JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 9/26/22

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Ben Clemens

3:05

But bullish on both overall

3:06

I like both of Gray's secondaries quite a lot. His fastball has some positive traits too, a little bit of Cristian Javier to it. He commands it inconsistently and I think could use work on the shape of it, but I like the four-seam/slider/curve combination quite a bit

Greene is a similar deal in that I think his secondaries will be key

Dan

3:06

Is that five average players and a few superstar leaving you with 18 below average players?

Ben Clemens

3:06

Oh I meant position players. Like five of your nine starters, two superstars, and then two slightly below average starters maybe?

Sam Ab

3:07

What do you think is the most important trait to have in baseball as a hitter?

Ben Clemens

3:07

This is my opinion, not some incontrovertible truth, but I think it's approach

3:08

realistically it's probably power. But once you control for the fact that we're only selecting hitters with at least very good power, b/c otherwise they wouldn't be in the minors, gimme the guy who can execute a plan at the plate

i read fangraphs

3:08

High wOBA is probably the best thing I'd want in a hitter

Ben Clemens

3:08

haha well sure that too

Jack

3:08

Have Winker's struggles been mainly due to hidden injury and hitting environmental? Do you think he bounces back next year or was he just overrated as a hitter?

Ben Clemens

3:09

shout out to baseball prospectus and Michael Ajeto for a really good article about WInker that came out last week

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/77537/climbing-the-lad...

3:09

What do you think about Buster Posey joining the Giants ownership group?

Ben Clemens

3:09

I'm into it. I think it's really cool when former iconic players stay connected to the team

3:11

Posey is a Bay Area legend, really cool that he's gonna be around

I guarantee you he'll get a cheer every time he goes to a game

Marshall

3:12

How much do you weight regular season vs postseason performance in evaluating a team’s success? I’m hearing a lot of people saying with a WS title this year the Dodgers are failures.

Ben Clemens

3:12

I care more about regular season success b/c it's more meaningful than a short tournament, particularly with how many teams make the playoffs

this isn't 1949 with two teams making the playoffs

3:13

this is a historic stretch by the Dodgers

clem bevins

3:14

bryson stott (mini slump acknowledged) has looked amazing second half. think hes legit 3 win player moving forward?

similarly, bohm has really rebounded. is the phillies core in place?

Ben Clemens

3:14

I'm a believer in Stott. I like Bohm's bat, but I still don't think he's a third baseman long term

3:15

And that's kinda awkward given team construction. Stott, on the other hand, can play shortstop just fine and looks legit. I think he's more of a core piece than Bohm for now

RTJ

3:15

who's more likely to be in the playoffs next year: Baltimore or Boston?

Ben Clemens

3:15

Wow, great question

3:16

Oof.... I guess I'll say Baltimore and immediately feel regret about it

I feel like enough players are leaving the Sox that they might try to do a mini-rebuild year

3:17

and I think that the playoff fever stirred up in Baltimore will hopefully motivate the team to jam on the accelerator this offseason. Not in an irresponsible way, but this team isn't going to win the world series without adding some veterans. Why not start now?

HappyFunBall

3:17

T/F: Every round in the postseason is too short of a series to be truly determinative, and we all spend way too much time analyzing matchups for what amounts to a virtual coin-flip

Ben Clemens

3:17

Oh true

We do it because it's fun

Not because the seventh hour of analysis is going to unlock the truth

Alf

3:17

I haven't read or heard a lot about how historically good this Dodgers team is. Have we just gotten used to them being really good, so it's no longer interesting?

Ben Clemens

3:17

Basically yes

Here is a good Mike Petriello article about it from a month ago

https://www.mlb.com/news/the-dodgers-are-on-a-run-not-seen-in-decades

3:18

(They've been even better since then)

Jeremy

3:18

Mix hoisin sauce and sweet chili sauce 50:50. Use as a dip for dumplings.

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