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Meg Rowley FanGraphs Chat - 3/17/2020
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Meg Rowley
2:00
Hi everyone - going to give the queue a bit more time to fill up. Will get started in a few minutes!
JR
2:05
Given the Marlins much improved farm system, how many seasons (assuming this one happens) do you think before Miami is a viable postseason contender? Or at least playing meaningful games after June?
Meg Rowley
2:06
Heck, they might be playing meaningful games this June (please let's be playing baseball in June!) - a shortened season can make things pretttty weird. But realistically, I'd say two more. And a lot depends on them being willing to spend money, which...
Josh
2:06
I know there are more important issues than baseball, but how do you think shortened seasons will look similar to the strike-shortened seasons of the past?
Meg Rowley
2:07
I think we might end up with some real funky playoff teams if things keep dwindling, though that likely manifests more as surprising Wild Card teams, or a few of the more coin flippy divisions going to the opposite side of the coin than we expected.
2:08
The Yankees are still good. The Brave are still good. And the longer they're on break, the more dudes they get back.
Ryan Coleman
2:08
So if a pitcher sets a single-season ERA record in the (assuming) shortened year, does it stand?
Meg Rowley
2:09
I think it would always be described in terms of the shortened season. We are nothing if not avid asterisksers.
Nuke LaLoosh
2:09
How should I pass the time without any sports? Any tv or book recommendations?
Meg Rowley
2:11
If you like true crime, I might recommend Rachel Monroe's Savage Appetites. It is about the societal preoccupation with true crime stories, but also grapples with how forensics and police work have advanced, and who has benefited (and suffered) from that: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Savage-Appetites/Rachel-Monroe/...
2:12
I find that keeping attention on a novel is tricky in times like this when your phone is always buzzing, so essays strike a nice balance.
2:13
This might also strike you as odd (so many of us are about to do a lot of nothing) but this is next in my queue: https://www.amazon.com/How-Do-Nothing-Resisting-Attention/dp/161219749...
Dave
2:13
A professional cricket player in England went on Twitter this week and volunteered to do grocery shopping for anybody in his area who can't go themselves. What ballplayer do you feel would be best at stepping in to do your grocery shopping?
Meg Rowley
2:15
hmmmm that's tricky - I imagine a lot of major leaguers haven't done their own shopping in quite a while, and they might be used to a budget that doesn't quite match mine.
2:16
(sorry if answers are a bit slow, my internet is being testy)
Sammi from a Brooklyn park bench
2:17
Can't we just run the players out there in hazmat suits and play ball?  I mean, you could write their names on their backs in Sharpe so we know who they are....thoughts?
Meg Rowley
2:17
If baseball were different, how different would it be...
2:19
Gosh, we'd really just see no baserunning at all, would we? And imagine trying to field with imperfect peripheral vision. And jeez, hiding the ball if you're pitcher seems like it would be a lot easier.
Rob K
2:19
Hi Meg! How are you doing? I hope you are doing OK. Do you have healthy any coping strategies for dealing with uncertainty?
Meg Rowley
2:20
I think to the best you're able, set boundaries with yourself and with others. Have a time when you're not looking at your phone. Politely ask your friends/partners/pets to talk about something else. Yesterday, a buddy asked me a series of completely reasonable questions about when I thought the season would get going again, and how the site was doing, etc. I had thought and talked about those things all day, and needed a break. So I told him so.
2:21
There is a lot of information that is important to know to keep yourself and your loved ones and your neighbors safe, but part of taking care of yourself is allowing your shoulders to drop every now and again.
Space Jam
2:22
If you had the chance to go back in time to witness any moment in baseball (or any sport) history, what would your top three be?
Meg Rowley
2:23
I'd like to see Merkle's boner live because that moment is so meaningful in hindsight, so obviously impactful, but I want to know how the crowd felt in the instant it occurred.
We're sometimes bad at recognizing meaningful shifts in our reality in real time.
Willy the Groundskeeper
2:24
Happy Saint Patricks day!!
Meg Rowley
2:24
Please stay home.
Craig G.
2:24
I don't get the big deal about this penguins in the aquarium thing. They didn't even seem THAT interested in the other fish. I'm all for penguins waddling around but let's all calm down about this one, huh? Do you have a preferred genre of viral animal videos, to take the edge off?
Meg Rowley
2:25
I like the ones where an animal famous for doing one thing (flying!) does another thing (running!) - I watched the video of an owl running approximately 1 billion times.
Trinian
2:25
What is the biggest tactical change managers will make in a short season?  Pull Starters earlier?
Meg Rowley
2:26
Starter usage is going to be so fascinating. On the one hand: so many fewer innings on their arms! On the other hand: such a funky-ass preseason! Do guys get stretched longer? Fewer days of rest? CATS AND DOGS LIVING TOGETHER?
Jasper
2:26
Just want to say thanks for being here. I'm getting so much more done WFH, but I'm also already getting in the habit of pressing the pedal to the metal for eight hours, so diversions are most welcome.
Meg Rowley
2:27
We hope we can provide some levity and a diversion when one is needed. We also get that there is a lot going on right now.
And for folks who are newly adjusting to working from home: be generous with yourself. Getting used to that routine can take a lot of time, and some amount of trial and error.
Lunar verLander
2:28
Are you wearing green, knowing full well that there's a high likelihood that you won't get pinched for not wearing green?
Meg Rowley
2:28
No, and friends, don't pinch people. Pinching sucks. What a mean, spiteful little gesture.
Charles P.
2:28
So much of baseball is dwelling in the spaces between the actual baseball. Games happen every day but they're cushioned by the sprawl of the season during sleepy summers. What do you think happens to that sense of things (if you even agree it's the case) with a condensed season and people so attuned to the remaining schedule?
Meg Rowley
2:30
I think that once the season gets going, assuming it does, it will feel very normal for long stretches, before being punctuated by moments when it feels super freaking weird. Like, when is the trade deadline?
Derek
2:30
Everything is weird!
Meg Rowley
2:30
So goddamn weird.
Howard D.
2:30
Is there anyone you think benefits particularly from a shortened season? Obviously fewer games is better for variation but any team/player/profilespecifically that might be good for?
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