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Dave Cameron FanGraphs Chat
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Dave Cameron
12:01
Happy Wednesday, everyone. This is my last chat from North Carolina, as I'm starting the cross-country drive on the move to Oregon on Sunday. We'll still talk baseball, of course, but if you want to get in any last minute questions about Winston-Salem, this is your shot.
I think I'll be chatting from Denver next Wednesday, so maybe next week we'll talk weed and franchises without a plan.
Otis Redding
12:02
Is the AL East the most intriguing division in baseball down the stretch?
Dave Cameron
12:02
Probably, yeah, though I think both wild cards could come from that division, so all three teams in the division race may end up in the postseason.
Brett W
12:03
Which active players if any have in your mind already certified their places as no-research-necessary first-ballot Hall of Famers?
Dave Cameron
12:05
Pujols, Miggy, Ichiro, Beltre, Ortiz, Kershaw. I think I'd vote for Beltran too, but he requires at least a little thought.
And Trout's basically there, minus the 10 year requirement.
The Average Sports Fan
12:05
I will freely admit to questioning the decision making of the Dodgers. I probably said something to the effect of wasting the prime of the Kershaw. Hard to say anything other than I was wrong. Crow tastes terrible!
Dave Cameron
12:06
Well, to be fair, the Dodgers have gotten an exceptional performance from Corey Seager that wasn't easy to see coming, and some better-than-expected years from no-name bullpen guys. That helped.
But yeah, the Dodgers are a good team, and they look like a very scary playoff matchup if Kershaw and Hill are healthy in October.
Erik
12:06
If the Cardinals were to sneak into the second wild card almost 20 games behind the Cubs, and proceed to knock the Cubs out in a 5-game NLDS, would you long for the days before the wild card, or just say "that's baseball" and move on? Or would you even consider that a good thing?
Dave Cameron
12:07
It's the nature of using a tournament to determine the champion. The Cubs are far and away the best team of 2016, regardless of what happens in October, and nothing about what happens the rest of the year will change that.
Julio Pepper
12:08
Is Rich Hill going for less than 40m this offseason? He has 3 WAR in under a 100 innings.
Dave Cameron
12:08
He's also, what, 37? The age and injury history limit the length of any deal he'll sign. I'd bet he gets 2 years at a pretty solid AAV, maybe something like what Lackey got last winter.
Anon21
12:09
Freddie Freeman's having arguably his best season, but his improvement against lefties (Career: 109 wRC+, 2016: 134 wRC+) has been much larger than his improvement against righties (Career: 146 wRC+, 2016: 157 wRC+). Good or bad sign for his ability to sustain this improved performance?
Dave Cameron
12:10
It's basically what you'd expect; it's very hard to improve from a high level. Most players take leap forwards by fixing their flaws, not improving their strengths.
Ben
12:10
Has Manny Machado worked his way into legit MVP Contention, or is he just too far behind Altuve, Betts, and Donaldson? Yes, I know he's also like 3 WAR behind Trout...
Dave Cameron
12:10
Craig Edwards is writing the MVP case for Machado as we speak.
Erik
12:11
The Phillies are supposedly not going to call up JP Crawford this September, since he doesn't yet need to be protected on the 40-man roster. But with him likely to be promoted around next May, what could the Phillies possibly do with the 40-man spot between now and then that would be better than getting Crawford experience against MLB pitching? Hold onto one more longshot reliever reclamation project?
Dave Cameron
12:11
Or, you know, do what the Brewers did and give shots to guys like Junior Guerra, Hernan Perez, Keon Broxton, etc...
40 man spots are valuable.
CamdenWarehouse
12:12
It seems like Verlander has given up a good chunk of his runs when he's gone out for a 7th or 8th inning when over 100 pitches. Is there a way to see if this is correct and what his numbers might look like if the Tigers actually had a pen and didn't have to run him out late?
Dave Cameron
12:12
We have times through the order on the splits page now, so you can see how Verlander's doing as the game progresses.
Bubba
12:12
Assuming Cespedes is honest about not opting out, how much money is he leaving off the table? His walk rate is close to 10% now, is he just better than before?
Dave Cameron
12:12
He's opting out.
Amarillo Windmill
12:13
All 9 of the Rangers' starting nine have OPS's above league average except for Carlos Gomez (who has been playing better since coming to the Rangers). Is this the magic answer to sequencing?
Dave Cameron
12:13
Nope. For most of the year, they were running out Prince Fielder's black hole in the line-up, even hitting him cleanup, and winning anyway. The no-holes-in-the-lineup thing is recent.
Graves
12:14
Who would you vote for AL Cy Young? Has Britton been dominant enough to merit winning?
Dave Cameron
12:14
I haven't looked closely enough to say definitively, but no, I wouldn't vote for Britton.
The Flying Hawaiian
12:15
Which organization in the AL West is in worse shape going into 2017? Mariners / Angels / Oakland
Dave Cameron
12:15
I just don't see how the Angels win any time soon.
Justin
12:17
Are you going to record a marathon podcast during the drive? Baseball analysis occasionally interrupted by observations like "why is there so much Nebraska?"
Dave Cameron
12:17
The plan is to podcast from the car, yes. Sullivan is joining me for the western half of the road trip, so we might even do a co-podcast.
i hate my manager
12:18
was medical marijuana ever presented to you as an option?
Dave Cameron
12:18
Nope. I wasn't really in that much pain during my chemo treatments, really.
CamdenWarehouse
12:18
Kershaw doesn't have 10 years
Dave Cameron
12:18
He almost does.
Jack C.
12:19
If you don't mind answering, why are you moving 3000 miles across the country?
Dave Cameron
12:19
My wife got a job that lets her work a bit less and spend more time with our son. It's closer to my parents. It's not 100 degrees and humid there in the summer.
Hall of Fame
12:19
Buster Posey not a HoFer yet?
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