JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/2/21

Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page

ROGELIO

2:50

Hey Jed Hoyer, the Brewers "bad offense" has scored 479 runs (13th) so far this year & posted 14.5 WAR (11th) compared to 451 runs (19th) & 9.6 WAR (21st) for what was a much more expensive Cubs position player group. Since the Adames trade that Brewers offense is 3rd in runs scored & 5th in WAR. Nice try though.

Ben Clemens

2:50

Haha yes, the Cubs offense has been terrible too

I still don't think the Brewers offense is any great shakes, but boy, Chicago really fell apart this year

Multiphasic

2:51

The Giants weren't even linked to a starter last week. I didn't expect them to be in on Scherzer but seeing Heaney go east for peanuts... I mean, I've been saying, "Alex Wood? Isn't he on the DL?" every six days since mid-May.

Ben Clemens

2:51

(here's the part I forgot to post earlier)

I like Heaney a lot, agree that the Giants could hvae been in on him. They seem happy with their pitching, though -- they weren't linked to anyone, like you said

Wireless Joe Jackson

2:51

RE: Glasnow: The Twins have almost no pitching now, and recently signed a 2 year deal with hurt Pineda. How about them?

Ben Clemens

2:52

I could totally see that. I'm actually somewhat surprised that possibility didn't come up in the Cruz trade, though I guess Glasnow's health was less of a known thing then

Appa Yip Yip

2:52

The Twins are still like 2nd in mlb in home runs what a weird bad season for them.

Ben Clemens

2:53

One of the strangest seasons of recent memory. They just fell and kept falling

Jose Ramirez

2:53

Should the Guardians have considered trading me for premium prospects a la the Nats/Dodgers Scherzer/Turner trade?

Ben Clemens

2:55

It's really not their style... they've been trading for quantity over quality in recent years, and not really giving up controllable hitters. I think that they're also in a bit of a bind... if they go full sell-off, their fans are not going to be so anxious to pick up a new name and new-feeling bad team

It's like how teams try to compete when they open a new stadium, kind of

If you're the low-budget team, being the bad low-budget team who just changed names doesn't sound great

Todd

2:55

Looking to ‘22 for LAA: seems like they could use a strong veteran righty DH/maybe 1B. Would an Albert Pujols make sense at 3 yrs, $75m?

Ben Clemens

2:56

Maybe 2/50

and a personal services contract

Todd

2:56

There’s no such team as the guardians as of right now ***ducks***

Ben Clemens

2:56

Unlike them, we don't have a bunch of merchandise in the warehouse to sell

Nick

2:57

After ignoring SS during the off-season, the Reds stayed true to themselves and ignored SS during the trade deadline. Do you they do the same thing this next off-season? Who plays SS for them in 2022?

Ben Clemens

2:57

Barrero!

I mean, I hope, at least

Erik

2:57

Baez, Bryant, and Rizzo have gotten some press for each homering in his first start with his new team, but don't forget that Joc Pederson also homered in his first start with Atlanta. The pressure is now on Kyle Schwarber to maintain form in his first start with Boston--think he can do so? (Incidentally, Jake Marisnick apparently missed the memo distributed to all other Cubs position players traded at the deadline.)

Ben Clemens

2:57

I think it was starters only

Todd

2:57

Did last years lack of a MILB season create more of a 40-man crunch, rendering the R5 Draft more consequential this year (ie more talent)?

Ben Clemens

2:58

Yes, for sure

John

2:58

I understand why people think the Rockies *should* have traded Trevor Story and Jon Gray. But I don't understand why people either inside or outside the industry thought the Rockies *would* trade either one. The organization's track record is well established and well known to all.

Ben Clemens

2:58

Yeah, I thought about leaving them out of the article for that reason

2:59

But just because you expect a train wreck doesn't mean the train didn't wreck

Tacoby Bellsbury

2:59

If the Rockies were a board game, what board game would they be and why?

Ben Clemens

3:00

I'm gonna go with Robo Rally

You have to race robots using programs that you input via cards you draft

But you can never get the right cards at hte right time, so you have to take suboptimal moves

Your robot ends up doing stupid stuff, and you resign yourself to it before starting

Steve Biko

3:00

Have you ever tested Out of the Park Baseball? Thoughts?

Ben Clemens

3:00

I love OOTP

Can't recommend it highly enough

3:01

The historical simulations are great, the building a dynasty and crushing the league in the future is great, and Perfect Team has been an INSANE time sink for me this year b/c it's so fun

Logan

3:01

Where do you think Kumar Rocker plays in 2022? Any chance he joins Carter Stewart (a fellow Boras client) in Japan?

Ben Clemens

3:01

I haven't given it a ton of thought. I guess so?

Connecting…