2016 Opening Night Live Blog

8:30
Dave Cameron: Happy Opening Night everyone.

8:30
Dave Cameron: And welcome back, baseball.

8:32
CamdenWarehouse: Player/Team is on pace for impossible amount of stat for the year!!!

8:32
Dave Cameron: Chris Archer’s ~400 strikeouts seems perfectly attainable.

8:32
Andrew: Something I haven’t seem mentioned is that I don’t really see any impact SPs being available at the deadline a la Price/Cueto/Hamels. Am I missing anyone or will it be more difficult for a team to upgrade their pitching during the season than it’s been in recent years?

8:33
Dave Cameron: Tyson Ross is pretty good.

8:33
Dave Cameron: And I wouldn’t entirely rule out Grinke being available if the D’Backs season goes off the rails.

8:33
iHateKennyWilliams: Who is the most important player this year for the Royals?

8:33
Dave Cameron: Lorenzo Cain, probably. If he can keep being a +6 win player, that’s a huge benefit. The projections still aren’t totally buying in.

8:34
JKJr.: Ballgames all day long, a few cups of coffee and some Fangraphs. What more could I need? What a great day. Thanks for doing this, Dave.

8:34
Dave Cameron: Thanks for joining us! These things are always a blast.

8:35
Bad Hermit: Has it ever been discussed to make these live blogs a more frequent occasion? And by that I don’t mean to have two seasons per year.

8:36
Dave Cameron: Well, they’re a lot of work. We’re talking a ~4 hour time commitment, so doing it for just some random Tuesday night regular season game isn’t always a great idea. Plus, you want to have a critical mass of people watching the game, and that’s generally the case only for things like Opening Night, the All-Star Game, and the Playoffs.

8:36
Jack Elliott : You don’t think the DBacks would keep Greinke long term to pair with Golden is in his prime?

8:37
Dave Cameron: Well, the goes-off-the-rails scenario would have to be extreme enough to help convince them that they aren’t as good as they think. I’m not talking about a .500 finish where they say “if we just had Pollock…” I’m talking a disaster first half where they maybe see that they have some real flaws.

8:38
Ryan: So who gets thrown at, and when?

8:38
Dave Cameron: I’d imagine it will be in the middle of the game, when Volquez is already about to come out anyway. They’re not going to risk getting him ejected in the first few innings I don’t think.

8:38
Dave Cameron: Alright, game time!

8:39
Dave Cameron: As a reminder, this will be a little less Q&A than just us following the game together, so don’t get mad if I don’t answer your question.

8:40
Dave Cameron: Medoza talks about the front-door two-seam, and then Volquez throws it again.

8:40
Dave Cameron: She’s good at this broadcasting thing.

8:41
LJS: I’m so pleased they are giving Mendoza a real chance

8:43
Max: Volquez is wearing the wrong hat! Is there some kind of penalty for that?

8:44
Dave Cameron: He has to watch some alternate broadcast with John Kruk calling play by play later.

8:45
Guest: Polanco signed a five year extension today

8:45
Dave Cameron: I haven’t seen this reported. Source?

8:45
The Dude of NY: Jeff Passan said so.

8:45
Dave Cameron: Ah, okay. Hopefully for Polanco, he got a better deal than Marte.

8:46
Bad Hermit: “Mid-$30 million range.”

8:47
Dave Cameron: That sounds reasonable-ish depending on how much the option years are for.

8:47
Kimball: Esky magic time

8:48
Woj: Alcides Escobar first-pitch groundout to the surprise of absolutely nobodoy

8:48
Trainman: Well 1 pitch again but this time a simple grounder

8:49
Woj: Ohhh Cespedes…

8:49
?: Lol

8:49
Tom: Do outfielders not catch line drives anymore?

8:49
Who_Is_Zorbist?: Cespidarn

8:50
Cousin Mose: Also love her ripping on Cespedes’ fundamentals.

8:50
Mike Oxlong: At least he didn’t stand there and wait for CB Bucknor to come look at it

8:50
?: #royalsmagic starting early

8:51
Mike: Cespedes has to be more of a disaster in the outfield than Kyle Schwarber, right?

