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Craig Edwards FanGraphs Chat--2/20/2020
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Kevin
2:58
I am sorry but the hatred for Manfred is misplaced. He directly got 2 guys fired while handing out the largest suspension in sports history not tied to gambling, which resulted in 2 others being terminated. He cant suspend the players, the union wont let him. And he HAS to protect Astros from being baseball pinatas. Plus he gave the maximum fine possible to the Astros. What do ppl want from him? Yes he should shut his mouth, but otherwise think he made decent lemonade with crappy moldy lemons
Craig Edwards
2:58
I think they wanted him to be honest about what he knew.
Marko from Tropoja
2:59
What if anything do you make of Kershaw saying recently that this is the best he's felt in years?
Craig Edwards
3:00
Maybe that he forgot what he used to feel like? Kershaw's been a bit diminished since 2016, but he's still been good since then. If he's feeling better, that's a good sign, but it's hard to know what that means until he starts pitching against batters in a game.
Guest
3:01
Good burrito?
Craig Edwards
3:01
Yes.
I just became a dad
3:01
On Tuesday. That is all. It's cool!
Craig Edwards
3:01
That's great. Congrats.
brad
3:01
Craig, Manfred and Clark need to both be replaced, period.  Question is, by Manfred saying he wont tolerate beanball retaliation, doesn't that now give the astros an unfair advantage that any time there guys get beaned the other team has to worry about their SP getting tossed or suspended, thus making opposing SP less likely to be aggressive inside the plate?
Craig Edwards
3:01
I don't think I need to be replaced, thank you.
3:02
I think the Astros pitchers are the ones most at risk, given that if a player on their team gets hit for any reason, if they get close to inside, they are more likely to get hit with a fine/suspension.
Oil of Zolay
3:03
Do you think this brouhaha has the potential to keep Verlander out of the HOF?  There's no possible way he didn't know what was going on and I think it could rub a lot of voters the wrong way given his propensity to always run his mouth about others when he perceives them as not playing the right way.
Craig Edwards
3:04
I don't think so. Only the hitters are going to live with this for too long, and all of them still have a lot of work to do to get Hall-worthy, save Beltran and I'm not sure what's going to happen with him given he wasn't a sure thing.
AW
3:04
Give me some hope about the Cardinals putting the correct people at third base and in the outfield.
Craig Edwards
3:05
I assume you want Matt Carpenter in both spots? The Cardinals have too many outfield possibilities that can go wrong to think there isn't going to be some significant growing pains out there. As for third, Carpenter should get every chance to show he can rebound. He's not awful at third and his only potential replacement is Edman, who can get plenty of playing time everywhere.
Alby
3:06
Re: Dead money article. What about Odubel Herrera and the Phillies? He's off the 40-man roster in AAA, like Tomas and Castillo.
Craig Edwards
3:06
you are right. should have included him.
mervdiddy
3:07
The Nationals won a world series after holding on to Strasburg and Rendon in walk years, despite being just about where the Cubs and Red Sox are on the preseason win curves. Was/is that at all relevant to Red Sox or Cubs leadership, or just seen as a fluke?
Craig Edwards
3:07
I think it's reasonable to think that where they were on the win curve wasn't actually that important to the Red Sox.
Baby Yoda
3:08
Can we get another MiLB article about what happens if these changes actually go through?  I know you don't agree with MLB's reasoning, but it's their money and they're gonna get some/most/all of what they want. So I'd love some analysis of what MiLB looks like without SS ball, etc.
Craig Edwards
3:09
You get a lot fewer players, and more players in complex ball at the spring training sites. Some players go to indy leagues, but there's not many options there and you see more players just give up.
ManBearPuig
3:10
The Cardinals aren't worried about defense.  They care about hitting.  That's why they win so much....
Craig Edwards
3:13
They won last year and did well in the second half of 2018 because they started caring a lot more about defense. It's part of the reason Mike Shildt has a .571 winning percentage and his predecessor's previous 2 and a half years were at .518 with similar talent.
matt
3:13
i think many people also wanted manfred to strip the title from the astros (note that I don't mean award it to the dodgers, just take it away), but instead he "stood on precedent" in handling a literally unprecedented situation and then devalued the championship of his own sport by calling the trophy "a piece of metal", so
Craig Edwards
3:16
I agree with Manfred about not stripping the title. That is sort of weird NCAA stuff that doesn't actually do anything. The piece of metal part was obviously bad and gives the impression that he doesn't care, and he might not. I thought the penalties were fair but given how widespread the cheating went into the front office, it is clear more needed to be done to clean house and perhaps punish the organization. A few more draft picks, firings, and international money still might not have been enough because people are angry, and they should be. The Astros cheated and not enough was done to prevent it despite multiple notices that something was happening. And that's on Manfred.
Baby Yoda
3:18
Two whole sentences of analysis? Thanks! Somehow that's still more than you put into 4 articles.
Craig Edwards
3:18
Thought it was the best I could do in chat format.
Anyway, that will do it for me this week. Thanks for all the questions.
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