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Klawchat 10/8/20
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Keith Law
1:00
My love is rotten to the core. Klawchat.
Todd Boss
1:00
Is there really such a thing as an "Undecided voter" right now?  In this partisan, narrative driven world, who at this point is still making up their minds on which way to vote?  Can we just FFD to 11/3 please?
Keith Law
1:01
A front office friend texted me that question last night - who the hell is still undecided? Either you're in the cult, or you're disgusted by the last four years (and especially the last six months). I don't understand anyone who's in between.
1:02
Of course, some dipshit journalist tracked down Ken Bone - who said he's "undecided" - rather than, you know, finding marginalized voters who feel unrepresented by either party, or people who want to vote but find it hard to do so because of voter suppression, or just anyone who isn't another white man.
Ben (MN)
1:02
Oofta. The Twins. There is a lot of talk in MN about whether they should rely on some of their younger but near-ready prospects next year (Jeffers, Kiriloff, Rooker) or stand-pat with what they have. Any moves you think they should make? Trading Garver/Rosario seems to make sense, but they aren't likely to get much in return.
Keith Law
1:03
LaVelle Neal was on my podcast this week and we talked about exactly that - he thinks they'll trade Rosario, and at least look at trading Garver. Rooker's upside is limited and I'm not sure where he gets to play if they bring Cruz back on a one-year deal.
Jack S
1:03
Keith--I was under the impression that teams' minor league, or sub-MLB, facility this year was limited in how many players they could house.  Was there any way for teams to progress their lower tier (A ball, for example) prospects this season or gauge their skills in any way?  Are they still having some kind of Fall Ball?
Keith Law
1:03
Most teams are holding some sort of instructional league, expanding it for more players, but not every team is allowing other teams' scouts to watch (and thus in return they can't send their scouts around, which seems extremely short-sighted, even by the short-sighted standards of Myopic League Baseball). So we'll hear some things on prospects but not a ton.
Jesse B
1:04
Randy Arozarena. SSS or could be a future All Star?
Keith Law
1:04
It's obviously SSS, but he has a lot of ability and thus potential upside, especially given his defense.
But yeah, he hasn't even played enough to lose ROY eligibility.
Bill G
1:04
Hi Keith.  Ignoring the pandemic and financial issues, and only focusing on the talent, would you recommend baseball contract to 28 teams, expand to 32 teams, or stay where they are at 30 teams.  Any insight to your reasoning would be appreciated.  Thanks!
Keith Law
1:06
Contraction is ridiculous - just a ploy by owners to try to extract public funds for stadiums. There's enough talent out there for 32 teams - yes, even enough pitching - and there are underserved markets, like Nashville, that would be good for MLB to include. But MLB has also locked itself into markets that are probably going to have revenue issues over the long term and may be better off moving some franchises before expanding.
Tom
1:06
I realize it's a ridiculously SSS in a bizarro baseball season, but have you seen/heard anything to believe that Tanner Houck's apparent leap is real and sustainable?
Keith Law
1:08
I watched two of his three starts and both times his velocity tapered off pretty early, which would be a concern if that's still true next year after a normal offseason and spring training. I also still don't really see what his weapon will be vs LHB. He wrecked righties, though, with a nearly 40% K rate against them.
Sam
1:08
This year had a very large number of players make their MLB debut and teams pushed players that probably were not ready for MLB.  Assuming we have Minor League Baseball next season do you see a number of top level prospect like Joey Bart for example going back to the minors to continue to improve or will teams keep pushing these players and keep them on the Major league roster?
Keith Law
1:08
Bart I doubt. But I'm sure plenty of other rookies will go back to the minors to start the year for baseball or service-time reasons. Luis Patiño comes to mind for the former - great stuff, huge upside, wasn't ready, at least not to start.
DRB
1:08
So you don’t like Deftones and you think Tame Impala’s last album is his best? I’m sorry Klaw, but when it comes to music, you’re like those people who claimed Junior Lake was a future star.  In all serious though, I will say I’ve gotten a lot of great album recs from you, but none of them ever became all-stars in my rotation.
Keith Law
1:09
Those aren't even close to my most controversial music opinions.
