August Fagerstrom FanGraphs Chat — 12/29/15

august fagerstrom: alright let’s start this thang up a little early

august fagerstrom: good afternoon to all, and I hope any time spent with family recently was cherished

august fagerstrom: chat soundtrack: Lil Ugly Mane – Three Sided Tape, Volume One

august fagerstrom:

august fagerstrom: also, a user recommendation –

Derek: Can I start the chat off with a music rec? William Onyeabor – Fantastic Man. I’d post a youtube link but, at work.

august fagerstrom:

august fagerstrom: i like this already

j6takish: What percentage of the queue are questions of the “who hangs up first?” variety? This format seems dated because I am under the impression most GMing is done via text now

august fagerstrom: way too many, and that’s now my go-to response

Steve: Are the Indians a World Series contender in 2016? Why or why not?

august fagerstrom: yep, for the same reason the Mets almost won the World Series last year

august fagerstrom: their pitching is as good as anyone’s, and they should have one of the better defenses in baseball this year, which the Mets didn’t even have that

august fagerstrom: Indians should prevent runs as well as any team in baseball. the offense isn’t great, but look at the recent lineups that have gone to the World Series. they shouldn’t need to outslug anyone to win. question is whether they’ll score *enough*

Nick: Hi August :D. Do you think there is any reason an Indians fan should be excited about Rajai Davis? I realize the Indians don’t like spending money, and that a body was needed in the wake of Brantley’s injury…but given his age and projections it’s hard to think he’ll be much different than any ~replacement level internal option.

august fagerstrom: the reason you could get excited is looking at his career line vs. LHP (118 wRC+) and Abe Almonte’s career line vs. RHP (99 wRC+) and say, hey, that’s some pretty good offense from center field

august fagerstrom: the reason you would get the opposite of excited is that Rajai Davis will be playing LF everyday, meaning vs. right-handers, too, while Brantley’s gone, and that they might both be defensive liabilities in center, and that platoons never work out quite the way you’d like

august fagerstrom: I think it’s a fine signing. just fine

Mr. Homolka: Wouldn’t the Mets and Rangers make perfect trading partners? The Rangers have a ton of OF talent with not enough spots and the Mets can afford to move a SP. Wouldn’t a deal involving Harvey for Lewis or Maraza make sense foe both teams?

august fagerstrom: if your hypothetical trade proposal makes the World Series runner-ups considerably worse in the present day, you need to work on your hypothetical trade proposal

GetTheseCookies: What was your favorite Fangraphs article of 2015? Mine I think was “Lorenzo Cain’s Mad Dash Home” or “Let’s Build a Scouting Report on Lucas Duda’s Arm.” Your entire post-season/WS lineup of content was great actually.

august fagerstrom: first off I’m glad you liked my Lucas Duda piece and I agree that we collectively covered the postseason pretty well. always a fun time

august fagerstrom: I enjoyed writing that Duda piece, that was one of my personal favorites. as for overall favorites, there have been so many good ones it would be hard to say. maybe I’ll look back a bit before the New Year

Pooopee: Is your name fake?

august fagerstrom: if it is, this has been quite the long-con by my parents

august fagerstrom: whoever recommended that song at the start of the chat — that was very fun

The Dude of NY: What are your New Years Resolutions?

august fagerstrom: probably to be a bit more cognizant of those around me and spend more time on personal relationships. 2015 was a very personal year with several close losses and also two new jobs and a couple moves and I think I withdrew a bit

august fagerstrom: “be better to people,” mostly, which should always be a goal for everyone

Steve D.: Are the Pirates going to go in with Vogelsong/Niese/Locke on the back end or will they get a legit #3?

august fagerstrom: if they add another arm, I’m not sure it’ll be someone demonstrably better than Niese

august fagerstrom: Pirates aren’t exactly known for making offseason splashes

august fagerstrom: I will say that the rotation they currently have inspires very little confidence from me

august fagerstrom: then again the Pirates have done some job of getting value out of pitchers lately, so we’ll see

Mike S.: Is there a path to contention for the Braves in 2016? given that they still have up to $40m in payroll space and no major contracts left on the books after 2016, can they sign or trade enough to try for a wild card berth?

august fagerstrom: the Braves, contending, this year?

august fagerstrom: no

Phillies113: Which team’s mascot would be the best baseball player (among mascots)?

august fagerstrom: oh man, I love this question

august fagerstrom: gonna say Orbit because he’s the best at everything

august fagerstrom: are any of them typically pictured with a bat?