8:51
Dave Cameron: Uh, no. Cespedes is a plus defensive left fielder.

8:51
Dave Cameron: He makes some silly plays, but the arm is legitimately amazing.

8:52
Bad Hermit: Good thing the Mets can strike people out.

8:52
Shirtless George Brett: best OF arm in baseball?

8:52
Dave Cameron: It’s up there.

8:53
Dave Cameron: That’s a crazy throw.

8:53
Dave Cameron: But now we all have to watch that on loop.

8:53
Dave Cameron: Let’s find out where Jotcast’s delete is!

8:54
Trainman: Hit em where they ain’t again

8:54
DJ: Feels like October

8:55
The Dude of NY: That’s a ball that most SS can field, right?

8:55
Dave Cameron: Well he was playing almost behind the base.

8:55
RedRifle: Professional DP there

8:56
Mike Oxlong: HEY LOOK A SLIDE TOWARDS THE BASE INSTEAD OF THE KNEES

8:57
Shirtless George Brett: I’m pretty sure you would have to straight up murder the SS for Morales to beat out a DP

8:57
MattyHarvey: brb, gotta pee for half an inning

8:57
Royals fan: Defense matters and its criminally underrated in a low scoring era. It doesn’t matter nearly as much when the average game is 7-5, but its huge when most games are 4-3.

8:58
Dave Cameron: If the people who think we’re overrating defense in WAR could get together with the people who think defense is wildly underrated and settle on a criticism, that’d be great!

8:58
The Dude of NY: Carson Cistulli on Twitter: Announcement: I will be chatting at FanGraphs tomorrow during the Brewers game to blindly defend my endorsement of their wild-card chances.

8:59
Alex: Running jotcast fullscreen instead of as a plugin makes it run really nicely

8:59
Dave Cameron: Good to hear!

9:01
Dave Cameron: Aaron Boone could use a 5 hour energy. He sounds a little too low key for Opening Night.

9:02
Kimball: Sponsored content!

9:02
Dave Cameron: I’ll call them and tell them they owe us $500

9:03
Trainman: High strike? Really? That was ball 4

9:03
Dave Cameron: Yeah, that’s not a pitch a hitter can really hit.

9:03
Dave Cameron: You call that a strike all night, we’ll end up 1-0.

9:04
Who_Is_Zorbist?: I really miss the super emphatic strike 3 calls from yesteryear

9:04
Dave Cameron: Is Tom Hallion still around?

9:04
Dave Cameron: He’s the upper-cut guy, I think.

9:05
Poor Man’s Rick Reed: Tom Hallion, 1-2 uppercut combo

9:06
Dave Cameron: Volquez not exactly commanding his fastball right now.

9:07
JohnRocker: Pretty sure he’s just aiming it high and hoping for more high calls

9:07
Dukes: Yeeeeesh

9:07
Dave Cameron: Yeah, forget the K-Zone, thats at his chest.

9:08
Dave Cameron: That was a nasty change-up.

9:09
Dave Cameron: Looks like Layne’s not calling the low strike, at least. His zone is shifted up apparently.

9:10
Royals fan: Defense matters.

9:10
Trainman: Nice play.

9:10
Greg: didn’t think he’d get that flat footed

9:10
Shirtless George Brett: Well didnt take long for someone to throw out Darnaud haha

9:12
The Dude of NY: Only two low strikes have been called as a ball. The K-Zone is lying to you!

9:12
Dave Cameron: Only 2? Through 2 innings, that’s a lot.

9:13
Nick : Nasty change to Gordon

9:14
Shirtless George Brett: Thats just an awful tattoo, salvador.

9:15
RedRifle: Good defense, Matt Harvey could be a Royal!

9:15
Dave Cameron: Ooh, Arrieta/Richards. That’s going to be the best match up of the day, stuff wise.

9:16
Trainman: Kluber/Price? I think that’s the best

9:16
Dave Cameron: Price has great command, but he’s not at Arrieta or Richards level of pure stuff.

9:16
Bad Hermit: Will Arrieta/Richards be live blogged? Pretty late game.

