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Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 6/9/17
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Jeff Sullivan
10:08
And then you have the huge glaring Verlander question. That would take some balls, but it's an option
ben
10:08
Hey Jeff, I see Shark sitting right next to Nelson in the K/BB% improvements in your article. Does that give the Giants another possible new ace as well?
Jeff Sullivan
10:09
Samardzija deserves his own article. I just chose to focus on Nelson because less has been written about him overall, and he hasn't exactly teased in this way previously
El Guapo
10:10
I know Chase Headley has been bad, but replacing him with Torres is a bad idea, right? Playing major league baseball is hard, I have a tough time believing even as talented as he is that he'd represent an upgrade.
Jeff Sullivan
10:10
I wouldn't swap the two, myself. I might change my mind in the second half depending on how patterns keep up
Look At The #s
10:10
New layout kinda sucks for desktop viewing.
Jeff Sullivan
10:10
You'll get used to it
You'll always get used to it
No matter what it is
Babe Rua
10:11
The Rangers are a mess. Presumably they will make everyone but Mazara (and Gallo?) available but, realistically, who else do they have that contenders would be legitimately interested in? Darvish and Bush?? I'd take Brinson back for those two.
Jeff Sullivan
10:12
If the Rangers actually do decide to sell, then Darvish will be a big huge enormous chip. Similar to the Cueto move from the other season. Tyson Ross could also potentially emerge if he gets back soon and makes a couple quality starts
Hal
10:12
Do we have any way to measure how much the value of defense has changed due to increases in HRs and Ks? A bad corner outfielder be probably less harmful today than in previous years, but would that be by a meaningful amount?
Jeff Sullivan
10:13
If I recall, then, per team, there are about 25 in-play batted balls per game in 2017. A decade ago, there were 27
10:14
It's probably not as simple as saying defense is now 7% less valuable, but there are at least 7% fewer opportunities
GausRifle
10:15
Regressing Sano makes him look an awful lot like his partial season in 2015. Is he better than that now or is that a reasonable comparison?
Jeff Sullivan
10:15
2015 Miguel Sano was amazing
10:16
He also has a better approach. His O-Swing% has stayed the same, but his Z-Swing% has climbed 14 percentage points
He is very good
Pine Marten
10:16
Should the Nationals still try to target a guy like D Robertson or should they try to get someone cheaper like Brad Hand (or one of my favorites, Blake Parker)?
Jeff Sullivan
10:17
That's probably going to come down to whether money is freed up for them to add significant payroll. They always make that hard to predict
Kevin
10:18
So is Jon Lester's command just worse this year? A lot of his peripherals are in line with his career numbers. Seems kind of odd.
Jeff Sullivan
10:19
Lester threw to David Ross most of the time in 2016, 2015, and 2014. No Ross, obviously, in 2017. I don't mean to suggest that Lester's success was a function of working with a particular catcher, but they had a great relationship, and now Lester is getting a worse zone. Lester/Ross were probably the premier pair around in terms of getting the best zone possible
curious
10:19
The new site is so similar to the old one as to be indifferent
Jeff Sullivan
10:19
This is my favorite new opinion
2-D
10:22
Is Gerrit Cole's increased usage in offspeed the main culprit for his increased HR/FB this year?
Jeff Sullivan
10:22
I'm going to be honest with you -- I can't figure anything out here
I see where the extra home runs are coming from, but right now I don't see any reason to believe it's going to stay this bad
10:23
Cole seems like he's basically fine. He's even getting ahead more often. I'm not worried
On the other hand, he has started to lose a little bit of velocity
10:25
Also looks like he's dropped his arm slot slightly. So hints of a mechanical issue causing a few too many pitches to flatten out in the middle of the zone
curious
10:25
what the heck is going on with gerritt cole?
Jeff Sullivan
10:25
Conveniently, see above!
Baryoolo Cologne
10:26
Do you think we see the Cards make a move to try and contend in the NL WC or possibly get back into the NL Central race?
Jeff Sullivan
10:26
They know they're not going to win the Central, and they're already 8.5 back in the wild-card hunt.
Used to see them as a Quintana option but that just strikes me right now as being too unlikely
Nate
10:27
Strasburg has been really impressive going exclusively from the stretch, do you think more power pitchers with injury concerns will give the stretch-only method a try?
Jeff Sullivan
10:27
He's not the first and he won't be the last. Carrasco did this. Nelson is doing this. It's fairly common
Stenzy
10:27
Great article about draft and development. Crazy to see the Giants rank first in producing big leaguers when system doesn't ever get that much respect. Why is that?
Jeff Sullivan
10:28
Giants have been good about turning out some over-achievers. Plus, picking Buster Posey doesn't hurt. It's been one of the secrets to their recent run of success -- they haven't had to make too many splashes because they've had this steady chain of internal reinforcements
Ajay
10:29
Solely as a pitcher, how many WAR would a healthy Otani have in a full season?
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