august fagerstrom: doesn’t the weird Rockies one usually have a bat?

august fagerstrom: being familiar with the equipment would be a huge plus

august fagerstrom: DINGER, that’s his name. turns out I was wrong about him being pictured with a bat but his name is Dinger and he lives at Coors, so I’m changing my answer to him

august fagerstrom: he’d win a home run derby, at least

Anon: Why are Dodgers still considered front runners in nl west? Their lineup and pitching have stars but a lot of question marks after them.

august fagerstrom: where are all the question marks?

august fagerstrom: they could use another starter or two, definitely, but that can be addressed and it’s not like their five-man rotation right now is bad, it’s just not up to the recent Dodgers standard

august fagerstrom: and it still has Clayton Kershaw

august fagerstrom: second base could be viewed as a question mark, but Kike Hernandez has been nothing but great in his time in the bigs

august fagerstrom: beside that I don’t see too many holes. looks like a damn fine team to me

Derek: I stumbled upon William Onyeabor from a random spotify playlist and I haven’t been able to stop listening to him. Check his story out, really interesting. Baseball Q: Do you think Mikael Franco will have similar value to Miguel Sano over his career or is Franco down a tier?

august fagerstrom: yeah his stuff is just autoplaying on YouTube now and I’m really enjoying it

august fagerstrom: I like Sano quite a bit more than Franco

Sean: Why are many people predicting a phillies-like collapse of the Tigers? Outside of Verlander, Cabrera, Kinsler, and Martinez, their team is actually quite young. And even their older guys are still pretty good.

august fagerstrom: because in 2018 they’ll have exactly $100 million tied up in a 35-year-old Verlander, a 35-year-old Miggy, a *39-year-old* Victor and a 32-year-old Zimmermann

august fagerstrom: group could still be fine

august fagerstrom: group could be aged and bad and there’s nothing they could do about it

august fagerstrom: not many other teams who could potentially have $100 million unmovable dollars a few years down the road, which is the kind of situation that crippled the Phillies

Kylo Ren: pressing question:

convo started talking about THE REVENANT, then moved into leo, then into jeter. who has had more sexual partners: derek jeter or leonardo dicaprio?

argument for jeter: biggest athlete in nyc for 2 decades, well known YEAH JEETS story + celeb gift baskets, dated pretty much every “miss” winner in the world

argument for leo: starting at age 19, made gilbert grape, basketball diaries, romeo + juliet, then titantic. thats the recipe for the biggest teeny bopper celeb in the whole world. plus the yacht parties.

im gonna side with leo.

i wish fangraphs would answer this question for me.

august fagerstrom: gonna say Leo

august fagerstrom: wow they’re the exact same age

august fagerstrom: yeah, Leo, though. he lives the bachelor life so hard

Owen: Do you personally care if an athlete takes HGH?

august fagerstrom: personally as in does it affect my judgment of their character? if that’s the case, no. i wish they wouldn’t do it, it makes me a little sad, but I don’t think guys are lying/cheating/scummy people if they do

rick hahn: Am i signing Cespedes, Upton or Gordon?

august fagerstrom: not sure if you’re asking me to choose one or if this is a yes-or-no question

august fagerstrom: but

august fagerstrom: the longer this all goes on the more I kind of think the White Sox end up with one of them

august fagerstrom: could see Upton in a White Sox uni

Northsider: The Cub’s mascot Clark doesn’t wear pants. He’d be a speed demon. Everyone knows pants only slow you down!!

Matt: The Brewers mascot probably can mash. Basing this completely on mustache power.

august fagerstrom: important points

bryan: The Padres mascot often has a bat… fat man with a bat = slugger at first base! Also the monkish dedication to his craft has gotta help.

The Dude of NY: Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Creates a powerful Steamer projection That hates your favorite team’s roster selection And dooms them for failure, fate predestined

Max: What do you think about Jason Heyward playing a full season in center?

august fagerstrom: think he’ll be just fine

august fagerstrom: wrote about that here – http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jason-heyward-as-a-center-fielder/

august fagerstrom: though the Cubs outfield defense as a whole is still very suspect, being that he’s flanked by bottom ten? five? defensive corner outfielders

Owen: I’m not sure what to make of Byron Buxton. Is he a good baseball player or just a great athlete that plays baseball?

