JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 9/27/21

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Ben Clemens

2:01

Hey everyone, and welcome to the chat. I'm just going to finish making a coffee (had a slow start to the day) and then get started.

Ian

2:03

If you had an NL MVP vote, who would you vote for?

Ben Clemens

2:04

I think I'd vote for Harper. Soto might end the year with better numbers, but Harper has been basically the same player, has done it consistently all year, and has tried to push the Phillies into the playoffs by doing it

2:05

He also has done better if you account for the situations he's in (WPA/LI), and is similar in WPA, and has a .621 slugging percentage which is the best in baseball, so that's fun

Sharps

2:05

Juan Soto deserves to win the MVP so that he can get some Dominican musicians together, do a sweet rap, and release the "Soto Shuffle" for all of our listening pleasure.

Ben Clemens

2:05

There will be plenty more years for that

Nate

2:05

Hi Ben! I'm a diehard Brewers fan and the Cy Young race the last few weeks have caused me a lot of anxiety. It still feels like most people think Scherzer is a clear leader but any analysis I do seems to think otherwise, any words of wisdom for me? Or a gut punch to my Cy hopes for Burnes?

Ben Clemens

2:06

I'd vote for Burnes. I'm going to write about why soon, so I won't give away too much of the article, but the guy is having a legitimately historic season

Dinging him for innings pitched doesn't make senes to me

RedHotRiplets

2:06

so harry bader is the new mike trout, right?

Ben Clemens

2:06

If you mean an exciting center fielder who grew up in the NY/NJ area, then absolutely

2:07

If you mean, like, as a baseball player? No

Sam Ham

2:07

What active catchers are HoF locks, likelys, and maybe-if-they-keep-producings?

hamannana

2:07

Yaz Grandal got a HoF case?

Ben Clemens

2:08

I'd say that Posey and Molina are pretty close to locks.

Realmuto and Grandal are in the maybe-if-they-keep-it-up bucket for me, with Realmuto ahead of Grandal

2:10

I think Grandal's career is just destined to be under-appreciated

Tons of value from framing, and people don't like the way he gets to his offense... by people I mean the types who vote for HoF

I don't think either of them are THAT likely to make it though

2:11

After that, I think the next tier is Will Smith, Adley, and presumably some people I've forgotten about

It's tough to make the hall as a catcher

Appa Yip Yip

2:11

Is Adam Cimber 1) legit good, 2) lucky/nice run but whatever, 3) relievers, man

Ben Clemens

2:11

I think Cimber is legit good

2:12

Not solid anchor for your bullpen good, but dude who gets enough batters out that he has a place in any bullpen good

Josh

2:12

Is there a place on the internet that can answer pitch sequencing queries like "when a hitter takes a fastball for a strike on 0-0 count, what % of the 0-1 pitch is a fastball"? I tried Statcast search but couldn't get anywhere.

Ben Clemens

2:12

I don't believe so. You could download a pitch-by-pitch database and do it yourself, but that's a real pain

Tony Kemp MVP

2:12

Hi Ben, I would just like to put this on record. I have been an A’s fan my whole life (I’m in my 20s). We have endured literally nothing but greedy, disingenuous, disengaged ownership. That said, not shelling out $18m for Semien this year is the most enraging thing the team has ever done, imo. Just a perfect microcosm of everything toxic about this deadened franchise. This is my therapy. Thanks

Ben Clemens

2:13

It is definitely a bad look for the A's

It'd be one thing if he'd signed a big deal, or if he'd taken a similar one to what the A's had offered him

But their absurd lowball (I think it was like 10mm for one year, but deferred over 10 years)

Just, ew

Oneil Cruz fan

2:14

Oneil Cruz is destroying the ball since he got called up to Indy. I think it's clear he's not going to be the opening day SS for the Bucs for reasons *cough* service time *cough* but do you think we see him before June?

Ben Clemens

2:14

I do, and it's going to be awesome

He'll be the next big thing in Pittsburgh

see what I did there? I'll be here all week

SlightlyOff

2:15

The Giants were forecasted to win 70ish games this year and have gone almost wire to wire with the best record in baseball. Where does that rank them in terms of all time "surprise" teams? The entire scenario feels funnily similar to the Moneyball movie, except switch the positions of the baseball nerd and the ex-player lifer, and then make them both huge nerds (said lovingly as a fellow nerd).

Ben Clemens

2:15

I listed them as one of my bandwagon teams of choice and totally agree with you

I think that you can reasonably ding them some points b/c they're the Giants

We've seen this movie a few times

2:16

but yeah, it's one of the great underdog stories of the past few decades

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