JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 7/1/24

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Princess Leia

2:12

Help us Obi-Wan Clemonobi, you're our only hope!

Start Bregman or Big Royce Lewis in a H2H points this week?

And is it time to cut Carroll for Wyatt Langford in the same league?

Ben Clemens

2:12

I could not cut Carroll, but I'd strat Royce I think

Vladdy G

2:12

Vladdy cut his hair on June 19 and is slashing 409/435/932 with 6 HR and a wRC+ of 282 since then. If he shaved his head completely, what would those numbers look like?

Ben Clemens

2:12

I'm guessing... 282 wRC+

2:13

Vladdy Samson is a fun story, though

I'm rooting for it to keep going

Datt Mamon

2:13

Heliot Ramos - real, sustainable, etc.?

Ben Clemens

2:13

I wrote about him last week (I think? maybe two weeks ago)

2:14

Essentially I think that it's on the whole real, I think he's made some meaningful adjustments since his prospect star faded

I do think that he's going to go through some growing pains, though, b/c essentially he's worked out a good adjustment that is getting him ahead in counts

but pitchers will probably throw something new at him

DBRuns

2:14

Cleveland's catchers rank 2nd in MLB in WAR (big surprise, to me). Is that a result of counting all 211 of David Fry's PAs towards catcher WAR? Or are only those PA/innings behind the plate counted?

Ben Clemens

2:14

okay so, I don't see that?

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?lg=all&qual=0&season=20...

here's our leaderboard with positional split 'as C'

2:15

it has cleveland 10th, with 57 PA and 1 WAR from Fry there

ah yeah, use 'positional split' and not 'primary position'

if you want to only count when they're at the spot

2:16

we have both so that you don't have to do dumb things like look at the list of catcher WAR and have adley missing b/c he DH's

but I like using positional split when I'm looking at teams

Broken Bat

2:16

It sure does get messy when your team underperforms for a few straight years… So the current major underachievers seem to be the Jays and Cubs. They both have their GM’s in place for several years, and Both teams have had some injuries but IMO the root chase of continuous frustration is roster construction. I imagine both GM’s feel the heat. They are between a rock and a hard place. How do either or both of them salvage anything by staying the course and not trading for prospects or trading for the prospects. It almost seems like both of them regardless are dead men walking. Winning, is that the only thing that will,keep,Atkins or Hoyer employable as GM?

Ben Clemens

2:16

employable as a GM? I don't really think so

2:17

people seem to be more re-employable than I'd expect

that said, I think that only winning can fix both of these situations. if the Cubs lurch back into a rebuild, why would you keep Hoyer? And the Jays put together this grand decade-long plan and well, if it doesn't bear fruit, maybe someone new should take the helm

Ben

2:18

Are there any realistic buyers for Lane Thomas?

Ben Clemens

2:18

i think so, but I think the market is gonna be pretty soft

I'm avoiding specific trade proposals in today's chat, b/c we're gonna do enough of those as we get later into July

but I think that Thomas has just gotten too close to the end of team control to be a huge trade piece

2:19

and he's playing almost exclusively in the corner, now, so there are a lot of those types with better bats available

War2D2

2:19

The Cubs seem to just be a bad team at this point. What would you do if you were in their shoes? They have a deep farm system with a lot of 45FVs, but not a lot of 55FVs. Would you empty some of it out for a Mason Miller/Robert Jr./etc "big" move, or dump guys like Cody Bellinger and other short-term assets for...more 45FV guys? I guess? Seems like they're both in a decent position, and also not one to easily move out of.

Ben Clemens

2:19

I think I'd just stay the course, to be honest

I don't really think that making a big move makes sense, although I suppose Robert could change my mind on that

2:20

I think that one thing that teams who haven't put it all together yet under-appreciate is that having a big mass of good but not great prospects increases the chances of a breakout somewhere

if they fall completely out of the race, sure trade rentals for some prospects that are'nt on the 40

2:21

but eh, I actually like the overall construction of the Cubs org

War2D2

2:21

re: Statcast for oldy-old times, I'd want Statcast on historic fireballers like Bob Feller and Nolan Ryan. Joe Posnanski made bold claims in his "Baseball 100" that he thought Satchel Paige was throwing 100+, and I'm guessing it's more like the league was throwing 80 and he was throwing 90 and it looked like 100.

Ben Clemens

2:21

yeah! I was thinking more people within my lifetime

Rickey Henderson sprint speed

Babe Ruth exit velo, the break on Candy Cummings, the inventor of the curveball

wheelhouse

2:21

how much longer do i have to watch anthony volpe, leadoff hitter? and whose job was it to hear him say "I'm gonna flatten my swing to hit the ball on the ground more" and not strap him to the Clockwork Orange rig with videos of Alex Bregman until he recants?

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