Matt
1:09
How do you feel about Willi Castro going forward? Obviously he's not going to continue to BABIP .450 like he did this season but his BB rate went up and K rate went down as the season progressed as did the quality of his contact so if those trends continue they may help offset some of the inevitable BABIP regression.  To sum it up, do you think he could be an .850OPS/350wOBA type bat going forward?
Keith Law
1:11
I've generally been high on Castro because everyone raved about his feel for the game, and because I thought the swing would work for contact, so I think he could hit enough to be a regular somewhere. I was surprised to see that he wasn't very good at short or third this year, though; I thought he could stay at short or be very good at 2b/3b.
davealden53
1:11
I know this story has become old news but would you have signed the letter in Harper's about intellectual freedom?
Keith Law
1:12
I would not; I think Isaac Chotiner's interview in the New Yorker of one of the signatories gets at the reasons why I wouldn't.
John Olerud
1:12
Not sure how much you listen to the announcers in games. But I was watching/listening to the Atlanta/Marlins game yesterday and Buck Showalter's good ol' boy commentary was a little awkward to listen to at times, in its subtle insinuations of exactly who were the true "baseballers" amongst the guys on the field.  Indeed, I don't think he even had any insight as to how this might have come off, but if you care or are at liberty to comment, I imagine his "takes" aren't exactly unique among the managerial ranks in baseball?
Keith Law
1:13
I did not hear this, but what you describe is definitely a common view within baseball. I am automatically suspicious of any opinions like that because they can very easily be cover for racial prejudices (not saying that's true of Buck, I didn't hear his comments, and I've never heard anyone say they thought he was racist).
Jason
1:13
Assuming Atlanta actually reaches the NLCS, would it make more sense to have a bullpen day for Game 3 with Wright starting Game 4, knowing that Game 5 would either be the Game 1 starter on short rest (Fried, unless the NLDS goes 5 games) or another bullpen day?
Keith Law
1:13
What's the alternative in your mind there - bullpen game 4, Wright 3?
davealden53
1:13
Willians Astudillo isn't a great ballplayer but his skillset is fun and potentially useful with the right utilization.  However, the Twins seem unsure what to do with him.  Would he benefit from a clean start with a different organization?  What could Minnesota get for him?  A 100 to 150 prospect?
Keith Law
1:14
I don't think he gets a legit prospect in return. Fine player, and very fun to watch, but ultimately not that valuable.
Todd Boss
1:14
How disappointed are you that Trump refuses to participate in a 2nd debate?  I mean, the first one was such a civilized, informative discussion...
Keith Law
1:15
After he did himself no favors in the first debate, I expected him to find a way out of a second one.
In a virtual debate, the moderator could just mute him when he interrupts or goes well beyond his time. That's his worst nightmare.
John
1:15
When do you see Jeter Downs making his MLB debut?
Keith Law
1:16
Next year (2021) for sure. Would be shocked if we don't see him.
Frank
1:16
Has any team in recent history been more of a favorite to win the World Series than the Dodgers are this year?  I know you always talk about anything can happen in a short series but is there anything you have seen so far, regular season or post season to make you believe the Dodgers dont win the WS?
Keith Law
1:16
Both of those things can be true at the same time. They could be the strongest favorites ever, and still only have a slightly better than random chance to win it all.
1:17
I do agree they're the favorites, though. I picked a Rays/Dodgers WS and just as a fan of great teams would be very happy to see that. Also that's the one AL playoff team left that has never won a WS vs the NL team with the second-longest drought (SD has never won).
bighen
1:17
I know you haven't been a huge fan of Gimenez and have liked Rosario in the past - any change in thought there? I realize not a lot to go on.  I think the ceiling for Gimenez is a lot lower but he seems to be a much better fielder for a team that badly needs some good defenders.   Do you think the Mets can trade Rosario for anything of note at this point - perhaps as part of a package to land a legit CF ?
Keith Law
1:18
I think Rosario would still have value because other teams will still remember how they rated him as a prospect and figure the Mets screwed him up (which is fair, I think; they've had a lot of development issues over the last 5+ years). Most teams, especially teams that are building or just always hunting for value (Oakland, TB), love to try to fix out-of-favor prospects. And yeah, I would too. As for Gimenez, he has a soft regular ceiling and I think you saw it this year.
Greg
1:19
Why don't pitchers like Dustin May and Brusdar Graterol get more strikeouts with such filthy stuff?
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