JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/17/26

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Ben Clemens

2:23

like, his wRC+ the last three years: 84, 84, 82

over 1000 PA

i don't watch him and go 'well this guy is an obvious star' anymore

2:24

i think i would probably just let him go and be sad it didn't work out. Totally agree with you on being convinced by Benge, that guy is the real deal

Person

2:24

G5 in 2012? man, and I was feeling ok today too

Ben Clemens

2:24

sorry. if it makes you feel any better, my whole family are Nats fans and I basically am unless they're playing the Cardinals. Nats have won the WS more recently than the Cards too

pbenshaw

2:25

Moneyball game broadcast cuts away from the team’s best pitchers and MVP shortstop

Ben Clemens

2:25

Moneyball game just focuses on four players who, in the aggregate, hit like Aaron Judge

Jeremy Fox

2:25

How much of what we see as unpredictable streakiness is due to players dealing with nagging injuries that aren't serious enough to land them on the IL? Thinking for instance of Schwarber's recent cold stretch, which Phillies announcers speculate might be due to a recurrence of the back issue he's dealt with for a while now.

Ben Clemens

2:25

I thikn LOTS

this is one of those things that's basically impossible to prove

2:26

but one thing you'll never convince me is that player true talent is perfectly stationary and hot and cold streaks are just luck. that's nonsense

so players are definitely better or worse at various points in time. sometimes they're 'on', sometimes they're not

and nagging injuries seems like a very likely culprit to me

Jeremy Fox

2:27

The NHL plays one-off games in outdoor stadiums that don't ordinarily host hockey. What stadium that doesn't ordinarily host baseball would you like to see a MLB game played in?

Ben Clemens

2:27

oh, this is a fun one

those hockey games are amazing

maybe the Rose Bowl? If we're limiting it to the US

2:28

if we're not, the actual Coliseum (impossible) or perhaps a new London series in Wembley

aldrinbatistarocks

2:28

Been watching Jordan Hicks and smiling now that he's pretty good again. Any favorite NBA-style straight salary dumps where the bloated contract guy thrives on the new team?

Ben Clemens

2:28

Jordan Hicks being good is so delightful to me. I have seen a LOT of Hicks live, probably the pitcher I've seen most live, and I have also been fooled by him many times in a row, to put it lightly

2:29

I think that Verlander getting traded after passing through waivers, and then turning into a legendary Astro, has to be up there

Robbie Ray returning from years in the wilderness after the salary-dump-swap trade was also fun

nochalkgang

2:30

When taking a player for homeruns does the pull air matter more than the pull%

Ben Clemens

2:30

yeah

pull% is kind of tricky bc rolling over groundres isn't good

and also, groundballs have a higher pull% than fly balls

(witness how defenses line up as proof of this)

so you really want to isolate what you're looking for

D-Wiz

2:30

Video game recommendation for any STEM nerds out there (presumably most of this chat): The Message from Deep Space. It's incredible!

Ben Clemens

2:30

ooh, that's me, that's me!

Swings Low

2:31

Is it just me or does Kyle Tucker look like he cashed in and checked out? How often do guys get their first big pay day and immediately have their worst season on record?

Ben Clemens

2:31

he certainly looks that way, but I think that's pretty unlikely to be what actually happened

maybe he's like, less motivated on the margin?

but the kind of person who excels at baseball is not the kind of person to just give up

or like, completely slack off

I can imagine the hunger not being there to the same degree. but it's not like 'oh I checked out'

2:32

it's like 'that extra 1.5% is a little tougher to squeeze out'

i still think he's gonna be perfectly reasonable in the end

Sonny L

2:32