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Meg Rowley FanGraphs Chat - 5/28/19
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Szan Dymborski
2:29
Can we turn your chat into a Dan chat once?  I want your opinions on chili.
Meg Rowley
2:29
I like chili. If you also like chili, that is cool. If you do not, I hope there are other things you do like, and that you get to eat them.
most of America
2:30
marching orders?  please tell me you're firing Sporer!  dude couldnt be any snarkier in his chats.
Meg Rowley
2:31
Paul is lovely, spares me from having to have fantasy baseball opinions, and importantly keeps our average height up, especially since Jeff's departure.
Rocky Colavito
2:32
Good morning, Meg. I wonder what you thought about Dave Sheinin's Washington Post piece on Velocity's strangling grip on baseball and any possible remedies.
Meg Rowley
2:32
I have not, but have it open in a tab.
Voldemort
2:32
Keston Hiura since being called up has looked... ok I guess? 19:1 k/bb ratio (yikes). Do you think the brewers send him back down when Shaw is done rehabbing? Or do they give him some time to try and adjust to MLB pitching?
Meg Rowley
2:33
I don't know if they'll send him back down, but imagine they're ok with him adjusting. It's 46 PAs, and we love the bat.
2:34
Eric's piece on his call-up is good, and features a delightful hot chocolate anecdote: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/called-up-keston-hiura/
Thomas
2:34
I often hear baseball writers speak of their discomfort with referring to "trading players" or "buying players". I totally get that, but if it's so uncomfortable to speak of buying and selling human beings (which I agree is totally gross), why don't baseball writers more often refer to buying a selling *contracts* rather than players? I'm sure that wording is used sometimes, but it definitely seems to be the rare usage. Not only is speaking of contracts rather than people more humane, but it's also more accurate, as we all know that often the terms of a contract are a more attractive asset to teams than a particular players skills.
Meg Rowley
2:35
Why not just avoid "buying" and "selling" entirely? I think we generally avoid that here. I edit it out if it works its way in.
Yankees
2:35
The Yankees lost as many games (9) in their first 15 games as they did in the following 38. They would most likely be in worse position (just because of chance, not because the stars are bad) if they were healthy. Yet I still see so many fans complaining. Like, shut up, please. Please.
Meg Rowley
2:35
I might suggest better curating your twitter?
Roger
2:35
Herrera was charged with domestic assault.  The only possible response is to immediately run him out of baseball and any other profession he might choose to pursue, and to ensure that he can never earn a living again.  Correct?
Meg Rowley
2:36
If you think this is the place for bad faith DV grousing, you've come to the wrong chat.
2:38
I don't support a zero tolerance policy on DV because DV experts say that it reduces reporting, imperiling victims. I do think there are things the league can and should do to reduce the incentives teams have to turn one of the worst moments in a person's life into a valuable trade chip, and to re-center the discourse and post-suspension approach to be about assisting victims, which is what matters here.
2:39
Is it fundamentally strange that this is falling to an employer to do? Yes. But MLB voluntarily assumed that responsibility, and now they owe it to victims, their employees, and fans of the game to get it right.
Mike
2:39
Did you end up watching Fleabag?  My wife and I watched 3 episodes Sunday night, it goes by really fast! Only 6 total so we're already half way done.
Meg Rowley
2:39
Not yet. Going to save it for a post-work week treat. There was too much compelling baseball yesterday to slot in between very comfortably paced holiday editing.
Peter
2:40
If MLB realigned the leagues again, would you like to see the Brewers go back to the AL and the Astros back to the NL?
Meg Rowley
2:40
Eh, not really.
I'm fine with it as is, and both clubs have adapted to their leagues so.
Roland
2:40
The Cardinals, Pirates, Nationals, Mets, and Indians are all at or below .500.  Do any of them make the playoffs?
Meg Rowley
2:42
I like that Cardinals team, in spite of the pitching, so if I were going to pick any one of those five, I'd say them, I guess? Nationals next.
CamdenWarehouse
2:42
Are the Indians so far out that they won't trade for players?
Cookie Monster
2:42
and don't say "somewhere in the middle" ಠ_ಠ
Meg Rowley
2:43
Ok fine. I don't think they'll do a lot. The biggest trade chip they had this offseason is hurt.
Mike
2:43
I would argue that many of the circumstances that are causing the Indians trouble right now were very much not predictable though.  Maybe predictable in a sense that there are millions of possible outcomes for a baseball season and this is one of them - but I don't think a) Minnesota winning 2/3s of their games, b) Ramirez, Lindor, Bauer, Kluber, Clevinger, and Carrasco combining for something like 7 fewer WAR compared to this point in 2018 was predictable.  This site still had them winning the division before the season started, and I think that was a reasonable prediction even with them losing some players based on the thought that the great rotation, improved bullpen, and Lindor/Ramirez/Santana/Kipnis could be able to keep the team good enough to win in a soft Central divison.
Meg Rowley
2:44
It isn't hard to imagine pitching, starting or otherwise getting hurt. Pitchers get hurt all the time!
It isn't hard to imagine that if a team has no depth, and much of its projected WAR concentrated in a few spots, and something happens to those few spots, that they'll suffer.
2:45
We projected the outfield to be terrible; it is in fact very poor.
2:46
We projected them to win the division, that is true. But my point is, the way this team could fall apart was easy to see, and the potential for their plan of dancing on a knife's edge backfiring was also pretty easy to predict. The how of them being maybe bad was right there. And the team said, "Eh, let's roll the dice."
Mike
2:47
Is Matt Boyd the only reason to watch the Tigers now?
Meg Rowley
2:48
With Castellanos not hitting like he did last year... maybe. If you have a chance to catch Mize somewhere, I'd do that.
Pancakes
2:48
Which hurt player is more important to the Yank's success ROS: Judge, Stanton, or Severino?
Meg Rowley
2:48
Severino imo.
BK
2:49
Who hits more Major League homers this year, Riley or Acuña?
Meg Rowley
2:49
Acuña
Just watch
2:49
Eventually the highly paid Yankees will return, some will struggle, and "the muscles and money are bad, we need some singles" stuff will happen and it'll be very, very, very stupid.
Meg Rowley
2:50
We could do a better job not taking the bait on bad discourse, though.
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