JotCast | Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 8/26/16

Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 8/26/16

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Jeff Sullivan

9:28

He is good, young, and rich

The only downside is that he looks like an adult baby

Bill

9:28

Has Kris Bryant exceeded your expectations? I personally didn't think he would have many 6 WAR seasons, he's on pace for around 8 right now.

Jeff Sullivan

9:29

I expected great things from Bryant, offensively. Now, I didn't expect him to turn into so much of a pull hitter. But, he's clearly doing just fine. He has absolutely exceeded my expectations on the bases and in the field. I didn't think he'd be so defensively versatile, and that's what really puts him over the top

Outta my way, Gyorkass

9:31

Jeremy Jeffress...good lord man. Does MLB treat DUI arrests as a drug policy violation the way the NFL does?

Jeff Sullivan

9:31

I'm not trusting my memory too much right now but what my memory says is that MLB doesn't really have much of a DUI policy with any teeth

9:32

That's been a big problem in the past when DUI offenders have gotten away without penalties while players have been suspended for, like, brushing an umpire

Now, granted, the difference is that a DUI isn't committed on the field or in a stadium. Jeffress will face legal consequences

Patrick

9:33

Who has the best starting rotation in the AL East? It isn't exactly clear cut, but the Red Sox starters have been fantastic post ASB

Jeff Sullivan

9:33

Improbably, it looks like the Blue Jays

9:33

Do you believe the Coors Hangover might be real and do you think anyone at Fangraphs would look into it, maybe in the offseason?

Jeff Sullivan

9:34

I tried to write about this for Fox before: http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/searching-for-a-coors-field-hangover-020615

That didn't turn up a lot, but maybe I was just going about things wrong. I absolutely do believe that playing at Coors makes it more difficult to adjust to pitch movements at other ballparks. No question

9:35

That doesn't seem to resolve itself over the course of individual road trips, for whatever reason. Traded players indicate that you can recover from a few years of getting Coorsed

Josh

9:36

Since his most recent recall, Randal Grichuk has scorched the ball, but he's walking less than 3% and striking out over 33% of the time. Do you see anything in his profile that suggests a more sustainable production level going forward as opposed to earlier in the season?

Jeff Sullivan

9:37

I think I remember reading something recently about how the Cardinals now just want to let Grichuk be Grichuk. They tried to improve his discipline earlier but then he just got caught in between being passive and being aggressive. That's not him and I guess that's not something that could be forced upon him

9:38

The encouraging thing is simply that Grichuk was a good hitter as an aggressive type a season ago. The pop is very clearly in there and the contact rate is low but not extreme. I think Grichuk will just live his days out as a low-OBP slugging type. Maybe that's not the "Cardinal way" but it's what works for him. Should still be a fine regular

Andrew

9:38

Is there a point at which an elite defender should be moved up the defensive spectrum in order to maximize his value? I.e. if a 2B saves 20 runs/year, would he be more valuable if he moved to SS? Or should they just be put wherever they can save the most runs?

Jeff Sullivan

9:39

In theory, at least, it doesn't make a difference. But we've seen this talk with, say, Jason Heyward, and back in the day with Ichiro. Where you can run into one issue is that maybe a player is elite at a certain position because he understands every single angle and nuance. If you then change that player's position, everything changes. He has to learn new details

I think most of the time, you should just leave the great ones be

Ronnie

9:40

Ryan Braun is at +5 DRS & -2.5 UZR for the season, giving him +28 DRS & -23 UZR for his careeer in LF. Has he likely been an average LF even though neither system has seen him a such?

Jeff Sullivan

9:40

Ooh, fun! Yeah, I'd go with your interpretation.

CamdenWarehouse

9:41

When we talk about hard hit ball data, are foul balls tracked or only balls in play?

Jeff Sullivan

9:41

Foul balls get tracked but not included. Except, perhaps, foul outs.

your friend

9:41

how do you pick the quotes you use when you tweet out the chats

Jeff Sullivan

9:41

Hurriedly

Patrick

9:41

Are you enjoying the Arquimedes Caminero experience? He's looked pretty good since moving over to Seattle.

Jeff Sullivan

9:41

He's allowed seven runs in 11 games

9:42

What he *has* done is rather dramatically increase his zone rate. So he's throwing more strikes, which helps. But his control still blows

9:43

Let me take that back. The strikes indicate his control is fine. It's his command that blows

9:44

It's funny -- the Mariners are doing to Caminero what the Pirates usually do for pitchers. With the Mariners, Caminero's strike rate is up five percentage points. That's the same thing the Pirates have done with Ivan Nova since they got him from the Yankees

Joe

9:45

How quickly can A's fans expect their prospects to bring them to ~.500? 2018? 2019?

Jeff Sullivan

9:45

In every single season, the A's try to give themselves a decent shot at .500. So I wouldn't even rule out 2017. But they need to have better health. Injuries have slaughtered them

#Triggs

Justin

9:47

What is Taillon's upside? A really good #2? Like a Josh Beckett?

Jeff Sullivan

9:48

That works as a pretty good comp. Similar repertoires in there. Taillon is impressing by throwing a lot of strikes even despite all the missed time. If he can stay healthy, all the lights are green

Bork

9:48

Hello, friend!

Jeff Sullivan

9:48

Hello friend

KSF

9:48

What is your unbaised perception of JA Happ?

Jeff Sullivan

9:48

I can't imagine having a biased perception of JA Happ