JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 7/27/26

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 7/27/26

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Ben Clemens

2:00

Hey everybody, welcome to the chat. Let's get to talking about baseball

Matt

2:00

You seemed a little grumpy in the trade value chat. How are you today

Ben Clemens

2:01

Oof, bad news for me, I thought I hid my grumpiness

nah it's tiring

but I finished it

and we have a whole few days before the deadline so I am trying to recuperate as quickly as possible

I'm doing well. I basically tried my hardest to detox from baseball for the last two days, and now I'm back

manowargs

2:01

Katie Woo is saying that Alex Call might be available. How much would he be worth to one of the many teams lacking RHH OF? Mariners, Phillies, etc

Ben Clemens

2:02

I mean.... not that much is my guess

2:03

I just don't think that right-handed 31-year-olds with below average batting lines are going to be in huge demand

it's definitely true that teams need RHH OF's

2:04

I'm just not convinced that Call is good enough to want to give up a bunch of prospect capital for

2:05

now if it's like, cleaning the 40-man and whatnot, and they're acquiring an up-and-down reliever? sure

2:06

but I dunno, for me, he's just not moving the needle

scottbot

2:06

Obligatory ask for Ben’s take on Early / Mead: this Sox fan does not hate it which seems to point at fair for both sides but the surplus value calculations probably (wildly?) disagree?

Ben Clemens

2:06

yeah I mean, I think it's probably a bad EV trade for the Sox in a vacuum but luckily we don't play baseball in a vacuum

they spent all winter adding pitching and found out they had a little too much

2:07

and while sure, if they had a mujlligan, they probably would have diverted more resources to the infield, I appreciate them pivoting to do it, even if it's at a small theoretical loss

BP

2:07

Has Arraez’s bounce back made you rethink the concept of too much contact that was being suggested?

Ben Clemens

2:08

not really. in fact, I kind of think the opposite? Arraez's contact nubmers are his lowest since 2021 this year

highest swinging strike rate since that year, lowest contract rate, lowest zone contact rate, you get the idea

2:09

i don't think he's going to keep up his current form

but he's hitting for more power this year than he ever has (still not a ton)

2:10

I have watched a lot of Arraez this year and I sometimes feel like he's just deciding what he's going to do on early pitches before they even get thrown, like auto takes at times

but I think it's kinda working out!

basically I really do believe in, as Dan once called it, the contact death spiral

but Arraez is giving me hope that you can break out of it

his game looks very different this year than last year, and he 'sacrificed contact' but not really in that he makes so much that it doesn't matter

scottbot

2:10

would a fully healthy Connelly Early have been an HM in the Trade Value series? Was Mead ever up for consideration?

Ben Clemens

2:11

so I think I probably didn't explain this quite as much as I should have but he definitely could have

Mead definitely could have

and I was never close to putting either on the top 50

I don't think that next year's trade value list will have the same style of honorable mentions

2:12

because I truly do not enjoy answering questions that boil down to 'well I think this guy is 116th-best, but you had a guy on your list who I think is like 140th-best, did you just forget about my guy?'

for me the easy solution is to just not have HM's

we'll see whether that actually happens

but the point of them is to mention some good players. not to make people's annoyance with their guy not being on there extend to 100 players instead of 50

so.... needs to be redone

JasonT

2:13

Not sure how plugged in you are to Ketel's ongoing drama in AZ. I wonder if he has reached Manny in Boston (08) where it's just time to move on. Do you think AZ could get a good, young starting pitcher for him?

Ben Clemens

2:13

i just saw that he unfollowed the team on instagram

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