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Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 8/31/18
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Jeff Sullivan
10:21
I still don't see that much about Rodon, and Giolito has overall had a discouraging season. But, yes, the second half has been a hell of a lot more fun and promising than the first. The first half was dreadful
James
10:21
Is Oakland's pitching about to crater? Some pretty major losses there.
Jeff Sullivan
10:22
Manaea has a 102 FIP-; Anderson has a 100 FIP-. They're fine, but these losses aren't devastating. It helps the A's that rosters are about to expand, because in September they won't need more than a few innings out of anyone
10:23
The big question is whether the back of the bullpen will flame out from overuse. That's the strength of the team. The starters have never been asked to do that much
Sammy
10:25
Do you think Muncy should be getting more playing time with the Dodgers?
Jeff Sullivan
10:25
A little more, yeah; his strikeout spike is modestly concerning, but the team should continue to transition away from Kemp, with more Taylor in LF, Bellinger in CF, and Muncy at 1B
stever20
10:27
why do you think the reds haven't used Lorenzen much as a hitter?  only 25 pa's.  Would seem that he would have been used quite a few more times than that
Jeff Sullivan
10:28
Lorenzen is tied for fifth on the team in pinch-hitting appearances. And in fairness, he has a career 96 wRC+, with one walk and 26 strikeouts
10:29
But it's a little more complicated with him, because he's also an important reliever of theirs, and if there's a game where pinch-hitting him makes sense, it presumably also makes sense to put him on the mound. So then you have those other complicating variables
Palardelphia
10:29
Why the hell is it so hard for me to find SB% based on what base was stolen?
Jeff Sullivan
tb.25
10:29
What do I tell my boss when I get caught on your chat?
Jeff Sullivan
10:30
Tell your boss you're asking me a work question
And then when it never shows up, tell your boss the queue was overloaded and I couldn't answer everything
AC
10:31
Someone in Jay's chat yesterday mentioned the number of smaller stature players (Betts, Jose Ramirez, etc.) that are having a huge success in baseball right now, and it reminded me of Craig's piece about how smaller strikezones increase balls in play. Could we be underrating the value of smaller players ability to have a small strikezone and therefore requiring pitchers to throw more pitches down the middle to them?
Jeff Sullivan
10:31
Could be true to some extent, but it's not like the strike zones are *that* much smaller. And smaller players tend to hit the ball less hard than taller players
10:32
But smaller players who advance to the majors have presumably been selected in part for their bat-to-ball skills. Now it seems, anecdotally, like it's easier than ever to turn those bat-to-ball skills into power
10:33
So perhaps we've just been underrating the smaller player's power potential, because those guys don't hit the ball 115 miles per hour
You don't need to, provided you can instead hit the ball 105
PD
10:33
If setting up to bunt prior to the pitch is automatically considered an attempt, a pitcher could throw at any batter that sets up to bunt as a HBP doesn't count if the batter attempts to hit the ball.
Jeff Sullivan
10:34
Which is one of the reasons why it isn't automatically considered an attempt
If it were, the pitcher could simply lob the ball ten feet outside for a strikeout
Bunts can be pulled back, just as a swing can be checked
Mac Gwire
10:35
Does the McCutchen trade mean Judge is done for the year?
Jeff Sullivan
10:35
Not necessarily. It's insurance in *case* Judge can't come back, and it also gives the Yankees a better reserve outfielder
Angels fan
10:35
Is David Fletcher an elite defender? 8 DRS in 60 games between 2B/3B, already 1 dWAR
Jeff Sullivan
10:35
Too soon to tell
Drew
10:36
If Judge comes back this year where is McCutchen playing? LF or DH?
Jeff Sullivan
10:36
Backing up at four positions (LF, CF, RF, DH)
Matt
10:37
Though it has been holding up rather well in Morrow's absence, are you concerned about the Cubs' pen in the playoffs? Even if Morrow comes back, you'd have to assume that they'll treat him with kid gloves.
Jeff Sullivan
10:37
Not more concerned than I am about any other competing NL bullpen
10:38
The Brewers' bullpen has a second-half ERA of 5.17 for pete's sake
None of the pens are amazing
Andy
10:38
John Gant has 2 hits.  Both are Home Runs.  I like baseball.
Jeff Sullivan
"It seems impossible, but Gant’s career stats as a hitter read .000/.000/.000 AVG/OBP/SLG with a negative 100 wRC+ through 35 trips to the plate, each one resulting in failure."
David
10:39
If the yankees lose in the wild card game, will it force MLB to get rid of divisions?
Jeff Sullivan
10:39
What?
10:41
Can't tell which angle you're asserting
If it's the MLB-loves-the-Yankees one, the Yankees already lost a wild-card game in 2015
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