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Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 2/21/18
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Jeff Sullivan
9:05
Hello friends
Welcome to one-time Wednesday baseball chat
9:06
Kiley is out of the country and could only chat on Friday this week, so we pulled off a temporary swap. Sorry for you disappointed Kiley fans!
Ryan H
9:07
Thoughts on Forrest Whitley?
Jeff Sullivan
9:08
Haven't seen specifically what he's being suspended for. All I know is he's being suspended. These things are typically about weed, and while no minor-league player should be smoking weed while it's a suspension-worthy activity, it's absurd that they can be suspended for this and big-leaguers can't
9:09
Speaking just in generalities, I doubt this reflects a huge behavior problem on Whitley's part, and I expect that he'll still reach the majors by the end of the summer
Jim
9:09
Colby Rasmus to the Orioles.    Can he pitch?
Jeff Sullivan
9:09
Can Chris Tillman?
Ryan H
9:09
When will Cameron Maybin be traded?
Jeff Sullivan
9:09
Fingers crossed that he eventually gets dealt for Miguel Cabrera
Chip Johnson
9:10
The Diamondbacks front office seems to be pretty excellent.
Jeff Sullivan
9:10
I'm a big fan of whichever team goes out and gets Jarrod Dyson. Easy way to earn my support
Now, I like Anthony Banda, but Souza's the real deal. Way better than them trying to pay for J.D. Martinez
X
9:13
Were the Orioles wrong to move Machado off of short? At the time, they had an above-average shortstop in Hardy and an average third baseman in Reynolds. Wasn’t Hardy/Machado better than Reynolds/Machado?
Jeff Sullivan
9:14
Back then, Hardy was still pretty special, so it would've been hard to convince him to move. And Reynolds was something of a defensive disaster, so instead of Hardy at SS and Reynolds at 3B, the Orioles wound up with Reynolds at 1B, Hardy at SS, and Machado at 3B. Made the defense a million times better
9:15
Then after Machado got injured, I imagine that informed the decision to keep him away from short for a while. Now, in retrospect, he probably could've handled it, but I don't think the Orioles suffered as a consequence
Jack
9:15
The Rays say it’s extremely unlikely that they subtract further and that they’re probably gonna look to add now. They currently have three outfielders, all of whom hit left-handed. Who do you see them signing? Gomez? Bautista? Ideally neither Span or Smith would have to play against lefties
Jeff Sullivan
9:17
I think Gomez would work well as a cheap add, as he's fairly similar to Souza. The only issue there is that Gomez is a Boras client, so who knows how cheap he might actually be
9:18
Bautista has been connected for a while but that would strictly be to DH; can't imagine the Rays of all teams would want to watch Jose Bautista in the outfield every day
I do take the Rays at their word that they aren't tanking. They certainly haven't made themselves *better*, but my personal belief is that the public has overreacted to what's happening. It's tough from a fan perspective, absolutely, but the club isn't bad
Sterling Malory Chris Archer
9:18
What should I tell my boss now that I’ll be here for the next two hours for a surprise Sullivan chat?
Jeff Sullivan
9:18
Tell your boss to log into the chat
Babe Lincoln
9:19
Has this year had more turnover at FG than usual?
Jeff Sullivan
9:19
No question, mostly because there was never much turnover before. Losing Dave to the Padres was something that long would've been unimaginable
9:20
Dave Cameron, Eno Sarris, Paul Swydan, Chris Mitchell -- they were all here for a while. Now, we also have Jay Jaffe, Kiley McDaniel, Meg Rowley, and even more contributors who have or have not yet been announced
9:21
I know that from the audience perspective, turnover is hard to get used to. But if it makes any difference, *I'm* not going to go anywhere
Unless the Padres give me an offer I cannot refuse, too
Ryan H
9:23
How much regression should we expect from Marwin Gonzalez?
Jeff Sullivan
9:23
A lot. I think he's more of a 110 wRC+ kind of player
Corey
9:23
Thoughts on Whitley's PED suspension?
Jeff Sullivan
9:23
Not a PED suspension
CamdenWarehouse
9:23
I'm really confused about how Arizona is making deals.  How does the America's Cup get to Phoenix?
Jeff Sullivan
9:23
Scott Boras is simultaneously very creative and kind of stupid
Bork
9:24
wait what
Jeff Sullivan
9:24
Hello friend?
Ehhhhhrly.
9:24
Anybody buying Blash? Want to see him come to the Rays.
Jeff Sullivan
9:24
I badly, badly, BADLY want to see him get 500 major-league plate appearances. I don't know who would actually give them to him
If I had my druthers, he'd go be the regular DH for the White Sox
9:25
He can hit the absolute shit out of the ball. Let him try to do it! The world has seen enough of Matt Davidson
Ross
9:26
Donaldson says he and the Jays aren’t really in the same ballpark in contract talks, that he’s shelved those talks for now to focus on the season, and that he expects to hit free agency after the season. Would you put Donaldson’s chances of being a Blue Jay on August 1st at over or under 50%?
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