JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/7/23

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MilwaukeeBeerJays

2:36

How Davis Schneider? Why Davis Schneider? Where Davis Schneider?

Ben Clemens

2:36

the fact that he's been using a glove he found at lost and found is just so perfect

EonADS

2:36

Please convince me the Guardians made the right move by acquiring Manzardo for Civale.

Ben Clemens

2:36

mmmm....

.I'm not wild about it, haha

2:37

I think it fits with the way they operate

so in that sense, they have to play the team as it lies

but I think they're kind of pigeonholing themselves into this develop/trade pitching and get a lot of decent but not star players mold

hey, not bad, clearly works

Alex

2:37

Bryce Elder – despite everything – his Tiffany-blue baseball savant page, his having given up seven runs in three of his last five starts, and on the other hand also All-Star selection – based on his first 22 major league starts, Bryce Elder *seems* like he'll settle in as a pretty good 4/5 starter, somewhere in between Jon Niese and Dillon Gee. Is that fair?

Ben Clemens

2:37

that's exactly the vibe I get

Romorr

2:38

Ben, just know if the standings hold in the ALE, I will let everyone know you picked the Orioles. I am your hype man, man.

Ben Clemens

2:38

That turned out surprisingly well for what was really just an odds bet

I do feel good about it, I'm not gonna lie

Phil

2:38

After the Royals lost their DH due to a catcher injury, Quatraro said that Greinke would only have hit with a lead. Are you confident that was right, tactically? Assuming Greinke was likelier to get outs than the bullpen, and had a greater than zero chance of getting on base, what is the threshold where it makes sense to leave him in? I suppose the question would have seemed far less novel in the NL a few years ago.

Ben Clemens

2:39

I'm kiiiiind of interested in looking into this, I really miss getting to write articles about pitchers hitting

also it's insulting that they didn't let him hit, what are we doing here?

no one's going to remember who won that game but there was a non-zero chance of him doing something Greinke-esque

Travis

2:39

Is Acuna’s K rate next year closer to his career average or 2023 season?

Ben Clemens

2:40

hmmmmmm.... I think I have to take career average but I think it's close

his career average is 23%

this year 12.2%

I feel like 17-18% sounds right to me

Alex

2:40

Bill James's answer to "why no lefty catchers": if you are left-handed and can throw the ball hard enough to catch, you are going to end up on the mound. Every single time.

Ben Clemens

2:41

I mean.... you're likely to end up on the mound as a righty too. I think that's definitely a part but it's a lot of things, not just that

Jason

2:41

With regression hitting the dbacks hard, what are the positive takeaways from this season(aside from Carroll)?

Ben Clemens

2:42

Building from Jay Jaffe's article on them today, I think that Christian Walker being a solid 1b is really nice

Alek Thomas has turned it up slightly, if he's an average bat he's going to be a really valuable player

I'm very encouraged by Gab Moreno despite so-so overall stats

2:43

So.... I dunno, there are some things

Mike

2:43

Guardians chances to win the AL Central now looking very bleak. Think there’s still hope for next year or are they going to be middling for a while?

Ben Clemens

2:43

Yes to both haha

middling means you've got a shot

2:44

in the AL central, at least

Colton

2:44

Re: Thompson-Hudson. Isn't Hudson redundant to what they're looking for moving forward? He's never run an average strikeout rate and consistently has the highest walk rate in baseball. I understand keeping options open, but at some point the door has to close on him, right?

Ben Clemens

2:44

I think Hudson is very key to what should be a core cardinals goal

2:45

Having sven players who can make major league starts in 2024

Moving Matz back to the rotation was a nice start on that

but I think they really need to dig deep and find as many people as they can

The Pirate Parrot

2:45

Will the pirates strongly consider moving bednar or keller in the offseason? Feels like a big step backward for a club that should be moving forward

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