august fagerstrom: I mean the second one sounds like a more apt description but that doesn’t mean he can’t still be a great baseball player

august fagerstrom: I think he maybe got rushed to the bigs a bit and also hasn’t been very healthy yet

august fagerstrom: a year of finally being healthy did wonders for that Harper guy this year

august fagerstrom: not saying Buxton is Harper, clearly, but

The Dude of NY: Am I weird for liking the Hateful Eight *so much more* than Star Wars? (And I am a big fan of the OT.)

august fagerstrom: shit you just reminded me that Hateful Eight is out and I haven’t seen it yet!

august fagerstrom: probably going to do that tonight now, thanks

august fagerstrom: loved Star Wars

august fagerstrom: have very high expectations for the Hateful Eight, though, as I do for all QT films

Derek: Do you think Verlander should move to the bullpen as an elite closer once his starting days are over?

august fagerstrom: can’t say without knowing what this version of Verlander looks like

august fagerstrom: seems doubtful though

august fagerstrom: guys with that much status, it always sounds good in theory for them to go to the pen (think Lincecum) but you rarely see it happen

august fagerstrom: also I could see Verlander still being an effective league-average innings eater late in his career. dude’s a work horse

John N. Braca III: Is Trea Turner the opening day SS in DC?

august fagerstrom: could see Espinosa getting the first crack with Turner getting a bit more seasoning in AAA

august fagerstrom: wouldn’t surprise me though

august fagerstrom: depends what they see from him in the Spring, which is a cop-out answer but also true

ES: As opposed to players the Rockies supposedly want for their outfielders, who are the level of guys should fans be prepared to get in return?

august fagerstrom: less than what they think, for CarGo

Anon: Chances Upton signs a 1 year $20+ deal and tries again next year as a 29 year old in a weak market

august fagerstrom: very low

Kylo Ren: ZiPS preview just came out for the Cubs: Five 5+ win players

august fagerstrom: Cubs are good

august fagerstrom: Cubs are really good

august fagerstrom: Nationals looked really good last year around this time, too

august fagerstrom: but hard to like anyone more than the Cubs right now

august fagerstrom: so the William Onyeabor YouTube playlist has now turned into a Nigerian Funk collection and it’s sooo good

august fagerstrom:

Skeptical: Are the Angels really going to go with a Nava/Gentry platoon in LF next year? Any hope that it may be decently effective if they do? Have a safe and fun New Year’s weekend!

august fagerstrom: it could be a non-disaster

august fagerstrom: they’re still viewing that as a Plan B to Alex Gordon t hough

The Dude of NY: Do you think the Nationals are better or worse in 2016 with Murphy compared to Phillips?

august fagerstrom: I would rather have Daniel Murphy than Brandon Phillips

john: DO you think teams will move more towards what the rays did? only let their starters go through the starting order twice and then get into the bullpen? looks like the yanks could be yanking starters after 5 with that bullpen

august fagerstrom: this is one of those things that sounds great in theory and then it’s the All Star Break and your bullpen is totally gassed

august fagerstrom: teams might become more *willing* to do it now and then or with a certain starter or something

august fagerstrom: but you’re not going to see all five starters getting pulled after 5 or 6 for a full season. just can’t do that to your bullpen

august fagerstrom: that being said, I really hope the Yankees make the playoffs with that trio healthy, because I really want to see how they deploy those guys

august fagerstrom: pulling the starter after 5 and having Chapman/Betances/Miller work the final four innings every game sounds like sooo much fun

Teej: Will the jays regret trading Liam Hendriks?

august fagerstrom: what a time to be alive

jen: Is anyone in the AL *not* a world series contender at this point?

august fagerstrom: meant to answer this earlier when someone asked about the Indians

august fagerstrom: I think every team in the AL is a playoff contender

august fagerstrom: which, in turn, would make every team in the AL a WS contender as well

august fagerstrom: american league be crazy

Stever: What are the chances Nate Eovaldi has a break out year this year? Seems like he has the stuff…

august fagerstrom: yearly saying

Derek: When was the last time the pre-season favorite won the World Series?

august fagerstrom: since before baseball was invented

The Dude of NY: As a Cubs fan, (yeah, I live in NY, so what?) every time I hear the 2015 Nationals comparison, I die a little bit inside.

august fagerstrom: can I get charged with anything for this?

