You are viewing the chat in desktop mode. Click here to switch to mobile view.
X
Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 6/1/18
powered byJotCast
View Full Chat Next Page
Jeff Sullivan
9:03
Hello friends
Welcome to Friday baseball chat
Tommy N.
9:03
Jose Pirela has a 1.2 bWAR but only a 0.3 fWAR why such a drastic difference?
Jeff Sullivan
9:04
Defensive Runs Saved puts Pirela at +5 as a second baseman and +3 as an outfielder. For Ultimate Zone Rating, it's +1 and -1, respectively
9:05
A gap like that is likely to regress as we move forward; most importantly, if you're the Padres, no matter what's going on with Pirela's defense, you want him to be hitting for some actual power. So far, he's not
Dylan
9:05
How amazing is Brandon Nimmo?
Jeff Sullivan
9:06
Well, the average major leaguer is probably like a 9.5 out of 10, so Nimmo goes up to 9.8
They're all amazing!
Nimmo is a little more amazing than most of the rest
9:07
Never underestimate the ceiling of a young hitter with a very good eye
Consider this my weekly nod toward Jabari Blash
(Slugging .783 in Triple-A)
jimmy
9:08
JA Happ is looking like the best starter on the trading block this summer. What could he fetch in a trade?
Jeff Sullivan
9:09
Happ is already cooling off some -- his K-BB% in April was 29%, and in May it was 15%
9:11
This is Happ's contract year, and he has an established track record of being fine without being great. No one is going to trade for Happ because they're delighted to start him in the playoffs; he'd be a third or fourth starter option for most
9:12
If Happ remains reasonably good, he'll bring back a better return than, say, Jaime Garcia, but not really by a whole lot, barring another month like he had in April
For me, I think a lot of teams looking for pitching might rather trade for Tyson Ross
NL Cavity Probe
9:13
Are the Brewers among the class of the NL now, or just a decent and lucky team?
Jeff Sullivan
9:13
At present, they're fifth in the National League in BaseRuns record
9:14
There's a little bit of a Royals thing going on here -- the Brewers probably have baseball's strongest bullpen, and they're also first in DRS and almost first in UZR
9:15
Because of the defense and because of the relief pitching, the Brewers are probably going to keep on "overachieving" relative to what you'd expect, but for me, they're still an arm or a bat short
9:16
Jimmy Nelson might be that arm. We'll see around the All-Star break
Xolo
9:17
The Cubs keep breaking safety rules and Maddon questions the rules afterwards and the league is gonna... do nothing about it?
Jeff Sullivan
9:17
I imagine there has been some private communication. If it happens again, I wouldn't expect the communication to be so private
kevinthecomic
9:18
Can someone please write about why Matt Carpenter sucked for the first 6 weeks of the season but has recently returned to normal?  I would look it up myself but, you know, effort.
Jeff Sullivan
9:19
Carpenter, April: .266 wOBA
Carpenter, May: .405 wOBA
Carpenter, April: .405 expected wOBA
Carpenter, May: .410 expected wOBA
9:20
I know that's not the whole story, and I know that xwOBA is somewhat incomplete, but this is a time where it's really quite useful. The slumping Carpenter was hitting balls that should've been a lot more productive than they were
9:21
On top of that, maybe Carpenter's back and shoulder are feeling better of late. Anthony Rizzo has hit far better since putting a back problem further behind him
Ryan
9:22
How are Mookie Betts and Jose Ramirez so small and so powerful?
Jeff Sullivan
9:22
So far, 211 players have hit at least 100 batted balls
In terms of maximum exit velocity generated, Ramirez ranks 123rd. Betts ranks 94th. Altuve ranks 148th
9:24
It's not the raw strength that's so incredible. They're not even in the same universe as Aaron Judge. What's incredible is how good these guys are at getting the barrel to the baseball, over and over and over again
You don't need to have above-average raw power to have above-average game power, if that makes any sense
Poised
9:25
Jon Gray leads MLB in BABIP against (.376), and looking at his Statcast data, a lot of it has been soft contact or contact with low hit probability. His peripherals look good. Has he just been unlucky and is he going to bounce back and be good again?
Jeff Sullivan
9:27
Not the least bit worried about Jon Gray. His stuff is still great. Lowest contact rate of his career. Last July he allowed a .405 BABIP. It was a little over .300 after that
9:28
Because he's a Rockie, pitching half the time in Denver, his BABIP will be somewhat elevated. And if he keeps missing bats out of the zone, more of his contact will be *in* the zone, also slightly lifting the BABIP. But these things are ephemeral. Gray is real good
Andrew
9:28
Any recent change in the top 5 or is it Bart, Bohm, Madrigal, Mize, and Singer in some order?
Jeff Sullivan
9:28
This is not the chat you're looking for
I can't hold a candle to Eric or Kiley. They're the experts
Connecting…