JotCast | Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat

Return to

Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat - 8/14/25

Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page

Big Buckston

12:39

Favorite pitch type from an aesthetic standpoint? I'm personally partial to an old-school, sharp, over-the-top 12-6 curveball

Dan Szymborski

12:39

I'm still a sucker for a good 1980s forkball

I use Senga a ton in MLB the Show

Bosoxforlife

12:40

Cricket often has "innings" that last for several hours or even days in which only one team hits while the other team stands on the field.

Kevin

12:41

If the Rockies brought in someone good from outside to run the baseball operation without interference from the owner and had a league-average budget to work with, how long do you think it would take to become a playoff contender?

Dan Szymborski

12:41

Their baseball ops department itself has really tried hard to modernize as quickly as they can. I have no idea who was the impetus, but it's a good sign that the team was allowed to actually make trades this deadline

12:42

I think the hard part is that they start out well behind everyone else and I'm not sure ownership will ever be truly all-in on it

Coolidge

12:42

$37 trillion debt. what a time to be alive.

Dan Szymborski

12:42

ack, I clicked on the politics thing!

12:43

I'll just say that there's going to be a lot of pain that nobody in politics takes seriously because most citizens only take it seriously to so long as the solutions don't affect them in any way

and that's the end of THAT topic

Ghost of Bobby Thigpen

12:43

Counter argument
Pete Gray wasn't the size of an NBA Power Forward...

Dan Szymborski

12:43

but nobody was then!

Cloud Sales Guy

12:43

So I notice you run zips on your own custom built machine have you ever run it on multiple cloud virtual computers to save time or is that cost prohibitive.

Dan Szymborski

12:44

I'm uncomfortable having ZiPS out of my exclusive possession

well, near exclusive possession

I keep a couple sticks at my mom's, in a safe deposit box, and an encrypted version hidden in a state park, but my mom isn't going to start selling her own projections

Roman Empire

12:45

the Kris Bryant rule applies with MiLB players with bad chace rates? MLB pitchers would throw more bad pitches right?

Dan Szymborski

12:45

Caissie's at 25.8% out of zone

Guest

12:45

if showdown is a good barometer of an MLB 27 inning game, from my experience everyone will immediately line into a double play :(

Dan Szymborski

12:45

lol, i know

12:46

There's nothing more depressing in Showdowns than needing one more run and then a Perfect right to the shortstop

Until I have a full bench, I will prioritize high steal players

and no matter how good they are offensively, stick them on the bench until I have a slower dude on first

The Oriole Bird

12:47

I miss Mike Mussina's kuckle-curve

Guest

12:47

how do MLB teams get GMs? They don't apply or anything, so does the ownership group just kinda ask around to other owners who might be available? Or do other FO employees call the org directly and let them know they'd be interested?

Dan Szymborski

12:48

Baseball is a relatively small world, so personal connections are huge

12:49

Hell, while nobody has asked me about a GM hiring, I get asked about analysts who are around all the time

and baseball writing isn't that different

12:50

now, there are more open processes - we've had several rounds of open calls for applicants, something useful so that writers who *weren't* in the saber clique in 2012 get a chance

but networking is still really important

12:51

I got hired by ESPN from a random email sent to me while I was waiting for a flight in 2009. In 2018, I saw the writing on the wall when Dan Kaufman went to the Athletic and called him and David. So that's the value of making professional connections with people.

12:52

I must have told the story before, but I got the official offer from David liek 15 minutes after nearly drowning myself kayaking

12:53

I wasn't wearing a life jacket and went through a bit of a rough patch in the river and flipped over.

I coudl swim just fine, it wasn't rough, but my leg got tangled in the life jacket itself, which I had tied to the kayak and was sitting loosely inside

12:54

Without the life jacket there, I would have been just fine. In fact, my very pleasant companion went off to fetch my beer floating down the river as she thought nothing of me flipping over

since I do it constantly

12:55

I was thrashing around trying to wade with one leg and was about to abandon my shoe but there were some guys nearby that pulled me to the side so I could get resituated

Guest

12:55

encrypted version hidden in a state park? are you ron swanson

Dan Szymborski

12:55

A lot of things in life I do to amuse myself

Connecting…