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Travis Sawchik FanGraphs Chat
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Travis Sawchik
12:03
Greetings, folks
Please let me know one thing you are thankful for before submitting your next question! Tis the season
Let
's get started ...
dominik
12:04
regarding context neutral: would you like to go fully context neutral and use xWOBA for WAR (and possibly also awards)? I can somehow understand james argument, if you consider other luck based factors on award votings (BABIP and HR/FB ...) why not go fully context dependent and use leveraged stats? you would need to normalize for team strength but that shouldn't be hard to do.
Travis Sawchik
12:05
I think award voting and player skill are two different things
12:06
Award voting is a look at history, so what happened  -- and in the context it happened -- can and should matter in voting
12:07
But in looking at a player's future value, his true skill, leverage-performance shouldn't matter
So, yeah, I could see WAR improved with xwOBA
12:08
And I could see voters incorporating context into award voting moreso going forward. In fact, I think we might have seen that with Altuve over Judge
Peter Brand
12:08
What's your take on the Bill James/WAR debate?
Travis Sawchik
12:09
Related to the above answers, but I'm not with Bill on this. While I think context should matter in voting, to a degree, I don't think you can work backward from team wins to produce value
LegallyEagle
12:09
I'm thankful for Statcast.
Travis Sawchik
12:10
Aren't we all!
Now, if only we had more public data from Statcast...we could be really thankful
But it is an amazing tool
Birddog
12:11
Which team is in a better position to succeed in 2020, the Phillies or the White Sox?
Travis Sawchik
12:12
I'm curious what the Phillies do with their cash available next offseason. I kind of like the Phillies' position, if they can attract a star to add to their core
stever20
12:14
I'm thankful for this site and the great writers on this site....  And the fun debates...  For the folks that said that voters are looking less at tradtional stuff- can you explain why Kershaw routed Strasburg for 2nd, despite them having the same innings number- and the fact that advanced metrics wise- Strasburg was significantly ahead of Kershaw?  Doesn't that fly in the face of not looking at traditional stats?
Travis Sawchik
12:14
We're thankful for the smart and engaged audience!
12:16
There are some sabermetric arguments to be made for Strasburg, but beyond that specific argument, I do think the voting has improved and the electorate is changing and evolving
LegallyEagle
12:16
What's the baseball equivalent to society's annoying need to play Christmas music even before Thanksgiving has concluded?
Travis Sawchik
12:17
Hmmm. That's basically designed to stoke the coals of commercialism and sales, right? I would say it is alternate jerseys
Robin Rubio
12:17
How important is WAR when determing if a team should or shouldn’t acquire a free agent?
Travis Sawchik
12:18
Pretty important base from which to begin the research ... more important than high-leverage performance
Bo
12:18
I'm grateful for fangraphs.
Eric CT
12:18
I am thankful for you taking time to chat with us.
Rubio
12:18
Thankful for FanGraphs
Travis Sawchik
12:18
I am grateful for Bo, Eric CT and Rubio
Jordan
12:18
San Francisco's home park is a downgrade for most any hitter. Is it for Giancarlo Stanton? Or is his power just so prolific that were he to hit there, it would just make his displays that much more impressive?
Travis Sawchik
12:19
It would hurt Stanton, too, but less than most hitters
Brandon M
12:19
I don't understand what is holding the posting agreement up. MLBPA has consistently agreed to terms that screw over international and amateur players, and now they're threatening to disrupt one of the most exciting baseball players in the world coming to MLB because of policies they've agreed to? Am I missing something here?
Travis Sawchik
12:19
I think just about everyone wants Ohtani here so it will happen eventually this offseason
Birddog
12:20
If your Dan Duquette, what are the realistic options for the SP market for them?
Travis Sawchik
12:21
Craig's analysis has BAL with some money to spend ...
Alex Cobb, CC Sabathia, Tyler Chatwood could be in play
Eric CT
12:21
If Kevin Maitan's contract is voided, would any team prioritize him over Ohtani??  I am curious how Maitan is valued by the industry..
Travis Sawchik
12:22
No team would value him over Ohtani, but some team might focus on him figuring they have no shot at Ohtani
PTBNL
12:24
Will Hosmer or JD get contracts anywhere near what Boras says they're worth?
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