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Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 2/16/18
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Tater
9:29
Landing spot for Greg Holland?  I've felt like it was STL from the start even after stories came out about them being not too hot on him.
Jeff Sullivan
9:29
I honestly don't know. It's a complete mystery to me
9:31
Maybe that's where the Nationals go if they don't go for Arrieta, but in that case Holland wouldn't be closing, so is that something he'd really want?
Random dark horse: the A's have budget room left to spend, and no one to spend it on
Hunky Dory
9:32
How should Mets fans feel about their offseason, now that a reasonable amount of money has been spent, if mostly on middling players like Vargas, Bruce, and Frazier?
Jeff Sullivan
9:34
The Mets have been in the right position to tinker and try to add. But their season is also probably going to come down to Conforto, deGrom, Syndergaard, and a few of the other starters. Not a whole lot you can do about health, during the winter -- it'll either be there or it won't. The real impact players were already on the roster. They're the question marks. Everything else has just lifted the team's floor
Like, it feels a little strange to take at-bats away from Wilmer Flores, but on the other hand, now that's a good hitter who's available off the bench as a multi-position reserve. Pretty neat
Tim
9:34
Have you had a moment yet this year where you’ve seen a picture of a guy at spring training and been like “Oh yeah, this guy’s with this team now”? For me, I had totally forgotten that Ron Gardenhire is managing the Tigers now
Jeff Sullivan
9:35
I had too until your comment
My job is to be aware of everything, but out of the 30 teams this season, I expect to pay attention to the Tigers the least
Hannah Hochevar
9:35
Given he still throws hard, is it possible Cashner can get his k's back?
Jeff Sullivan
9:36
Some of them, yeah. It might not be a coincidence that he, Hamels, and Darvish all lost a bunch of strikeouts while pitching for the Rangers last season
9:37
Cashner's bat-missing slider kind of disappeared as it turned more into a cutter. Can probably be at least partially recovered
Philosoraptor
9:37
Jeff, you are a Very Smart Baseballman. Today, you would almost certainly be a terrible GM, because that is a really specific and hard job. If you were transported 20 years back in time, say, with a secret Fangraphs/Statcast/modern baseball stats machine, how awesome would you be? The knowledge would make you really good right
Jeff Sullivan
9:37
20 years ago most of us here, including the readers, would've been able to build an MLB juggernaut
9:38
I mean that in all sincerity!
Maybe we wouldn't have the necessary people skills, I don't know, but just in terms of analysis and roster-building, we would've been so far ahead of the curve
Kareem Hunt
9:40
Has there been any news on Sano? Good bet for suspension?
Jeff Sullivan
9:40
I haven't seen an update, but I know a month or so ago the team said that ideally they'd have an answer by the start of spring training. Something will probably come out soon, and I would expect that Sano will be suspended
lagniappe
9:40
Jeff, are you going to continue KATOH or is that lost forever?  What if Pecota had been lost when Nate left?
Jeff Sullivan
9:41
KATOH belongs to Chris, and Chris has been hired by somebody else
Eventually someone new might come along who does statistical prospect analysis, but for the time being, I guess it's just up to Carson's fringe five
Zonk
9:42
Gerardo Parra is out 4-6 weeks...even if the Rockies are kind of broke, why not get some cheap depth?  Thinking something Seth Smith or Cameron Maybin-esque
Jeff Sullivan
9:42
They're probably focusing instead on a resolution at first base, since that could affect their outfield depth on account of Ian Desmond
Sean R
9:45
Jeff, I need your breakdown of Nick Franklin rejoining the Brewers
Jeff Sullivan
9:45
Technically, between 2016 and 2017, Franklin's wRC+ dropped from 109 to 48
But in 2017, he actually posted the higher expected wOBA!
9:46
He's still not actually good, but since he turns only 27 in a couple of weeks, whatever, there's worse depth to have in Triple-A
Charlie
9:46
Why aren't types of outs considered in calculating wOBA and similar stats? Don't strikeouts have different base-out implications than flyouts and groundouts?
Jeff Sullivan
9:46
All the outs are similar. Strikeouts present basically no advancement opportunities, but ball-in-play outs can turn into double plays
9:47
The benefit, in other words, is statistically negligible
Kiermaier's Piercing Green Eyes
9:48
How cocky is too cocky? Asking for Brent Honeyw...er, a friend.
Jeff Sullivan
9:49
On Ryan Anderson:
""Typical" may not be the most apt description for the storkish kid, now 19, who showed equal parts precociousness and braggadocio. Struggling to find his place among the veterans, the man-child misspoke badly when he stated that he had "pretty much dominated" the hitters one day in batting practice early last spring.

Those hitters, including Alex Rodriguez, Jay Buhner and Ken Griffey Jr., the latter leaving after a handful of pitches, were taking the first swings at live pitching after a winter off. Anderson had been throwing in the bullpen for 10 days.

His comment was not received well by the Mariners, who quickly showed the raw pitcher a rookie's place was one of quiet observation. They rode him hard. One day, they left a case of baseballs next to his locker in mock expectation of getting him to autograph them. "The Dominator," they called him."
Zach
9:50
so the Blue Jays offseason consists of Granderson, Grichuk, Solarte, Diaz, now Jaime Garcia.....how much more blah can that get?
Jeff Sullivan
9:50
The Blue Jays are trying to transition to an imminent younger phase and instead of bottoming out they currently project to be in the thick of the AL wild-card hunt
9:51
They could probably use, say, another good reliever or something, but given that the Jays weren't going to keep up with the Yankees and Red Sox, this isn't so bad
Davy
9:51
You're still here!
Jeff Sullivan
9:51
The Athletic hasn't even sent me an email!
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