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Meg Rowley FanGraphs Chat - 4/30/19
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cavebird
2:01
Do you think they should allow Carter Kieboom to get the Boxburger exception to the no emojis rule for player's weekend?  And if he does, what if his brother is also up that weekend?  Of course, they would have the same name on the back of their uniforms in normal games, too.
Meg Rowley
2:01
I really can't imagine caring what a player puts on his players' weekend jersey so long as it wasn't a slur?
Greg
2:02
The top 5 teams in defensive runs above average are the Giants, Dodgers, Padres, Diamondbacks, and Rockies. Is this a weird coincidence? https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0...
Meg Rowley
2:02
Given some of the individual guys those teams have, it isn't super surprising, but also, I would warn against looking at a month's worth of defensive data and thinking it's anything so meaningful.
The Chop is for Chumps
2:03
Meg, what do you make of all the young, superhyped, Atlanta arms flopping at the big stage i.e. Kyle Wright, Touki Toussaint, Bryse Wilson, Luiz Ghohara, and Sean Newcomb?
Meg Rowley
2:03
That pitching is really hard and that there is a reason that we were all a little nervous about a pitching-forward approach to building the farm?
Larry
2:04
Let's assume a pitcher has a cannon for an arm (literally Mega-man style, not figuratively), and they will fire every pitch very fast, straight down the middle. How fast would the pitches have to go to strike out every hitter assuming an imperceptible windup/charge time? Or would the catcher die first?
Meg Rowley
2:04
The catcher would die first, also the umpire, which seems bad, too.
2:05
There does come a point where the human brain can't make the human body do what it needs to react, but even very fast fastballs get timed up eventually.
Resolved
2:05
Cardinals take the division, Brewers and Cubs take WC1 and WC2. Thoughts?
Meg Rowley
2:06
I buy St. Louis as a winner, but I don't think all three make it to the postseason. East is too stacked for that.
JoJo
2:06
Would you accept a spot on a major league team, knowing that you'd play every day and undoubtedly become the laughingstock of America? Chris Davis would be pitiful in comparison
Meg Rowley
2:07
I am a shame-motivated person who cares way too much about work, so I can't think of anything worse for my mental health than attempting to play major league baseball.
Especially if I am playing as Meg Rowley, currently the managing editor of FanGraphs. Can you imagine what other outlets would do with that gift?
Rico
2:08
Which Lowe in Tampa Bay should we be more excited about... Brandon or Nate?
Meg Rowley
2:09
Gonna bake your noodle to know that those names are pronounced differently, but Brandon, imo. Eric and Kiley had Brandon higher up on our rays megalist, and I make it a rule to listen to their prospect takes https://blogs.fangraphs.com/top-54-prospects-tampa-bay-rays/
Derek
2:10
I like that your plan for maximum happiness includes karmic punishment for CLE by having them miss the playoffs - not sure how many people that would actually make happy, but I am definitely among them, and I think I will be a Twins fan for the rest of the season because of it. It's tragic that they are wasting their pitching staff and Lindor (and theoretically Jose Ramirez) by not being willing to spend a few more dollars at the margins of the roster, but hopefully if they do actually miss the playoffs it will discourage teams from trying to game the system like this.
Meg Rowley
2:11
I feel badly making those players, and the people of Cleveland who have surely suffered enough as sports fans, share this burden but sometimes you have to engage in a little bit of punishment.
five tools, one nail
2:11
When looking at players who've done well in April and trying to estimate how they'll do in the future, do you favor exit velo and barrels/PA?  Do you like ZiPS?  If you had to bet on Vogelbach or Christian Walker the rest of the way, how would you roll?
Meg Rowley
2:13
You will be perhaps unsurprised to learn that I do indeed like ZiPS. I think early in the year, projections are a pretty good guide, but that it is also useful to look at underlying data at statcast to see how early season stuff matches expectations, or diverges. Such an original answer, I know.
five tools, one nail
2:13
Do you generally think sports psychology is well received among players?
Meg Rowley
2:14
I think it really depends on the player-- I'd suspect younger guys are more open to it, but that is probably too crude an analysis.
2:15
We probably all need therapy some of the time? I also think it matter how a guy is struggling, and for how long. At some point, you'll try anything that might help, right?
bb
2:15
The home page says "Meg Rowley will be chatting at 2 PM," which is false for everyone who doesn't live in the Eastern time zone.
Meg Rowley
2:15
I think people understand that we publish on an east coast schedule?
LGM
2:15
When Jed Lowrie returns, where does he play and who loses most playing time?
Meg Rowley
2:15
Out of position, and someone who shouldn't?
2:16
The Mets!
Jake
2:16
Hello Meg! Sorry if this question is silly but with players having extreme defensive stats in one direction or the other early in the season, can we possibly assume that the defensive metrics are actually being fairly accurate in their cases? Like if someone has a crazy high or low DRS currently, we shouldn't just throw it out just because it's early in the season? I know it's unwise to look too much into early season defensive metrics and it could be even hard to extrapolate conclusions from a whole season of them, but just glancing at the leaderboard the metrics seem to portray at least somewhat fairly accurately some of the best and worst defenders. Lorenzo Cain, Buster Posey, and Nick Ahmed have been some of the best and Omar Narváez, Eloy Jiménez, and Maikel Franco have been some of the worst. So I guess my question is, should we be worried when certain guys with track records of good fielding have extremely negative DRS's even if it's early? Like for instance Tim Anderson and Jackie Bradley Jr.?
Meg Rowley
2:17
I wouldn't sweat it yet -- this stuff takes wayyyy longer to mean anything. Doesn't mean that there can't have been a swing, or an aberrant performance, just that this doesn't tell us decisively.
Wade
2:17
Hi Meg, what’s a logical way for me to process the insane injuries the Yankees have faced so far?
Meg Rowley
2:18
Human bodies are very frail and we ask baseball players to do a pretty wild thing over and over and over again?
Honestly, the remarkable thing is that any of us are alive at all. Have you seen knees and elbows? That hell are those about?!
Tyler
2:19
Time to worry about Jose Ramirez?
Meg Rowley
2:20
I feel a Mild Amount of Concern
Rays
2:20
Get Lowe, get Lowe, get Lowe.
Meg Rowley
2:20
I assume one of those doesn't actually rhyme and that you find it as irritating as I do.
Drew
2:20
Is Luke Voit for real?
Meg Rowley
2:21
He is a human person, yes. He is also a good baseball player. That part is still true I think.
KD
2:21
What have been your thoughts on the relaunched Community Blog so far?  Do you read every article before it is posted?
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