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Meg Rowley FanGraphs Chat - 4/24/18
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Meg Rowley
12:00
Hello! Good morning/afternoon, and welcome to the chat.
Tommy N.
12:00
First time in your chat, do you follow MiLB stuff? If so do you have thoughts on Eric Lauer.
Meg Rowley
12:01
I follow some especially at the higher levels, but not as diligently or with as keen an eye as Eric or Kiley, and don't have specific thoughts on Lauer. But I bet Eric and Kiley do. They're smart about these things.
le fan
12:01
Did you watch buehler’s debut or did you take the night off?
Meg Rowley
12:03
I watched some but not all of it. Command was spotty at times, but he was probably pretty amped. I like that fastball (very original thought). I'm looking forward to seeing how the curve plays. I think he'll be good, with the usual caveat that he's a pitcher, and loving them is always risky because we ask them to do an insane thing.
CamdenWarehouse
12:04
As a Mariners fan, is there any advice you can give Orioles fans about following a team for whose front office you have lost all faith?
Meg Rowley
12:04
Invest your feelings in individual players. Some people root for laundry and if that works great, but having a couple guys whose game you really like will get you through a lot.
12:05
For instance, Zunino and Haniger home runs sure are fun, even when your favorite team gets blown out by literally the White Sox.
Rain Dance
12:05
Meg, lots of talk about temperature affecting batters like EE, and lots of talk about pitchers hating the cold because it messes up their ability to feel the ball. Who does cold temperature really affect more on a net basis? That info has tremendous value.
Meg Rowley
12:07
My instinct is to say pitchers because extremes in temp also messes with how breaking pitches break, but I also suspect that it probably evens out mostly. Seems like extremes in temp the other way would sway things more.
And of course, there is the omnipresent issue of the ball, and which version of it they have at any given time.
Brian
12:07
Meg! I share your enthusiasm for women and girls playing baseball (I think it is cool and good and will lead to more overall baseball). Given that the season coincides with fastpitch, do you worry that steering young athletes towards baseball and away from fastpitch will lead to the end of what has been an important woman's sport, or do you see the two existing side by side in the future?
Meg Rowley
12:07
I don't worry about it too much.
I think it is important to sort out what problem you're solving for.
12:08
Most young kids, regardless of gender, play sports to be healthy, learn cool lessons about teamwork and discipline, and make buddies.
I think (and clearly you do to) that little girls should get to do that playing baseball or softball, which is a great sport!
12:09
If the issue you're trying to solve for is, we'd like to see a woman in the majors, then having access to baseball is really important because all the girls with the best bat to ball and pitching skill are going to softball.
12:10
But also remember that softball has an important tool in its arsenal: college scholarships
benj
12:10
whose return to earth will be more violent: mets, d-backs, or boston?
Meg Rowley
12:11
I do worry about the Diamondbacks starter depth with Walker out, so maybe them slightly, but we might be getting to the point in the calendar when we look around and think, huh, those are just good teams. They're good teams!
12:12
The Red Sox won't sustain this pace probably, but they're a good team!
James
12:12
Mitch Haniger looks awesome. If (and, let's be honest, when) the Mariners realize they can't compete in 2018 and finally need to tear things down, where do you think he might end up in this year's trade value series? Curious what he could fetch.
Meg Rowley
12:12
Several Mitch questions today. Everyone is coming around to ol' Mitch.
12:14
I think a reasonable amount. He's a little older than you'd think, but he's not even arb eligible until 2020, and if he can stay healthy, he's a very good hitter who can play center if needed. And with that said, I'd be surprised if they move him, actually.
Zock Jr.
12:14
So this Mitch Haniger guy. He won't keep rocking this Stanton-esque 29.6% HR/FB. But other than that, I'm not seeing an elevated BABIP or anything. Is he just... amazing now?
Meg Rowley
12:15
When the Walker-Segura deal happened, a lot was made here at FanGraphs of the inclusion of Haniger, and it was because of the swing change.
12:16
He's put up good April's before. He put up a good April last year! And then he got hurt. I think we've seen enough to believe that the changes he made have stuck and are effective. Now he needs to stay healthy.
Conner
12:16
Is there any way to give this Rockies front office a pass? That offense is atrocious outside of Blackmon, Arenado, Lemahieu and an occasional Story HR. Desmond was such a weird and increasingly awful signing. The pitching has been terrible outside of Bettis and Ottavino. I get that they really have to rely on homegrown SP. But spending all that money on the bullpen for a bunch of relievers who are not the top 1% of relievers seems like such an awful investment for a team that plays half of it's games 5280 ft. above sea level, especially given the volatile nature of bullpens. They could have made real improvements at 1B/OF for relatively cheap this past offseason
Meg Rowley
12:16
What a weird, weird organization.
12:17
I am sympathetic to the challenge they face, but yeah, I wasn't crazy about any of the big moves they made this offseason.
12:18
They have a team wRC+ of 76! In Colorado! Why?
Badgerville
12:18
Favorite name for a stadium level? (Loge, terrace, mezzanine, view, etc.)
Meg Rowley
12:19
Mezzanine for how the word sounds. The view seats at Safeco on the first base side are sneakily some of the best around because you get a literal view of Seattle, and can visualize the whole field.
David
12:20
Good afternoon
Meg Rowley
12:20
It's still morning here.
Bryce Harpers Hair Piece
12:21
I havent seen as much talk about Joey Gallo so far this year,but im trying to be optimistic about his future,so where do you think his ceiling could be?
Meg Rowley
12:21
Gallo is interesting to me for a lot of reasons, not the least of which being that his career is perfectly timed in baseball history, as his particular skill set probably doesn't play at any other time.
12:23
I suspect his ceiling, if everything goes right, is maybe a win or two better than last year? He's more versatile in the field than I gave him credit for, and a weirdly good base runner, and he can hit the ball to the moon.
12:24
Selfishly, I'd like him to have one game where he tries to bunt against these crazy shifts every at bat, if only to write about it, or read Jeff writing about it.
Lunar verLander
12:24
How is it possible that we've STILL underestimated Mike Trout?
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