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Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 3/30/18
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Jeff Sullivan
9:39
Relievers switching to the rotation probably get overrated, and starters switching to the bullpen probably get underrated
Big Tuna
9:41
Strickland made some real changes to his pitch mix in spring and looked good. Is this the year he actually turns into a good closer?
Jeff Sullivan
9:41
Career ERA- of 66 and FIP- of 80. He's already been a good reliever. I doubt he's becoming an elite one, but, you know, relievers
Aaron
9:41
I know it's only one start, but is Kershaw's velocity drop something to be worried about?
Jeff Sullivan
9:41
Not yet
Dan
9:41
Thinking about hiking this spring/summer. Any tips? Haven't really hiked before
Jeff Sullivan
9:43
See if you like it first, before you try to do anything extreme. Try to find trails that offer good views with limited effort. Or, if you just want to get out there, try to research trail systems in the area that don't get a whole lot of visitors. The feeling of being all by yourself in the wilderness is so much better than walking in a line
Justin
9:43
King Felix looked good last night. Chances in your mind of him consistently returning to an xFIP of 3.50 or less, or a WAR of 4+?
Jeff Sullivan
9:44
Hard to see him ever being a 4+ WAR pitcher anymore. If for no other reason than they probably won't let him accumulate the innings. I'm looking forward to seeing where he's at after five or ten starts, but I'm just hoping he's a No. 3, not a No. 1
KimByung Slice
9:44
What time do you usually podcast with Ben? So
Jeff Sullivan
9:44
Depends on the day, but on Fridays, 11am ET
Nat
9:46
Opinion of the Carlos Martinez cutter yesterday? Looked like he through about 5 of them.
Jeff Sullivan
9:47
I think I see two balls and two strikes. No opinion yet -- he clearly didn't trust it, and he clearly wasn't on top of his game in the first place. It'll start to mean something to me if his cutter rate climbs to 10% or so
RK
9:48
Did you utilize the mlb.tv split screen in the past?  How annoying that they auto renew while taking features away.
Jeff Sullivan
Really a big step backward
9:49
Can't believe you can't watch multiple games anymore. It's 2018
tb.25
9:49
True or false: the grandiose show of opening day trumps the best lineup to win (see Belt - 3 for 50 and Crawford - 5 or 40 or so, in lineup versus Kershaw)
Jeff Sullivan
9:50
I like the symbolism of opening day, and if I were a manager I probably wouldn't worry so much about optimizing in Game 1. But I'm also not going to yell at Gabe Kapler because he sat Odubel Herrera
Ron Swanson's Mustache
9:50
Was Kapler's decision to pull Nola in the 6th after 68 pitches an early favorite to be the dumbest decision of this whole season?
Jeff Sullivan
9:50
Good lord no
I think people are just looking for a reason to hate Gabe Kapler
Taylor
9:51
Nick Markakis hit a walk off home run yesterday. It was the first of his career. He also has over 2000 hits.  Surprising it took him so long to get one?
Jeff Sullivan
9:51
Alternate fun fact: the all-time leader in walk-off home runs is Jim Thome, with 13
9:53
Now I want to do two minutes of quick research. Hold on!
9:56
All right, sorry about that
If I've done this all correct, then, at least in the regular season, Norm Cash never hit a walk-off home run
9:57
Hit 377 home runs overall
Jose Bautista hasn't hit a walk-off home run. 331 total home runs
Danny Tartabull never hit a walk-off home run. 262 total home runs
9:58
I hope that was worth it
Surprised about Bautista. He has two walk-off singles, one walk-off walk, and two walk-off sacrifice flies
Billy
9:59
Is hitter swinging strike % positively correlated with height? Can't think of the last 6'6 player who was able to make as much contact as Jose Martinez
Jeff Sullivan
9:59
Swinging-strike rate is positively correlated with power, and power is positively correlated with height
10:00
Joe Mauer makes a ton of contact and he's officially 6'5
10:01
Mostly there just aren't that many players who are 6'6 or taller
Jason Heyward is 6'5!
Chris
10:02
Concerns about Kershaw's velocity? Pretty high WHIP for that game.
Jeff Sullivan
10:02
Kershaw's average exit velocity was 79 miles per hour
10:03
Any concerns I have about Kershaw are just related to his back, which was a pre-existing thing and has nothing to do with yesterday
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