Johnny5Alive: given the deals, should the mets have been in on chapman?

august fagerstrom: impossible to say because this issue is far more complex than baseball

august fagerstrom: can’t be evaluated strictly on baseball terms. I have no idea how the Mets FO would feel about acquiring Chapman as a person

twinmh: Who closes in Cincinnati now? Do you think they try one of their college-reliever-turned-starter guys like Cingrani or Lorenzen?

august fagerstrom: sure

august fagerstrom: in reality, it really doesn’t matter who closes for a crappy team

The Dude of NY: Is it fair to say the AL Central is the most up in the air division in MLB?

august fagerstrom: probably

Kylo Ren: Last pre-season favorites–90s Braves, maybe?

Kylo Ren: Late 90s Yankees?

august fagerstrom: good answers

KC: Who would you rather have as a DH, Sano or Schwarber? Even though neither can DH much this year.

august fagerstrom: Sano

Johnny5Alive: the way i am looking at the roster now, and all the other NL teams, would it be a more safe bet that the Mets don’t even make the playoffs?

august fagerstrom: yeah I certainly don’t view the Mets as a postseason lock

august fagerstrom: no team is a postseason lock in December

august fagerstrom: but it’s not too hard to envision a scenario where the Mets don’t make it

Anon: Other than getting a backup c.f., is there anything else cubs should do?

august fagerstrom: looks pretty good to me

august fagerstrom: just get a good glove for the outfield

Old Man Roto: Wil Myers 2016 projections are pretty good. Do you think if he stays healthy that he meets or beats them?

august fagerstrom: he actually had a higher wRC+ last year than his Steamer projection

august fagerstrom: so yeah, that should easily be beatable

august fagerstrom: still just 25 and hasn’t been healthy for a while. first base should be less of a physical strain on him, too

Steve D.: Do you honestly see the Pirates resigning McCutchen to an extension? I say trade him for maximum return.

august fagerstrom: a McCutchen extension would be so massive right now

august fagerstrom: tough to see Pittsburgh being able to do that

Steve D.: Does Jose Peraza start at 2nd and stay all year? Cozart and Suarez may be better? or will they move him to OF?

august fagerstrom: well they’ve gotta move Phillips first

august fagerstrom: assuming that gets done, I’d say Peraza is the OD starter at second. they seem to be pretty high on him

august fagerstrom: higher than most

august fagerstrom: Suarez will get his reps, though. he’s a quality player.

august fagerstrom: I’d imagine Peraza is primarily the team’s second baseman, who also gets moved around a bit

Owen: I’ve been trying to find a young guy that will have a big breakout season (ala AJ Pollock). I keep “wanting” to pick Gregory Polanco, but I’m worried about his power ever coming around. Who do you feel is going to have a big breakout season in 2016?

august fagerstrom: I don’t think a power spike from Polanco is out of the question

august fagerstrom: the guys that worry me in that department are the guys like Yelich who just don’t have the swing plane to consistently drive the ball out of the park

august fagerstrom: Polanco gets them in the air, he just needs some more muscle behind it. he’s a big dude, a good athlete, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to make him your pick

august fagerstrom: my go-to selection for this question is Rougned Odor, but soon I’ll have to pick someone new

Johnny5Alive: So the De Aza signing? Wouldn’t the Mets have been better off waiting out the market? He is a pretty awful CF to be the strong side of a platoon. With Granderson done in 2 years, what’s the harm of giving Parra 3 years?

august fagerstrom: yeah I didn’t understand the De Aza move at all

Jon D: The goal of the Braves and Reds seems to be to turn things around quickly. How soon do you think these teams are back in contention in their respective divisions?

august fagerstrom: could be done in a few years, though the Central seems set to be a very tough division for years

august fagerstrom: Braves could have an easier path to contention just given their division, and also their farm system is now loaded. better than the Reds

Nick: As someone mentioned in the comments of one of the FG articles, is it a bit lame that the Yankees have a grooming policy presumably for image reasons, but are tote$ chill with scooping up Chapman at a cut-rate price because of his domestic violence accusations? Or am I just being a Yankee hater?

august fagerstrom: kind of apples and oranges

august fagerstrom: but it’s totally OK to be upset with the Yankees for essentially capitalizing on domestic violence

Jeff: The pirates won’t add anyone better than Niese, but is it too much to ask to upgrade on Vogelsong?!?!?

august fagerstrom: reasonable

Mike: Do you think the Jays have done enough so far this offseason to give them a good shot at winning the AL East again?

august fagerstrom: shouldn’t the question just be “do the Jays have a good shot at winning the AL East again?”

august fagerstrom: because I think the answer to that is yes

Tommy: Turning to the NL, how many teams are playoff contenders? I count 8 (Cubs, Cards, Pirates, Mets, Nationals, Dodgers,Giants, DBacks). Thoughts?

