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Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 2/1/19
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Conner from AZ
9:35
According to Nick Groke at The Athletic the Rockies are planning to move Blackmon to LF and Desmond to CF. Any optimism for Ian not being a completely sunken cost now that he's moving back to a premium defensive position?
Jeff Sullivan
9:37
Not really
9:38
I mean, Desmond is a fine athlete, and he might be the Rockies' best current solution in CF, but Billy Hamilton got non-tendered in this same offseason. Desmond is a little better as a hitter, but he's the far worse runner and the far worse defender. I don't see a whole lot of promise, especially now that he's 33
Walker
9:39
Brewers still need a second baseman and the farm system is looking pretty weak due to trades/graduations. Do you think there’s a chance they’d trade Hiura to a team that needs to consolidate prospects like the Rays for a big league 2B like Wendle/Lowe/Robertson and some prospects to restock the system, or is that just too out there/not in line with what they’re trying to do?
Jeff Sullivan
9:41
If anything at this point, I think the Brewers need to hang on to guys like Hiura, because they're still a low-budget operation and they're going to need long-term, cost-controlled talent. More likely, I think, is that they just search for some capable stopgap and then reevaluate midseason. There are always infielders available midseason, and they're available for affordable prices
John
9:42
We’re less than two weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting. J.T. Realmuto will be reporting as a...?
Jeff Sullivan
9:42
I'm going to stick my neck out for the Dodgers
I think they make the most sense overall
Shaun
9:42
Are people sleeping on Miguel Cabrera this season?
Jeff Sullivan
9:43
Could you blame them?
Jake
9:43
Whenever you or any of the other writers at FanGraphs has an article idea, do you always check with the others to make sure no one else is writing the same thing?
Jeff Sullivan
9:43
We have a Slack where we claim topics if we think there's a chance someone might want to be doing the same thing
Other times, you just know there's no way anyone else shares your same idea
Steve
9:43
Will there be a Kikuchi page up before Spring Training, like Ohtani last year?
Jeff Sullivan
9:44
Yeah, it should be there any day now. I don't know why it's taking so long
caesarsolid
9:45
let's say Harper just says fine I'll do this again next year and says publicly he will go for the highest one year base salary contract he is offered,  how high would it realistically get?
Jeff Sullivan
9:46
The Phillies are something like $54 million short of the CBT threshold
The threshold isn't a hard cap, but if we just treat it as if it were something of a limit, I could see Harper going to Philly for about $45 million
raysfan
9:50
Beltre and Colon were the last pitcher and position player left that played in the 90s. Who will be the last ones left from the 00s?
Jeff Sullivan
9:50
This is harder than you might've expected
9:51
I'm just going to say Clayton Kershaw on the pitching side
9:52
And then...god, I mean, maybe Elvis Andrus?
Dude was only 20 in 2009, so he's only 30 today. He's still a capable everyday player and people love to be around him
9:53
These are not guesses made with confidence
caesarsolid
9:53
What will be the most competitive division in 2019?
Jeff Sullivan
9:53
NL Central
Kiermaier's Piercing Green Eyes
9:56
In the event of a strike, what happens to MiLB? What about players in the minors who are in the MLBPA?
Jeff Sullivan
9:59
The 1993 PCL had 710 games
10:00
The 1994 PCL had 710 games
The 1995 PCL had 716 games
So at least based on that example, the minor-league schedule plays out as it otherwise would, since those players aren't part of the union and wouldn't be participating in a work stoppage
Cubs broadcaster Ron Coomer, who was in the Dodgers organization at the time, said Los Angeles put a lot of pressure on minor leaguers to cross the line and play (which he did not). It was an especially difficult situation for minor leaguers who weren't on the 40-man roster but occasionally were asked to play in the replacement games. They weren't in the union, but they didn't want to go against the union either. Yet they also didn't want to upset the team employing them and dictating their careers.

"It put them in a terrible position," Coomer said. "It was really unfortunate for some of those young guys. ... It was just a terrible situation for everybody. I think ownership handled it poorly. I think the players' union handled it poorly, because everyone was put in a tough spot and some of those young players ended up getting the brunt of all the issues that happened."
10:04
I don't think this completely answers your questions
10:05
I can't completely answer your questions. I would need to do more research and I've already slowed down this live chat enough
mmddyyyy
10:06
Which tools age most gracefully into the extremes? (Like old-timers-game age?)
Jeff Sullivan
10:06
I think you're looking for command, and the ability to make the baseball move, at least as a pitcher
10:08
On the hitting side, I'd guess that your eye ages fairly well, at least relative to the other skills, but vision gets worse for each and every one of us, and so does reaction time
10:09
Given that, then maybe just raw power?
Jack
10:10
I know you don’t care about the Hall of Fame — and really, I don’t care that much either — but do you think Ben Zobrist will deserve any consideration one day? Sure, he was a late bloomer and most of his traditional numbers don’t scream Hall of Famer, but I don’t think the Hall of Fame should just be about who had the best numbers (and obviously it isn’t, or Bonds and Clemens would be in). He kind of revolutionized the game to an extent and had every team looking for the next Ben Zobrist, played a big role in helping two different teams win the World Series, including driving home the championship-winning run that ended the Cubs’ curse. He’s an important figure of the last decade of baseball
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