JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 12/16/24

Ben Clemens

2:01

Hey everyone, welcome to my last chat of the year

2:02

2024 was an awesome year of baseball, and I'm going to remember it quite fondly, so if you have any year in review type questions, send them my way

2:03

in the meantime, let's answer some regular questions

Sig Mejdal

2:03

should I get over it and trade Coby mayo for an SP like Cease or Castillo? Or hoard prospects and hope they work out and sign a lesser SP like Flaherty?

Balmore Bill

2:03

What are we doing?! Can we not trade excess from our big league roster (Mountcastle, Heston, Ramon urias) and/or prospects for pitching? Is anyone besides Jackson and basallo off limits? Who should we target?

Ben Clemens

2:03

Ah yes, "Here's Ramon Urias, give me the best pitcher you can for him"

sadly, that wouldn't get too far

I think that the O's are in an interesting spot. The real thing I want them to do is sign some players to extensions

2:04

I liked their trade for Burnes, for example, and I wouldn't hate seeing them replicate that, but one thing I feel very sure about is that they shouldn't do half measures

Half of Adley's team control is gone. 1/3 of Gunnar's. You have a rare opportunity. The present matters

El Tim

2:04

If Shohei pitches most of a full season at an aceish level, could he win Comeback Player of the Year the season after winning back-to-back unanimous MVPs? Seems very on-brand.

Ben Clemens

2:04

No, haha

Zilko

2:05

I know it all depends on price, but it feels like the Red Sox should double down and get Burnes, no? Saved money by trading for Crochet, multiple elite position player prospects on the cusp of the MLB. Burnes-Crochet 1-2 feels like it gets you pretty dang far in both the regular and postseason.

Ben Clemens

2:05

I think that they are in need of more players

pitcher? Bregman? Teo? I don't have a super strong take on which option they should take

but this is not a great team as it is

Nickles

2:05

Will the Yanks regret not topping the Cubs offer for Tucker? Reportedly they balked at Gil and Lombardi.

Ben Clemens

2:06

If that reporting is true, I think that was a big error on their part

they even have great evidence of how well a trade for a FA-to-be superstar can work out

Pitchers List

2:06

Why is the SP market so much hotter this year than last, when Snell and Montgomery signed so late? Are teams prioritizing clear Game 1/2 playoff starters, regardless of price or age? While the pen market has been slow to develop. An interesting shift from the recent mantra to not overpay pitchers…

Ben Clemens

2:07

Yeah, I'm surprised. I guess we'll have to wait for some other top hitters to sign to see whether it's the whole market being hot or just the pitchers who have signed so far

Kid

2:07

In a vacuum, should the Mets (a) resign Pete, (b) sign Bregman and shift Vientos, or (c) address the void via trade (e.g., Arenado)?

Ben Clemens

2:08

I think I like B most of these options

but it depends what the market for Arenado looks like

Davy Andrews

2:09

Hey Ben, just wanted to let you know that you appear in the background right around the 2:30 mark of the video clip at the top of this article.

Ben Clemens

2:09

Hey Davy! Impressive spot

I wondered what kind of angle those cameras were capturing, I guess now I know

2:10

I feel like they were perfectly placed to cdatch the entirety of the crowd milling around

AAAA

2:10

Only two defensive shift violations were called last season (both after manager challenges and both in the span of ~a week)--does that seem low?

Ben Clemens

2:10

not really... you can just look at where you're standing, which seems to make it a lot harder to accidentally run afoul of

Guest

2:10

Does anyone know the rules by which team names reference a city or state? Could the As theoretically temporarily rebrand as the Sacramento As?

Ben Clemens

2:10

I believe they could have, becuase they chose to just be called the athletics instead of adding at eam name

a city name, rather

TKDC

2:11

I love the Walk-Off feature you all added, though I’m a little sad I came one percentage point short of platinum status. Do you know how many days were covered by it? I know it’s short of a full year, and I just wanted to know how many days I didn’t visit Fangraphs?

Ben Clemens

2:11

I think we cut it off two Saturdays ago

TheBeatlesShow

2:11

Hey, Ben. Brent Rooker good for 50 HR's in Sacramento? Happy holidays.

Ben Clemens

2:11

that is a LOT of home runs

2:12

more than Statcast thinks he would have hit if he played the whole season in Cincy last year

so I'm gonna say no. I don't think the park is going to be the best hitter's park in baseball or anything. Just a lot friendlier than the Coliseum