august fagerstrom: sounds right

Jay: Should the Red Sox consider getting a more established starter to slot behind price? The rest of the rotation is scary!

august fagerstrom: I don’t think it’s too scary

august fagerstrom: what’s funny is last year’s disaster Red Sox rotation had a 99 FIP- and a 104 ERA-

august fagerstrom: not as easy as just carrying over last year’s stats, but you start with that, add David Price, improve the defense, ask less of your starters by building a super-bullpen, and I think they can be fine

The Average Sports Fan: The Reds have acquired like 20 guys this off season in their trades. Do you think any of them are even a league average player?

august fagerstrom: sure, Peraza and Schebler could be league average players off the top of my head

august fagerstrom: what the Reds seem to be lacking in their returns this year is upside, which is what can happen when you delay your rebuild a year or two past when it probably should have happened

Zonk: Last season, the Pirates conducted a brilliant offseason. This offseason? Meh rotation as you pointed out, and an IF of Harrison/Mercer/Kang/Jaso looks very patchwork to me. Seems like everything has to go right for them to win 90+ games, and how often does that happen in baseball? I think they are falling back of the Cards/Cubs. Am I right?

august fagerstrom: I don’t think you’re far off. I’m not very high on the Pirates this year, right now

Mike: what is your next favorite sport after baseball august? mine is NCAA basketball.

august fagerstrom: LeBron ball

august fagerstrom: I don’t really watch any sports beside baseball and Cavs games

august fagerstrom: I enjoy March Madness

Guest: What do you see from Alex Wood in 2016? After 2.6 WAR in both 2015 and 2014, Steamer only has him at 1.9 in 2016. Given his age – 25 next year – what gives?

august fagerstrom: he lost a whole bunch of strikeouts last year and Steamer doesn’t see him getting any of them back

august fagerstrom: Steamer also sees a jump in his home run rate

august fagerstrom: home run spike might be unfair, he only ever gave up 2 in the minors and he gets ground balls

august fagerstrom: he’s never had a great swinging strike rate, so I could buy into the strikeouts not coming back

Tony: Is Marcus Stroman a future ace? He’s a pretty small guy, but man he throws darts.

august fagerstrom: maybe not top-10 pitcher in baseball ace, but yeah, he could front the rotation of a playoff team

Q-Ball: Not sure I am as optimistic as you are on the Indians scoring enough runs. That assumes progression from Urshela, Napoli and Santana stay good, Rajai Davis doesn’t suck, Chisenhall is OK, and a whole lot of other things that are not very sure things. To me, they are 1 injury or player decline away from disaster. Thoughts?

august fagerstrom: I think earlier I mentioned that I wasn’t super high on them scoring enough runs either

august fagerstrom: I was arguing from the FO’s perspective

Kylo Ren: The Cardinals have gotten significantly worse, right? Heyward, Lynn, Lackey–gone. Leake? Com’on. Molina needing a second surgery. Besides “Cardinal magic”, what is actually looking up for them?

august fagerstrom: I mean they still have a pretty solid roster but I’m kind of in the same boat in that I’m more down on this Cardinals team than I have been in years

august fagerstrom: I think the gap between the Cubs and the Cards/Pirates is significant

Rookie/Mookie: Who is the better name?

august fagerstrom: Mookie, easy

august fagerstrom: the Rookie thing is going to get played out quick in his rookie season

august fagerstrom: and then after that it’s just confusing/demeaning

Q-Ball: Jason Hammel had a lower FIP last year than Zimmermann and Cueto. He makes $9 mil. Yet every Cub fan seemingly wants to dump him. Recency bias? Or are they smarter than me?

august fagerstrom: well looking only at single-season FIP to evaluate a pitcher isn’t the greatest, especially with a guy like Cueto, but I don’t think that’s your point. I think your point is that Hammel is just fine, especially as a 4th or 5th starter in a rotation fronted by Arrieta and Lester, in which case you’d be totally correct

Anon: Baez is playing cf in winter leagues…. Does this mean anything?

august fagerstrom: means he’s athletic enough to play anywhere on the diamond and the Cubs would love for him to be able to do so

august fagerstrom: especially Joe Maddon

Anon: Kimbrel or Giles, which deal was more lopsided?

august fagerstrom: I’m not sure either one was lopsided, per se, but Kimbrel’s haul was more impressive

august fagerstrom: Kimbrel is also more impressive, so

Bobby: Which young SP do you see making “the leap” into the discussion of the best pitchers in baseball? I was leaning towards Marcus Stroman, but i’m not sure he gets the innings. Thor is a good bet. Who does August Fagerstrom buy stock in?

