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Jay Jaffe FanGraphs Chat – 1/6/26
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AvatarJay Jaffe
1:27
he's still a very good ballplayer, maybe better than he showed in 2025, but I'm not trading the farm for him. YMMV
Broken Bat
1:27
Curios what you did with your vote the year Baines was elected into HOF. How did you vote, and why?
AvatarJay Jaffe
1:28
That was the 2019 election cycle, I did not yet have an official ballot. My virtual ballot explainer is here https://blogs.fangraphs.com/jay-jaffes-virtual-2019-hall-of-fame-ballo...
1:29
Bonds, Clemens, Edgar (final year, elected), Halladay, Mussina, Rivera, Helton, Rolen, Walker, Wagner. Everybody now in except for BB and RC
Darryl B.
1:30
Further to your response regarding Sale and Cole, am I wrong to think that the real beneficiary here might be DeGrom?  The case for Felix appears virtually identical to DeGrom's (just the shape of their career is different).
AvatarJay Jaffe
1:33
All of this could help deGrom but to be clear, his bodies of work is shaped quite differently from Félix's. deGrom is nearly equal in S-JAWS despite throwing about 1,200 fewer innings and winning 73 fewer games; those gaps will close but not by a ton given that we're talking about a guy entering his age-38 season.
Frankie
1:34
Has Bellingers market really appreciated that much since his last forays into free agency?
AvatarJay Jaffe
1:35
I think he's shown both that 2023 was a little fluky (the 2-strike performance didn't hold up to the same degree) and yet not all that fluky — suitors can feel much better about his floor now unlike when he had one good year after two dreadful ones and a meh 2020. But he's also older, so these things offset each other to some degree
Ranger S.
1:36
Am I second fiddle behind Framber V. or are we waiting for the same few teams to decide/max out?
AvatarJay Jaffe
1:39
not sure I'd say second fiddle. Younger and with less mileage has its appeal, but then again the pitch modeling shows that they get to a similar spot via different routes, with Suarez's pinpoint command offsetting lesser stuff, and vice versa for Valdez.
Colt Emerson FT 3B
1:40
It seems likely to me that Bregman is going to end up back on the red sox but do you think there are any dark horse contenders to sign him? I know the mariners were floated at one point but that seemed more negotiating tactics than anything substantial.
AvatarJay Jaffe
1:41
I do think the Cubs could still land him IF they're willing to get aggressive. But that seems to be a load-bearing IF
Alby
1:41
What if anything is behind the Hall's shunning of Lou Whitaker? He's been talked about as an oversight forever. Does that play a role in their thinking?
AvatarJay Jaffe
1:43
Again, don't take anything for granted when it comes to the one-and-done guys. There's been turnover and more diversity in recent years but the HOC that makes the ballot has historically been a lot of the guys who bypassed Whitaker on the BBWAA ballot, and now the player pool is getting deeper as the PED guys join it and the ballot gets smaller.
Ok folks, my stomach is growling and my window is closing here. Thanks so much for stopping by! We'll do this again soon.
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