JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/24/20

Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page

Ben Clemens

2:39

My pick: Clank Legacy

2:40

It's really exciting and fast-paced, and it feels dynamic -- it's theoretically a deck-building game, but it feels like every turn is really important and there's a big press-your-luck feel

It's new and hyped

Won a ton of Game of the Year awards

2:41

And it has good bloodlines; Clank is a hit and the Penny Arcade brand name that they added for the legacy version is huge

Padres Fan

2:41

How excited should I let myself be about the future of Jake Cronenworth?

Ben Clemens

2:41

Oh, very excited!

Eric wrote about him today:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/prospect-roundup-cronenworth-mckenzie-skub...

2:42

And honestly, he probably should have been more of a name prospect already

2:43

When I evaluated the Pham/Renfroe trade in the offseason (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/rays-padres-act-to-type-in-tommy-pham-trad...) I was very confused why Cronenworth wasn't more highly regarded

I thought he was probably major league ready, and it looks like that's the case

Don't expect him to keep hitting like this, but just a liiiiiittle bit of power plus a good batting eye is a good combination

Jimbo

2:44

Dave Cameron deserves a lot of respect for the Padres appearing to get the best of the Rays in two trades (although too early to determine)

Ben Clemens

2:44

I would say that Preller should get the credit and Cameron should get some of it, but yeah, the Padres look like savvy traders at the moment. It's too early to say but I think both of those trades were the rare win-win

Gunther Centralperk

2:44

Since the Dodgers are almost certainly out on Lindor, will/should they try to extend Seager ASAP? I say yes.

Ben Clemens

2:44

I am not sure if they will, but I absolutely think they should

2:45

The biggest downside is that the price might be a bit higher than they like given his recent form

But it would be really helpful to lock up shortstop for a while

Sweetie Pie

2:45

What are your thoughts on Ryan Mountcastle? Also, will he play only OF or maybe some 1B?

Ben Clemens

2:46

I think he absolutely should be playing some first base

There are plenty of future configurations of the future Orioles where they find three good outfielders and need him at first

2:48

As to what I think about him, I don't see any reason to disagree with Eric, who has him as a 50 FV guy, who will almost certainly be able to hit enough to handle the majors, so position is the key thing

Western Dave

2:49

"if one member of your family is prone to bossing people around, then they'll be doing that on everyone's turn and it gets annoying" - You've met my teenage daughter, I assume.

Is Hunter Renfroe ever going to break out?

Ben Clemens

2:49

Callback because I forgot to post this earlier

And eh, I'm not a believer

2:50

I thikn too much has to go right with him

Inaccessible Rail

2:50

Are teams hurt by playing many doubleheader in a short time span? Or are winning percentages about the same either way?

Ben Clemens

2:51

There simply won't be enough data to tell, even by the end of the season, but I think the answer is definitely yes

Look at some of the rosters the Cardinals and Marlins ran out in their heaviest doubleheader days

2:52

The hit to pitching is really extreme, and it carries over; if you face a team for your third doubleheader in five days and they have played, say, three games in the time you've played six

That's a big disadvantage before you even get into position player rest

Stevil

2:52

Two questions! Which popular board game would be better/funner with a change in rules, and should Atlanta be looking for 3B & rotation help, or focus on pitching and see if Riley's recent stretch of success sticks?

Ben Clemens

2:53

Another question I've been pondering for a bit. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by popular, so I'll give two different answers. One would be Risk but with hidden objectives -- I think Risk is a pretty bad game overall, but if you could make it a little asymmetric so that there was more uncertainty about what people were trying to do I'd like that

2:54

If you're talking about more modern games, I'd go with Seven Wonders played as a team game

You play with four players, the person across from you is on your team, and you add up points at the end

Depressed Reds Fan

2:55

Do you expect the Reds to sell at the deadline? How much of their lack of success do you attribute to poor luck(BABIP)?

Ben Clemens

2:55

Nah, I think they'll be buyers

Or more likely, stand-patt-ers

We still have them as about a coin flip to make the playoffs

Connecting…