JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/8/22

Prev Page View Full Chat

Mark

3:11

Rank the LF on the open market this off-season: Profar, Benintendi, Joc

Ben Clemens

3:11

Yeesh. Beni, Joc, Profar I guess

I would not be thrilled to have any of them as one of the best 5 hitters on my team, though

Ryan

3:12

Seems like San Diego thinks Adrian Morejon might make the jump back to starter next year to fill the back end of their rotation. Thoughts?

Ben Clemens

3:13

I'd try it. His lack of a true platoon-busting pitch worries me somewhat, but I like the FB/SL/CU pairing the way he's using it and hey, he's thrown 10 splitters this year

Farhandrew Zaidman

3:13

How far away are we from average bat/swing speed listed for each batter in the majors somewhere on the site? Seems like something teams are tracking with great interest.

Ben Clemens

3:14

Pretty far. Even MLB doesn't have the cameras in every stadium yet

And while we endeavor to be at the cutting edge of public data, "public" is the operative word there

Zac

3:14

Is there anything in Acuna's statcast data suggest he may be protecting his knee a bit? Like are his max sprint speeds back to normal but he's not reaching them as often due to perhaps being cautious.

Ben Clemens

3:15

This seems like it would be a cool thing for the MLB.com crew to check out, the data doesn't exist that granularly on Savant

Rampage

3:15

Manfred keeps trying to find ways to "fix" baseball. He should start by making it more accessible. If you don't have cable its next to impossible to legally watch your hometown team. Is there any discussion about getting rid of the ridiculous blackout policy?

Ben Clemens

3:15

I haven't heard any by the league, but I completely agree. Baseball is going the other way, though, splintering up their offerings more with Peacock and Apple TV and all that

3:16

I don't have cable, but I have a cable substitute (YouTube TV) so that I can watch Giants and A's games. And even then I had to get Peacock

Franimal Style

3:16

Late summer turnaround coming to Wrigley Field?

Ben Clemens

3:16

This is going to be really fun, summer Wrigley weather and Franmil, love it

Lou Perltzman

3:17

Fangraphs doesn't pay for an MLB.TV subscription for you?

Ben Clemens

3:17

It's blacked out!

I do have mlb.tv but I can't get Bay Area games, Apple games, or Peacock games with it

HappyFunBall

3:17

t-Mobile = free MLB.TV if you're a subscriber

Ben Clemens

3:17

A really cool perk

Rampage

3:17

I bought MLB.tv but can't watch the Mariners in Oregon. Also can't listen to them on the radio because there aren't any affiliates in Portland. The mlb app plays 10 minute adds that you can't skip during a radio broadcast missing important chunks of the game. Its absurd.

Ben Clemens

3:18

yeah, blackouts are the issue more than anything else, I just also dislike the fracturing of streaming rights

Blue-Color Tweeker

3:18

Harrison Bader was the best fielding outfielder I can remember the Cardinals having since Jim Edmonds. He was on his way to his best offensive season and even as cocky an arrogant as he came off, I loved him, he was a fan favorite. So I was shocked to see him traded. I totally understand it and it makes sense to pick up Montgomery, but should the Cardinals really feel comfortable about going all in on Carlson in CF? I hope he turns into a great player, but what I've seen so far, eh, I don't know. What do you think about giving up Bader tots and turning to Dylan Carlson while hoping someone sticks in right field?

Ben Clemens

3:19

It's risky for both squads, and like I said I didn't love it for either. I would have rather traded prospects for Mahle than Bader for Montgomery. That said, I'm cautiously optimistic on Carlson in center. Now, a backup plan? They certainly don't have one of those

Phil

3:19

I hate blackouts so much. I guess this is more a comment than a question.

Rampage

3:19

Is 5 years for $125 million a fair extension for Luis Castillo?

Ben Clemens

3:19

It doesn't strike me as crazy either way, which is a good sign. I haven't done a ton of thinking about it specifically

jas

3:20

I feel like you were strangely harsh on the Cardinals deadline in your writeup. I thought it was an excellent deadline all things considered. Juan Soto is amazing, but I think they probably added similar value for this season alone

Ben Clemens

3:20

Uh, yeah, I definitely do not

They added, and I like both pitchers they got

but they even subtracted a little (from their September team) to do it

3:21

if the Brewers had done anything, it probably would have equaled the Cardinals' deadline. If there's one impressive thing about the Cardinals' deadline, it's that they surrendered basically nothing on the prospect front

In related news, I think that the Bader/Montgomery trade has set a new chat record for me: percentage of fans who think THEIR team lost the trade

3:22

Every Yankee fan hates it for the Yankees seemingly, and a ton of Cardinals fans hate it for the Cardinals. That's how you know it was a reasonably fair trade

Phil

3:22

Will JDM be offered a QO? Will he take it?

Ben Clemens

3:23

I'm gonna go with yes and yes. Basically, I think he looks liek a good QO candidate, and not opting out was basically accepting the QO, so why not run it back?

Jared

3:23

Felix Bautista or houck ROS?

Ben Clemens

3:23

Bautista for me

Alright, on this note, I'm gonna call it a chat. Thanks everyone for hanging out with me, just a really strong queue of questions and I couldn't hope to get to all of them, so sorry if I missed yours, and I'll endeavor to do better next time, as always. Have a great week!

Connecting…

Message History

On Off

Your current subscriptions

None

E-mail Address	Chat Owner	Status	Remove

Enter your email address to be notified when Ben Clemens hosts a chat