JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 11/7/22

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 11/7/22

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Ben Clemens

2:01

Hey everyone, welcome to the chat

It's customary to publish top 50 free agent rankings as soon as the season ends, and you can read the 20,000-ish words that we wrote about it at the top of the site

2:02

But if you want some quick-hitting questions about things, or to have me briefly expound on some pick, this is the place to do it

If you're considering asking cooking questions, well, you're also in luck because I went way over the top cooking yesterday and now really want to talk about it

Free agents! Food! It's a FanGraphs bonanza, let's dive in

Guest

2:02

Ben, as a fellow Cardinals fan can we legitimately get excited at Mozeliak claiming payroll increase? (SS market and Rodon come to mind)

Ben Clemens

2:02

Yes you can. I'm more on the 'they'll sign Rodon' side of things than shortstop though

Keeeick

2:02

Should and will the Reds offer Kyle Farmer arbitration or trade him? I don’t think k he’s worth the 5.9 projected salary.

Ben Clemens

2:03

I'd offer him arb

But I think it's kinda close?

It's not like he has much trade value, I assume the Reds will just cut him if they don't pay him, a la Wade Miley

Trader Jerry's

2:03

Do you think the Mariners offer Haniger a QO, and if so, do you think he accepts it?

Ben Clemens

2:03

I do not

But if they offer him one, he should smash that accept button

Connor

2:04

Based on what you think they'll receive, what free agents do you think will be the best investments? And which ones do you think may get overpaid?

Ben Clemens

2:04

So, this is a fraught question since I made the projections

I think Taylor Rogers is getting unfairly dinged, which is why he's higher on my list than his contract would imply

I think he's just an excellent reliever

2:05

I also think that Jose Abreu and Anthony Rizzo are really good and perhaps overlooked

My vote for player who will get the largest contract relative to what I'd give them is Josh Bell. I just can't wrap my head around preferring him to the two above first basemen, and yet everyone seems to think he's the big ticket guy

Who's Fabio?

2:06

Hi Ben - Toronto baseball writer Gregor Chisholm just published a piece explaining he is not voting on awards this year because of the cash implications. His position is there is too much at stake now for the voters. What if a player misses a huge bonus because a beat writer did not vote for them? Is this a one-off opinion or do you get the sense other voters feel the same?

Ben Clemens

2:06

Other voters no doubt feel the same. Many publications ask their employees with BBWAA memberships to abstain from voting in awards for just that reason

2:07

I am not a BBWAA member, and so this has never come up for me. Were I a member, I'd probably never receive a vote, because the SF chapter is huge. But if I did get one, I'd definitely struggle with that. I'd do my best to vote for the most deserving candidates but I can't pretend that I wouldn't worry about the financial incentives

Cool

2:07

Great breakdown on the top 50 free agents. One interesting development is that Zach Eflin reportedly turned down his $15M option just now. I see your prediction for him was a 1 year/$9M, do you think this declination was a mistake by Eflin?

Ben Clemens

2:07

I think I'm just the low man by a lot on Eflin, and may have missed on that projection

2:08

Meg and I spent a good deal of time yesterday saying "uh should we move Eflin?" and I just couldn't wrap my head around it

So I left him where he was. As you can see, the crowd is slightly higher than me but not by a ton

Who knows!

RTJ

2:08

A pair of high-variance pitchers in that top 5. Feels like deGrom could end up anywhere from 1(B) to 22nd.

Ben Clemens

2:09

I think he's gonna get an absolute haul. The top end performance is just so high

Lavin

2:09

Obvious question: where would Edwin Diaz have ranked on the FA50?

Ben Clemens

2:09

He was #9 yesterday before I removed him from the list, with a projection of 4/88

Guest

2:10

Giants signing predictions?

Ben Clemens

2:10

I think they'll be in the market for shortstops and Judge, and end up with Bogaerts or Correa

Ratatouille

2:10

What was your favorite thing that you cooked yesterday?

Ben Clemens

2:11

Okay, so my wife and I have come up with this game where we have a list of random vegetables, random proteins, random sauces, and random cooking techniques, and we roll a 12-sided die to pick which ones to make

Yesterday I made eggplant prepared to look like sushi -- on top of sushi rice, and cut like a piece of fish, but pan-fried and coated in miso brown butter

It was absolutely delicious

My roll: eggplant, tofu, mustard, pan-fried

2:12

I made pan-fried Dijon mustard glazed tofu and that eggplant sushi

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