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Meg Rowley FanGraphs Chat - 3/8/18
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Meg Rowley
2:00
Hello, and welcome to the chat! It is very gloomy in Seattle. Let's have some less gloomy fun.
CamdenWarehouse
2:00
Do you think this will be Scioscia's last year with the Angels?
Meg Rowley
2:03
He has said publicly that he wants to focus on the season and address it when 2018 is done. I suspect he'll be back. He seems to have a productive relationship with Eppler. If he isn't back, I think it's more likely the result of a retirement than the Angels moving on. That doesn't seem super likely either, though he's been doing this so long, and it is such a grind, who knows.
Andrew
2:04
Jake Arrieta makes so much sense for my Brewers, what do you think the hold up is?  We've been burned by overpaying for aging SP's in the past (Suppan/Wolf/Garza) do you think this factors into management's decision to not be more aggressive?  Or is there still hope of moving some combination of Broxton/Santana/Phillips for a SP?
Meg Rowley
2:06
It sounds like he (and Boras) haven't adjusted their demands much, though I expect they will. Teams can always wait longer than individual players. Given that, I'm not surprised the Brewers haven't been aggressive in moving one of those guys. Why not see where the market ends up?
cheese
2:06
The Dodgers have been too quiet and they have too many OFers.  What do you see happening?
Meg Rowley
2:07
Not a ton right now. Those guys are valuable pieces but they (the Dodgers) don't seem to feel any urgency to move them. If there are injuries down the road, that could change, but it doesn't suck to have outfield depth either.
Q-Ball
2:08
If I could bet on Fangraphs projections, I would take the under on the Blue Jays (87 wins), and the over on the Brewers (78 Wins).  What say you?
Meg Rowley
2:09
I would say that I tend to agree with you, in part because I really like that Brewers team, but I would also say that gambling on sports is a good way to break your own heart.
Gregarious Jones
2:09
If you could invent a statistic (assuming it's humanly possible to measure) and force MLB to track it, what would it be and what would you call it?
Meg Rowley
2:11
Ohhhh my do I love this question. I don't know how useful this would actually be, but I would be interested in tracking check swings, just to see if it reveals anything cool about plate discipline. My less serious answers because I can imagine writing about it would be:
2:12
Robbed home runs, bat flips on fly outs (what a deeply human thing to do), and pitchers who aggressively shake off their catchers and then immediately give up home runs. I could probably get at least three pieces out of that.
Charles Finley
2:13
Jay mentioned in the last chat that between the Pirates and the Mariners, he thought the Pirates were more likely to miss the next decade of Octobers, basically on account of money.  Given that the Mariners are run by extraordinarily incompetence (esp player dev) and that the Pirates are one of the smartest FO in the game, is this a depressing reflection on the fact that at the end of the day, pretty much all that matters is cold, hard cash and ability/willingness to spend it on payroll?
Meg Rowley
2:16
Well, I think it is important to remember we don't really know how good or bad this current M's regime is at player dev yet, though you're right that the prior regime was shockingly bad at it. I also think the difference between front offices is maybe the narrowest it has ever been, so I'm not sure how true it is that the Pirates are one of the smartest. All of that said, I tend to agree with the idea that being good at player dev, coupled with a willingness to spend when your young guys are ready and good, makes you more likely to be in it in October.
All that said, I can't imagine a moment when I don't feel sad as a Mariners fan in October, so maybe it's a wash.
Adenolith
2:17
Is "playoff experience" at all meaningful for playoff success? At that point haven't major leaguers experienced enough pressure throughout their careers they know how to deal?
Meg Rowley
2:18
I can see it mattering some, just because the stakes are so much greater than even normal player pressure, but I can't imagine it mattering for that long into a playoff run. Maybe young guys are a little shaky for a half inning or two, but I'd think they'd settle down pretty quickly. Humans are amazingly adaptable.
Billy Beane
2:18
Re: A woman playing pro baseball. I would have to think she would be a LOOGY or a 2B, but I never really considered a catcher. I would think  the arm strength would be problematic unless she had super elite pop-times. Your thoughts? (Also never read the comments)
Meg Rowley
2:21
Lots of questions about Sheryl's piece (which I encourage folks to read). I think what I'll say is that we don't know. How and whether a woman ever makes the majors (I imagine a few will) is a complicated question, but I am sort of shocked at the certainty of some of those comments, not all of which were trolling.
