JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 9/8/25

Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page

Aaron Nola

2:37

so, like, am I completely cooked or nah?!

Ben Clemens

2:37

oh man

i hate saying guys are cooked

but yes

Patrick Corbin 2.0

Ranger in HOU

2:38

What was the reason to waive Kim? I was confused by that move.

Ben Clemens

2:38

$$$$$$

2131, 1312

2:38

I'm taking it for granted that the Os aren't signing any impact hitters or front of the rotation pitchers, but they have to sign some relief arms, right?
I know they've been very nervous about injury histories in that market, but right now they don't have a single tenable arm on the roster

Ben Clemens

2:38

I feel like they will

2:39

they tried this year, you know? Kittredge was a nice signing. I think that you can convince yourself that the short-term deals to releivers are good business b/c you can trade them if you fall out of the race, and the O's have never been opposed to making +EV moves

so I expect them to try it

Bosoxforlife

2:39

I agree completely. Even when the incredible triumvirate of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic were at their peak there were many other competitive players, Wawrinka, Murray, DelPotro and others. I don't watch nearly as much as I used to.

Ben Clemens

2:39

yeah, I think the new generation might eventually rise to that level (Draper, Fonseca, maybe even Rune and Mensik?), but I love some variety

2:40

DelPo was so fun, btw

if you liked him, Anisimova has the exact same game

CleGuy

2:40

What accounts for Cleveland sticking around in the playoff race in spite of a terrible run differential? Are they better than their run differential says, or just lucky?

Ben Clemens

2:40

i mean.... occam's razor would suggest lucky

2:41

since plenty of teams outperform their run differential every year

and then don't appear to maintain the skill in the future

but I haven't done any specific looking into them

Relief Market

2:41

Who are even the top relief targets for the coming offseason? A Diaz-Mets reunion feels almost inevitable if he even opts out and most of the "closers" on the market have been absolute garbage lately (36-year-old Raisel Iglesias, Ryan Helsley, Jordan Romano)

Ben Clemens

2:41

Suarez is gonna opt out and be interesting, I htink Helsley will get a bag even with his recent struggles

Raider13

2:41

Hey Ben, I'm a big prospect guy. Thoughts on Alfredo Duno?

Ben Clemens

2:42

I mean.... I'd say listen to Eric. I am not arrogant enough to think that I'm adding much value in my evaluations of 19-year-olds in short season ball

I just read what good prospect writers say and parrot them, essentially

Thomas

2:42

What contract do you think Bichette gets? Sportsnet did an article a while back that put the guess at 8 years, $216 million, which sounds like a reasonable starting point

Ben Clemens

2:42

man, that's a lot of money

2:43

uhhhhh.... I mean I guess it's about right though

looking through here and trying to slap some comps on him, I don't think tha'ts super far off

I'm definitely worried that his baserunning has been so bad this year

in conjunction with his defense. but eh, he's a really good hitter

RookTaker55

2:43

Someone will sign Luke Weaver to closer money and honestly given his metrics over the last 2 years I don't know that it's a bad idea. You could almost make the argument to QO him.

Ben Clemens

2:44

I would 100% QO him

and I'd sign him to a closer deal, too

Perry Minasian's burner

2:44

Have you considered that the best thing for a player's development may be to promote them to the bigs within 30-90 days?

Ben Clemens

2:44

may or may not be

2:45

you might be Neto, or you might be Ryan Johnson

Relief Market

2:45

Honestly good point there, I'd 100% take Luke Weaver over any of those guys, probably including Suarez as well (signing a 35-year-old closer feels kind of sus)

Ben Clemens

2:45

so I actually don't care about closer age very much

b/c eh, they're gonna break in two years anyway

Connecting…