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Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat - 7/24/25

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Dan Szymborski

1:12

Oh, I'm sure I could do the whole Bret Hart routine. I even can do the mechanics of the Sharpshooter

wheelhouse

1:12

A third spencer jones home run has hit the building

Oddball Herrera

1:12

Sheesh, now Jones is at three home runs. Is he really that much different from an OF version of Elly De La Cruz?

Bob Loblaw

1:13

Did you ever do a time warp for Babe Ruth if the league was integrated?

Dan Szymborski

1:14

I haven't. To do something like this, I'd have to calculate a whole lot of things that are a bit awkward

1:15

True story, which I think I can say since none of the people are there anymore, but while I was at ESPN, we had a group idea pitched to me to guess the effect on records if the league were integrated

and I looked into it and had the awful realization and came back and said

1:16

(and the effect on records if the leagues were *never* integrated)

I pointed out that there were some real problems that even if well meaning to illustrate how much better the league is with everyone getting to play

1:17

including, but definitely not limited to figuring out which latino players today would have "passed" in the color line era. We all agreed that even if the idea was interesting, it was too hard to do with anything approaching proper sensitivity

Guest

1:18

reds vs giants during the red giant phase

Insert Witty Name Here

1:18

Give us the weirdest story you’ve heard about the industry, whether or not you believe it to be true or not. Redact names if necessary

Dan Szymborski

1:18

oh lord, I'm really going to have to neutralize this one

1:19

Let's just say I was at a dinner with a bunch of people including a former executive and said former executive got *really* drunk and told a story that their team had a guy in Cuba who was trying to help get players out of Cuba and was caught and in jail in Cuba for a year and nobody in media ever figured out that happened

War2d2

1:20

Also about the Rays: my feeling on baseball logos is that if a baseball-obsessed 9 year old can’t draw your logo from memory, you need a new logo.

Dan Szymborski

1:20

I'm not really a fan of the Guardians 3D ish logo

because as I said before, it looks like an enemy in Marble Madness

Guest

1:20

you wanted the depressing/angry version of the sun for TB, unfortunately Gemini is refusing to generate an image of what the mascot for the Tampa Bay Melanomas would look like

Guest

1:20

Wawa is invading Maryland, care to comment?

Dan Szymborski

1:20

I'm not *that* upset becuase there were always *some* Wawas

1:21

I'm pretty sure it's there any more, but even in the 90s, there was a Wawa on Falls Road near Lake Avenue

1:22

and Royal Farms isn't really a *sub* place

it's more a Wawa vs. Sheetz battle.

I usually got subs from Bubba's Breakaway, on York road just about across from Carver

Thats' gone now though

André René Roussimoff,

1:23

The thing to remember about Sasaki and all exciting young Japanese pitchers is that their arms get absolutely brutalized in youth baseball. He threw 425 pitches in one eight-day stretch as a kid. Until that culture changes, I think lots of the guys who make the jump will be disappointing and/or injured.

War2d2

1:23

Speaking of time warp: I have long had a theory that any true star could be moved to any era and still be a star. Eg, if you took 16yo Rickey Henderson and brought him to 2015 and put him through travel ball and whatnot he’d still be a 9 WAR player in 2025. Not sure that’s relevant, but curious if you’d agree. Like would Jinmy Foxx still be a beast? Babe Ruth? Where’s the cutoff for when a star wouldn’t be a star because of physical limitations?

Dan Szymborski

1:23

I've actually been kinda saving some of the Time Warp ideas for the 2026-2027 offseason...

Bob Loblaw

1:24

Without looking it up, who led the MLB in homers for the 2010s?

Dan Szymborski

1:24

Now THAT I know is Nelson Cruz, since I've looked that up before

(and now of course, someone will find that to be incorrect, because that's how life rolls sometimes)

Key Flaw

1:25

Again on names/logos, but I think it is pretty clear that some names like the Red Sox, White Sox, Reds, Phillies, are just really crappy names that we accept as normal because tradition. Same with the Mets. Some names are just bog standard like the Tigers, Cardinals. They are still better than the contrived minor league names or the NBA and WNBA attempts at concept names. We know you aren't a fan of the Rays name, but which name that most people like do you think is crappy? Hot taek!

Dan Szymborski

1:26

People complain about the Utah Jazz name

but I friggin love it because it's absolutely AMAZING that they moved to Utah and kept the name

1:27

I wish college teams would relocate and not change their names. The North Dakota Hoosiers! The Wyoming Gators! The Boston College Ragin' Cajuns!

SeanP

1:27

Ex-Baltimoron here, enjoying your specific suburb ramblings.

Phil

1:27

"Mets" is a good name, because it nods toward the museum and the opera. As a Red Sox fan, I agree that "Red Sox" is dumb, and I hate when people use it as singular ("He's a Red Sox").

Dodgers are good in that regard also. No trolleys in LA!

Dan Szymborski

1:28

On that note, time for me to hit the ol' dusty trail

Thanks for coming all! Not sure if there will be a chat next week given there will be a lot of chaos and I'll probably be writing other stuff

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