9:16
Dave Cameron: We’re only doing the 1/4/7 pm games tomorrow.

9:17
George Harrison: Excited for Stros/Yankees, who is doing that game?

9:18
Dave Cameron: Sullivan and Dolinar are doing the early games, then Craig Edwards is jumping in, then Owen Watson, with Cistulli jumping in for Cistulliness.

9:18
Crazy Buck Martinez: Sale/Gray will be worth staying up for

9:18
Dave Cameron: Lots of great matchups.

9:19
George Harrison: Now Im not excited Cistulli needs to STAY AWAY

9:19
CamdenWarehouse: all in one chat or each game has one?

9:19
Dave Cameron: One big long live blog.

9:19
Blerick: NO NUMBERS!!!

9:20
Stu: Oh boy- The “Royals don’t care about numbers” talk begins…

9:20
Schwarbomb: do you still get annoyed when announcers down play numbers in evaluating a team? It really bothers me…

9:20
Dave Cameron: It doesn’t bother me much anymore.

9:20
Dave Cameron: Data and logic have made huge strides in helping people understand how baseball really works.

9:21
Dave Cameron: We can’t expect every single person to buy in immediately.

9:21
Dave Cameron: But it’s all going the right direction.

9:21
Guest: Also the Royals have one of the stronger analytics departments in the game

9:22
Dave Cameron: They have a big staff doing data research, for sure. How much that actually gets used in decision making remains an open question.

9:23
Schwarbomb: whats the point in spending resources on it if they dont use it?

9:23
Dave Cameron: Not saying they don’t use it. It’s about how much weight gets put on it.

9:23
Dave Cameron: Everyone is mixing a lot of different inputs. The mix isn’t the same in each organization, though.

9:24
Shirtless George Brett: Just to clarify, are you implying that you dont think they do put much weight on it or just that you dont know how much they do?

9:25
Dave Cameron: The moves the team makes raise a question of how much the data is getting put into practice at the executive level. A team that put a lot of weight on analytics doesn’t give Ian Kennedy $70 million.

9:26
The Dude of NY: Volquez is too cool for throwing near the strike zone.

9:27
Bad Hermit: Couldn’t there be data not privy to the public upon which they are basing the analytics validating the Ian Kennedy deal? Not saying there is, but we don’t know there isn’t, do we?

9:28
Dave Cameron: Anything is possible, sure. But to believe that, you have to think that the Royals analytics staff is so advanced that they saw something that the staffs on the 29 other teams didn’t see, which I find improbable.

9:30
Dave Cameron: Pretty nice play there.

9:30
bill: <3 the guy who punched the sky and didn’t know he was on camera

9:31
Owen S: Hosmer was mean to Eno once. I don’t like him

9:31
Dave Cameron: I’ve been mean to Eno before too.

9:31
Dave Cameron: A few years ago, at Spring Training, he was responsible for driving a car of our writers to Goodyear Ballpark to watch the Reds play whoever they were playing that day. He drove to a Goodyear Tire instead. We made fun of him endlessly.

9:34
machetko: Would be awesome if they could figure out a way to do this rematch thing every Opening Day.

9:34
Dave Cameron: Agreed. I know it was a scheduling fluke, but this is neat.

9:34
Greg: mmmm what is he looking for…

9:34
Dave Cameron: Someone might have told him to not swing at the first pitch this time.

9:35
bill: who should lead off for KC?

9:35
Dave Cameron: Cain, maybe.

9:36
Greg: Gordon?

9:36
Dave Cameron: Sure, he’d work too.

9:37
Trainman: Harvey is nasty so far.

9:37
Bip: I mean, what are the chances that Mr. consistent Ned Yost removes a guy from the leadoff spot after winning it all, and given that he had a whole superstitious thing going with their clubhouse? My over/under on games AE is available and doesn’t lead off is 10

9:37
Dave Cameron: If they get into a slump and Escobar is running a .270 OBP, I could see him mixing it up.

9:37
Dave Cameron: But yeah, not while they’re winning.

