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Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 6/7/22

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RTJ

2:48

Which team should most take a chance on Trevor Rosenthal ? Red Sox bullpen is in disarray and they technically are in a wild card spot (which is a whole other thing).

Ben Clemens

2:49

Sure, the Red Sox might as well try. I'm rooting for him to be good again, thought he was very underappreciated in St. Louis

Deathclaw

2:49

I'm an A's fan living in the Midwest. I go on a trip to the Bay area and attend a game once or twice a year but this season I decided to go see a Rodon and Musgrove showdown at Oracle Park. I felt a little bad abandoning my boys on my trip out there but they are making it tough to want to follow them closely right now. What is there to look forward to right now? Certainly not the impending trade of my favorite pitcher, Frankie.

Ben Clemens

2:50

Yeah, it's a very depressing time to root for the A's. My bay area A's fan friends have just focused on the minors but that's not exactly a strength at the moment. I guess you can root for Sean Murphy, Pache (he's worth watching for defense alone), and the eventual arrival of Nick Allen?

Yeah it sucks. Glad you got to see an excellent pitching matchup instead

2:51

I went to that game, by the way! I really enjoyed it, pitching duel without being a grind

Greg

2:52

Oh of course, I don't know how I forgot about the Johnson/Schilling DBacks

Trivia

2:52

It might be because it's easier to win a Cy on a bad team. A few times it's happened the year AFTER (Randy 2000, Lincecum 09, Arrieta 2015).

Jeff S.

2:52

Are the mariners finally turning it around? They've won 3 straight series, offense is above average and their starters have been... better, even with Ray struggling mightily.

Ben Clemens

2:54

I think so. Helps that the Angels have come crashing back to earth

Fecal Sculptor

2:54

Why is "flied out" the proper past tense for the verb "fly out" instead of "flew out"?

Ben Clemens

2:54

Ooh, this is gonna bother me now. I have no idea

Steven

2:54

I'm sure it's been asked before, but do you think Buehler is just bad now? I try to be rational/optimistic but I'm terrified every start he makes now. Looking at his stats it really just seems like the four seamer that's getting consistently hammered, but he hasn't eliminated the pitch from his repertoire so is that just a non-option? As for Muncy, he's definitely still injured and went on the IL/is doing rehab starts. I'm not concerned about him moving forward until he puts up bad numbers while healthy.

Ben Clemens

2:55

I'm worried about Buehler, and I have been for most of this year. I think his fastball is just not getting the shape and command that it used to. I agree with you that it really does seem to be just a four-seamer problem, but that used to be a really big part of his game, so it's a tough thing to just trim back. I think the solution is just that he needs to pitch through it and rediscover his best fastball

2:56

That's a very unsatisfying solution, I know. And it's not like he's been terrible. But I think that it's getting hard to watch him pitch and think 'yeah that's a dominant starter', and it's b/c of the fastball

Deathclaw

2:56

How are you feeling about Flaherty making it through the SLAP tear and bursitis in the short and long-term?

Colton

2:56

What are you expecting from Flaherty when he finally returns for the Cardinals? I'm skeptical of him but know what he has been in the past being from St. Louis and there's always someone here who thinks he's still the ace he was at the end of '19.

Ben Clemens

2:57

Popular question today, I just grabbed two of them as a representative sample

2:59

My expectations are that he'll be a top-shelf starter. I don't think he's an ace or anything, but I think he's probably the Cardinals starter I'd most want on the mound if he's back and not rusty; kind of a co-#1 with Mikolas and Wainwright. I agree with you that he's not the 0 ERA 2019 hero, but I love his slider and ihs ability to mix sliders and fastballs to good effect

Piso Mojado

2:59

The Bismarck/Pierre comment right into a Dakota Hudson question was intentional, right?

Ben Clemens

2:59

I'll never tell

Ugh

2:59

I wish I never had the "Flied out" vs. "Flew out" vs "Fly out" in my head

Ben Clemens

2:59

I'm sorry. For what it's worth, I'm in the same boat

RTJ

3:00

I actually was at the Angels v Sox game last night. 2.5 hour pitching showcase and some great defense from Trout and JBJ in center. Something is different about watching elite defense in person vs on TV

Ben Clemens

3:00

100% true. It's fun to watch web gem replays but I think that speed is just more impressive in person. It's the same reason hockey is so mind-blowing in person; you see those guys skate and you just thikn 'wait people this big can't move this fast'

3:01

A great outfielder running down a ball in the gap is wildly impressive, and more so when you see that space getting eaten up with your eyes rather than from the forced perspective of the TV camera

Guest

3:01

The Mets have 5 off days between now and the end of the month. Seems like a lot. Good or bad?

Ben Clemens

3:01

Definitely good. Using your worst starters less often matters more when your best starters are on the shelf and you're in injury-replacement mode

3:02

Every schedule has a period with more off days; this is the best time for hte Mets to be hitting that patch

I'm going to answer exactly five more questions and then go make some lunch, starting with:

Max H

3:02

True or false: Votto finishes the season in Cincinnati?

Ben Clemens

3:03

I've gone back and forth on this one. I'm gonna say True in the end; I think this comes down to what Votto wants to do, and while I think he'd enjoy playing in Toronto, I don't know what's in his mind and he seems to me like the kind of person who values history

That leans, in my head, towards him playing out the rest of hte year with the Reds and having a tear-jerker of a farewell

Dan

3:03

What do you make of Albies' struggles this year, and do you view his ceiling any differently than you did upon his arrival in ATL? Do you think there's any chance the Braves ask him to follow the Cedric Mullins path and give up switch-hitting? 140 career wRC+ from R side, 93 wRC+ from the L side.

Ben Clemens

3:05

I do think he should consider it, but I odn't think it's obviously the case that he should do it. His numbers are definitely better form the right side, but a lot of that is BABIP, and he doesn't have a huge sample of righty batting

He's basically played one season's worth of PA's (693) from that side of the plate

3:06

And has a .344 BABIP there. I thikn it's fair to say he's a better natural righty hitter -- he's right-handed, etc. -- but a lot of his peripherals look the same right vs left

Matt

3:06

Any comments on if the Phillies feel like a rejuvenated team after firing Girardi, or did they just luck into facing the Angels at a low point?

Ben Clemens

3:07

Yeah, I'd say the second. I do think that firing Girardi was a useful reset button for the clubhouse, though. You might not think managers have a ton to say about team success -- I'm in that camp at times -- but having a new boss and changing the vibe at work has definitely helped ME perform at a higher level in the past, so why wouldn't it for major leaguers?

Guest

3:08

It seems like an unusual number of the hitter signed to big contracts have been bad this year. Freeman, Taylor and Correa are the only ones putting up good numbers. What's up with that?

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