JotCast | Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat

Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat - 6/17/2019

Dan Szymborski

12:02

"Dan Szymborski is chatting now."

OH GOD HE ISN'T PANIC

Now I am.

The Other Dave

12:02

Is there ANY hope left for the Reds at this point? Or should they start exploring some trade scenarios? It just feels like if everything clicks, they should be a very good team. They just can't seem to win any 1-run games.

Dan Szymborski

12:03

It kinda sucks, but their poor fortune is baked into the cake.

Yeah, they're 8 games under their Pythag. But the thing is, you don't get those games back. You expect them to match their Pythags going forward, not get an extra helping from the good luck carnitas.

12:05

And that's the fundamental problem: even if you believe their Pythag is the team's "true" long-term level of ability, a .565 team (92 wins per 162), playing like a 92-win team only gets them to 83-79, which won't make the playoffs.

And the kicker is I don't think they're a 92 win team.

12:06

I think they're more an 84-85 win team. Which is a few more than I thought at the start of the season.

Aaron

12:06

AL Cy Young is.....

Dan Szymborski

12:06

awarded to the best American League pitcher on a yearly basis, as voted by members of the BBWAA, two writers representing each local chapter.

Dbo

12:06

Dan, I found out that a sandwich pick in the MLB draft is not actually a team selecting which sandwiches they are allowed to serve in their stadiums. Should this rule be implemented so that certain stadiums can only serve certain foods?

Dan Szymborski

12:06

No. Why should we be deprived of excellence just because of teams?

12:07

Plus, there would be not hot dogs

Matt

12:07

So, Mike Tauchman is apparently more deserving of a spot on the 25-man than Frazier? Am......am I missing something?

Dan Szymborski

12:08

They want Frazier playing full-time.

And Tauchman's likely the better player defensive, so he's a little more useful as a role player

Chauncey

12:09

How much playing time does Voit lose with the EE acquisition by the Yankees? One can't imagine Stanton and Judge being healthy enough to play OF fulltime the ROS.

Dan Szymborski

12:09

I think they go into a bit of a rotatio to try and keep everyone healthy.

Matt

12:11

Travis Shaw still sucks. When does Hiura come back?

Dan Szymborski

12:12

Hopefully soon. The Brewers are in a race *now*

Jim Leyland Palmer

12:12

Would the Tigers be able to get a good second piece in addition to Clint Frazier for Matt Boyd? They need hitters bad

Dan Szymborski

12:12

I don't know why the Tigers would do this.

Boyd's a Tiger through 2022.

It doesn't matter if they have hitting right now.

12:13

The Tigers worrying about hitting in 2019 is like an eight-year-old being stressed out that he hasn't put any income into a Roth IRA.

My staff sucks

12:13

Are any of Musgrove, Archer, Skaggs, or J Nelson showing anything pointing to better times ahead?

Dan Szymborski

12:14

Not particularly

Billy Beane

12:14

Dan, I would submit to you that the White Sox trade that gets the most flak is the Tatis swap, but the Samardzija trade (Sharknado II, if you will) is close to as bad. They gave up an above average SS in Semien, an okay (if oft-injured) #4 in Chris Bassitt, a perfectly cromulent backup catcher in Phegley, and Rangel Ravelo, who is joining a major league roster today. And that was only for one year of Samardzija! At least they had 2 1/2 years of medium game James.

Dan Szymborski

12:14

I don't give the White Sox *too* much of a hard time as it's way worse in hindsight than expected.

Tatisito was no guarantee at that point

12:15

I'm not sure Samardzija was even that bad at the time either.

If you want bad at the time, look at various Marlins trades

12:16

like Cash Moneyless, Rea/Tayron for a package of Luis Castillo and Josh Naylor or Rodney for Paddack

Fangraphs reader

12:16

Thoughts on Ron Washington saying that baseball players these days don't know what work ethic is?