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Live Chat With Tim Dierkes
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Manager
2:28
Why do teams seemingly sit guy performing well when it would seem counter productive to sit a guy seeing the ball well? I.E. vlad jr today
Tim Dierkes
2:28
Some kind of planned day off, I guess.  I imagine a player on a hot streak would hate to sit.
tim
2:28
gonna keep trying this till someone answers...can (or will) MLBPA address the freezeout of middle tier FA's in next round of CB discussions? Is it just me or is it insane that Keuchel/Kimbrel (and to a lesser extent) Shields are still unemployed? PLEASE address this i wanna know...
Tim Dierkes
2:31
Yes, this is the major sticking point of the current negotiations.  I don't expect any kind of decisive victory on the players' side - whatever they decide they need, such as earlier free agency or a large bump in minimum salary - will require some other concession to ownership.  I don't think the players have the solidarity for a strike or a leader that's as willing as past ones to do it, plus fans would revolt perhaps moreso than in '94.
Big Show
2:31
Tim, why do you do these chats as if you are some baseball expert, when you have repeatedly shown you don't know much about the game? You knew how to aggregate baseball transactions and create a site, but that doesn't mean you are an expert on any level. You are just plain wrong, constantly, and its only going to get worse for you, Mr. "OPS is a terrible stat" - you are a joke. period. Stop arrogantly showing off how little you know about the game or even who's available. Piscotty is 100% unavailable in a trade but you hate Oakland and think they're in sell mode 24-7. You are a moron.
Tim Dierkes
2:33
It really is up to all of you to decide whether my opinions are worth your time.  If the chat participation dropped to zero, I'd stop doing them.  As for expert labels, I haven't used that on myself, that's not my call.  Regarding those two examples, yes, OPS is still terrible.  I don't have a direct line to Billy Beane to speak definitively on Piscotty, but again, I don't see a good reason why they wouldn't entertain offers for all players (including him).
Innings cap
2:33
Why is this even a thing when they can track the number of pitchers thrown?
Tim Dierkes
2:34
My guess is that for most clubs, the people in charge of shutdown decisions like that of Chris Paddack are looking well beyond innings totals, into not just pitches thrown but every piece of data they can gather.  But innings serve as a decent shorthand for when GMs and managers are talking to the public about this through the media.
Will Smith
2:34
Perhaps we will see him shipped over to West Philadelphia
Chris
2:34
Does mlb need to expand the playoffs. Having 9 AL teams with less than a 5% chance of the playoffs seems bad. Casual fans are done with the season with 4 months to go.
Tim Dierkes
2:36
Per FanGraphs, that's actually 10 teams under a 5% chance right now.  And of those only the Angels at 4.9% seem to have a fighting chance; everyone else is 1.5% or below.  However, we're already letting 1/3 of the teams into the dance, and I don't think increasing that further is the right move.  Perhaps creating some separation between a team's record and its ability to rebuild would move the needle in the right direction.
Opinion please
2:36
Who is your biggest surprise thus far and who is your biggest disappointment?
Tim Dierkes
2:37
Off the cuff, I'll go with Hunter Dozier and Jose Ramirez, respectively.
2:39
Biggest surprise among position players?
Josh Bell (14.8% | 42 votes)
 
Willson Contreras (2.8% | 8 votes)
 
Daniel Vogelbach (14.1% | 40 votes)
 
Jorge Polanco (6.7% | 19 votes)
 
Joey Gallo (11.3% | 32 votes)
 
Tommy La Stella (38.5% | 109 votes)
 
Hunter Dozier (11.7% | 33 votes)
 
Total Votes: 283
Homer
2:39
How long before the Cubs ownership realizes that they do in fact have money and a real shot at a world series if they added Kimbrel and make the move?
Tim Dierkes
2:40
I have been a big critic of how they built their bullpen this year, but you have to admit it's been doing fine since the rough start.  Plus a lot of the guys I might have suggested they pursue have flopped so far.  So I don't see Kimbrel as the panacea, and there are trade candidates who are every bit as good.  Their list of top RPs has to be in the double digits.
Chris
2:40
Who should the Padres target for starting pitching?
Tim Dierkes
2:41
Keuchel, Stroman, Archer, Jon Gray, Tyler Skaggs, Mike Minor, Matt Boyd
2:42
Would the Giants be willing to trade Bumgarner to the Padres?
For the right offer, yes (81.9% | 230 votes)
 
