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Klawchat 11/13/25
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Keith Law
3:01
My friends are saying, "Shut up, Keith, just gеt in the car." Klawchat.
Barbeach
3:01
Thanks as always for the Klawchat. I can’t see how the Yankees can consider promoting Spencer Jobes to majors given his triple A strike out rate. And I don’t understand why Jasson Dominguez isn’t getting more of a chance given his left handed OPS and good batting eye. Thoughts?
Keith Law
3:03
I agree completely on Jones, who was awful after that initial hot streak in AAA, when pitchers made a pretty clear adjustment. I didn't put him on my midseason top 60, because I'm not a fucking goldfish, but a few commenters were aghast because at that moment Jones was homering every other game or something. From that date (7/27) to the end of the season, he struck out 41% of the time. Not sure how you can put that in the majors. As for Dominguez, I think they need to return him to CF. Playing left isn't working out for him or the team, and maybe it's carrying over to the plate?
Jon
3:03
Keith, was wondering if you had tried any of the new Stonemaier Games games this year, specifically Vantage. Never has seemed as though their games have been your bailiwick.
Keith Law
3:05
My review of Vantage went up yesterday. I didn't like it. I did like Tapestry, Pendulum, and the Wingspan family of games, all of which are from Stonemaier, and I liked Expeditions enough in my one play of it. Never been a big Scythe fan.
JoeRo
3:05
Hi Keith. Look forward to your chats. Have you read any books by Edward Ashton? Mickey 17 was such a disappointment, very different from the novel, which was really funny and original. How about David Wong/Jason Pargin? Enjoyed his latest- I'm Starting To Worry About This Black Box Of Doom.
Keith Law
3:05
I've never read any of those authors, or seen Mickey 17 just because the reviews were pretty tepid.
davealden53
3:05
Chase Petty had an abysmal 2025 in both MiLB and MLB (small sample), but expectations seem to remain fairly high.  How are those reconciled?  Bad luck or growing pains?
Keith Law
3:07
Whose expectations remain high? Reds fans'? I had him as a fourth starter coming into the year, but you can't be a sinker/slider guy with 45 control and 40 command, and now we're back to concerns that he's got too much effort in the delivery to last as a starter.
davealden53
3:07
In recent chats, you've responded to my questions about the impacts of reducing pitching staffs to 12 arms.  Thank you for that.  One final question: How much do you think runs per game would increase with 12-man staffs?  You seem to think the increase will be fairly small and I fear something larger.
Keith Law
3:07
I'd just be pulling a number out of the air. I have no basis for an estimate here.
Guest
3:07
Thoughts on Braden Montgomery AFL seasons and prospects for next year?
Keith Law
3:07
Didn't see him in the AFL - he was rehabbing a hamstring injury, I believe.
davealden53
3:07
What a remarkable four innings in Game 3 from Will Klein!  Fluke or does he have a future?
Keith Law
3:08
He's never thrown strikes consistently enough to have the kind of future you might be envisioning. It's high-leverage stuff, and if he has a Kimbrel-like leap in control, he'll be an elite closer or setup type. Very low odds of this happening.
Michael
3:08
I asked a question poorly to you about buy low candidates. I know a player like Hunter Brown wasn't a free agent last year, but you could have gotten him on the (relatively) cheap in a trade. Same for someone like Maikel Garcia. Any thoughts on who might be an attainable future 4-6 WAR player that hasn't broken out yet? Is Jo Adell finally ready?
Keith Law
3:09
I don't believe for a second that you could have gotten Hunter Brown cheaply a year ago. Less certain on Maikel, but teams don't let those guys go very easily.
Michael
3:09
Do most people not actually have real beliefs? For years I heard about the elite having a secret sex trafficking ring and QANON was a real thing. Now we discover elites did have a sex trafficking ring, they weren't secret about it and people who claim to care about kids and sex trafficking are mostly yawning because their side is implicated. I'm liberal, but fuck Bill Clinton if he's involved in this or anyone else too. Blows my mind that there isn't universal calls to arrest all of these people.
Keith Law
3:10
Completely agree. Larry Summers was President of my alma mater and still works there at the Kennedy School. I have already emailed them as an alum to ask what the hell they're doing with this guy still on staff. Someone asked on Bluesky if people would feel the same if Obama were in the files and ... yeah, of course. No one is above the law, or basic morality.
