JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 9/15/20

Ben Clemens

11:56

Starting the chat a little early to decrease the likelihood of running over and interfering with Jay's chat later.

Hello everyone!

11:57

There's a lot of baseball to talk about, and I've written about the AL Central approximately 1,000 times since last chat. Let's dive right in

Oh and if you have any interesting board game suggestions, preferably games that can be played with both 2 and 4 players, let me know. We're in the market.

James

11:58

What is it about the Padres and unwritten HR rules that send opposing teams flying off the handle?

Ben Clemens

11:58

I think it's mainly that they're young and good?

Because it's clearly nonsense

SeanBurroughsFanClub#1

11:58

Any thoughts on the drama from Grisham’s homerun last night?

Ben Clemens

11:58

Complaining about what Grisham did should be a violation of an unwritten rule

Not doing what Grisham did

What a stupid controversy, and Dave Roberts should feel silly

Derek

11:59

Have you revised your take on Nelson Cruz at all?

Ben Clemens

11:59

I have not!

In fairness, he's played only four games since then

And is rocking a 40% strikeout rate in those games, not that it matters

12:00

I was a bit surprised by the reaction to that article, but I won't lie, I felt pretty vindicated that he was the biggest HR outperformer when I looked at expected homers the next day

I think people read it as me saying Cruz is awful, but I think that if you hid the outcome stats and just looked at process, you'd be worried he was declining

I'm worried he's declining

Michael

12:00

Would it be possible for Cease to further adjust the rotational axis of his fastball and get a cutter/slider-type of pitch instead?

Ben Clemens

12:00

Interesting question

I'm skeptical based on watching him throw a slider, lol

12:01

Watching an entire Cease start from first pitch to last was quite the experience

He doesn't have Maples-level command issues, but it's surprising how often he just loses fastballs

Sir Nerdlington

12:02

Surely the Sox aren't blind to Cease's spin issues. What odds do you give him/them of increasing his spin efficiency next season?

Ben Clemens

12:02

I give them quite good odds

They did it already this year actually

This was even more of a problem in 2019

But as commenter MRDXol (totally normal 2020 citation) said in comments yesterday

You have to wonder if switching him from 4s/curve to 4s/slider is messing with him

12:03

I'm not sure asking him for MORE gradations of slider is the answer

If I were the White Sox, I'd ask him to just only throw fastballs this offseason

To see if he can recapture some ride

Because he seems to have this weird combo of hittability and lack of control with the pitch right now

Chris

12:04

When an AQI is 283 is it up to major league baseball or the home team s cancel the game? I feel like the mariners are getting a lot of heat on this one when it doesn't seem like it was their decision

Ben Clemens

12:04

I'm not sure, but I reallllly don't get what they are doing

You shouldn't be playing in air like that!