JotCast | FanGraphs After Dark Chat

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Paul Swydan

9:31

He's a good follow on Twitter though, especially if you like the observations of a food critic in the Dallas area!

Trey

9:32

Is Fangraphs planning on adding transaction history to the player pages? That is more or less the one piece of info I routinely use a site other than Fangraphs to find.

Paul Swydan

9:32

I've mentioned it before, but I'm not sure it's a priority at this time. But keep bugging us, and perhaps someday it will be!

Tor

9:32

How valuable is the exclusive negotiating period a team gets with its pending FAs? Does it actually help them retain anyone?

Paul Swydan

9:33

Generally, no. It can be useful with older free agents who aren't really looking to change teams, but for premiere free agents, all it does is let their home team be the first one to pitch them. And you don't always want to be the first team to pitch, you want to be the *last* team to pitch.

Kevin

9:34

did anyone else think that the Flash question was referencing The Freeze and think "what's this guy got against The Freeze"?

Paul Swydan

9:34

I actually don't really like The Freeze promotion. The guy who runs as The Freeze seems like a real sweetheart, but I don't like the promotion itself.

9:34

How long will the Jays continue to fill the stands?

Paul Swydan

9:35

Side note: Jon Gray just struck out the side, after his defense was of no help with the inning's first two hitters.

9:36

As for the Jays, they've got about a month and a half to turn it around. September is always a hard month to sell tickets when you're not winning because kids are back in school.

Yosemite Sam

9:37

Thanks for the chat. 8x8 rotoworld dynasty keep 20. I just lost Kershaw and correa but I'm still in first. Was offered Bum, David peralta and Michael givens for springer, Kyle tucker and neris. Holds and saves are counted separately. Which side you on?

Paul Swydan

9:37

Springer to Peralta is quite the downgrade, but if you think you can float that and Bumgarner looks good tonight, I don't think I'd kill you for that one.

9:38

Def wait and see how Bumgarner looks tonight first though.

Kevin

9:38

People have referenced Judge being the biggest position player of all time, which I can see people saying in a hyperbolic tone in certain contexts, but isn't this ridiculous given that Adam Dunn was just playing in MLB? The difference in their sizes is arbitrarily small. It just seems stupid given how recent Dunn played.

Paul Swydan

9:38

Are you trying to say that people have such short attention spans that they can't remember people who played 2-3 years ago? Nooooooooooooooo, couldn't be!

Matt

9:38

It's not even dark yet. And what happened to Lucroy?

Paul Swydan

9:38

IT'S DARK AT MY HOUSE DAMNIT!

9:40

Lucroy seems to be prioritizing contact over power, and too much of said contact has been of the ground ball variety. He basically is the anti-Statcast hitter, which hasn't worked out very well for him.

Carter

9:40

You must be the high man on McCullers then. He has been pretty bad for a month or two. Maybe they stack up well because of their offense, but I just do not see why you think he is so great.

Paul Swydan

9:41

Well, Cameron said he was going to win the Cy Young this year, so I'm most definitely not the high man on him.

9:42

Also, he has a 3.73 FIP for July and a 4.00 FIP in the second half. If that's your definition of "pretty bad," that's because you've been spoiled by a very good team. McCullers is good, everyone has a few bad starts.

He also had a 1.21 FIP in June, so no, he hasn't been bad for 2 months.

Jakub

9:42

How did the scouts miss on Byron?

Paul Swydan

9:43

Buxton? Because much of scouting is scouting tools, and projecting whether those players have the tools necessary to develop into a MLB player. Buxton has phenomenal tools, so he was a tantalizing player - still is! I don't think scouts missed on him, I think his development has simply stalled. It's not too late for him to figure it out/develop further as a hitter.

Carter

9:44

McCullers has raised his era over 1.00 last 3x out without making it out of the 5th inning + not striking anyone out.

Paul Swydan

9:45

Yeah, but that's MOSTLY because he was rocking a 2.69 ERA before that. If you're really going to judge pitchers by their three worst starts, literally every pitcher in major league history is going to suck in your eyes.

Kevin

9:45

Have you read the new Ty Cobb biography? If so, any thoughts?

Paul Swydan

9:46

I hate biographies, so no.

Yosemite Sam

9:46

Side note, I also own domingo santana so peralta would be insurance/bench bat. Thanks for the answer.

Paul Swydan

9:46

Love me some Sunday Santana.

Tony

9:46

Do you play Scoresheet? I have a logjam at 3B (Beltre/Ramirez/Donaldson) and need pitching/OF... considering Donaldson + Kopech for Stroman + Marwin + prospects (back-top -100)... too little for JD? I'm in total win-now mode.

Paul Swydan

9:47

I used to, but I just couldn't keep up with it anymore. Too little for JD, methinks. Not sure why you need to include Kopech in that package.

Tim

9:47

So is the plan for KC to flip their newly acquired relievers at the 2018 deadline, once their rebuild has begun? Seems like they might actually come out ahead in terms of prospect capital from these transactions.

Paul Swydan

9:48

Maybe. That certainly makes sense. I think they're just going to ride the wave of this pennant race and let the chips fall where they may. And I think they've earned that right.

Dougy

9:48

3B for BOS in August will be ______?

Paul Swydan

9:49

Devers is going to have hit a few home runs and not strike out a ton this week for it to be him and not someone like Lowrie or whomever.

Dougy

9:49

Would you prefer Bradley Zimmer or Clint Frazier for next 6 years?

Paul Swydan

9:49

Yes.

9:50

I don't know, that's a tough one. I guess I'd lean Zimmer, but there's no wrong answer there yet, I don't think.

Another Fantasy Question

9:51

I have Trea Turner in a 10 team keeper (OBP), keep 8 forever. I am firmly in win-now mode. What do you think of Turner for Bregman and C. Davis?

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