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Meg Rowley FanGraphs Chat - 10/9/18
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Meg Rowley
2:00
Hello, and welcome to the chat!
It feels strange to chat without the help and humor of my colleagues but I guess we must soldier on.
Nate
2:00
Angel Hernandez's performance last definitely hurts his lawsuit, does it not?
Meg Rowley
2:02
Obviously, I don't know anything more about his case or claim than what has been reported, but I think it is important to remember that his poor performance does not mean that he couldn't have faced discrimination. I would hope (and imagine) that whatever judge or arbiter is hearing his case will approach it more dispassionately than sports fans watching a playoff game.
CamdenWarehouse
2:02
As we sit here watching Osuna pitch, do you get any sense that MLB has heard people about DV suspensions and post season play? Any chance of a change coming?
Meg Rowley
2:03
I don't have a sense of how the league office is viewing this, or how much of the discourse online has gotten to them or the union.
I know that folks in the game I talk to are very aware of the discourse surrounding Osuna, for whatever that is worth.
2:04
For there to be a change would require both the union and the league, and I'm not sure how incentivized either party feels to act here.
Johnny Coconuts
2:04
Not a Yankees fan, but how do you not insta-pull Lance Lynn from the game after he fell over throwing ball three to Mookie Betts?
Meg Rowley
2:04
How do you go to Lynn in the first place?
2:05
I will admit to only catching the tail end of that game as I was helping a friend who is trying to pick her wedding dress, but man, the managerial choices in that one were... odd.
Cory
2:05
Being an umpire is difficult.
Meg Rowley
2:06
It really is.
They mess up, and sometimes badly, and they have their biases obviously, but damn is that a hard, thankless job.
Nick Mar - Cake is Good
2:06
Can we all agree that Atlanta’s blackout chop during Maeda’s mound visit last night was epic?
Meg Rowley
2:06
I am not a fan of the chop and that moment didn't change my opinion of it.
My Mama Says
2:07
Can Trevor Richards and his magic changeup turn into an above average pitcher in Miami?
Meg Rowley
2:07
I will admit only a passing familiarity with Trevor Richards, who didn't make the Marlins Top 29, though he is one of Carson's guys and Carson's guys can sometimes be good!
2:08
Also, shouts to you for living your truth and asking about a Marlins pitcher in this, the postseason.
Always be exactly yourself, My Mama Says.
My mama *does* say that. Wild.
Nick Mar - Cake is Good
2:08
The Dodgers’ platooning and Brewers’ bullpen mix and match should be interesting...
Meg Rowley
2:08
I am so excited for this series.
MLB Network
2:08
Do you want to call games for us next postseason? Simply pass this one-question quiz: Who is the Brewers' All-Star 1B? A) Christina Aguilera B) Jesus Aguilar
Meg Rowley
2:09
I goof on announcers, and looking at the queue am sure to do so again, but I can't imagine calling a game. It is so hard.
I am a nervous talker at times. It would be a nightmare.
You *would* get a lot of weird pop culture and political theory references, though.
NotGraphs Revivalist
2:10
I know you're a Mariners fan and you have your own unique kind of pain that results from that. As a Braves fan who attended last night's game, my emotions are ambiguous. On the one hand, it was really fun to care about my team's performance again. My expectations couldn't have been much lower entering a series against the much-better Dodgers so I wasn't incredibly disappointed. I actually weirdly enjoyed Machado crushing us because I'm hopeful we will make a good run at him this offseason. On the other hand, this is now 8 playoff appearances in a row where the Braves have failed to advance even one round. And after 4 really bad years where I was able to enjoy all of baseball (and especially October baseball), I feel very uninvested in the rest of the postseason, which makes me sad.
Meg Rowley
2:10
I think that's a fair and reasonable range of reactions.
2:11
I guess if you wanted to start turning the corner into feeling less sad about it, you could remember that this Braves team is good a little early. It has some really great young players. It has obvious places to improve, but that's a good thing, too. You know what is wrong!
Literally none of us at FanGraphs, either full-time staff or contributors picked them to make the postseason, and we're sometimes reasonably smart about baseball.
2:12
Losing is never *fun*, and this Braves team isn't as good as it is currently constituted as the 2015 Cubs were, or likely to be as good at the 2016 Cubs were, but they arrived a little early and then were rad.
Gerald
2:12
Do you still like prospects? Baseball prospects, to be clear.
Meg Rowley
2:13
Who is this question for?
stever20
2:13
Why does David Price stink so much in the playoffs?  3rd worst starter in MLB playoff history behind Jaret Wright and Tim Wakefield.
Meg Rowley
2:13
Mostly, I think postseason narratives like this are just pretty goofy. It is a tiny sample compared to the rest of the time we watch guys, and if there is some postseason effect I mostly think it is fatigue.
2:14
I do think there is some interesting work to be done on the psychological effects of that kind of pressure, which I don't think we should discount entirely, but I mostly think guys are tired in a small sample.
I feel badly for Price. It has to feel awful.
Pineapple
2:14
When I taught high school, it was always easy to tell who'd done the reading and who read SparkNotes on their way to class. Most of the broadcasters this postseason (lookin' at you Costas) fall into the latter group. What an poke in the eye to players who've worked their butt off all year that you can't even learn their damn names.
Meg Rowley
2:15
I think the playoff broadcasts, no matter who is in the booth, are always going to be a bit broader than regular season ones, because you're playing to a broader audience.
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