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Travis Sawchik FanGraphs Chat
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Stevil
1:27
First of all, congratulations on an excellent start to your tenure here at fangraphs. Diggin' your work already. Second, I'm curious which of the current teams that you feel are interesting/strong enough to compete will be the first to sell. Thanks!
Travis Sawchik
1:29
Thanks! Pirates are interesting but in a tough neighborhood. Are the Orioles going to keep overachieving every year? Curious to see where the Tigers are this year, too. Mariners made a lot of offseason moves, would they be similarly aggressive in season if out of the race?
Blue Morpho
1:29
At first the reported extension for Wil Myers felt too long for a player with his injury history. But now that he's playing first and the dollars will be fairly spread out, did San Diego make a good deal?
Travis Sawchik
1:31
I don't think it's an awful deal. Myers has legit offensive skills. But the offensive benchmark is higher at first, and he has a history of inconsistency. I think it's a better deal for Myers.
Rex
1:31
Thoughts on the Rockies chances to make the wild card this year? Are they wasting their window by committing early or will their wave of young talent make up for some *questionable* transactions?
Travis Sawchik
1:32
Winning in Colorado is probably the toughest thing to do in MLB given the pitching challenge. So I don't think they're a great wild card bet. I am curious to see what Desmond does there.
Kristen
1:34
'17 projection for Nomar Mazara? And how high is his ceiling?
Travis Sawchik
1:35
Steamer is curbing its '17 expectations ... but the ceiling is very, very high
FANTHEAD
1:35
Mr. Sawchik: I like your surname. I guess there’s a stage magician in your family tree--or a male who simply liked to look at beautiful examples of humanity.

For the purposes of a forever league, do you value any of these Middle Relievers as potential closers: Addison Reed, Shawn Kelley, Trevor Rosenthal, or Daniel Hudson?

Closers are prized and gobbled up in my league so having patience with Middle Arms is the least expensive way I know to get them.

Thank you so much!
Travis Sawchik
1:36
Pittsburgh's closer situation could be fluid. Hudson could get a shot there. Rosenthal has a history in that role in StL. Not sure what the Cardinals plans are for him by stretching him out
Craig in CHI
1:38
Any thoughts on Carson Fulmer? Thanks
Travis Sawchik
1:38
Future late-inning reliever
Guest
1:38
Is the Milw. Brewer's recent youth movement on pace to help them to be a competitive team in say 2019-2020?
Travis Sawchik
1:39
I'm not sure about timeframes for contention but I like many of the things the Brewers are doing including the Thames and Broxton adds.
kevinthecomic
1:40
Can the analytics community stop slagging on Mike Trout for signing his contract? I know he's hugely underpaid, but it has to be awfully hard to have a $144.5-million contract slid under your nose and not sign it.
Travis Sawchik
1:41
I'm not bashing Mike Trout. Tough to turn away $144 million. Teams have more leverage in these pre-arb, early-arb negotiations given that they don't have to worry about one injury or mishap or performance decline ruining a franchise
Joe
1:42
Any thoughts on a Brian Dozier move? Is De Leon not enough for you?
Travis Sawchik
1:42
De Leon would be a nice get for MIN
Moltar
1:42
Are the days of 7-10 year contracts gone for all but the elite of the elite? I haven't seen a lot of Jason Werth type deals lately, and I think after the Greinke deals even pitchers will be pressed to take higher AAV/shorter term deals.
Travis Sawchik
1:43
Those FA deals are almost always losing bets for the clubs ... So I think we'll see less of them unless we're talking about elite, under 30 free agents like Harper
1:44
Assuming Harper becomes a free agent ... And then signs a 10-year deal with NYY
Jim Lonborg
1:44
Do you think trades of the kind Cherington attempted in 2014--veterans for younger major-leaguers--are harder to pull off than the standard veterans-for-prospects type? Should teams avoid them?
Travis Sawchik
1:45
I think there's some though that young pre-arb guys are discounted to a degree compared to prospects.
Thanks for the questions, everyone! I will be back here at 12 p.m. next Monday.
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