Under no circumstances (18.1% | 51 votes)
 
Total Votes: 281
GW
2:42
Wouldn't it be smart to trade Rendon and get something rather than lose him for nothing like Harper?
Tim Dierkes
2:44
Teams like the Nats and Cardinals aren't that much further from the playoffs right now than teams like the Phillies, Braves, and Brewers.  If the Nats are hanging around in late July as a coin flip for the playoffs, I think Rendon stays put.
Millard Fillmore
2:44
RE: Bumgarner and Smith, would a package involving Duvall and Inciarte interest the Giants? Their OF needs help, though Inciarte may not hit at all in that canyon.
Tim Dierkes
2:45
I expect the Giants' interest to be in prospects or big leaguers with scant ML service time, and at least one player with star upside, especially if they package their two best chips.  That offer would not fit the bill.
John
2:45
Kyle Freeland appears to have taken a step back.   Is he struggling or is it just the coors effect having it way
Tim Dierkes
2:47
That kind of high walk, pitch to contact model that worked for him last year is always at greater risk of stopping working, independent of Coors.  I think Freeland is a sub-5.00 ERA guy, but I wouldn't stake a claim to much more than that.
White Sox
2:47
Has Giollito figured it out?
Tim Dierkes
2:49
You have to love what he's done this month, but he did get the Blue Jays twice plus the Indians in three of his four starts.  I do think walks and homers will remain somewhat of an issue, but I lean toward Giolito having turned a corner.
Jeremy
2:49
Do the Padres really need to target starting pitching? Paddack and Strahm have been great, Gore is dominating and Richards and Lamet are getting closer to returning. Obviously health is a factor, but with all of those guys in place for next year and prospects like Patino, Morejon, Weathers, Allen, and others it seems like their pitching should be fine going forward.
Tim Dierkes
2:50
They're only 2.5 games out of the Wild Card, so I assume that question was more about what they can add this year rather than their long-term pitching outlook.  They don't really have guys you'd expect more than 150 innings from.
OPS
2:50
I don't think you are a moron and thanks for doing the chats BTW, but you are wrong on OPS. OBP is only so good, for instance if a guy gets on at a .400 clip you would say that is awesome but if he has no power and isn't very fast, he isn't really helping that much. If you have a guy slugging .500 you would say that is awesome but if he is on base at a .250 clip, you have a Chris Davis type player which we all know isn't cutting it. Now if you use more info together like OPS, you can see the value different players have between getting on base and slugging the ball. I'm certainly not saying it is a perfect stat but it isn't terrible either.
Tim Dierkes
2:51
I feel OPS is terrible because 1) there's no justification on adding OBP and SLG together into one.  Just look at them separately 2) SLG is itself flawed and 3) we have a better shorthand, and it's wRC+.
2:53
wOBA is kind of the core of it, and take some time to read about why each hitting event should be weighted in a certain way and perhaps you'll reach the same conclusion I did - that we can easily do better than OPS and that each step of wOBA/wRC+ has logic behind it.
2:54
There are worse ways to judge a hitter than OPS, sure, but why settle for a stat just being "not the worst?"
Dierkes Timley
2:54
I see you said the Padres should pursue Chris Archer. What could Pittsburgh expect back? Wouldn't they want a lot considering what they gave up for Archer?
Tim Dierkes
2:55
I do think the PR of how well that trade worked for TB is a reason the Pirates perhaps won't trade Archer.  On top of it, to move him now would be selling low.  Still, clinging to a player for PR reasons is not the way to run a team, and the Pirates may put that aside.  Certainly, they'll get less than they paid by a long shot.
Harvey
2:56
As currently constituted, do the Yankees have enough starting pitching?
Tim Dierkes
2:58
No, I don't think they do.  If they're confident Paxton and Severino will come back strong, then they probably don't need to add.  We'll have so much more info on that two months from now.
The Dark Knight
2:58
Who do you think is the best 5th starter in baseball ?
Tim Dierkes
3:00
Kenta Maeda, when healthy?  Maybe Sonny Gray?
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