August Fagerstrom FanGraphs Chat – 1/26/16

august fagerstrom: hey guys! gonna be a few minutes late today but I’ll make up for it by chatting long

august fagerstrom: get those questions in, and I’ll be here shortly after noon EST

august fagerstrom: ok! I’ve now equipped myself with a reuben sandwich and am ready to chat. chat soundtrack is this live Fela Kuti recording:

Chad: Your thoughts on Low tier SP, Kyle Ryan, Shane Greene, and Steven Wright?

august fagerstrom: certainly isn’t a promising group, but out of the bunch I’ll take Greene, for the upside.

FTF: What would be your NL East favourite ?

august fagerstrom: I’ve been on the Nats train most of the offseason, but giving it a closer look after Jeff’s post the other day, I think I like the Mets by a win or two. Just a really solid group of players. Too much uncertainty on that Nats roster, though I do like them to bounce back

august fagerstrom: I think they’ll both make the playoffs. Wouldn’t surprise me if either one won 90 games. But for the division, I’ll give a slight edge to New York

FTF: Who is your favorite player of all time ? And, if not the same, currently playing ?

august fagerstrom: Omar growing up as an Indians fan, though as a baseball fan I look back very fondly on Maddux

Peyton Manning’s forehead: Steamer projects Daniel Norris to throw 132 innings this year. He combined for 150 last year between AAA and the bigs. Is this projection just assuming injury/demotion? He seems to be slotted in as the Tigers #4 all year, right?

august fagerstrom: Most likely, but he hasn’t been guaranteed a rotation spot yet. Once rotations are finalized during ST the confirmed guys at the back end of teams rotations will likely get bumped up a bit

Gus: Will we see Bradley Zimmer this year? Should we see Bradley Zimmer this year?

august fagerstrom: probably not/maybe

Paul: Biggest fantasy impact for a rookie who wont be up opening day?

august fagerstrom: Gallo

august fagerstrom: just has to find the PT

Closer Carousel: Pick who closes in Tampa – Boxberger, McGee, Other

august fagerstrom: Boxberger gets the first crack but the leash will be short

NutButters: When writing your articles, do you usually start out with a list of points you wish to cover and then work inside-out trying to fill in the spaces left within your word count max (assuming 1k words usually)? Just a fellow writer admiring how many of you guys crank out your pieces so quickly. Carry on!

august fagerstrom: Roughly. My process goes something like this: I come up with a topic (either something topical that I chose the day before, or picked from a running list of topic ideas I keep in a text edit document), make a quick outline of 5+ bullet points that will be different speaking points/paragraphs, do all my research (tables/charts/gifs, etc.) the night before, so all I have to do morning of is write. Then wake up early, and sort of write around my different visuals.

august fagerstrom: Similar process as when I’d cover a team, just writing around visuals rather than writing around quotes.

CoolWinnebago: What happened to Pujols? The power is still there, shouldnt he be walking more by default? Doesnt seem like this should happen to a guy who used to be pretty disciplined at the plate. His OSwing rate skyrocketed.

august fagerstrom: easy answer is: he aged. when a player ages, he loses certain facets of his game, and you wouldn’t expect eye/recognition/discipline to be one of them, but there’s no telling how a player will react to losing other facets of their game

august fagerstrom: this is why giving big guarantees to players on the wrong side of 30 is scary: there’s just no telling how guys will handle the aging process

Bork: Off the top of your head, which pitchers would be hurt the most if pitch framing was to become non-existent?

august fagerstrom: Cueto and Kuechel quickly come to mind as guys who work the edges

august fagerstrom: https://billpetti.shinyapps.io/edge_shiny/

august fagerstrom: would make sense that guys who show up with the highest bottom edge% on that site would be impacted pretty heavily

august fagerstrom: horizontal edges, too, to a lesser extent

Dark Horse: Boom or bust on Ender Inciarte? Lack of help in ATL outside of Free Freddie but potential leadoff guy with hidden value?