9:39
Ernie Camacho: Dave! Kind of a random question for the commercial break: can we look at BIP wins as a crude measure of contact management?

9:39
Dave Cameron: Over a longer period of time, yeah. You don’t want to assume that single-season BIP-wins is true talent level.

9:40
Michael Scarn: Gut feeling – what’s your non-Royals prediction for the 85+ win team from last year that collapses?

9:40
Dave Cameron: Well, I don’t think the Cardinals will get near 100 wins again.

9:41
Dave Cameron: They won’t be bad, but they’ll probably be 10-15 wins worse.

9:41
Woj: Dave, do you think a 90-win STL team gets a WC bid?

9:42
Dave Cameron: Well I don’t think they’ll win 90 either, but certainly it would have them in the mix.

9:43
Stu: Conforto has a great approach.

9:43
Dave Cameron: Well, let’s be real; not swinging at Volquez right now doesn’t take a genius.

9:44
Trainman: Cabrera didn’t get the memo, swung at the first two pitches

9:44
Who_Is_Zorbist?: Cabrera’s legs look more like a linebacker’s than a SS

9:45
Greg: His plant foot is wild if you watch close no consistency. Also showed some wild mechanics out of the stretch earlier.

9:45
Greg: His plant foot is pointing at 1b at times.

9:47
bill: Do you think George Brett could hit .150 right now?

9:47
Dave Cameron: Sure. Pitchers hit .150.

9:47
Trainman: Holy crap a throw

9:48
Trainman: What a throw*

9:48
Schwarbomb: nice defense by royals all game

9:49
egm: What do you think Barry Bonds could slash if given a full offseason and spring training to prepare?

9:49
Dave Cameron: .220/.330/.450, something like that.

9:50
Trainman: Here come the stolen bases.. Cain laser single.

9:50
RedRifle: It’s just me or is this Salvador Perez love fest a little too much?

9:51
Dave Cameron: It’s not just you.

9:51
Shirtless George Brett: For all the gushing they are doing about the Royals bullpen, everyone but Davis and Herrera scares the crap out of me.

9:51
Dave Cameron: And Davis’ velo was way down in spring training.

9:52
Schwarbomb: no way Hosmer is actually looking to hit the ball like that, right?

9:52
Dave Cameron: Yeah, I don’t buy that he’s really trying to hit weak grounders.

9:54
Dave Cameron: Well, RBIs do stink, so makes sense he’s smelling them.

9:55
Poor Man’s Rick Reed: Dave Cameron joke alert!!!! Judges?

9:55
Trainman: 6 out of 10

9:55
bill: Judge from Romania: 5 blinks

9:55
Tucker: 35/80

9:55
PRJ: I assign 5 worry points to that joke.

9:56
Scott: Duda can throw!

9:56
Trainman: Nice double play turn there.

10:01
Dave Cameron: “Let’s all wear hats and explain why we’re wearing them” “I grew up there. Me too.” Okay then.

10:01
Dave Cameron: What a weird idea.

10:01
CamdenWarehouse: The cap stuff is coming from MLB isn’t it?

10:01
Dave Cameron: Could be.

10:01
bill: Dave, do you wear any MLB/MiLB team hats?

10:02
Dave Cameron: Nah, I’ve stopped wearing hats.

10:02
Bip: Your hair is too luscious to hide

10:03
Smooth: So where did that guy with the hard hat with the pinwheel grow up?

10:03
Dave Cameron: The circus?

10:04
Dave Cameron: Volqeuz’s command sucks, but this stuff is excellent.

10:05
ingoodguys: will there be a blog tomarrow?

10:06
Dave Cameron: Yep, we’re live blogging the 1/4/7 pm games tomorrow.

10:07
JC: Is Granderson a better fielder than Conforto? Are you surprised by the Mets choice of DH?

10:07
Dave Cameron: Conforto was considered a lousy defender in the minors, but the numbers liked him in a small sample. Might just be a veteran/young guy thing, deferring to the older guy if there’s not a huge difference.

10:08
Alex: why is the goodyear icon a blimp? it’s one of two vehicles that has zero tires

10:09
ingoodguys: boat, sled

10:09
NF: Omar got wheels.

