JotCast | Travis Sawchik FanGraphs Chat

Travis Sawchik FanGraphs Chat

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Mike

1:05

Springer, Sano or Bregman. Who should be my last of 5 keepers? I really wanna keep Bregman but I should keep Springer and redraft Bregman right?

Travis Sawchik

1:05

I think you have it right ... not sure about your league format though. I like all three to be productive and for Sano to be better in 2017

Dbagks

1:06

Whose career is more impressive so far: Kershaw or Trout? Both are clearly generational talents, so who is more dominant in their respective fields?

Travis Sawchik

1:07

Trout

Erik

1:07

Supposedly the Pirates analytics department concluded from their data that they should position outfielders shallower, while everyone else's decided to position deeper. Were the Pirates provably wrong and should think about hiring new analysts? Or was a it a good decision that just happened to not work out?

Travis Sawchik

1:08

The Pirates also had an extreme GB staff from 2013-15 that played into that decision ... But I think we'll see their positioning adjusted in 2017

Nats Fan

1:08

Since Harper seems to be a topic of discussion today ... if you are the Nats, do you try and sign him long-term to some huge contract, try and trade him before 2018, or hope you get two good seasons from him before he walks?

Travis Sawchik

1:10

I try to sign him ... but that's probably unlikely. If they can't, I suppose Nats evaluate their situation after 2017. I would have tried to sign Harper to a Longoria-style deal (only much more lucrative) before he took a MLB at bat, but that was probably unlikely, too

v2micca

1:10

How much regression to you see for Freddie Freeman in 2017? How much do you believe in his new launch angle sustaining his power surge?

Travis Sawchik

1:10

I think the underlying skill measurements suggest Freeman is for real

Andrew

1:11

Any mid relievers you really like. I'm looking for guys who could be able to go multiple innings and or post good ratios but not big names (closers/holds guys excluded)

Travis Sawchik

1:11

David Phelps?

Drew

1:11

Any chance for Starlin Castro to improve? Is he what he is at this point?

Travis Sawchik

1:11

Probably is what he is ... unusual career arc

Brandon

1:12

Are you excited for the WBC? Any non-MLBer's worth paying attention to besides Otani?

Travis Sawchik

1:13

I love the event. I'm curious to see overall level of play from S.Korea

Mike

1:13

Joe Maddon has floated the idea of Kyle Schwarber batting leadoff in 2017. Thoughts?

Travis Sawchik

1:14

I missed that but why not? I think you generally want your best three offensive player at 2-4-1. Cleveland used Carlos Santana out of lead-off spot, and Cubs have plenty of power deeper in the lineup

John Middleton

1:14

Is the SABER community working on a WAR rating for MLB owners? I'd like to see how high my score is.

Travis Sawchik

1:15

Didn't Scott Boras mention something about an ownership scoreboard? There probably should be some sort of public metric

Andrew

1:15

Is it worth using my lone keeper on Corey Seager with all of the SS talent in the league now?

Travis Sawchik

1:15

Yes!

Brandon

1:15

Do you project any sophomore regression for Seager or Story this year?

Travis Sawchik

1:16

Always smart to build in some for players coming off really good years, right? Seager is great. He should be fine. I'd be more worried about Story since he came out of nowhere

Andrew

1:17

What are some mid relievers that are going to post awesome ratios? I'm in a deep H2H league that counts IP and have a max 10 starts from out starters and looking to stockpile some middle relievers to pound IP and pad my ratios. Any ideas/targets are very much appreciated!

Travis Sawchik

1:17

Phelps? And if Andrew Miller isn't closing regularly in Cleveland it would be interesting to see what his value is. Joe Blanton for a $1?

Sasha

1:18

What would you say are the odds that a Mets pitcher finishes top 3 in Cy Young voting?

Travis Sawchik

1:19

Kershaw is still pitching so it's really about two available spots ... Syndergaard has as much talent as any pitcher in the NL

TTF

1:20

What are your thoughts on the Rockies this year? ZiPS projection just went up, and Dan actually has them right on the heels of the Cardinals...

Travis Sawchik

1:21

ZiPS seemed to really like the Rockies, in particular the rotation, projecting 12 WAR combined from the starters ... The improved pitch framing is going to help as Jeff Sullivan wrote. The Rockies have had a weird offseaosn but they are an interesting sleeper choice

Weston

1:22

Better future outlook- Mets or Yankees? I'm pretty torn because obviously, Yankees have a lot more money, but the Mets ML talent is much much better. Yankees farm system is also terrific, but the Mets farm is pretty great too. What do you think?

Travis Sawchik

1:23

Beyond 2018, I like the Yankees. Love the young positional player talent they're acquiring and developing, and so much risk with young pitching where much of the Mets' value rests

biffyclyro

1:23

I would like Aldi to become an area of your chat expertise. Have you tried their protein powder? The price seems too good to be true.

Travis Sawchik

1:24

I like this idea. I love Aldi, mostly for produce.

Mike M

1:24

I imagine that exit velocity is hard for a player to really change, but what about launch angle? You look at a guy like Ryan Zimmerman with fantastic exit velo and a terrible angle, how can he change his swing to get the ball up more?

Travis Sawchik

1:25

Good question. Since the tools are now available to show players their launch angles, it will be interesting to see how many more adjustments are made

Snarfle

1:26

Which teams do you see as being in a window which will shut in the foreseeable future. I know the Royals are about to all become FAs, Tigers are about to go Phillies of a few years ago, but I'm also wondering if the Nats can retool after 2018, and the Giants seem like they could slow down a bunch.

Travis Sawchik

1:26

You touched on some of the main ones ... Yankees' impending rise is going to make life difficult on Blue Jays and Orioles

Ryan

1:26

Better chance of being a top 15sp: Duffy or CMartinez

Travis Sawchik

1:27

I'm buying in on Duffy's 2016. I love the three-pitch mix

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