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Kevin Goldstein FanGraphs Chat - 1/10/2022
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Ace
12:19
Thoughts on James triantos?
Kevin Goldstein
12:19
It looks like he can REALLY hit.
NotAA
12:20
At what point in the spring do decision makers within the FO travel to see draft prospects ?
Kevin Goldstein
12:20
I spent most of my afternoons and evenings during spring training driving around the state of Florida to see players, so pretty much from day one.
Duchess
12:21
I was looking back at some first rounds of previous MLB drafts and it seemed like even well into the 90's and 2000's it was a really low success rate, but that things started to improve around 2014 or so. It could be recency bias on my part, but has anyone studied this, and would there be a scouting/tech turning point that we could point to leading to improved results?
Kevin Goldstein
12:21
Yes, there is no question that the industry as a whole is much better at drafting than it used to be. Scouts are better, tech is better, all sorts of factors.
Colby
12:23
It seems like the world wants more playoffs due to the excitement and revenue they come with. Do you ever think the mlbpa and the owners would agree to a tournament with the teams that didn't qualify for the playoffs that involved them playing for the #1 pick in next years draft?
Kevin Goldstein
12:23
The players wouldn't go for that.
Willy
12:23
Do most trade talks start with hey are you interested in player X, or is it what are you looking for?
Kevin Goldstein
12:23
Honestly, about a 50/50 split.
NotAA
12:24
Any plans for you or Eric to make a trip down to the great state of Georgia this spring for some HS/College game?
Kevin Goldstein
12:24
We've talked about it, but again, a lot depends on non-baseball factors.
Julia
12:25
What are the chances we see Curtis Mead in the big leagues this year?
Kevin Goldstein
12:25
Very small.
Gest
12:25
Were you present for any recruitment meetings with Shohei Ohtani? If so, what was that like?
Kevin Goldstein
12:26
The Astros did a presentation, and I was involved with that, as well as a meeting with his agents at the Winter Meetings, but it was pretty clear from day one that he was going to end up on a coast.
CloseCall
12:26
Which did you enjoy more: free agency or trade negotiations? Something about trades seem more fun to me, the built-in drama of making a swap.
Kevin Goldstein
12:26
Boy, I enjoyed both. I like working with agents more than most I think.
Mickey
12:28
With the vaccine showing no reduction in transmission, will this affect any mandates on players in MLB?
Kevin Goldstein
12:28
I hope so. We've seen the problems in the NBA and NHL, and they have far higher vaccination rates than baseball.
Ace
12:28
Can teams prohibit players from playing in the Dominican winter league?
Kevin Goldstein
12:29
They can ask them not to, but most of the time it's fine.
BM
12:30
Any chance Elijah Green falls to the Cubs in the draft?
Kevin Goldstein
12:30
I would take something amazing and exceptionally unexpected to get to seven.
Liptowi
12:30
Y A-Rod?
Kevin Goldstein
12:30
I don't know! But it really stopped me in my tracks.
171
12:30
If a team could sign a hitter who could only play DH and could guarantee a home run once per game (but you can never know when) and every other AB was a K, would that player be worth anything?
Kevin Goldstein
12:31
Absolutely. That's a 1000+ OPS, no?
DC
12:31
The Cubs system is deep, but do they have any stars? Could a top talent fall to them in the next draft?
Kevin Goldstein
12:31
They have a ton of potential stars. It's in incredibly young system and it will take years to know just how good (or not) it is.
171
12:32
Any thoughts on Carter Baumler? Excited to see him get some innings in after his TJ after the draft.
Kevin Goldstein
12:32
I really liked him coming out of the draft. If he's 100% he becomes pretty interesting.
Erik
12:32
I've been surprised that seemingly no NL team in the analytics era has decided it could get an edge by having their pitchers work on hitting enough to be merely awful at hitting rather than completely atrocious. I'd think that getting a +10 wRC+ from that spot would be a huge boon when the league averages around -20. What prevents that from being a strategy worth pursuing?
Kevin Goldstein
12:33
I just think that to get there you'd be detracting from their pitching work.
Carlos
12:35
At what point did you become aware of the sign-stealing going on with the Astros? I feel like you owe it to your readers to address this
Kevin Goldstein
12:36
Yeah, I addressed this in my first piece at FanGraphs. Clearly there's some kind of organized thing (or maybe one person using different names) in this chat to come after me about this, and that's cool. Fun way to start 2022 for you folks, I guess. Still, I did address this (and all of the other questions you have asked) here:
If you read that and have any questions, just let me know.
Mitch
12:37
I am curious if teams are allowed to contact opposing teams' players before they agree to trade for said player. For example: Team A identifies a player on Team B who they think they can get more out of via a swing change, pitch mix change, etc. Is team A allowed to contact that player beforehand and ask if they would be open to such a change?
Kevin Goldstein
12:37
Absolutely not.
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