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Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 4/27/18
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Jeff Sullivan
9:07
Hello friends
Welcome to Friday baseball chat
Rock Kickass
9:08
Would you trust Snell v Boston or Godley v Washington tonight?
Jeff Sullivan
9:08
I know that this is a fantasy question, but regardless, Snell and Godley are good pitchers, and so I would trust them both
Probably Godley more given how the Nationals are presently shorthanded
(not that) James
9:09
When you’re looking for new topics to write Acuña, how do generate ideas? Like, do you just read through Acuña to get an idea of what happened that day, Acuña do you think more long- Acuña? I’m just Acuña in your Acuña-making Acuña. Acuña.
Jeff Sullivan
9:09
Sometimes I know exactly what to do off the top of my Albies, but other times -- and this is when it gets desperate -- I just spent Albies upon Albies scrolling through various Albies, until I find Albies vaguely worthy of 1000 Albies
Kiermaier's Piercing Green Eyes
9:10
I was looking at hot players so far and dismissing them all as unsustainably lucky, but Daniel Robertson stood out. H's been worth 1.1 WAR in 67 PAs. He has a 195 wRC+. Walks are up, Ks are down. Of course he's been lucky (.457 BABIP) but he still has a .413 xwOBA so far. Are we witnessing the birth of a plus infielder?
Jeff Sullivan
9:10
Kind of related to this: right now, the Rays have a 104 team wRC+. That ranks them 9th in baseball!
9:11
They also have the highest team BABIP, so, you know, there's that, but this isn't a bad baseball team. I'm delighted to see them string together a bunch of wins
9:12
As for Robertson, his approach kind of reminds me of Logan Forsythe, who had some success with Tampa. He doesn't have plus power, but he seems to be reasonable across the board
9:14
It's hard for me to take Robertson too seriously when Joey Wendle and Mallex Smith also have high batting lines, but this is exactly what the Rays have been trying to do -- mix and match and build around flexibility so that everyone on the roster is put in as good a position as possible to succeed
42
9:15
Good morning, Jeff. Is something wrong with Anthony Rizzo?
Jeff Sullivan
9:16
He's already been on and off the DL with a back problem. Wouldn't surprise me at all if he's just struggling to regain his normal flexibility
9:17
While back problems aren't the most encouraging thing for a player to experience, I would assume that Rizzo will shortly put this behind him
James
9:17
Do teams use analytics on umpires? Seems like this could be exploited if umpires have clear tendencies.
Jeff Sullivan
9:17
Some do
And some private player consultants do
9:18
But I don't think it's particularly widespread, because it's a tremendously difficult thing to successfully exploit
Rock Kickass
9:19
Should the Phillies try and get Kelly from the Cards? Alfaro and Knapp aren’t the answer.
Jeff Sullivan
9:19
They're not giving up on Alfaro that fast
Nor are the Cardinals looking to move Kelly away, probably
Keefths
9:19
You prefer owning Candelario or Teoscar ?
Jeff Sullivan
9:20
It's 2018. We don't own people
But, boy, is Teoscar Hernandez ever exciting
Garrett
9:20
Not a question but: This weekend we get to watch Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge vs. Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. And yet the best player is Didi Gregorius.
Jeff Sullivan
9:21
2017 Gregorius: 42% chase rate
2018 Gregorius: 28% chase rate
Hitting is easy!
Vegan Man!
9:22
Should I be overly concerned with Archer's slow start? Any indications he's not in line for some regression towards the mean? Thank you!
Jeff Sullivan
9:23
I don't see anything too terribly worrisome. I know these stretches are frustrating and they can be some cause for concern, but Archer is good enough to figure this out. He's still missing plenty of bats, throwing basically his normal arrangement of stuff
Jacob deGrom
9:23
Am I going to win the Cy Young this year?
Jeff Sullivan
9:23
No
But congratulations on being good anyway
Ray Liotta as Shoeless Joe
9:24
What are the three "easiest wins" that MLB or individual teams can do to increase fan experience? I have to think that changing MLB.TV blackout rules would be the easiest win, right?
Jeff Sullivan
9:24
I don't know if that's actually so easy given the existing TV contracts
9:25
I'm sure, on background, pretty much everyone would agree it's a problem, but it's tricky to change when you've got these TV companies pouring in billions of dollars
9:26
From just a plain old social-media perspective, MLB needs to loosen up and allow people to freely share GIFs and video clips
That's a niche interest, but it's simple. All they'd have to do is literally nothing!
9:27
I love that the A's had a free game, and that the Orioles are offering kids free tickets in the upper deck. Want to see a lot more of those kinds of promotions, especially on weekdays with horribly low projected attendance
9:29
And maybe every so often a team could offer half-price concessions or something. I know implementation can be hard and maybe the team would operate at a loss, but there need to be more chances for families to afford to go to the ballpark. It's the in-park experience that sells people on the sport in the first place
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