JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/17/20

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/17/20

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Ben Clemens

2:42

He never had a great approach, but he was just athletic enough that you kind of hoped it still worked

It, uh, it hasn't quite yet

2:43

It's too early to say anything has changed

the second half of 2019 was all pretty good, for example

But it's very frustrating that the stuff he isn't improving at is so easy to see

Verdugo

2:43

Bradley is gone, Who knows what happens to Benny, Devers has been awful.. Am I the future of Bean Town?

Ben Clemens

2:43

Haha nah man, it's Devers

People can be terrible and still have a great outlook

2:44

Verdugo is a nice player, but the future is definitely still Devers/Bogaerts there as far as I'm concerned

Jorge Mateo

2:44

You mean I won't get a real shot with Pham out?

Ben Clemens

2:45

I'm skeptical but hey, he already has 8 PA!

If Almonte is bad and they aren't ready to call Trammell up, why not?

2-D

2:45

I'm re-evaluating the Rockies. 29th best at striking hitters out, have the second lowest HR/FB%, and Daniel Bard is their best bullpen option. The good times won't last.

Ben Clemens

2:45

It doesn't feel great

2:46

I think they're still above 50% to make the playoffs, but the easy schedule at the start and hard schedule thereafter is a recpie for this feeling

They still have a lot of clashes with the Dodgers and yikes

Factory of Sadness

2:46

Home teams are almost exactly .500 so far this season without crowds (not that HFA was huge beforehand), so the playoff round of 16 is going to be a crapshoot. Are you looking forward to the first 27-29 World Series champion, and who has a plausible chance of doing it among the .500-ish logjam?

Ben Clemens

2:46

I was actually doing some digging into HFA right before this chat started

2:47

Expect something on it toward the end of the week

Suffice it to say it's still there this year

But that yeah, it's not gonna matter much in a three-game series

Not that it ever really has in a series that short

Jonesy

2:48

How for real is Ian Happ's breakout? Obviously he won't sustain this, but 120 wRC+ going forward maybe?

Ben Clemens

2:48

I'm very confused about what's going on with Happ

2:49

If he were walking a Happ-y amount of the time, this would just look like a normal hot streak

Instead of 'hey has he changed something?'

But basically he's swinging less and pitchers still think he's crazy free swinging Happ from last year

2:50

He has one of the lowest zone rates in baseball according to our stats

And is only swinging 35% of the time

It's a great combination

I want to see what happens when pitchers start attacking him, but I'm cautiously optimistic

Joshua

2:50

Best batting stance ever is........?

Ben Clemens

2:50

It's Gary Sheffield

I don't think it's particularly close

Dominic Smith

2:51

How long do i have to keep hitting before I'm the starting 1b? Alonso is a perfect DH in a world without Cano

Ben Clemens

2:51

The Mets kind of leaned into it, or at least foreshadowed that they would, for a few games last week

And I was extremely into it

I don't know why they didn't follow through. Alonso really IS sketchy on defense

GSon

2:51

A Padre's deal appear to have two items to consider. 1.) An SP that improves/lenghtens their staff is more critical than any other acquisition and 2.) an OF'er, preferably a LHH. How about a trade of Clevinger & Naquin to the padres for Campusano, Cole Wilcox and Jeisson Rosario?

Ben Clemens

2:52

Aside from having to look up Jeisson Rosario, I was immediately intrigued by this deal

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