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Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 6/29/18
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Jeff Sullivan
10:27
It almost doesn't matter how much club control a team has over a reliever. Every reliever in baseball is a short-term asset
Billy Beane
10:27
The A's are actually good right now. Their offense is good, their defense is actually pretty good and if there has been a better 8-9 combo this year than Trivino-Treinen, I don't know who it is. Their starting pitching probably isn't good enough to get them into the WC, but they are good.
Jeff Sullivan
10:28
BaseRuns puts the A's just two games back of the Mariners. The actual spread is seven games. If it weren't for the Mariners' inexplicable clutch hitting, this would be a very fun race
Matt D
10:28
What is up with Joey Votto's temper lately?  As someone who watches way too many games, he has been downright ornery for more than a week now, basically every day.  Did he just realize he plays in Cincy?
Jeff Sullivan
10:28
I can't imagine Joey Votto is having very much fun
10:29
The team around him is bad, and he's not hitting for power. So, for Votto, he's beginning to sense the end, and there's no indication he'll ever get to play again in a meaningful game
Or maybe he's just gotten bad sleep
Bo
10:32
What on earth is going on with the Braves bullpen? Snitker's mismanagement aside, there are plenty of guys in AAA who are better than guys like Moylan, Jackson, etc.
Jeff Sullivan
10:32
Jackson has the lowest average leverage when entering of any Braves reliever with 10+ innings
10:33
Moylan is also below average in that regard, and that's despite having been dependable every other game just last season
Bill
10:34
Do you expect Dustin Fowler to become a 20/20+ guy in the next year of two? Seems like the talent is there although he's locked in a platoon situation
Jeff Sullivan
10:35
You need to play pretty often to get to 20/20. Fowler isn't doing enough to earn that. But then again, his stiffest positional competition might be Boog Powell, so...yeah, what the hell, call him 20/20 in a couple of years
National League Umpire
10:37
Off the top of your head, what’s been the best trade deadline pickup of the past 5 years that no one talks about?
Jeff Sullivan
10:37
Am I allowed to say the Tigers getting Jeimer Candelario?
10:38
Or the Padres getting Chris Paddack back in 2016. That was a stroke of genius
Now, these are not really in keeping with what you're going for...
10:40
I think back in 2016 the Dodgers did well to get Josh Fields -- he's thrown 110.2 innings for them, with 110 strikeouts and a 2.68 ERA
But this is not an easy question, it turns out
Bill
10:41
Full season of Eloy next year have 30 HR upside?
Jeff Sullivan
10:41
No question. If he's up early enough, he's going to slug
James
10:41
I know the Astros are almost certain to win the division, but when do the Mariners have a bad stretch so they can get a good cushion?
Jeff Sullivan
10:41
The Mariners did just go 3-7 in that Red Sox/Yankees stretch
10:42
The Mariners have lost 5.5 games of ground to the Astros in like three or so weeks
Bill
10:43
Is Seth Lugo for real?
Jeff Sullivan
10:43
He's pretty interesting, yeah, now that he's gotten a better hold on his curveball
10:44
Over three seasons, Lugo's curveball O-Swing% has gone up, while his Z-Swing% has gone down. That's beautiful
THe law
10:44
You've written about German. Loaisaga also looks pretty good. At this point, should the Yanks even want Tanaka back?
Jeff Sullivan
10:44
Yes?
@RationalMLBFan
10:45
How should Aaron Judge react to the large number of strikes being called on pitches outside his zone? Should he swing at such pitches, since it at least gives him a chance at a ball in play, instead of watching strike 3 go by? Or should he continue to take such pitches, so as not to mess with his mechanics or expand his zone, and hope that the umpires call his zone correctly?
Jeff Sullivan
10:46
Just because of how gigantic he is, Aaron Judge is always going to give umpires problems. I bet this has been happening his entire life, since his final growth spurt. You just can't expect umpires to mentally adjust the zone for such an atypically tall hitter
Over the past year and a half, Judge has a wRC+ of like 166
10:48
If it's possible, the Yankees might encourage Judge to become a little more aggressive with two-strike counts, but if Judge finds that too disruptive, then, well, this is just one unfortunate side effect of an otherwise incredible profile
10:50
As I think I recall, umpires have gotten better over time at dealing with Jose Altuve's strike-zone dimensions. Maybe there's hope that they'll adjust to Judge in the opposite way
Bill
10:51
Amed Rosario or Willy Adames career?
Jeff Sullivan
10:51
Adames, pretty easily
Not Reinhold Neibuhr
10:52
Gregory Polanco. If one squints, could you make the case he's having a good year, if somewhat BABIP'd. ISO is up, BB% up. Is there something there?
Jeff Sullivan
10:52
Offensively speaking, all together, I think Polanco is having the best season of his career
10:53
By xwOBA, it's the best by 23 points
So some of this, yeah, is just bad luck
bighen
10:55
Obviously you need a much longer column than a chat but any quick hitters on what the Mets do??
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