10:09
bill: horse

10:09
BK: boat? hovercraft? dog sled? common ALex

10:09
Tommy B: Train

10:09
Thisguy: Tank

10:10
Blerick: still a good q imo

10:10
Shirtless George Brett: train’s dont have wheels?

10:10
Dave Cameron: Tires and wheels are different.

10:11
egm: Hot air ballon. Submarine

10:11
Trainman: Jetskis

10:11
Dave Cameron: You guys are the best.

10:11
bill: maybe grouping all watercraft as “boats”

10:12
Alex: y’all’re the worst

10:12
Tucker: That Mendoza Line graphic and music was brutal

10:12
Dave Cameron: It felt like an intro an 80s Saturday morning show.

10:13
Shirtless George Brett: Omar out

10:13
Dave Cameron: It was close, but I thought he got in there.

10:14
Dave Cameron: Can’t tell from either angle.

10:14
Dave Cameron: It’s definitely close.

10:14
Trainman: That was a damn good throw from lagares regardless

10:14
Dave Cameron: These angles kind of suck.

10:15
Dave Cameron: Third base coach in the way, then you get ones where you can either see the leg or the base, but not both.

10:16
machetko: Re the situation like this where one angle shows the leg and another shows the base, can’t they put them up side by side, exactly sync’d, and go frame by frame for us?

10:16
Dave Cameron: That would be nice.

10:17
Trainman: Mets get out of it. That was crucial

10:18
Nickle Toucher: Have the Royals actually hit a ball hard all night? I’m still so mystified by how they win games.

10:18
Dave Cameron: Their defense is legitimately amazing, and their bullpens the last few years have been crazy good. That helps.

10:20
Smooth: Commentators don’t talk about the Royals’ defense enough when they take about the “Royals’ model” or whatever. To me, it’s the single biggest takeaway from the team when it comes to lessons for building a winner.

10:20
Dave Cameron: They’ve talked about their defense a lot tonight.

10:21
Ryan: Which team’s particular unit (bullpen, defense, rotation, etc.) do you think is actually the most “overlooked” by the media?

10:21
Dave Cameron: Dodgers rotation. The media talks about it like its garbage, but it’s actually great.

10:22
Bat flipping you off: I think the Giants offense

10:23
Dave Cameron: Agree, also very underlooked, because it’s not dinger-based.

10:24
Shirtless George Brett: how confident are you that Cleveland wins the central, Dave?

10:24
Dave Cameron: Well I picked the Tigers so not much.

10:24
Dave: I just think its really hard for people to realize just how amazing Kershaw is. Zips has him as worth 2 Sonny Grays

10:24
Dave Cameron: Yep.

10:25
Shirtless George Brett: could have swore it just saw Cleveland, haha. same question then?

10:25
Dave Cameron: Not confident. The AL Central is a whole bunch of mediocre teams.

10:26
Dave: Is there anyone in the AL at all that is much better than mediocre?

10:26
Dave Cameron: Maybe the Astros, if Keuchel repeats 2015 and Correa is the monster he looks like.

10:27
Shirtless George Brett: Jays? Or is the starting pitching that bad?

10:27
Dave Cameron: They could also be good, depending on health.

10:27
Dave Cameron: Duda is smoking some balls foul tonight.

10:28
jd: do you consider today opening day? Or tomorrow? Or Tuesday, if you’re team doesn’t play tomorrow?

10:29
Dave Cameron: There are just multiple Opening Days now.

10:30
bill: Is Jonah Keri the nicest person you’ve met in baseball?

10:30
Dave Cameron: Jonah’s awesome, obviously, but his defining characteristic is enthusiasm, I think. For just straight up niceness, it’s actually hard to beat David Appelman. FG is owned by a very good human being.

10:31
Dave Cameron: (Now, boss, about that raise…)

10:31
Shirtless George Brett: I bet Jonah Keri wouldnt drive you all to a tire store.

10:31
Dave Cameron: Jonah has driven me around before. It was a frightening experience, but that was probably just because Boston is atrocious to drive in.

