JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 6/7/22

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Dan

2:34

I thought the Yankees rotation would be top three this year and I still badly underestimated how good most of their starters would be.

Ben Clemens

2:34

They have been SO good

Babe Lincoln

2:34

Which positional adjustment do you think needs revision, and in which direction?

Ben Clemens

2:35

Oooh! I'm trying to figure out this very question at the moment

2:36

I'm struggling with OF/IF equivalencies, but generally speaking, I'd say my conclusions so far are: the OF positions should be a little closer given the relative populations of each these days, and I'm skeptical that DH should be so penalizing

Fun fact: it's really hard to figure out what the DH adjustment should be (I'm not actually sure if that's a fun fact)

TStats

2:36

Ive got a good feeling about Q today, am I insane

Ben Clemens

2:36

Nah, I think he's actually good

2:36

Thoughts on Christopher Morel? Plate discipline certainly seems better than advertised.

Ben Clemens

2:37

I'd buy somewhere between high-end utility guy and average regular, which is more than I expected when he came up. 'Guy you didn't expect to be good mashes for rebuliding team' is consistently a fun story, I can't help but rooting for him

Appa Yip Yip

2:37

So MLB changed the ball in mid May, yeah? Why do they keep trying to mess with things on the sly when it's so easily apparent that they do.

Ben Clemens

2:37

I'm actually skeptical that they changed the ball, but look, the evidence isn't great and they don't have a ton of credibility. The whole humidor thing has just been embarrassing

Taillon

2:38

I know Cortes is quite a story, but I'm most impressed by Taillon. Also anyone notice Cole is not a bad pitcher? He is not a bad pitcher.

Ben Clemens

2:39

Taillon is a guy I'm always rooting for, in the same way that I'm rooting for Daniel Hudson, was rooting for Jonny Venters, etc.... these pitchers who were off the field for forever for various health and injury reasons

The most impressive part of the Yankees' rotation has been making people forget that Gerrit Cole is having an excellent season, perhaps one of his best seasons

Jacob

2:40

Is Tarik Skubal a top 5 CY finisher this year? Will any of the Tigers other opening day starting pitchers be healthy again?

Ben Clemens

2:41

I'm skeptical of a top 5 finish, but I'm just a skeptical person by nature. If we voted right now, I think he'd comfortably be top 5

Cortez tha Killah

2:41

Will we be able to think of Hunter Greene as an ace by season's end?

Ben Clemens

2:42

I'm down on Greene, but oooooooh yesterday's start has me reconsidering

OR well, not just yesterday's start, and by 'down on Greene' I mean I think he might need a few more years to click

Dan

2:42

Who is the best primary left fielder in baseball?

Ben Clemens

2:43

I'm considering 'primary left fielder' as a player who starts more than half their games in left. That disqualifies Yordan Alvarez, who would otherwise run away with this. With that said, I'm gonna say Mark Canha.

2:44

It's not exactly a deep position at the moment

Trivia

2:44

What was the last WS winner to feature the (eventual) Cy Young winner from their league? It's rarer than one might think. (And of course the answer would be Verlander 19 had they finished that one)

Ben Clemens

2:44

Love this as a trivia question, I'm gonna start thinking about it right now, apologies while I don' answer questions for a few minutes

Yeah, honestly, I've got nothing

Guest

2:44

Do you see any chance of a Tyler O'Neil or Joey Gallo bounce back?

Ben Clemens

2:45

0% chance, both teams should release them

(no, I definitely do, this is not how baseball works)

los

2:45

Rodon has a 2.50 FIP. His ERA is almost a run higher but that’s still excellent, I do not get why he was included on the list of bad SP signings

Ben Clemens

2:45

He was listed as one of the few who has panned out

Zach

2:45

Do we talk enough about how good and fun Julio Rodriguez is? What this question presupposes is: what if we don't?

Ben Clemens

2:46

We don't just yet, but I think that has something to do with Seattle's slow start. He's super fun, super young, and super good

Nic Stone

2:46

Thoughts on the Miguel Andujar situation? Seems like he should be playing in Majors, but the Yanks seem unwilling to start him over Gallo or hicks. Should they?

Ben Clemens

2:46

Yeah.... I'm skeptical that he's a slam dunk major leauger. Not that stats are everything, and it's a small sample, but in the last THREE YEARS he's hitting .253/.281/.366 for a 77 wRC+

2:47

and playing butcherous defense

Now, if you want to argue that the Yankees have mismanaged his playing time, and that he'd be better with everyday reps, I'd completely believe that. But that's more second-division starter than playing in the majors, at least until he proves he can do a little more than that

Trivia

2:47

(It's Randy Johnson 2001)

2:48

(I thought of that question a few months back when I realized MVP + ring is a lot more common - Betts, Altuve, Bryant recently)

Ben Clemens

2:48

Yeah, that's shocking to me

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