JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/5/24

Ben Clemens

2:00

Hey everyone, let's get chatting

Ryan

2:00

Is Profar on a 1 million dollar deal one of the better signings of the last decade?

Ben Clemens

2:01

Has to be, right?

2:02

Just in terms of return on investment or whatever, and looking at the results

Maybe I'd prefer signing Max Scherzer as the Nats or whatever, but Profar just gives so much value

Nic

2:02

Thoughts on Austin Wells? If this his true hitting and fielding level, he looks like a star? No?

Ben Clemens

2:02

Definitely yes

Now, it seems unlikely that this is his true level

he's hitting meaningfully better at the major league level than he did in the minors

2:03

I think he'll be a pretty good defender, probably not the very best in the game or anything, but quite good

Appa Yip Yip

2:03

Has Vladdy finally emerged as the Prince Who Was Promised?

Ben Clemens

2:03

I think that was 2021

then he got demoted

2:05

or perhaps he abdicated, I'm not quite sure how royalty works

But I think that you can look at Vlad as more of an elite 1b than you could have last year

Oaktown Blues

2:05

Are you on the Lawrence Butler hype train?

Ben Clemens

2:06

Heck yeah

I'm not exactly sure what the long term looks like here

2:07

but the A's have done a really good job of finding interesting players as they are kinda bad

huge credit to them for that

2:08

I really like what they've done around getting guys into positions to succeed

it makes the general awfulness of the ownership group more annoying

I really want to like the A's

Talfred

2:08

What will the ChiSox do with Benintendi after this season? Two straight years of negative WAR as he embarks on his 30s, with three years left on that comtract.

Ben Clemens

2:08

I mean, they'll probably just keep plyaing him while he's awful

Colton

2:08

Masyn Winn's improvements this year have been nothing short of incredible IMO, especially when you consider the results from his cup of coffee last season. Do you think the Cardinals should try locking him up to an extension now, similar to what the Braves did with Albies and maybe buy out a year or two of free agency?

Ben Clemens

2:09

uh, I do not think anyone should try to do something similar to what the Braves did with Albies

that contract was just kinda gross and raises questions to me about his representation

there are plenty of contracts that benefit both team and player without being so egregious

2:10

that said, I do think that the Cardinals should talk extension with Winn. It feels like there's just a lot here to like, in terms of both how St. Louis likes to build teams (defense first, particularly up the middle) and how it feels like they really need a homegrown talent to stick after a lot of fool's gold in recent years

2:11

I'm not sure what a deal would look like, that's probably a question for Dan Szymborski and the ZiPS extension prediction machine

but this feels like a good pairing

Phil

2:11

Wilyer Abreu has had a terrific year against righties and defensively, and finally hit a home run against a lefty last night. Do you think maybe he's been a little underrated by the prospect folks? To me, a good right fielder who plays against all righties and certain sorts of lefties is a more valuable player than your typical platoon guy, and he's sustained a roughly 130ish WRC+ long enough at this point that I'm skeptical of the projections that still have him at 100-110.

Ben Clemens

2:11

I think that he's definitely underrated

2:12

that said, the projections do a good job

like, he's sustained a 130-ish wRC+ for.... 300 PA's

350 counting last year

and it sure looks like it's in a way that feeds a lot off of an unsustainable babip

like it can be true that he's underrated and also.... well I don't think he's gonna keep slugging .520?

M’s Fan

2:13

Is Logan Gilbert underrated at this point?