10:34
Mike Oxlong: SUCK IT SHIFT

10:34
Shirtless George Brett: Now they are just trolling David Wright…

10:34
BK: Wright really not looking very agile over there 🙁

10:35
Dave Cameron: He might have been out

10:35
Dave Cameron: Barely safe.

10:36
Dave Cameron: “Hosmer knows that (diving is slower), but he’s doing it because that’s exactly the player he is.” A stupid one?

10:36
Bip: The fact that you can bunt against the shift is not a reason the shift is bad, it’s just the counter-strategy to it. A strategy that has a counter-strategy is called a strategy.

10:37
Dave Cameron: And after all that praise about the Royals way, having a double play machine for a DH wipes out Hosmer’s bunt.

10:38
Mike Oxlong: He should have bunted too!

10:38
Shirtless George Brett: Should just have the pitcher hit!

10:39
Roger: Parity talk from Boone has me wondering: which division race do you expect to be closest?

10:39
Dave Cameron: Probably the NL East. Mets/Nats look very even to me.

10:39
PRJ: Every single “within inches” play tonight has gone the Royals way.

10:40
Dave Cameron: You misspelled “the last two years”

10:41
Trainman: This may be it for Harvey

10:41
Hawk: is there anything more frustrating than the Royals winning as the opposing team? every bleeder and dribbler and blooper finds green for them it seems

10:41
Dave Cameron: It’s death by a thousand paper cuts.

10:42
Nickle Toucher: If the Chinese Water Torture was a baseball team, it would be the Royals

10:43
Dave Cameron: This “welcome to my house” song is awful.

10:43
Dave Cameron: And I generally have no strong opinions about music.

10:44
Greg: Colon threw 100??

10:45
Dave Cameron: Yep. He was basically the Noah Syndergaard of his time.

10:45
Bad Hermit: Most legit hit of the night?

10:46
PRJ: I’m not sure my deja vu sense has ever been this strong. Just need to see Duda throw the ball home.

10:47
Milby: According to FG, the Royals had the 8th best team defense in 2015. Is this a case of cognitive dissonance, where they are perceived as being elite because of a few amazing defenders, or is the DEF metric missing part of the story?

10:47
Dave Cameron: So, no, our defensive metrics loved them.

10:49
Milby: Thanks Dave. Then what is the DEF metric measuring (where they rank 8th)? It’s the first defensive stat that is visible on the FG dashboards.

10:50
Dave Cameron: That includes a positional adjustment, which includes a big negative for DHs. Better to just use UZR or DRS when looking at team defense.

10:50
The Dude of NY: Wouldn’t a pitcher who *doesn’t* strike out a lot of batters benefit more from a team like the Royals?

10:51
Dave Cameron: Yep. And the announcers “everyone pitches better here because of the park and defense” is a reason to not pay $70 million to a guy, not an excuse for doing so.

10:52
Dave Cameron: Aaron Boone is ripping off Batting Stance Guy now?

10:54
Bip: Well, technically, Batting Stance Guy is ripping off everyone else

10:55
Dave Cameron: Cain with a Cespedes impression.

10:55
Boink: Wow. I’m genuinely surprised when the Royals OF does not make a great play.

10:55
bill: Got to be weird running toward a wall without looking at it. It’s amazing these guys catch any of those.

10:57
Boink: A dribbler from Drubal.

10:57
Dave Cameron: Asdribbler Cabrera is going to be headline on some article at some point when he ages.

10:58
Shirtless George Brett: I just found out a couple days ago that JABO is not a thing anymore. Sad face.

10:58
Dave Cameron: Well if you just found out a few months after it got killed, you weren’t really reading it anyway, right?

10:58
Marka: Alex Gordon’s defense is well-established, but does he have anything left as a hitter?

10:58
Dave Cameron: Um, yes?

10:58
BK: Dave, do you ever think teams will shift to 4 man rotations where the starter only ever goes twice through the order and then they carry an additional reliever?

10:59
Dave Cameron: The game is moving that direction. It will take a reinvention of how pitchers get paid, though.

10:59
Shirtless George Brett: Read it in season all the time. Not so much in december.