august fagerstrom: can I pick Gerrit Cole? or is he already too close?

august fagerstrom: I think Danny Salazar could end up near the top

august fagerstrom: and on a lesser scale, I like Raisel Iglesias’ chances to cement himself as a front of the rotation starter too

Biscuit: Yeah but aren’t the Pirates basically planning on Glasnow coming up to take Vogelsong’s spot?

august fagerstrom: in a perfect world, yeah, but I think the point is that counting on the 21-year-old with command issues to supplant the bad 37-year-old is less than ideal for a team that aims to contend

john: does anyone have interest in Jay Bruce? he seems like a blah player at this point

august fagerstrom: yeah, teams have interest

august fagerstrom: maybe less than the Reds wish, though

august fagerstrom: kind of the theme of their offseason

Copp: How much would you pay Dan Uggla to be your strength and conditioning coach? (you get to have a clause in the contract that he never steps on the field)

august fagerstrom: mine?

august fagerstrom: I don’t really need to pay for a strength and conditioning coach in my line of work

Guest: Are the Yanks back in the mix for the east pennant?

august fagerstrom: sure

Copp: Who has the better year in 2016 assuming both stay healthy, Alex Wood or Shelby Miller?

august fagerstrom: Miller

Derek: Who do you like as this years Ruben Sierra Award for best counting stats yet terrible metrics?

august fagerstrom: Matt Kemp, the 100 RBI man

Copp: In light of the Al Jeezera report, is there anyone left in sports that would totally crush you if you found out they were on PEDs? Or are we so jaded now that nothing would surprise us?

august fagerstrom: Jeter would be super sad

august fagerstrom: so would Trout

Guest: Does Votto get moved before the deadline?

august fagerstrom: no

Guest: Did you burn your lebron jersey when he left and buy a new one when he returned?

august fagerstrom: I didn’t burn it but I think I discarded it with some purpose

august fagerstrom: didn’t buy a new one, no

august fagerstrom: I dont buy jerseys anymore

august fagerstrom: I definitely “hated” him for a few years then eventually grew indifferent and was really happy to see him win in Miami

Q-Ball: Billy Beane deserves respect for his front office innovations. Last couple years though, he’s made some real head-scratching moves. Is it time to wonder if he should move off to a new role?

august fagerstrom: think that’s a bit drastic but it’s definitely fair to question some of his recent moves

august fagerstrom: also think it’s way too early to declare the Josh Donaldson move a total disaster as some seemed to last year

august fagerstrom: what if Franklin Barreto turns out to be a perennial All-Star in Oakland for a decade?

august fagerstrom: tough to say

august fagerstrom: bet he wishes he had the Russell move back, though

Derek: I know you don’t take fantasy Q’s, but is it because you don’t play or you want to keep this a baseball chat?

august fagerstrom: main reason is because I play in a very different league than most people (18 team, overall points league, no categories or head-to-head matchups) so my idea of fantasy is very different than most

august fagerstrom: also because it’s totally impossible to make a good judgment on someone else’s fantasy team without knowing allll the specifics of the league and roster construction and whatnot, and I dont want to hear every detail every time someone wants to ask a fantasy question

august fagerstrom: and then also for the “no one cares about your fantasy team” thing

august fagerstrom: and for your latter reason, too

Zonk: What player contract do you see eventually becoming the biggest anchor?

august fagerstrom: the Angels owe Albert Pujols $30 million more than half a decade from now

BballFan: What kind of performance do you expect from John Lackey for the next two years of his contract? He had a career year last year, do you think he can somewhat repeat that performance or was it just a fluke?

august fagerstrom: it wasn’t quite a career year — he was that good in the mid-2000’s too

august fagerstrom: but, yeah, he was surprisingly good last year. he was also very effective the two years before that

august fagerstrom: if he’s just 2013-14 Lackey, the Cubs will be pleased and the contract will be worth it

Q-Ball: Where is the best ballpark food? And what do you particularly enjoy there?

august fagerstrom: PNC has some good food options

august fagerstrom: PNC is just the best, really

august fagerstrom: I like to make my way to Manny’s BBQ

Robert: Guess to how much career WAR Trout ends up with?

august fagerstrom: 168.4!

august fagerstrom: didn’t you read my article?

august fagerstrom: alright guys, long-chat over. thanks for hanging out