JotCast | Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat

Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat - 11/21/19

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Dan Szymborski

1:00

But why would you *reward* the players who participated in a sign-stealing scandal?

1:01

If David makes contract murders part of my job and I tell on him, it would be a little absurd to *reward* me.

Michael

1:01

That's fair, but taking drafts picks and fining an owner doesn't penalize them

Dan Szymborski

1:01

How so?

1:02

Teams value draft picks and they value millions of dollars. Why would taking draft picks and millions of dollars not penalize them?

Oh, the players

I think suspensions are a possibility

Heels

1:03

Well, if anything, the light penalties are basically going to make it so no one but a portion of Astros fans is fond of that team for a long time. So there's that.

Dan Szymborski

1:03

In any system of justice, whether legal or something like this, basing penalties because WE MUST BE OUT FOR BLOOD is a bad idea.

Ryan

1:03

How about we reward Mike Fiers for blowing the whistle by giving *him* an opt out? Or would any team sign him, if they think he'll just out their dirty laundry?

Dan Szymborski

1:04

Reward? No.

1:05

I'd give Fiers a lighter penalty than other Astros that are found to have been participated, but he should be suspended to.

too.

He's not "whistleblower" in this context. He reported it years later when he was a competitor of the Astros.

And he admitted using this information to help his teams.

"Fiers, who has pitched no-hitters for both Houston (August 2015) and Oakland (May 2019) in his career, also admitted that he informed teammates in Detroit and Oakland what the Astros were up to after leaving Houston."

1:06

In other words, he didn't whistle blow to MLB as an informant.

He used the information about the Astros cheating to benefit teammates in Detroit and Oakland, to give those players knowledge of something while leaving players on the other 27 teams in the dark.

CamdenWarehouse

1:06

Though with suspensions, you'd have to identify the ring-leaders. One of which (or maybe the only one) is now a manager in another org

Ryan

1:07

Yeah, because Mike Fiers, as a pitcher in the AL, really benefitted from the sign stealing . . . .

Dan Szymborski

1:07

A pitcher has totally never been advantaged by run support.

Michael

1:07

Not blood, equal monetary hit to the team and a huge detterance to further integrity of the game issues which, i believe, is the bigger deal

Dan Szymborski

1:08

Your monetary valuation is a bit silly.

You wouldn't price it as the value of winning the World Series vs. not.

Michael

1:09

y? that was their gain

Dan Szymborski

1:09

No, their gain is the difference in the probability of winning the World Series stealing signs vs. the probability of winning the World Series by not stealing signs.

Sean

1:09

Taco Bell is testing chicken tenders in the Dayton, OH area. You going to go try them out?

Dan Szymborski

1:10

No.

On that note, I have to head off to do my Grandal!

LFC Mike

1:10

Epilogue. This has been a Quinn Martin Production