JotCast | Meg Rowley FanGraphs Chat

Meg Rowley FanGraphs Chat - 5/23/18

Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page

Eminor3rd

1:23

Two-Hearted is Michigan :(

Meg Rowley

1:23

Well, ummm, it's still very tasty.

Gardy Party

1:23

Which baseball personality (current or historic) do you really, really want to get drink a beer with, or see drunk as a fly on the wall?

Meg Rowley

1:23

This is a very weird answer, but I think Russell Martin would be a really interesting dude to talk to.

Taylor

1:24

Does the overwhelming negativity of Mariners' fandom ever wear on you? The team is competitive in an obviously improbable way, yet most of what I'm seeing is folks shouting about how it'll all come crashing down as always.

Meg Rowley

1:24

It's interesting what we see, isn't it. I think the majority of Mariners twitter is really optimistic and positive in a way I find surprising.

I do worry sometimes that I like feeling sad.

1:25

I think it is also a matter of what you understand yourself to be.

1:26

Fans can and should and do feel optimistic and joyful. And there isn't really a consequence to them doing that and then being wrong, because they are fans engaging entertainment they like. My obligations are a little different now.

1:27

But I will say this start is much better than I expected, and for a team whose rotation (outside of Paxton) is basically sand held together by force of will, they have been really, really fun to watch. That offense has been great.

Please win, Caps

1:27

Does your job ever bring you in contact with beat writers? If so, who are some of the best, and how do you perceive their overall quality and importance to baseball media?

Meg Rowley

1:29

I know a bunch of the local Mariners beats and they are excellent humans, even Divish who insists that he is a grump but is actually a very nice guy. Outside of that, I can't really comment on the overall quality of the larger corps outside of guys like McCullough, who is obviously excellent.

But I think that local coverage is really important, and when it is good, can elevate the dialogue with fans pretty substantially

Geust

1:29

Why do we call players "players," until we're talking about trading them and now all of a sudden they're "pieces?"

Meg Rowley

1:30

Because our economic system has damaged us all in pretty fundamental ways?

Vottomatic

1:31

You growley?

Meg Rowley

1:31

The sun is out, I have a good iced coffee, and I get to chat with all of you. Today isn't bad, actually.

tb.25

1:32

Maybe none of us nerds have bene close to BEING pro ball players... But have you been close TO pro ball players? I shook a guy's hand once. It was huge.

Meg Rowley

1:33

I am constantly amazed by how big these dudes are. Except for Altuve who look, I know we joke about his height but it is somewhat arresting close up. He is listed at 5'6 but he is an inch shorter, I swear.

1:33

Hi Meg, is there any way we could get service time added to player pages? I know that info is available elsewhere, but I like fangraphs better than all the elsewheres, so it'd be cool to have it here too.

Meg Rowley

1:34

Hmmm I'm not sure, but I will ask.

New Rays Fan

1:35

I'm having trouble telling many of our relievers apart. Tell me something interesting or fun about any one of Andriese/Pruitt/Yarborough/Kittredge.

Meg Rowley

1:35

Kitteredge was the name of the sorta bad guy in one of the Mission Impossible movies.

Yarborough is one of nine active players whose last name starts with Y

1:36

That's two fun things. Interesting? I'll leave that to you.

Morbo

1:36

Who is your favorite player to watch at the moment?

Meg Rowley

1:36

I should maybe have a more interesting answer than Ohtani, but I don't

1:37

Probably right now it is some mix of Ohtani, Trout, Betts, Hader, Albies, Odubel Herrera, Paxton?

Manderson

1:38

What players do you think the Tigers should sell at the deadline?

Meg Rowley

1:38

Literally anyone who won't be part of the next core who they can

CamdenWarehouse

1:39

No Zunino? :(

Meg Rowley

1:39

Some of these at bats...

The framing is good. That's nice. That's a nice, good thing.

But these at bats...

A Boy Named Yu

1:39

Would you part with Addison Russell and his controllable years for 2-3 months of Machado?

Meg Rowley

1:40

Yes, but I probably shouldn't which is why I write about manager ejections and run The Hardball Times

Alex

1:40

What percentage hilarious and what percentage depressing would it be if the Mariners moved Seager to second, Healy to third, and put Vogelbach at first?

Meg Rowley

1:41

Depressing is moving Seager to short, come on now

A Boy Named Yu

1:42

Why won't the Mariners give Vogelbach a serious chance? Merely bad roster contruction and no place to play him?

Meg Rowley

1:42

Because Nelson Cruz is a better DH and Healy's bat has turned around, and while he's no defensive wonder, he's better than Vogelbach

Connecting…