JotCast | Travis Sawchik FanGraphs Chat

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Jonathan Lucroy

12:39

what the heck happened to my power?!

Travis Sawchik

12:39

And your framing!

Last I checked, Lucroy was last in baseball in framing at BP

Andrew Allen

12:40

RE: Andrew Miller/Cody Allen: Wasn't listening to the broadcast so can't say I heard it first hand, but Hammy apparently said Allen had asked to switch roles with Miller to lighten Miller's workload (https://www.fantasypros.com/mlb/news/120630/cody-allen-asks-to-switch-...)

Travis Sawchik

12:41

Interesting. Miller has been worked pretty heavily. Maybe Miller's unselfishness (helps that he has a big-money deal) is trickling down to the rest of the pen? Allen is a good dude.

ted

12:42

are you from Cleveland

Travis Sawchik

12:42

I am a native of the east suburbs

Sam

12:42

What do you make of Jake Arrieta's value this upcoming offseason? How do teams parse between what Boras will want, based on the two previous seasons, and the form he's shown this season which is reminiscent of his pre-Chicago tenure?

Travis Sawchik

12:43

We could be waiting awhile on Arrieta to sign ... He's going to be a fascinating case

Greg

12:43

What grade would you give the Atlanta front office during their tenure? I know everyone likes the system ranking, but man they really screwed up the Kimbrel trade, Simmons trade and Alex Wood trade.

Travis Sawchik

12:44

Not all the trades have worked out but I love the overall philosophy of hunting upside and throwing any fear of uncertainty to a hurricane-force wind

Cullen

12:44

Is Rich Hill finished as a dominant pitcher?

Travis Sawchik

12:45

I don't think so. Everyone thought he was finished years ago ... I think he can make an adjustment with healthy. Seems to be mostly a location issues at the moment ....he's also been side-tracked by the blister issue

Jay

12:46

2 part question: appears as if Indians may need to add an SP at the deadline. Barring a Cole/Gray deal, the SPs that would come from the teams on your "likely sellers" list are uninspiring, would the Indians be better off adding yet another good bullpen arm to maybe offset a rotation issue? If they did, what names could they target?

Travis Sawchik

12:46

I'm keeping my eye on Trevor Bauer. I think he might be in the midst of taking a step forward with increased curveball usage, velocity ticking up....He was excellent Sunday at Twins

12:47

Salazar could get it figured out, too. I wouldn't be paying the prospect treasure required for Cole if I'm the Indians

Rob

12:47

Rather have Paxton or Kluber in a dynasty format (albeit a win-now team)?

Travis Sawchik

12:47

Kluber

Sean

12:48

Wanna know something amazing? The Dbacks have gone 22-8 without AJ Pollock. Yet, during these 30 games, they have gained two games on Colorado and ZERO games on the Dodgers. The NL West is ridiculous.

Travis Sawchik

12:48

The NL West is the best thing going in baseball right now .... I'd love to see a Rockies-Diamondbacks wild card game (Or LAD vs. either)

CamdenWarehouse

12:48

What is your approach for voting for manager of the year? Is it the normal team wasn't expected to be good and then was approach?

Travis Sawchik

12:49

I guess you are trying to make a guess about value-added in terms of wins .... but jumping from, say, 60 to 80 wins is less meaningful than jumping from 75 to 90 and into the postseason

Joe Douglas

12:49

Enough baseball talk, we want to hear about HBD. Give the people what they want.

Travis Sawchik

12:50

Ha. I have my doubts on how many people want that. But I would recommend Hardball Dynasty to everyone that wants to spend less time with their families

King Felix

12:50

Expectations when I return from injury this Friday?

Travis Sawchik

12:50

Muted

12:50

Did you watch Breaking Bad? If so, Better Call Saul has a decent amount of nostalgia with some of the cameos/call outs.

Travis Sawchik

12:51

Breaking Bad is a first-ballot HoF

Harper

12:52

It's been rumored that Harper will likely be looking at 15 year offers in the $40M per year range. 15 years seems insane for a club to commit to one player. Is it just the idea that they'll likely get at least 7 great years out of him and a better shot at at least 1 title? That could end up handcuffing the club that lands him for a long time.

Travis Sawchik

12:52

Why not just give Harper the franchise and have him pay the owner? 15 years would stretch beyond my comfort zone, but he is a special talent

Kristen

12:53

Aside from Darvish, TEX has Hamels, Ross, and Cashner as SP's they could make available for trades. Think TEX dumps everyone or do they go for a soft rebuild and trade just a few guys?

Travis Sawchik

12:53

I'd be more aggressive since I don't think the Astros are going anywhere for a while

baby bull

12:54

is there a way to see which hitters change the incoming velocity of the pitch the most? i.e. batter hits a 95mph fastball @ 105mph for a difference of 10mph

Travis Sawchik

12:54

According to the various studies out there, pitch velocity does not have much to do with exit velocity

Cool Hand Lucroy

12:55

Will Gallo ever be better than the hitter he is now? I mean he's 23, but I don't know how much we can expect him to improve his contact

Travis Sawchik

12:55

He might never be more than a Russell Branyan-type, but what if he can make a Judge-like adjustment? I'd be patient with him

Matt

12:56

Regarding Miller in the 9th - I think the point of why this type of usage is great is because it doesn't tie someone into a specific inning the same way it doesn't disqualify someone from a particular inning.

Travis Sawchik

12:56

I love seeing managers be creative and free of just mindlessly plugging in arms to various innings

Sonny

12:57

Yoan Moncada is running pretty darn good but not otherworldly numbers in AAA and FG projections have him playing 34 games with Chicago this year with roughly 1 WAR per 600 PA pace. This seems low but just looking at his stat line he's not hitting for the type of power I maybe wrongly assumed he'd display this year. Am I letting physique fool me into seeing a 25+ HR 2B that might not exist?

Travis Sawchik

12:58

Good chance he matures into more power (See: Lindor) and a 22-year-old 2B with a .160 ISO in Triple-A isn't terrible. Approach and barrel skills more important at this stage, imo

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