JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/29/22

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Ben Clemens

3:01

As a franchise...

Sonny

3:01

If you purchased the Angels how long before you renamed them the 'California Angels?'

Ben Clemens

3:01

1 minute

The Real Ben Clemens

3:02

How much more does Brady Singer have to pitch the way he has this year to be considered a top 30 pitcher in baseball

Ben Clemens

3:02

I'd say a few more months. For example, he's third in RA9-WAR since the all star break, amazing!

3:03

But Justin Steele, Chris Bassitt, Drew Smyly, and Merrill Kelly are all in the top 10, and I wouldn't consider any of them top 30 pitchres

I think Singer will need, say, two more full months of it

The prospect pedigree makes me believe more, and I've always thought he'd be great, but a little perspective is usually a good thing with pitchers

Mariners Fan

3:04

Does the new CBA have rewards for teams who win ROY?

Ben Clemens

3:04

Yes, if the player was on the team's roster on opening day (and if they meet some other requirements)

It's a bonus draft pick, which the M's would be in line for

Some Guy

3:04

Is Emmanuel Clase the best closer in baseball right now?

Ben Clemens

3:04

For me it's Edwin, but Clase and Helsley deserve spots too

Cryamongo

3:06

Does Cal Raleigh have the talent to be a top five overall catcher? Weird prospect development

Ben Clemens

3:06

Top 5 is too much

Blake

3:06

What's happened to Josh Hader? Do you think the change of scenery has contributed to his inability to get out of this funk?

Ben Clemens

3:06

I think I'm incapable of speculating on that, it's not knowable as far as I'm concerned

Big Fan

3:06

Ben, am I reading too much into the sequential monthly improvement in Michael Harris II's walk rate?

Ben Clemens

3:07

Probably

His chase rate doesn't show any appreciable trends, and honestly, his walk rate didn't either until the last week

let's give it a little longer

Guest

3:08

What do you think of sandy alcantara not really getting any run as an nl mvp candidate? He’s been so dominant and I think the innings are too many to ignore

Ben Clemens

3:08

In a down year, sure

Goldschmidt is hitting .338/.421/.629

3:09

He leads the NL in all three slash categories, and leads the majors in AVG/OBP (Judge has him in slug)

Also he's on a good team, which voters still care about

Appa Yip Yip

3:09

The Jays fanbase has turned on Bichette pretty hard (we call him Bo and 2 it is both mean and factual) but it's not uncommon for players to have a breakout season then struggle when the league adjusts. We're just not really seeing Bichette adjust back thus far.

Ben Clemens

3:09

Yeah. Baseball is a game of adjustments.... but it's fair to be worried about whether he'll adjust this time

Guest

3:10

The Guardians have outperformed virtually all preseason expectations. Obviously their pitching has been crucial. What chance do you give them of winning vs. the Twins? Do the White Sox better than a 10% chance of winning the Central?

Ben Clemens

3:10

The Sox are done imo

3:11

This isn't scientific but wow their clubhouse seems AWFUL

I think our odds seem about right, 2/3 Guardians 1/3 Twins

3:12

We have them as both pretty similar teams -- they've been pretty similar teams so far this year. They have similar remaining schedules. Two games in the standings accounts for the difference in division odds, I buy that

Bob

3:12

Will Tony La Russa be fired after this season? How much does ownership effect these kinda of decisions. His two years in Chicago have been all sorts of weird and bad

Ben Clemens

3:12

Ownership has final say

And Jerry Reinsdorf has historically been a meddler and also very loyal

3:13

Alright, gonna go make the aforementioned lunch, and get to writing about Jose Berrios

Preview: his four-seam fastball would be best buried in the Mojave desert