JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/21/2023

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/21/2023

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Ben Clemens

2:35

And really understands the macro picture well

2:36

He knows when he needs to add outside talent, knows when he needs to give up, that kind of stuff

I have not been impressed with the Nats' internal development, either of hitters or pitchers

so I think there's room for improvement on the scouting end

But he's definitely quite sharp at the big picture stuff and that's really important, I think a lot of GM's mess that stuff up

Matt Damon

2:36

MATT. DAMON.

J

2:37

Any idea if pitcher stuff metrics or pitch movement profiles account for when a pitcher has multiple variations on a pitch? Thinking of pitchers having a sweeping and more traditional slider, or of Kyle Hendricks having a cutting and tailing changeup. Feels like these are likely wildly off if they're not explicitly accounted for, because the two movement profiles will average out to terrible.

Ben Clemens

2:37

Yeah that's what I was talking about with separate labeling earlier

They just rely on whichever labeling system they use, I know PitchingBot uses Statcast

v2micca

2:37

So, this past week I believe, the film Oppenheimer has the distinction of becoming the most commercially successful film of all time without ever spending a single week as number 1 at the box office. In that vein, I propose referring to hall of fame greats like Mike Mussina who always seemed to be overshadowed by someone in a given season as Oppenheimers.

Ben Clemens

2:37

Love this

tongue

1

Also, I loved Oppenheimer

D

2:37

Will you expand a bit on your thoughts about the Brewers dealing Urias? To paraphrase, you wrote that it was a wise move for them to save money (~$1 million) on a guy who they would likely nontender and to acquire a pitcher who was extremely hot recently. Urias's recent heroics aside, shouldn't the Brewers have been willing to shell out $1 million to sure up their 2b/3b situation?

Ben Clemens

2:38

I mean.... I would have been, but I don't run the budget that the Brewers do

It seemed pretty clear to me that they were not considering him as a major league option this year

You don't option a guy making $5 million to the minors if you want to use him as a depth piece

2:39

And he wasn't even hitting well in Triple-A

So if he's going to be in your minors, and they already preferred Monasterio et al over him, I don't know what value they were getting out of keeping him around

John

2:40

What value does Maldonado add to the Astros at this point? Just veteran leadership? he still can't hit and his defensive metrics are awful this year.

Ben Clemens

2:40

Yeah, I truly don't get it

I would have cut bait

2:41

They just love him

Guest

2:41

If Mookie Betts were converted to a full-time shortstop, where would he rank on your list of the best?

Ben Clemens

2:41

First

Jadon

2:41

This is more of a personal question for you Ben. Do you have a favorite baseball youtuber/content creator?

Ben Clemens

2:41

I'll be honest, I don't consume a lot of baseball content

I do a lot of baseball stuff myself, you know?

I watch hours of games a day and also spend hours writing and thinking about it, I'm kind of maxed out on my baseball

that said: Effectively Wild and Foolish are two that I check out

Didace

2:42

Swing decisions should be split into two categories - <2 strikes and two strikes. With less than two strikes it does no good to swing at a pitch you can't do much with just because it's a strike. If you can't hit a back-door curve that's in the upper corner, why swing if you don't need to.

Ben Clemens

2:42

Totally. I stripped out the two strike stuff in looking at it, but splitting them out makes sense too

Sandwich

2:42

Is baseball the most ownership dependent sport in North America? It feels like it should due to the lack of salary cap and long timelines between acquisition from non-professional ranks into the major league, but at the same time there are teams in Football/Hockey that seem to be stuck in a nearly endless loop of sucking

Ben Clemens

2:42

I think the fact that teams in salary cap sports are stuck in perpetual tanking loops says a lot about how much ownership and front office leadership matter

if you can't get that stuff together, the money is just not going to fix it

Vlad's Dad

2:43

Maybe more up Jay's alley, but wondering what odds you'd put on a HOF career out of Pete Alonso?

Obviously got a late start but already looking like he should put up a big HR total and has some great early seasons under his belt.

Ben Clemens

2:44

65%? I think that he'll make it if he continues at this pace for sure despite the late start

Ed Luvah

2:44

Has Mitch Garver done enough to warrant a 3-4 year deal? 3/30?

Ben Clemens

2:44

mmmmm

I mean, I would not offer him that!

that doesn't mean no one else will

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