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Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 4/21/17
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humble
10:47
The Mariners offense is currently being propped up by a rookie and a utility bench player. How much of Motter is sustainable? Surely the power is coming as at least something of a surprise?
Jeff Sullivan
10:48
Last year, Motter generated terrible exit velocities. I haven't written about him yet because I'm conscious of doing too much Mariners stuff, but I've had my eye on him since spring training. My hunch is he's another swing-change dude
Jeff
10:48
Is Taylor Motter for real?
Jeff Sullivan
10:48
If you touch him, he will say "what"
He is not a hologram
Babe Lincoln
10:49
The Dodgers traded Mike Piazza because there was acrimony btwn the player and the FO. Feels like we're seeing that less and less, no?
Jeff Sullivan
10:49
Teams are too strongly incentivized to not act irrationally
There was speculation that Josh Donaldson was traded because of a feud with Billy Beane, but I don't buy into that
Peanut Butter
10:50
What's up with Aaron Hicks? Is the breakout coming?
Jeff Sullivan
10:50
I truly doubt it, but I'm open-minded. Super small sample, but I love a guy with more home runs than strikeouts
Kakie Bryan
10:51
Should I be worried about Anthony Rendon? He's not hitting line drives and his hard hit % is way down.
Jeff Sullivan
10:51
He'll be fine
I don't see much of anything troubling yet
Rick
10:52
So tell me if I'm wrong here, but wouldn't the humidors going in at Chase Field hurt the Dbacks more than help them considering their offense is basically what propels this team
Jeff Sullivan
10:52
Offense is always relative to opposing offense. If the D-Backs lose 20 home runs, and their opponents also lose 20 home runs, then it's a wash
And if anything, given all their electric young pitchers, they could use a few more flies dying at the track to give a boost of confidence
Brian
10:53
Since the start of last year the Cubs active roster is 4th in wRC+ vs left handed pitching but last in hard hit rate. Is that weird?
Jeff Sullivan
10:53
I guess so
Brian
10:53
McCullers is getting ahead and throwing in the zone at a higher rate than in the past. Small sample noise or a step forward?
Jeff Sullivan
10:53
McCullers last year: 63% strikes. McCullers this year: 63% strikes
Luck Dragons
10:54
Why can't a team move their catcher to be an extra infielder with less than two strikes and bases empty?
Jeff Sullivan
10:54
The rules
Kelly
10:54
Anything unlucky about Kyle Seager's slow start?
Jeff Sullivan
10:55
This seems like an annual thing. Not worried
seattlecougar
10:55
I've really missed the NERD game scores this year. Who do I have to bribe with sexual favors to get those back?
Jeff Sullivan
10:55
I don't think Carson is particularly sexually motivated
Christian
10:55
I'm pretty sure Danny Duffy also started having some success when he went to the stretch full-time.
Jeff Sullivan
10:56
Yeah, good number of guys who've done that. Actually makes me wonder why there's a wind-up at all
A pitcher has to achieve release-point consistency with his delivery. So why have two deliveries instead of one?
JB
10:56
I want to be you. Can you get me a job?
Jeff Sullivan
10:56
I can! If you have demonstrated a track record of writing about baseball consistently and insightfully.
kevinthecomic
10:57
wrt your comment of "I can't believe this is an actual job", how are you guys paid? By the article? word? salary? something else? I'm not looking to know rates, obviously, just how things are structured.
Jeff Sullivan
10:57
Full-timers are salaried. I think there are 9 or 10 of us
It's a regular job, except for the part where it's a silly job for a person to have
10:58
My girlfriend comes home talking about deep, dramatic student crises at the campus where she works. I spend my days writing about Tommy Milone drawing a walk
Jay
10:59
Anthony Castrovince just tweeted this "Jason Vargas, Dallas Keuchel, CC Sabathia, Jeremy Hellickson, Mike Leake all rank in top 20 in ERA and bottom 20 in average fastball velo."
Jeff Sullivan
10:59
It is going to be interesting to me to see if there's a sort of velocity push-back. Everyone's trying to throw harder and harder. Can you *actually* command the ball better if you're throwing at 95%? If so, that seems like a thing to target
Anthony
11:00
How far into extra-innings does a good game have to go for you to turn it off out of boredom?
Jeff Sullivan
11:00
I think I'm more likely to be interested the *longer* it goes
Thin Balor
11:00
With the uptick in velocity is Shelby Miller back to being a solid #2-3 SP?
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