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Meg Rowley FanGraphs Chat - 2/26/19
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Meg Rowley
2:23
You have to design the rule so that it provides a powerful disincentive to goofing around.
A lot of people have proposed making it a function of which level a player spends the majority of league days at
2:24
So if you want to keep Vladito down, you can, but it'll have to be for more than half a season. Doesn't solve the problem, but would take care of some of it.
It's also good to remember that there is a mechanism by which clubs can keep players past their 6th major league season. All it takes is writing a check.
Benny and the Mets
2:25
Meg. Happy Tuesday!
Meg Rowley
2:25
To you as well.
The Old Buccaneer
2:25
It seems wants to play out west, with LA or SF but they wont give him the years he wants. So, he’s using Philly’s offer to try and get the Giants or Dodgers to match, but they won’t. That’s why he hasn’t signed for Philly, yet. He doesn’t really want to play there. Is this a pretty fair assessment?
Meg Rowley
2:26
I have no idea. I don't know him personally.
Guest
2:26
I love watching guys make silly mistakes in spring training that they hopefully won't make when the season starts. Do you?
Meg Rowley
2:26
I wrote about a player pooping himself last year. Of course I like that.
Syndergaardians of the Galaxy
2:27
Right now the Mets are playing two games at the same time. I'm trying to follow both games at the same time while also participating in this chat while convincing my boss that I'm being productive. Spring training is hard.
Meg Rowley
2:27
Isn't it nice to have good distractions back, though?
oldmannearthesea
2:27
Meg, any thoughts about the minor league salary situation?
Meg Rowley
2:28
People should be paid a living wage. There are a lot of issues with the baseball economic model, and I don't want to say that free agency isn't important -- it is all connected and many things can be bad at once. But the greatest moral urgency exists at the minor league level. It's a thing the sport should be ashamed of every single day.
Derek
2:29
Now that it's been a few months, how have you enjoyed (or not?) your new role at FanGraphs?
Meg Rowley
2:31
I would like to sleep a little more than I do, which is tricky during the week because I am still helming THT for the next little bit. We are soooo excited about who is taking over THT, so excited we were willing to wait to make it happen. But in the meantime, I'm a little sleepy some times. But here's the thing: my problems are baseball problems. Those are my work problems. And I work at a unicorn of a place with wonderful, smart, kind people. I will never feel like I deserve my job. Appelman hiring me is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me.
Karen Yost
2:31
When will the new hires be announced? Excited to see Fg's new additions!
Meg Rowley
2:31
Soon! Very soon!
St. Pete
2:32
What does a player have to do performance wise in spring training to change your impression of them or increase/decrease your expectations for them going into the season?
Meg Rowley
2:33
Injury is the biggest thing. Velocity dips, though that can be tricksy.
PTBNL
2:33
what major league front office will you be joining next week? just kidding, very happy for jeff but so sad to see him go :(
Meg Rowley
2:34
Not going anywhere. I don't want to work for a team. And while I am capable of the sort of work needed to do this job, I'm not really qualified based on most of the postings we put up.
Hello
2:35
Why did Arenado's arb settlement make an extension more likely (I've seen this sentiment in several places)?
Meg Rowley
2:35
The size of the deal, and also, the sentiments expressed after signaled a willingness to pay him that hadn't been there before.
PD
2:36
How much quicker does a "likeable" player sign compared to say... what we've seen for Machado and Harper? I'm guessing the front office feels more fan pressure on teams if they're trying to extend/resign a fan favorite.
Meg Rowley
2:37
You know what fans like? They like parades. They like the playoffs. There might be some pressure to keep your guys, but honestly, I don't think it does as much as you'd think.
Matt W
2:38
So I'm not really opposed to the pitch clock, but have they considered just banning (or severely restricting) time outs? You see it a lot where the pitcher is ready to go and the batter calls time so that he can dry swing a few times, probably just to annoy the pitcher. The only time it ever makes sense at all is if the pitcher & catcher can't decide on a pitch, but even then you can just use a mound visit to discuss.
Meg Rowley
2:38
I don't mind the pitch clock. You really don't notice it after a while. But yeah, batters are a huge unaddressed part of the issue here.
Sour Grapes
2:39
Players are upset about the current state of MLB but isnt it possible that the people who are advising the owners are doing a better job than whomever is representing the players?
Meg Rowley
2:39
The union definitely made mistakes in the last CBA negotiation, but also, ownership got exactly what it wanted. This is the market they want! We should probably give them some credit (or blame, if you prefer) for that.
Curlin
2:40
Any idea when the full Zips preseason projections will be posted and folded into the Depth Charts?
Meg Rowley
2:40
Soon!
The Old Buccaneer
2:40
The Braves’s Triple A team in Gwinnett county is in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Meg Rowley
2:41
They're allowed to issue exceptions, and often do to their own affiliates.
Chaise
2:41
Any timeline for new writer announcements/articles?
Meg Rowley
2:42
Announcements will likely happen soonish (next weekish?). We're in the process of communicating to all of our applicants, and want to complete that process first. We really appreciate folks taking the time to apply, and want them to hear from us directly.
As for posts, probably post the FG trip to Arizona.
Dan
2:43
Hicks, Arenado, Mikolas -- looks like the 2019-20 free agents are flying off the board fast.  Is this a trend that's going to continue over the next few weeks, or a strange coincidence (that three top 2019 FAs signed in two days)?
Meg Rowley
2:45
I think we're likely to see a fair number of players who are disinterested in testing the market. I think this rush is a bit of coincidence, but I wouldn't be surprised to see more deals get done as the season progresses.
Derek
2:45
Is the current MLB free agent environment really that terrible? Two record deals were signed this offseason (Machado and Arenado) with a possibility that Harper breaks one or both of them. Things are certainly moving slowly - almost definitely slower than they should be - but on the flip side we have the NBA where things have gotten borderline farcical (players demanding trades w/ two years left on already short contracts, conspiring to team up in new cities years in advance, LeBron passive-aggressively attacking his teammates publicly every day after his machinations don't pan out, etc.). There has to be some middle ground that exists somewhere that people way smarter than me can hopefully find someday, but for now, at least MLB players are getting paid once they do sign deals, and in my opinion it is currently much more enjoyable to root for MLB players/teams than NBA players/teams.
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