JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/18/25

Ben Clemens

2:00

Hey everybody, let's get chatting

Bazooka Joseph

2:00

Do you think their great framing grades mean that Patrick Bailey and Austin Wells should be everyday catchers despite the woeful offense they provide?

Ben Clemens

2:01

I do, though I'm more confident about Bailey's defense than Wells' because he's done it for longer and it's more standout.

I think both are better hitters than their 2025 performance, too; like last year we were talking about Wells for his bat as much as his glove

2:02

the big thing is that sure, if these teams had Cal Raleigh, Bailey and Wells wouldn't deserve the job

2:03

like plenty of teams start guys who are bad at hitting and okay at fielding. I'd rather start the guy who's great at fielding in the toughest position there is, and hope they can become an okay hitter

not sure if that's right but I'd definitely give them everyday PT if I had them on my team and didn't have an elite option

Oaktown Blues

2:04

Was the real prize of the Springs/Boyle trade actually Jacob Lopez?

Ben Clemens

2:04

sure looks that way, right?

look for FG content on him coming this week

RAGBRAI

2:04

Does Gallen get a QO? Does he take it? What would he get on the open market?

Ben Clemens

2:04

I'm guessing he will get a QO and decline it, but I'm more confident about 'get a QO' than 'decline it'

the DBacks should absolutely give him one. they'd probably happily bring him back for a year at the QO anyway

Guest

2:05

The fangraphs 20th had me remembering past versions of the site, and I am remembering right that Jeff Sullivan for a time was churning out two articles PER DAY? I haven't been able to find an easy answer to this from searching, but I guess my question is, am I remembering this wrong? And if not, uhhh what? How?

Ben Clemens

2:05

I don't think it was ever like 10 a week consistently, but yeah

I didn't overlap with Jeff, which was great because it means I worked a desk job and read blogs by him all day instead

Talfred

2:05

Many Red Sox fans think Yoshida's a good player, but a bad fit for their roster. I think he's a bad fit for anyone's roster; a 32-year old slap hitting DH with a career 111 wRC+ is hard to roster in the current environment of short benches. Also, I think Fenway is probably as good a park for him as you can find, so I don't know that anyone else values him much at all. Do you agree?

Ben Clemens

2:05

I'm a lot closer to your view, let's just say

2:06

it's not like he's completely unplayable, clearly a major league caliber hitter, nice second-division regular in my eyes

but like.... you can't have a nice second-division regular playing DH for a team taht has serious playoff aspirations

he's a very weird player to contort your roster around

2:07

this David Laurila note in yesterday's sunday notes should rankle Sox fans:

Through July 11, Rafaela had played all but one of his 90 games in center field and boasted a 114 wRC+ and 3.0 WAR. Since July 12, Rafaela has had little stability, starting 15 games in center and 13 games at second base. Moreover, he’s had a 44 wRC+ and 0.0 WAR.

2:08

I understand that there's plenty about their roster that requires weird contortions, but part of it is to play Yoshida, and yeah, I just don't quite understand that, he's not one of the team's best hitters or anything

Ben from DC

2:08

Too early for any takeaways from Cavalli's encouraging recent starts? Seems like a different pitcher than the one that was struggling in the minors the past few months.

Guest

2:08

Is Cade Cavalli as good as he looks?

Ben Clemens

2:09

I need to watch some complete Cavalli starts before coming to a conclusion for sure

and yes, 'seems like a different pitcher' is a GREAT description

but that's probably right. he's coming back from injury, he threw 8 innings combined in 23 and 24

2:10

I don't think he's this good, just because I'm a reasonable person and betting on a guy with a 2.20 ERA to continue being that good is silly

but I'm not going to write him off for some minor league numbers racked up while trying to get used to pitching again

2:11

stuff looks good, too soon to say if it's the same old cavalli (too many walks, can't quite put it all together) or he's leveled up

but I think you can take 'never recovers from injury' off the table now

Ace

2:11

Seriously, what the hell is going on with the Giants and the Giants offense? Is there some sort of psychological factor at Oracle that just destroys all hope in some Sisspheyisan Metaphor? Talent wise, they shouldn't be THIS bad

Jung Hoo Lee Enjoyer

2:11

Why have the Giants forgotten how to win over these last few weeks? Can’t imagine nothing happening as a result of this stretch of play

Ben Clemens

2:12

I mean... the Dodgers went 3-15 in an 18-game stretch this year

the bigger issue is that the Giants offense has been very bad all year

I'm not sure what will change. surely something will, if just to shake things up

2:13

the lineup really does not have enough length, though, that's clear. year one of Posey in charge did a decent job of addressing this in that two of the team's best hitters (Devers, Adames) are new

but they need more

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