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Meg Rowley FanGraphs Chat - 9/11/18
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Meg Rowley
2:15
The list includes:
2:16
Name wRC+ WAR
Chris Davis 51 -2.6
Victor Martinez 71 -1.7
Yangervis Solarte 83 -0.7
Ian Desmond 79 -0.7
Alcides Escobar 53 -0.6
Trey Mancini 91 -0.5
Eduardo Nunez 75 -0.5
Ryon Healy 98 -0.3
Eric Hosmer 94 -0.2
Albert Pujols 90 -0.2
Man, weirdly maybe Mancini and Nunez?
First base is so weird and gross sometimes.
Southi
2:17
If you were Atlanta this off season would you be more inclined to 1) go in house with your rotation plans, 2) sign a free agent starter like Keuchel or 3) seriously pursue a trade for deGrom?
Meg Rowley
2:17
If those are my options, I would go two, one, three, just because I don't think deGrom will be on the table in any sort of real way.
Liar Liar Michael Cuddyer
2:17
Got any thoughts on Sunday's Braun-Bumgarner tiff? It seemed like a) Tom Jackpot Hallion completely lost control of the game and b) MadBum can be kind of a butt.
Meg Rowley
2:18
Having admittedly not watched it I have very little trouble believing it was MadBum being a bit of a butt.
Hello
2:18
Just read your awesome piece on pitchers in blowouts. One suggestion for the future: all references to what the Game of baseball (or just the Game) wants, requires, demands, etc. should be spelled with a capital G. Show some respect.
Meg Rowley
2:18
In a piece that featured a screenshot of two butts, this was your issue?
2:19
The SABR style guide doesn't require the capitalization of Game when referencing the generalization game of baseball, and I don't write in sepia tone.
Butt Looker
2:19
FanGraphs made me a Butt Looker
Meg Rowley
2:19
Hello, welcome to being alive. You'll see animal faces everywhere. It is truly wild.
Liar Liar Michael Cuddyer
2:19
If you were tasked with explaining baseball to someone who had no prior knowledge about the sport, what would be your introductory sentence?
Meg Rowley
2:20
This is a marvelous question that probably needs a few hundred words to answer properly, but I think honestly, I might lead with, "This is impossibly hard, and they do it anyway."
FanGraph's Lurker
2:21
was looking at the standings last night. The dodgers and the mariners have the same record, how different would their records look if they swapped divisions? Mariners in the NL west, Dodgers in the AL west. Only for this season.
Meg Rowley
2:22
This is a good question.
2:25
I don't know that it would be that different. The Mariners are worse as a team, and so you'd expect they might actually look it. The Dodgers are underperforming their baseruns, and would still have two playoff teams in division, but wouldn't have a much better break than they do with Padres and Giants.
James
2:26
The Astros are playing Detroit this week while Oakland plays Baltimore. Does it take away from the race a little when both teams are basically playing against minor leaguers?
Meg Rowley
2:26
You can only play the schedule you have.
Oakland also recently played the Yankees. The Astros played the Red Sox. Not every match up is marquee and that's ok.
Bo
2:27
Sean Newcomb has been struggling in the "dog days" of summer, but was back on his A-game last night in 60-degree SF. Is there reason to believe higher heat/humidity is a real problem for him?
Meg Rowley
2:27
I'd expect that the effect is mostly just noise. Uncomfortable noise to be sure, but largely that.
2:28
Now, we know that heat and humidity affect the way pitches travel and break. So there may be some effect there.
But I don't imagine it is having a meaningful physical impact on him.
stever20
2:29
How much does teams doing what Detroit did last night for Verlander help a teams perception with free agents?  Verlander was clearly moved by it.
Meg Rowley
2:30
It never hurts to be thought of as nice rather than a jerk, but I also can't think of team being an obvious jerk to a beloved former player.
Bullpen
2:30
How many wins would the Mets have if they had the As bullpen?
Meg Rowley
2:30
Trick question: if they were on the Mets, they'd all be ghosts now.
Brian
2:30
Have you seen anyone attempt to re-write the balk rule in a way that is, like, understandable? Baseball seems mostly fine even with this glaring inconsistency in enforcement, but its just so odd when you think about it.
Meg Rowley
2:31
I wonder if every offseason the rules committee meets dreading a discussion of the rule, and then they just don't do anything with it.
It is complicated, so they aren't crazy to have a bunch of text but it is also too complicated.
Alan
2:32
The Red Sox and Angels both have 18 games remaining... Betts at 9.1 WAR, Trout at 8.6 WAR. Who ends up with the higher WAR? Who gets the MVP?
Meg Rowley
2:34
I wonder if they end up with the same WAR at the end, having both missed time, if, in the back of voters' minds there will be some impulse to favor Betts because he hasn't won before. Which, if they are at the same point at the end of the year, really the same, I'm not sure I mind. They've both had incredible seasons, and variety is nice.
2:35
If it is really close, like tenths of wins of WAR, I could see some of the more traditional stats, the defense, and the playoff team making the difference for Betts, too.
WAR
2:35
So. Early this year we were all talking about how we were going to have a bunch of people with like 12, 13 WAR and then none of that happened because it never does. Do you think it's more interesting when a lot of people start well or when a lot of people come on stronger later?
Meg Rowley
2:36
I think late, close races are fun, though I'll admit that I don't get incredibly worked up over awards one way or the other.
The most fun? The most fun would be this year with Betts and Trout being healthy and whole the whole time.
Slew
2:36
If you're given the choice between 2018 Chris Sale for 24 starts or 2018 Justin Verlander for 33 starts don't you take Verlander? Feels like an easy choice to me.
Meg Rowley
2:37
And yet it isn't so clear cut.
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