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Dave Cameron FanGraphs Chat
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Mike
12:24
What are the arguments for expansion, specifically? Just revenue to go around and ripe markets? No one really seems to be able to agree on where the 32nd team would go.
Dave Cameron
12:25
If you look at the historical ratio of roster spots to population, we're currently at a big surplus in terms of available players. And given how much of the industry is driven by TV dollars now, the necessity of filling up a ballpark is less important than it used to be, so you could put a team in a smaller metropolitan area and have it succeed based on gathering TV eyeballs from a larger geographical range.
Josh
12:26
If baseball truly were to expand, which cities do you think are most likely to land a team?
Dave Cameron
12:27
I still say NY should have a third time, probably in Brooklyn. You could put a team in NC (Raleigh or Charlotte), in Portland, San Antonio, Nashville.
forever it
12:28
The Padres are offended you didn't pick them for least interesting
Dave Cameron
12:29
They could be quite interesting as a summer trade partner.
The Braves don't even have a lot of stuff to sell anymore.
Eric
12:30
Do you think Pujols has aged worse than expected because he lied about his age? There used to be a lot of speculation about that.
Dave Cameron
12:31
I've never bought into those rumors because he didn't gain anything from doing so. The players who faked their ages did so to trick teams into giving them huge signing bonuses; Pujols theoretically lied about his age so he could go to a Junior College and get drafted in the 13th round? Really?
Trainman
12:32
Lance McCullers to DL to begin the season. Red flag, or just being treated with kid gloves since his MRI came back clean?
Dave Cameron
12:32
They were going to limit his workload anyway, so might as well be careful.
doc ellis
12:33
which SS do you prefer long-term: arcia, crawford, or turner?
Dave Cameron
12:33
I've had a few friends in the game tell me that J.P. Crawford could be the best non-Correa SS in baseball by next year. So him.
Forsyth
12:34
When I try to search for a team's production at a certain position (team batting stats - split by "as a XX" such as Red Sox as a 1B), it gives me entirely too much data. For example, the Giants, as a 1B, have 1,216 PA and a 9.7 WAR. Is there any way that can get corrected so that it only shows the production for a player when he is actually playing that position?
Dave Cameron
12:34
Instead of using the positional tabs, click the splits drop-down, and then scroll down the positional splits. Those will give you only the data for players at those positions.
Sean
12:36
Can Billy Hamilton learn to hit the ball more on the ground, or is that way more difficult than us civilians realize?
Dave Cameron
12:36
He basically would have to reinvent his swing.
Dan
12:36
Is it unreasonable to be anti expansion because the odds of my favorite team winning this year go down as a result?
Dave Cameron
12:37
Well, if you expand the number of teams, you probably think about expanding the postseason too.
Kylo Ren
12:37
Why do I feel like people are down on the Pirates this year?
Dave Cameron
12:37
Because they don't look as good as they did a year ago and the Cubs got a lot better.
BBK
12:38
Who's an exciting young player that the average person might not have heard of?
Dave Cameron
12:38
Kevin Kiermeier, maybe.
mtsw
12:39
What's a red flag you look for that indicates a guy who's hitting well in AA or AAA may have trouble adjusting to major league pitching moreso than most guys?
Dave Cameron
12:39
High BB/K rates, moderate power.
Joel
12:40
Was your little league team any good?
Dave Cameron
12:40
No, we were awful. So was my high school team.
Kole
12:41
You once said that arm strength really doesn't matter much at all. Did you mean that there isn't much of a marginal benefit when upgrading from a slightly below average arm to an very good one at any given position? Because it seems to me that a horrible arm can become very detrimental on defense, while an elite one can be hugely beneficial e.g. Alex Gordon.
Dave Cameron
12:42
The spread in value from the very worst to the very best throwing arm is something like two wins, and the spread between normal good and bad arms is more like one win. Every other notable "tool" has a much larger impact.
tom selleck
12:42
high bb/k rates? isn't that a good thing?
Dave Cameron
12:42
No, high K rates are never good. They can be offset with power, but if a guy is succeeding in the minors without power while also failing to make contact because he just draws a lot of walks, there's a decent chance that his approach won't work against pitchers who can throw strikes.
Greg
12:43
What can the Mets reasonably expect in return for de Aza?
Dave Cameron
12:43
Salary relief.
Colin
12:43
How long would Turner have to stay in the minors to get an extra year?
Dave Cameron
12:45
Turner has 45 days of service already, and needs to get to 172 for a full year, so they would need to limit him to 126 days of service or fewer to get the extra year. There's 182 service days in the regular season calendar, I believe (might be 183, something like that), so they'd basically have to keep him down for two months.
Albus
12:46
What do you think Avisail's line would be now that he is going to DH for the Sox?
Dave Cameron
12:47
Most guys hit worse as DH than as position players, so probably not great. But my guess is they'll give him one last shot to see if he can not be Delmon Young 2.0, and then they'll go trade for someone in June if he is.
Trainman
12:47
Dave, is Yordano Ventura ready to break out this year where he steps up to the elite?
Dave Cameron
12:47
He's going to have to figure out how to start striking guys out if he wants to be elite.
Josh
12:47
Would expansion necessitate division realignment to, say, 8 4-team divisions a la the NFL?
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