38

concur

cfhennessy

2:38

You speculated a couple weeks ago that the mariners could trade a pitcher at the deadline and that makes a lot of sense given the returns pitchers have gotten and how ready Kade Anderson looks - but - which pitcher do you trade if you’re them? And where do you try to upgrade? Their weakest starting players have been Naylor, Emerson, and Raleigh, which creates a bit of a conundrum it seems

dirtypuer

2:38

Follow up on teams targetting pitching: Should the Mariners be offloading an arm at the deadline? I know rotation problems usually solve themselves via injury but at some point with 6 guys and multiple promising arms in the minors surely you seek a bat right?

Ben Clemens

2:39

yes. We talked about this a few weeks ago. I think that Miller and Gilbert are probably the likeliest guys to move but honestly, that's on little info, just gut feeling. And I really do think they should be investigating a trade like that given how many teams need pitching

Alex Remington

2:39

Who would you take over the next five years: Riley or Raleigh?

Ben Clemens

2:39

Raleigh. I like his floor much more

glenb0828

2:39

Which one of these current prospects might make it up this year? Made, De Vries, F. Arias, K. Anderson, M. Clark? Thanks!

Ben Clemens

2:39

Anderson is the most likely for me. Not that the other guys don't have good arguments in some cases, but have you seen his numbers in Double-A?

2:40

It's ludicrous. He has a 1.22 ERA and the peripherals to match. He's striking out 40% of opponents and walking 4%

2:41

He's only in the minors because his team has the deepest set of starters in baseball. And even then, he's probalby better than some of those guys right now. If nothing else he'd be a hilariously good multi inning relief option. I just don't see 2026 ending iwthout him getting big league playing time

Alexander

2:41

What about Jackson Holidays profile did a lot of scouting evals miss? I understand he's a fine player but the hype was very high for him

Ben Clemens

2:41

Eric might be a better person to ask about this, but for me (an early Holliday skeptic, I think it's fair to say), I was just not convinced that his minor league numbers were indicative of a profile that would work well int he majors

2:42

it was a lot of walk rate-juiced production, and too many strikeouts for how much power there was. like, the wRC+'s were really good, but his best skills werne't the kinds of skills that best predict future success

I was less 'down' on him than 'less up than the industry consensus', though

I don't think I quite predicted this path

seattlefan68

2:42

Is there a more frustrating manager mistake than poor bullpen manager? Writing in after Michael Rucker and Josh Simpson got high leverage innings to lose the Mariners the game in the eighth

Ben Clemens

2:43

'bad pinch hitter deployer' is right up there. but yes, giving the bad guys high leverage innings raises my blood pressure like nothing else

Cheeknbut

2:43

What’s for lunch in SF ?

Ben Clemens

2:43

great question. I was out of town this weekend, got back last night, and we had delivery that doesn't have leftovers. So, maybe a sandwich from somewhere nearby, I am not in a cooking lunch mood today

David P

2:43

Just catching up and saw the 'slang' question earlier -- not the quite the same thing, but there used to be a Padres fan who would hang "Qs" by their seat for every '

quick (3 pitches or less) out the padres got, which I really liked

Ben Clemens

2:44

oh, I like this

bosoxforlife

2:44

Seattlefan, I would like you to know that I saw the same thing and wondered how that was allowed to occur.

When Crochet returns, and Gray is traded, a virtual lock, the Red Sox will have a rotation of five left-handers. I can't imagine that this has ever been seen before in the glorious history of this great game.

Ben Clemens

2:44

that's going to be fascinating

yeah, I am almost certain it's never happened because we would hear about it a lot if so

Phillip Denny

2:44

River Ryan is down with an injury again, a hammy this time. Between the injuries, the obscene Dodgers SP depth, and Katie Woo's recent article where Andrew Friedman stated in no uncertain terms that Ryan will stay in the minors until he puts together a long string of 5+ IP, starts, dude is just going to languish in AAA all year isn't he?

Ben Clemens

2:45

probably. The depth plus the injury issues are just making the path of least resistance very clear

Jeremy Fox

2:45

In light of the Nats' three straight bullpen meltdowns against the Phillies last week, should they shuffle the deck chairs? Is there an argument for sending some guys down and bringing other ones up just for the sake of being seen to do *something*?

Ben Clemens

2:45

yes, I'd say.

doing things just to do them isn't necessarily a good way to live, but sometimes you have to maek a change just to show the team that you are making a change

like, if I'm a hitter on the Nats, I want to know that hte team is trying to fix pitching

2:46

not just my teammates -- that's easy enough to see in the weight room, talking to the guys on flights, etc. but seeing that the front office and coaching staff are racking their brains for solutions too is motivating

and them just leaving everything the same is demotivating

so yeah, try to do something!

Phillip Denny

2:46

Where are you at on the never ending former hitter debate about pulled air % that Eric Chavez recently weighed in on? Like on one hand I get it, trying to turn a contact hitter into a slugger may hurt their development, but on the other hand, the math don't lie.

Ben Clemens

2:46

I think that nuance is necessary to have a good discussion about this, but also nuance is impossible in on-air debates for soundbites

2:47

it's clearly wrong for every hitter to try this

or at least, it won't work for many hitters

and yet, there are many hitters who would be well served to find slightly different approaches, probably with more power as the goal

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