You are viewing the chat in desktop mode. Click here to switch to mobile view.
X
Jay Jaffe FanGraphs Chat - 10/29/21
powered byJotCast
Prev Page View Full Chat
Guest
3:23
Royals infield 2022, who's the odd one out: Merrifield, Lopez, Mondesi, Witt? Do the Royals shop Mondesi, and given his injury history, do you see them getting any takers?
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:27
Merrifield's versatility makes it easier to conceptualize keeping all of them, particularly when one considers the possibility of Witt starting the year in the minors because <shuffles papers, squints> he has to work on his defense. On the other hand, Merrifield's affordable contact, which keeps him under club control through 2023, also makes him an appealing trade candidate.
3:28
I don't see them being in a rush to trade Mondesi.
Matt VW
3:28
How likely do you think a lockout is? The game has great young talent right now; it would be a shame to grind it to a halt when there's a real opportunity to build momentum. That said, "it would be a shame to" is not always the disincentive in CBA negotiations that it might be.
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:31
Seems more likely than not, but so much will depend upon whether the sides make any progress towards a deal in November. They might push back a lockout deadline if they don't have a deal on Dec. 1.

Maybe I'm wrong — it would be a first, of course, haha — but I don't think we're going to see a lockout that has a significant impact on the length of the 2022 season, because I think the possibility of a season largely unimpeded by attendance issues is one that has to appeal to teams after the loss of 2020 and the limitations of '21.
Great Gramps?
3:31
preoccupation with statistics ruined the game the same way mba preoccupation with short term profits ruined American business. I’m after a while you don’t realize the air you breathe is polluted because all you have ever breathed is polluted air. The game is boring. It is dying. I blame analytics.
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:36
so you're using a blanket word like "statistics" — which for a large portion of baseball's audience is one of the hooks of fandom — when you mean "analytics," the common whipping boy of today's game.

I don't disagree with you with regards to the way that teams have used analytics to gain small edges that have compromised the aesthetic of the game, but I think a lot of that has to do with the ongoing war between labor and ownership/commissioner, where the aesthetics of the game have taken a back seat to the ever-persistent attempt to grab even more cash. Let's see the commissioner implement a pitch clock, trim commercial breaks by 30 seconds, and find a ball that doesn't fly out of parks so easily, and maybe we'll start to see some return to a more watchable game.
Ken
3:37
What do you make of Matt Chapman's 2021? Still recovering from injury/surgery? Or have pitchers figured him out? It seemed like he couldn't lay off the high fastball and could rarely make contact with it.
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:40
Offhand I'd guess that it was a slower-than-expected recovery from the hip surgery, given that his EV and xBA were way down, but his sprint speed was good, and his defense was good as well. Probably deserves a closer look.
WinTwins0410
3:40
Under a weird iteration of the Veterans' Committee, Charlie Finley got 9 votes in 2003 and 10 votes (12%) in 2007.
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:41
ah yes, the vote by the living Hall of Famers and award winners. My bad. Nor surprising given how much the players disliked him.
Vermonty
3:41
Aren't you being a bit too optimistic about Aaron Hicks as a CF? He can't stay healthy.
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:44
I'm saying that I don't see it likely the Yankees punt the guy given the investment they've made in him. Remember, he was healthy in 2020 and hit for a 124 wRC+ on a 3-WAR pace despite a low batting average. They'll probably look to find a better backup than Gardner (who played the position well but was dreadful for 2/3 of the year on the offensive side)
DS
3:44
Thank you for the chat, Jay. What do you think the Angels should do this off-season? Go after a solid free agent SP like Stroman? Or maybe go after a top SS, avoid expensive free agent SPs and think about "bullpenning" going forward a la the Rays?
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:46
They need some frontline pitching. Stroman, Ray, Scherzer — they need to start at the top of the list and find a way to land somebody big
Scuffy Mcgee
3:46
Dave Roberts is actually just a puppet right?
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:47
All managers work in collaborations with their front offices to a great degree these days, but bear a great deal of responsibility for communicating those plans to players and keeping the clubhouse harmonious, skills that shouldn't be devalued especially when you're talking about deep rosters that have a lot of moving parts. Talked a lot about this with Kevin on the podcast today
DS
3:48
Will you be reading Joe Posnanski's "The Baseball 100" this winter?
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:49
i'm not in much position to sit down and read any book cover to cover for awhile – most of my reading gets done on the elliptical machine, and that one is a big lift in that context. But I'm sure I'll be checking in on it as I write about Hall of Fame stuff and one of these days I'll get all the way through it.
WinTwins0410
3:49
And absolutely no need for a further response, but after I sent that, I see that Finley also was up on a veterans committee ballot (Golden Era) in 2012.  Finley got less than 3 votes out of 16.  Hard to see him ever getting in.
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:49
I probably should have checked the Excel spreadsheet Graham Womack put together.
John B
3:50
If you got to choose which of the latest rules you would keep/toss/modify  what would you say about:  3 batter rule, replay, mound visits, sticky stuff pat downs, running into catcher, running into second baseman, 7 inning DH, extra innings man on second, the designated hitter
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:51
Toss the 3-batter rule as it's not having the intended effect, kill the extra innings and 7-inning doubleheader rules with fire, modify replay to get rid of the millisecond loss-of-contact stuff, make check swings checkable (1 challenge per game), bring on the universal DH.
Ben
3:53
Who is more Hall of Fame likely between Manny Machado and Jose Ramirez? They are the same age and thanks to a younger start Machado is well ahead in bWAR (they are closer in fWAR), but in each of the past 5 seasons Ramirez has been better. Also, will voters hold the Pedroia slide against Manny?
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:54
probably still Manny given the bWAR gap and the fact that he's on a team willing to spend towards winning. I think the narrative about him is already starting to change — he's already emerging as an elder statesman/mentor in SD — and the Pedroia thing will probably be a footnote as far as many voters are concerned.
Mike Ortman
3:55
Early Days committee.  Do you think they will just vote in one person every decade for the rest of all time?  Or will they eventually just recategorize the eras when the well dries up of players from those Casey at the Bat days?
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:55
I think we'll see multiple honorees and wouldn't be surprised if the Hall moves to a new format after this 10 (or actually 11) year cycle is up following the 2027 election.
Cynthia
3:55
Is injury prevention the next major frontier for baseball's information transformation? That cost in terms of money and talent seems very high--both in terms of DL time and nagging injuries that don't require DL but add up over a long season and sap performance.
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:56
yes but we've been saying that since like 2003 when Pitcher Abuse Points were a thing.
3:57
Ok folks, I'm out of time here. Thanks for all the great questions today! No Friday chat from me next week as I'll be playing hooky to celebrate my wife's birthday, but I might get involved in one of our World Series chats or 'casts. Stay safe!
Connecting…