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Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 2/5/16
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Jeff Sullivan
9:08
Hello friends
Let's baseball chat until we stop
or drop
Alex
9:10
If both careers ended right now, whose would you rather have, Tim Lincecum or Buster Posey? 2x Cy Young,2 other top 10 finishes, and 3x WS winner, vs RoY, 1x Comeback, 1x Hank Aaron, 2x Silver Slugger, 1x MVP, and 3x WS winner?
Jeff Sullivan
9:10
I think I'd rather have Posey's, for a variety of reasons, including how his career in this example would've ended abruptly whereas Lincecum has trailed off
9:11
Posey hasn't shown signs of weakness or decline, while we've watched Lincecum disappear into almost nothing. Granted! I'm very interested to see what Lincecum is in 2016, since there's some chance his hip surgery will restore his stuff. Stay tuned!
Kylo Ren
9:12
Jeff I'd like to know who you read on a regular basis for baseball. I get such enjoyment from FG that if you have other excellent writers or websites, please share!
Jeff Sullivan
9:13
I of course read a lot of FG and a good amount of BP. The guys I've always pointed to are Grant Brisbee, Sam Miller, and Ben Lindbergh, not that they're by any means the only good writers. Twitter is helpful because I feel like I don't miss that much because people I like will bring to my attention pieces from other people or other places I might not frequent
9:14
I feel like most of what I do is read. It's hard to keep track of because while I have my regular destinations, other places and people just pop up if I see a link or run a certain search query. There's so much good and/or interesting writing and analysis that it's freaking hard to carve out time to write for yourself
Guest
9:16
If we had the data, who do you think would have the highest statcast Effective Velocity of all time, and what would it be? My guess is Randy Johnson, pushing 107-8ish.
Jeff Sullivan
9:18
Aroldis Chapman probably throws harder than anyone ever, and he was beaten out this year by Carter Capps in terms of perceived velocity. It's plainly obvious how Capps gets his boost and Randy Johnson has just five inches on Capps' height. Is that balanced out by Capps' jump forward in his delivery?
So the answer could very well be Capps, today (or, last year). Maybe that's uninteresting. There's some chance it's Randy Johnson, but even if it were, I imagine he'd be around 102, not 107-108
The Dude of NY
9:19
I have a really bad sinus infection: would it be wise for me to hook up an aquarium pump to my sinuses?
Jeff Sullivan
9:20
I don't know the answer to this but I do know something interesting I recently learned! Sinus infections can routinely cause upper toothaches. Tooth nerves run through the sinus cavity such that when your sinuses are acting up, you can get a sort of "jostling discomfort" in your teeth when you're, say, jogging
Johnny5Alive
9:20
thoughts on super bowl
Jeff Sullivan
9:20
no question in my mind, it will be a football game
The Dude of NY
9:21
I forget: do you think the Mets or Nationals have the upper hand in 2016?\
Jeff Sullivan
9:21
I think the Mets have a slight edge, but I think the two teams are closer than they're perceived to be
I like the Mets' depth at the moment, but then I also think the Nationals are more likely to go out and get better, like, say, behind the plate
j6takish
9:23
What are the white sox doing? They had huge holes in the outfield and at shortstop, they had a protected first round pick, they have LaRoche and gavin Floyd coming off the books next year and fowler, desmond and upton were all unsigned until mid January. Plus they don't have any big arb raises to worry about because all their good players are signed to below market deals. This has to be a catastrophic failure right?
Jeff Sullivan
9:23
(I assume you mean John Danks, not Gavin Floyd)
9:26
From one perspective the White Sox wound up in a difficult position because they were simultaneously thin in the majors and thin on the farm. They've done a little bit this offseason to address the lack of depth, but considering where we are now, remember that Desmond and Fowler are still out there. Plus a guy like Desmond Jennings. The offseason is almost over, but it's not completely over, and the Sox still have maybe the most obvious fits for the two best remaining position players
9:27
Desmond has been linked to Tampa Bay, but if that was going to happen I feel like it might've happened by now. I don't know where else Fowler might go. The Sox can get better if they sign either of these guys. Maybe they should sign both
Guest
9:28
The Angels went 35-17 in one run games. That is incredible! Why is no one talking about that? If they are even .500 in one run games this year, that team could feasibly be picking in the top 5 with Mike freaking Trout on it, couldnt it?
Jeff Sullivan
9:29
The Angels definitely have a certain amount of crater potential. Specifically because of Trout, it's hard to see them completely bottoming out, but it's insane how much of a difference Trout makes for that whole organization. If it weren't for him, they could be a complete wreck. He makes them competitive almost on his own
9:30
Now that's not really a shot at the Angels -- they HAVE Trout, and that's their big advantage. But to this point they've done a bad job of surrounding him
Raindog
9:30
Jeff, since when did you have illustration skills? More, please.
Jeff Sullivan
9:30
30 years from now I'll still be working in MS Paint while everyone else is building holograms
Radermecher
9:31
Jeff,why does Dee Gordon get less respect than Rodney?
Jeff Sullivan
9:31
Little dude, doesn't hit the ball hard. He doesn't *look* like he should be good, so people make that assumption
Alex
9:32
3 years ago, people were legitimately debating the best franchise starter between Trout, Harper, and Machado. After Harper's and Machados injuries, the debate subsided. Is it now a valid discussion again?
Jeff Sullivan
9:33
Harper definitely helped himself a lot -- he's won people back over to his side. Machado's emergence was quieter. For me, it's now Trout by a little over Harper, who's a little over Machado. Machado gets the least respect of the three
The Dude of NY
9:33
Do you prefer using K% or K/9, and why?
Jeff Sullivan
9:33
K%. K/9 can be skewed by efficiency or inefficiency
Ryan
9:34
It seems like Carson's existence is indicative of something. Is he the next step in human evolution or the beginning of the end?
Jeff Sullivan
9:35
I think Carson is a visitor from another world who found out he can't go home, so he's had to try to blend in with a most unfamiliar species
He's gotten so close, but that's precisely what makes him stand out. Uncanny valley sort of thing
TF Fredrik
9:36
To me defining ace would mean they have the stats, stuff, & health over ‘X’ amount of innings or time. So Ace = > 25%K, < 6%BB & 2.5%HR, >500 innings over last 3 years. With that you get Kershaw, Scherzer, Sale, Felix, Kluber, Strasburg, & Bumgarner. Only argument I could see is maybe against Stras (health, maybe stats argument), no?
Jeff Sullivan
9:37
I don't know about the strikeout cutoff -- Roy Halladay, for example, got his strikeouts, but he wasn't a strikeout pitcher, and he was obviously an ace. I do feel like you need to have a proven track record; I don't know if a "pop-up" pitcher can count as an ace yet. (Say, Keuchel.) But to be totally honest, I haven't yet thought about this in depth. I don't know my own true feelings and this is why I'm very interested to examine the community polling results
9:39
Strasburg suffers from a perception problem. Don't know how fair that is but I don't think people within the industry see him as an ace. Plenty of fans certainly don't
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