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Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 8/1/18
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Jeff Sullivan
9:10
oooooooookay, done podcasting now
Hello friends
Welcome to Wednesday baseball chat
Next week, we'll be back to normal, and I'll reoccupy my standard Friday slot
9:11
This has been a hectic couple weeks
THE Average Sports Fan
9:11
Where you surprised the A's didn't make a move for a controllable Starting Pitcher?
Jeff Sullivan
9:11
A little bit, yeah
9:12
More surprised the Brewers also didn't
9:13
But pretty obviously, these teams didn't think the pitchers available were worth the asking prices. The Brewers like their pitching more than the consensus, and the A's probably figure they have enough to scrape by for now, with reinforcements arriving down the stretch or at the start of 2019
9:14
Big question for the A's might be Jesus Luzardo. He just got promoted to Triple-A after breezing through the Texas League. Can't put too much pressure on him but there's some chance he could make a difference in September
The Mariners don't have one of those
(The gap between them is back down to only one game)
divine chanteuse
9:14
So now that the Rays only have $10 million committed on the books for next season, they're free to go hard after one of Machado/Harper, right?
Jeff Sullivan
9:15
I know you're joking, and I recognize that it's impossible, but then people also figured it was impossible that the Pirates would make a big trade splash
It's 2018! Anything goes!
Ray Liotta as Shoeless Joe
9:16
Let's take a second to acknowledge a sports-related thing that really matters: LeBron James opened a school for underprivileged kids, and is effectively subsidizing their entire education.

What baseball players are most likely to follow suit and perform a basic function of government for us?
Jeff Sullivan
9:17
Every team has a few. They don't, of course, have LeBron James money. But they're not all power-hungry monsters
9:18
After reading about Andrew Chafin the other day I could see him just building people houses
Just like, hey, I'm bored, why don't I build you a home
Kiermaier's Piercing Green Eyes
9:18
Isn't it a massive red flag that the Rays, who have a similar financial situation and competitive timeline to the Pirates, were willing to trade their controlled pitcher on a team-friendly deal at all? If the Rays thought they could "fix" Archer, they would have done it by now.
Jeff Sullivan
9:19
I do think there's some validity to this. Over and over I saw statements to the effect of, the Rays are more open about trading Archer than ever. That's not a coincidence. His contract is still extremely team-friendly. They didn't *have* to do this
9:20
But I don't think Archer is on the verge of completely breaking down. The Rays might've just felt he got overexposed in the AL East. A lot of this just comes down to the fact the Pirates have something to play for in 2018. I think that's what pushed them over the edge, and allowed for a trade we wouldn't otherwise see between two such similar teams
Pablo's BeltBuckle
9:20
Are there any trades we should look out for over the next month?
Jeff Sullivan
9:21
Yes
I don't think anything on the Justin Verlander level, though
9:22
Yonder Alonso was traded last August
Sean Rodriguez was traded last August
Jay Bruce and Neil Walker were traded last August, and so on and so forth
9:23
I don't have a list of players in front of me, but there will be activity. Keep an eye on the Giants if they start to fade
9:24
Marco Estrada might go somewhere if he improves
James
9:25
Considering the returns for both players, if you were Atlanta, would you have paid the price for Archer? Or do you prefer the Gausman deal?
Jeff Sullivan
9:25
I don't think the Gausman deal hurts very much. The Archer deal would've been tough
Remember that we don't even yet know the third piece involved
9:26
It's funny, too -- over the past three years, Archer has an ERA- of 101, and Gausman is at 98
9:27
Archer, of course, has better peripherals, but if you truly believe he's *worse* than his peripherals, then it's easy to see Gausman as an alternative. Shouldn't hurt to get him away from the Orioles' pitcher-development program
Gausman's always felt like a guy who might benefit from new instruction
Frosty the Sandman
9:27
What are your thoughts of the Indians/Cardinals trade that involved only minor leaguers?  Why do swaps of talent in the minors not happen more frequently?
Jeff Sullivan
9:28
Because teams believe in their own guys, and they're invested in their own guys, and swapping minor leaguers isn't something that advances a competitive window. So there's no imbalance between a currently good team and a currently bad team
9:30
I like the Oscar Mercado pickup for Cleveland. I'm biased in favor of guys who are closer to the majors, but Mercado seems like he's someone who could help really soon. Connel Capel and Jhon Torres, not so much
9:31
With that being said I don't know if Mercado is actually a plus defensive CF. The speed, at least, is there
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