10:59
Dave Cameron: Okay, fair point.

11:00
Who_Is_Zorbist?: How did the Rays not do a deal with the Royals his offseason? 70 mil for Kennedy? Herrera should be a Ray and Moore should be a royal, no?

11:00
Dave Cameron: Well Matt Moore is basically the exact opposite of Ian Kennedy. If you’re looking for a durable innings eater who throws strikes, you don’t want Matt Moore.

11:02
Trainman: Would you pitch colon rest of game?

11:02
Trainman: knowing that the 5th starter for mets won’t be used for a while

11:02
Dave Cameron: These two teams have tomorrow off, so I’d probably get one of my other middle relievers some work too.

11:04
JC: Ugly at bat for Moose there. Watch two hittable “fast”balls go by, and chase one out of the zone. Watching Colon is bizarre

11:04
Dave Cameron: It’s really difficult to see why he’s so hard to hit.

11:05
Clay: “If everything goes right” works for every team

11:05
Dave Cameron: Well, maybe not the Phillies. If everything goes right, they win 75.

11:08
machetko: On the all-time list of 3B, who is higher Schmidt or Beltre?

11:08
Dave Cameron: Schmidt is the best 3B ever.

11:08
Dave Cameron: So him.

11:10
Steve: Will Beltre have a difficult time getting into the HOF or will voters get it by then?

11:10
Dave Cameron: The fact that he’s going to get to 3,000 hits will get him in.

11:11
Michael : Best player in AL (non-fish): Machado or Correa?

11:11
Dave Cameron: Yeah, one of those two. I’d probably take Machado for 2016, but Correa could pass him in the not too distant future.

11:12
Dave: Doesn’t Sale have a case for the best non-Troutian in the AL?

11:12
Dave Cameron: Yeah, he’s also excellent.

11:12
JC: What exactly is Josh Donaldson not doing to be in that grouping?

11:12
Dave Cameron: Also great!

11:12
Shirtless George Brett: Sale doesnt get nearly the attention he deserves.

11:13
Dave Cameron: Agree. Playing on lousy teams has kept him from getting national notice, but he’s the best non-Kershaw pitcher alive.

11:16
Dave Cameron: Cespedes missed one.

11:16
Dave Cameron: That 3-2 pitch was down the middle.

11:17
Trainman: Well things just got interesting.

11:17
Bob: Mets last chance here…

11:18
NY Dett’s: Lets see if the Dude can redeem himself just a little bit

11:18
Bip: Oh, Duda tying this game would be so sweet

11:18
Jim: so perfect that’s how the Mets scrape some runs across

11:19
Dave Cameron: The Royals get Royals’ed

11:19
BK: Baseball is a funny sport

11:20
Dave Cameron: And now Walker missed one.

11:20
Dave Cameron: Soria is getting away with some cookies.

11:21
Trainman: 4-3 now but yeah that was a chocolate chip cookie and Walker missed it

11:21
Dave Cameron: Missed three pitches in that AB.

11:22
PRJ: Are there no Royals homers in the chat, Dave? Or are you filtering them out?

11:22
Dave Cameron: Pretty sure Royals fans stopped reading FG a while ago.

11:23
Dave Cameron: Heh.

11:23
Dave Cameron: “Well, this trying to hit homers thing isn’t working, let’s try squibs and bloops”

11:23
Yordano : Nope still here

11:23
Trainman: Royals fans: “boooooo”

11:23
ingoodguys: we are here, not crying about dinks & dunks

11:23
Shirtless George Brett: Hey, I’m a Royals fan. I just not a homer.

11:24
Bip: The Royals have a small market underdog charm that made me root for them even though I don’t always love their attitude, but they’ve had their turn and now I just find them annoying and would like them to lose.

11:24
bill: weird to bring in lefty to face asdrubal but not conforto?

11:24
Dave Cameron: Hochevar is a righty. The Royals don’t have any LH relievers.

11:25
Lionel Ritchie: duffy

11:25
Dave Cameron: Well, yeah, but he’s the long guy.

11:25
Dave Cameron: I meant among the late-game crew that Yost uses.

