JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/24/26

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Ben Clemens

2:28

for more specifics, because I have thought about PCA quite a bit in the context of long-term trade value, he was #3 on trade value this year and I wrote about it at length in his blurb

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2026-trade-value-nos-1-10/

alec_eiffel

2:29

Can/should anything be done about the position-player-as-pitcher-to-mop-up issue? Perhaps teams can get an extra roster spot designated for a mop-up player who can only be used after the 6th inning and the run differntial is 8 or more runs?

Ben Clemens

2:29

i don't exactly know what should be done but I do think something shoudl be done

it's getting embarrassing

war2d2

2:30

Hey Ben! Counsell yanked Imanaga in the 3rd inning yesterday even though he wasn’t hurt (maybe? his velo was down a tick). He explained it after the fact as it being the time of year where you need to start going for it. Do you agree with that sentiment? There’s something like 5 weeks of games left, it seems like you’d burn your BP to the ground if you hit the gas this early.

Ben Clemens

2:30

yeah, I don't like it, but I give Counsell the benefit of the doubt on managerial decisions, and especially for stuff liek this where he might know more than he's letting on

2:31

now if it turns into a pattern, if they're basically running all hands on deck every single game and back-to-backing their best relievers with abandon and so on, I will develop a stronger take

but for now, yeah I agree with your sentiment that acting like there's no tomorrow now would be too early. I just can't imagine that's ACTUALLY their real plan

fincampbell05

2:31

Is Trevor Story going to be designated for assignment in the next two weeks?

Ben Clemens

2:31

curious to see. that would be my guess

2:32

man I was reading some rehab assignment updates as I try to figure out which game I need to set aside to see Anthony's return

and I saw IKF's and Story's batting lines in their rehab assignments, woof

bosoxforlife

2:32

The 22-0 and 19-2 shellackings that the Mariners took brings me back to my belief that run differential is not a usable stat. Much of this scoring is done against position players and I don't know of any system that separates and adjusts for these farcical games.

Ben Clemens

2:32

completely agree

2:33

I wrote about this last year a little:
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/checking-in-on-pythagoras/

more specifically, about doing a game-by-game pythag, so that you care about individual scores and a 22-0 game is basically the same as a 10-0 game

2:34

but the improvement is very small

which basically means that all these estimates of team strength are kinda hand-wavy in any case, whether you use run differential or something fancier

that's fun to me in that it means baseball is still hard to predict, still a game, still a place where randomness has hold on the world

2:35

but yeah, I agree with you, run differential is not really a sufficient statistic to explain team strenght

soupmonkey

2:35

Do you think anyone in SF loses their job in the FO or coaching staff this offseason?

Ben Clemens

2:35

I mean, it would be shocking if they didn't

after the year they've had, on and off the field

more likely coaching staff given that the farm system is headed in the right direction

SPArn

2:36

A note on the Astros situation, and why anyone would take the job - there are only 30, you never know if you'll get another bite at the apple. See: Micah Nori taking the frankly offensive low dollar, one year deal to be the Blazers head coach

Ben Clemens

2:36

yeah. these things always find takers

I'd take the job

and I love living in California, hate the heat and the humidity, and agree that it'd be a really rough job rubber stamping Jeff Bagwell's decisions

anyway, Jim Crane, call me

war2d2

2:37

Re: The position-player-as-pitcher debacle that’s sweeping the sport: I believe that some fairly draconian steps are necessary. What I’d do if elected as god-emperor of the sport: 1) hard limit on number of pitchers on the roster. If a position player passes some arbitrary (and very low) innings limit, he counts against that limit for the remainder of the year. 2) Once a position player enters the game you lose all replay and ABS challenges for the game, even if you come back and it goes into extras (this is hardly a deterrent, but last week I was watching a game where the defense went to replay even though a catcher was on the mound and it drove me up the wall). 3) I believe it’s currently the rule that you can’t bring in a position player as pitcher until after the 7th and you’re up by 8 or something like that. I propose it should be 8th/up by 10.

Ben Clemens

2:37

I like the idea of just hammering teams for doing it, that's kinda fun

and yeah, it's a great exmaple of how teams optimizing things can ruin the fun quotient, but this needs to stop

hibbert

2:37

I feel like men's tennis is kind of like three true outcomes baseball, where it's massive serves and power and less artistry than the Ivan Lendl heyday. On the plus side, women's tennis has all kinds of stylistic differences and a lot more parity.

Ben Clemens

2:37

definitely the greatest drawback of men's tennis today, though I'd argue that many of the greatest players are transcending that

2:38

yes, there's a lot of power baselining, and it's not that fun. I actually think that was worse at the tail end of the Nadal/Djokovic era, tbh

but like, Alcaraz is tremendously fun. some of the young players are very fun. Sinner.... eh, look, Sinner mainly just hits the crap out of the ball, but he's adding a ton to his game in real time

2:39

definitely agree with you on how fun it is to watch women's tennis, though

some of the parity is 'fake' in that it's driven by them playing 3 setters in slams instead of 5, but also there's more parity, and generally speaking I think tennis is more entertaining when hold% is lwoer

hold% is lower in women's tennis b/c the serves aren't as hard. so in that sense, I'm really with you

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