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Travis Sawchik FanGraphs Chat
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Travis Sawchik
12:04
Happy Monday, folks
I'm no longer a Yinzer. First chat live from Bay Village, Ohio ...
12:05
Let's get to it ...
Moonlight Graham
12:05
Happy moving, Travis!  Pittsburgh misses you.  Have you found a replacement for Mineo's yet?
Travis Sawchik
12:05
There are many things I will miss about Pittsburgh, incuding Mineo's. Working on it!
Zonk
12:05
Bryant is not really in the NL MVP conversation, despite being in the top group of players by fWAR.  Is it possible the reigning MVP is underrated?
Travis Sawchik
12:07
Yeah, kind of weird that there hasn't been much conversation about Bryant ... But . working against him has been his lack of clutch production for a second straight year
J
12:07
Aaron Judge has a far higher xWOBA than Altuve.  Pitching candidates aside isn't that enough to be the frontrunner for MVP?
Travis Sawchik
12:08
xWOBA is a useful tool ... but shouldn't MVP voting be about what happened?  (Not something of a predicative award about who will be better going forward/or who might have been unlucky?)
Zonk
12:08
Will Votto age much better than Miguel Cabrera, and if so, why?
Travis Sawchik
12:09
I have a feeling he will because of the batting eye, the approach and his willingness to experiment ... he's also done a better job of staying on the field lately
JDX
12:09
Crazy Stat: Votto has 52 more BB than K.  There are 82 (of 149) qualified batters with fewer than 52 BB.
Travis Sawchik
12:10
Votto is a monster. Too bad we don't get to see him in October
In this age of strikeouts I believe his 11.2 K% is a career low and he's posted the second best iso of his career
Dirty dan and juicy john
12:11
Ever play stratomatic baseball? It's a dark secret of mine
Travis Sawchik
12:11
I did as a kid ... And as I nerdy adult, Hardball Dynasty  has replaced it
12:12
I know some real-life GMs have played Start, too. It's a great way to learn to manage and team build
Kyle
12:12
JD Martinez man...40 bombs hes on a tear.
Travis Sawchik
12:13
I know a lot of contenders didn't have a void for a bat, but Martinez would have upgraded every team's lineup somewhere. I'll be curious to see how well he does in FA
Jon
12:13
How is the move going?
Travis Sawchik
12:13
It's done!
12:14
Thanks for asking. Still plenty to unpack, but we are in the new place so hopefully some normalcy returns to the Sawchiks' routines
StreakingIsFun
12:14
Often overlooked aspect of the Tribe's season even after 22 in a row: They are still -6 in the win column when looking at their expected W/L based on Pythagorean and BaseRuns. How crazy is it that they are STILL under-performing by that much as a whole this season?
Travis Sawchik
12:14
Cleveland was 48-45 at one point as my dad reminded me yesterday .... So they really have underperformed but not recently
Dookie Howser, MD
12:15
Kluber or Sale?
Travis Sawchik
12:17
What's interesting about the Cy Young debate is do you value actual run prevention on the field (Kluber is leading in ERA), or just focus on what the pitcher controls (Sale is leading in FIP)?
12:18
Sale is leading Kluber in fWAR, Kluber is leading Sale in bWAR (by 2.3 wins?!) https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2017-pitching-leaders.s...
fWAR is FIP based, bWAR is more runs-allowed based
12:20
Again, to understand future value, and in decision making,  I like tools like xwOBA and FIP over what actually happened in the box score ....but in award voting I think we should actually care about
what happened on the field. An award is looking back, decision-making is looking forward
Both are great. But If I had a vote, I'd go Kluber
Dookie Howser, MD
12:21
Which Indian has the best baseball face, and when can we expect Cistulli to create some ridiculous metric based on an obscure 17th century French philosopher that weighs their merits?
Travis Sawchik
12:21
Mr. Smile (Francisco Lindor), right? ... And I would hope so
E
12:21
Greetings from Twinsburg! Welcome (back?) to Cleveland
Travis Sawchik
12:21
Thanks! I grew up on the east side (Mentor) .... So after 17 years away I've returned to the metro area
Joe
12:21
Theo epstein needs to arrange  a sit down between Kris Bryant and Big Papi.
Travis Sawchik
12:22
Ha. It's weird because we don't think clutch hitting is a skill ... but this is two years in a row
Moltar
12:22
Are the Mets closer to a World Series or a full rebuild? Should they be aggressive in one way or another this offseason?
Travis Sawchik
12:23
They are in a weird spot because if their pitching is right, and healthy, they could have one of the best rotations in the game and Cespedes, and hopefully a healthy Conforto ....
But pitching is a risky thing to build around, too, especially if the rest of the roster is shaky.
I wouldn't punt, yet. Things can't be worse for the Mets in 2018, but they have holes to fill
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