11:25
Dave: Shouldn’t Wade Davis be in here?

11:26
Dave Cameron: If this was a playoff game, absolutely. In game 1, I think you can make a case for not playing to win just today.

11:27
Bip: That was a cool, cool pitch

11:27
Trainman: That was a nice pitch from hochevar

11:30
Shirtless George Brett: random question. who is the best reliever who isnt a closer?

11:30
Dave Cameron: Pick a Yankee setup guy.

11:30
Dave Cameron: From Colon to Blevins, for that new market inefficiency of dramatic weight changes.

11:32
Trainman: Dave which mets pitcher of Harvey, syndergaard or degrom would you build a staff around if you could pick one?

11:32
Dave Cameron: Thor

11:33
Daniel: As Wade Davis warms up to end this game: What matchup are you most excited for tomorrow, Dave?

11:34
Dave Cameron: That Arrieta/Richards match-up is too good to not watch.

11:35
Yordano : Here comes the cyborg

11:35
Rick: What do you think of the Angels rotation after Richards? Can they make the post-season with that mess?

11:35
Dave Cameron: They’re going to need guys to have career years.

11:36
Dave Cameron: And it will probably take some good breaks for them to run down Houston.

11:36
Trainman: Which player are you most intrigued by tomorrow to see that’s not a 5 WAR player? I’m curious to see what park can do

11:36
Dave Cameron: I kind of want to see Hyun-Soo Kim hit like 3 HRs then flip off the GM box as he rounds the bases.

11:38
Trainman: 91-93? Davis is down a couple notches so far.

11:38
Dave Cameron: Was all spring too.

11:39
Dave Cameron: Got that one up to 96

11:39
Lame: Think he’s fine

11:39
Shirtless George Brett: 96 and 97 back to back. the 91 was a cutter i believe?

11:40
RedRifle: That cutter was Mariano Rivera lite

11:40
Blind Willie Johnson: What a take

11:40
Brett: I think Darnaud outran that strikeout

11:40
Trainman: D’arnaud had that “I got away with one” look

11:41
?: Wow this zone really tightened up.

11:41
Yordano : What is this strike zone?

11:42
Bad Hermit: Evens up….

11:43
iHateKennyWilliams: Davis threw that 97 to Hosmer

11:44
Greg: this is like battleship on the strike zone… b5…. ahh darn…

11:46
Trainman: Big hit by grandy.

11:46
Dave: Ballsy

11:46
Bad Hermit: Wow.

11:46
Trainman: Granderson seems to be like a fine wine, getting better with age

11:46
Dave Cameron: This is a fun game.

11:46
Trainman: The captain against the cyborg

11:46
Trainman: Wright missed a cookie.

11:46
Hawk: oo that was a cookie

11:47
Dave Cameron: Yeah, it’s time to make Wright prove he can hit high velocity.

11:47
Dave: He’s lost so much batspeed over the years

11:48
Trainman: That was nasty. Jeez.

11:48
Dave Cameron: I don’t know if you can place a pitch better than.

11:49
Trainman: Oh my lord what a curve.

11:49
Jim: that was mean

11:50
Trainman: Another cookie?

11:51
AJ: How on earth did he make contact with that pitch?

11:51
Adam: Did he even hit that?

11:51
Dave Cameron: Looked like maybe not.

11:51
Jim: i dont think he did

11:51
Dave: Sounded like he did

11:51
Shirtless George Brett: sounded like he did.

11:52
Dave Cameron: What a fun Opening Night.

11:52
Dave Cameron: Congrats to the Royals for winning in the most Royals way possible.

11:53
Dave Cameron: Alright, almost midnight, and I have a 5 Things I Believe post to write for tomorrow.

11:53
Dave Cameron: Off to get some more work done.

11:53
Dave Cameron: Thanks for hanging out with us all day. Come back tomorrow and we’ll do it again.





Dave is the Managing Editor of FanGraphs.

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Shirtless Bartolo Colon
8 years ago

Can you make a Triple Crown out of home runs, ERA, and saves?

http://espn.go.com/mlb/statistics