DC51stState
3:11
Hi Keith—Baseball question, about two guys who rocketed through the minors. Jac Caglianone and Cam Smith (especially) were promoted so quickly that it wasn’t always clear to me how to evaluate them or set expectations, since their spring training/minor league performance seemed to outpace their rankings before midseason rankings could consider their overperformance. What are your expectations for those two players? Would you be willing to fit in an assessment of a guy like Cam Smith (maybe 2026’s JJ Weatherholt) in May/June if that guy does break camp with the major league club and doesn’t  look back? I respect your opinion and experience a great deal so those assessments would be interesting to me.
Keith Law
3:13
I read this twice and I don't understand the second question. On the first, I think Smith can take his first half from 2025 and hold that for a full season; he seemed to tire from the long season. (I can't believe Dana Brown said Smith might start next year in triple A. Absolutely not. That's malpractice.) Caglianone wasn't ready for the majors when he came up, and it showed pretty quickly - his issues staying in the zone have been there since he was a college sophomore - but I buy the bat in the long run, for hit and power.
Michael
3:14
Is 4 WAR from a pitcher the same as 4 WAR from a hitter?
Keith Law
3:14
In the sense that both added four wins' worth of value from their production relative to replacement level, yes.
Alec
3:14
What does a Mackenzie Gore trade package look like? I cant imagine as high as Crochet given he’s a boras guy and wont extend probably. Maybe one top 100 guy and 2 40+ FV dart throws?
Keith Law
3:15
Extensions should not be a factor in a trade - you are only acquiring the option to extend him, which is worth somewhere between nothing (my personal view) and a tiny fraction of the player's value beyond his free agency date. I would expect him to return more than you say, because starting pitching is always so scarce in the offseason, and the top of the FA pitching market isn't much better than Gore.
Michael
3:15
In the last few months we've watched Gavin and Stacey, The Inbetweeners, and Such Brave Girls. All three are better than any network comedy I've ever seen in the US. Any others you like?
Keith Law
3:16
I thought Derry Girls was brilliant. Helps a little that I grew up Catholic, I suppose.
Ken N.
3:16
Do you think Jasson Dominguez could be an above average starter for the Yankees if they give him regular playing time?  Can he still play center field?  Thank you.
Keith Law
3:16
Yes, and I don't see why he couldn't.
Ray Crittenden
3:16
I feel like Bichette to Boston is a really good fit that isn't being discussed as much.  With his age and the contract estimates being thrown out there, it just seems like a solid match, especially with Boston's remaining infield prospects being further away.
Keith Law
3:16
If you're saying to play 2b, then yes, it's a good fit.
Pat
3:16
Connelly Early vs Payton Tolle – who, if either, starts the year on the mlb roster?  And what do the sox do about the glut of back-end types like Crawford, Fitts, Harrison, etc.
Keith Law
3:17
I'm higher on Tolle, whose stuff just kept getting better as the season went on, assuming he can hold that velocity without injury.
Fitts is a 5th starter at most. Harrison needs a proper breaking pitch, even if it's a cutter, which the Giants did try with him but without success.
The Rat King
3:17
So much talk about the Red Sox trading for a pitcher – of all the names bandied about, who would you personally push the hardest for?  Or would you prefer to just go the FA route?
Keith Law
3:18
Why not try both? They have the prospect depth to acquire just about anyone, but if the prices are too high, they certainly have the cash to pay any free agent too.
Biffer
3:18
This may be a silly question because human beings are human beings and biases are impossible to avoid, but do you think there's a bias in prospect analysis? By that I mean do you think that certain teams have players who are propped up because of the team they're with and vice versa? This isn't so much about the elite guys, but the fringe top-100 types and even guys in the middle of a team's top 30.
Keith Law
3:19
I know there are biases within my rankings and writings, but I do not believe I have that particular one, primarily because a prospect can change teams at any time. Rating a guy higher because he's with the Dodgers or Brewers (two very strong development orgs) could look ridiculous if he's traded in July to a poor developing org.
Chris
3:19
Hi Keith! This will be my first year cooking a thanksgiving turkey and I want to go the spatchcock route. I did a search on your site and found a 2022 Twitter live stream you did, but do you have any go-to recipes or other resources you can share?
Keith Law
3:20
Serious Eats is probably the best bet. I don't use baking powder, just salt, because the baking powder always left a bit of a weird texture on the skin. Also definitely make sure you have at least a cup of water in the sheet pan to prevent the rendered fat from hitting the hot pan and smoking.
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