2:23
I'm 31. I wasn't able to play Little League when I was a kid. That has changed, and there is a lot more opportunity for girls to play baseball now. Until that opportunity is even more meaningful, and the best athletes aren't getting funneled away to other sports, how could we possibly know? MLBers are extreme outliers in terms of their skill. Who is to say there aren't women and girls who are also extreme outliers? We won't know until we let 'em play, and see. If you find harm in that, in just that, I think it merits some reflection as to why.
William
2:23
Is there anything (reasonable) that you would change about Spring Training and the "pre"season?
Meg Rowley
2:24
I would change our expectations of it. It's training camp. It's practice. If you take it for what it is, a chance to see baseball in March, and maybe sit in the sun, it's easy not to get exercised about it being too long.
Matt Warfield
2:25
Most impactful season from the remaining FAs available?
Meg Rowley
2:27
This requires us to believe the Rockies will add a bat, which they are stubbornly refusing to do, but the Rockies could sure use another bat. Mike Moustakas has one of those. I don't think it'll happen, but it'd be impactful.
elb
2:28
MLB is frustrated with the players' lack of cooperation with pace-of-play measures, and the PA is frustrated with many teams' reluctance to improve themselves via free agency. These two things seem ripe for a give-and-take in coming CBA negotiations to the benefit of all. Too optimistic?
Meg Rowley
2:29
I think you're right that these are the sort of smaller concessions that typically smooth the way for other, bigger things, but I also think you might be a little too optimistic just because I expect that those negotiations will be very contentious generally.
Matt
2:30
Meg - does the term "Hall of Very Good" bother you as much as it does me? "fame" is in no way related to, or sequentially after "very good". It's like saying that a guy who is 6 feet tall doesn't belong in the Hall of Very Tall people, but would be more of a guy for the Hall of Sandwiches.
Meg Rowley
2:32
Eh, I'm not that bothered. I think it recognizes a particular group of players whose play was good, but maybe not so essential to the story of baseball as to merit induction. That said, I'm a big Hall person, and think it is mostly useful as a museum anyhow, so several Very Good guys should probably be in the real Hall who aren't.
Monsignor Martinez
2:32
Are veteran FA's not currently signed to contracts happy to be missing ST?  Is ST not as important for established players?
Meg Rowley
2:33
I would love to see this studied to a greater degree. It isn't like they aren't doing work to prepare for the year. Some of them are at the FA camp! But there have definitely been guys in the past who have seemed to suffer for not going through ST. No one is looking back at Kendrys Morales' 2014 as a success.
ChiSox2020
2:34
Do you think Mike Moustakis to White Sox makes sense? 2 year deal with team option if they can't sign Arenado in 2020?
Meg Rowley
2:35
This seems like the other natural landing spot. Sure. Sure! He's not a real Arenado sub, but he fills a need, and maybe things progress more quickly than they're expecting with the young guys and then hey, it is sure cool to have a Mike Moustakis around.
Adenolith
2:35
When will we finally get a group of players who don't care about hat position, bat flips, etc... and just like playing the game. More than pace of play, I think people don't watch baseball because it takes itself too seriously.
Meg Rowley
2:37
I don't know if that is so unique to baseball. I think people like to be annoyed and some of the things that motivate annoyance at bat flips and hat position are icky and nefarious and not going anywhere. I do think it seems to be a less common complaint than it used to be, which is good. But we'll never have a league completely free of fussbudgets.
Adenolith
2:37
How many lawyers or trained negotiators does the MLBPA have? Seems to me if they want to get anywhere, they need fewer guys like Tony Clark, and more guys with a strategic, negotiating mindset.
Meg Rowley
2:37
Give me a quick moment to try to find a tweet
2:40
Bill
2:41
Meg, I loved your recent series on ejections. Thank you. I am wondering: what new trends in ejections will you be looking for in 2018? Will a new category of ejections emerge? Among managers, is there anyone you consider an innovator in the art of getting thrown out of baseball games?
Meg Rowley
2:43
I will say that the actual list of categories was 38 strong, but I didn't want to tax readers' patience, or drive Carson mad. I think we are likely to see the curtailing of mound visits contribute its own colorful category. Also, Rick Renteria and Jeff Banister participated in so many different sorts. We could always see something new from them.
jamie
2:43
Players should have a longer window to accept the qualifying offer. Then teams might be less likely to hand them out to everyone. Gotta feel for Moose
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