august fagerstrom: Lack of help doesn’t phase me. He’s a fine player who’s better than most realize, maybe not an ideal leadoff guy with his walk rate and major platoon splits (I get the feeling some teams like their leadoff guy to be an everyday player, and Inciarte ideally is not an everyday player) but the Braves don’t have too many options with which to work

Dyke Man: Who closes in Texas this year? Diekman looked unreal upon acquisition.

august fagerstrom: Tolleson’s job to lose, though I’d wager Kela is second in line. Organization seems high on him.

august fagerstrom: one thing’s for sure, it’s remarkable how they were able to turn that bullpen into a weapon

Kevin: Hey August, read the transcript last week, and let me just say that never even mentioning Jake Arrieta’s cutter/slider/whatever it is in your discussion of best theoretical arsenal was crazy.

august fagerstrom: lotta good pitches in baseball!

Joe: Do the Orioles have the worst rotation in baseball right now?

august fagerstrom: not the worst, but it’s bad

Art Vandelay: I really enjoyed your Gibson piece, I liked the way you attempted to explain an outlier from your previous piece. Is it possible another reason for his lack of Ks, also on the shoulders of Kurt Suzuki, is just bad (or conservative) sequencing?

august fagerstrom: perhaps, I wanted to get into sequencing a bit but the piece started to run long. he does ramp up slider usage to both sides in two-strike counts, but it’s so hard to try and suss out sequencing without context

august fagerstrom: every at-bat, every count is different. it’s almost impossible to say

august fagerstrom: sequencing mostly has to do with how the catchers and pitchers read the batters’ swing

august fagerstrom: without seeing every pitch and every swing, I don’t feel comfortable saying anything one way or the other

Mike: Which player is more likely to produce similar numbers from last year, Nelly Cruz or Pujols?

august fagerstrom: Cruz

august fagerstrom: just because he’s the guy who isn’t coming off foot surgery that will cause him to miss Opening Day

ballsandgutters: Has it been understated what losing Jung Ho Kang did to the Pirates winning the division last year? He basically had 2.5 WAR in July and August and then was injured.

august fagerstrom: it sucked, for sure. whether or not he would’ve been worth 2-3 additional wins over what Harrison/Mercer is hard to say. Probably feels understated because it’s just not worth stewing over. what happened, happened

Pat: You probably don’t need to answer this since we know it’s true, but now that Cespedes is off the table the Indians are sending Carrasco to the Yankees for Gardner and Brady Lail, right? Thanks Tribe

august fagerstrom: no, that’s not happening

august fagerstrom: Carrasco isn’t going anywhere, and if he was, the Indians would need a way bigger return than that

Robert: Dexter Fowler is the last chance for the Angels to address their LF hole. Percent chance they sign him?

august fagerstrom: higher than most teams

august fagerstrom: The Angels offseason has been as perplexing as any

august fagerstrom: they’ve got so many god damn holes around the best player in the world and they seem, content? to just roll out Nava and Gentry in left field. puzzling

Bork: Give us your hot take on the Cavs coaching situation/drama.

august fagerstrom: Needed to happen

august fagerstrom: I’m far from an NBA insider but I’ve got a couple connections and I’d been hearing the Blatt stuff that you’ve surely read in the Windy/Lloyd columns for a while now

august fagerstrom: Lue was the guy the team wanted anyway. Just needed to rip the band aid off

Dale: Is that really your real name?

august fagerstrom: really truly

Jeff: I’m a Mets fan and I’m quite frankly out of things to complain about. Is it April yet?

august fagerstrom: good, because I think Mets twitter used up all the complaints for an entire season

zach: Who’s rookie card will be more valuable in 5 years; nomar mazara or mookie betts?

august fagerstrom: Are cards still valuable?

august fagerstrom: Betts

Zorak: Do you think Brantley will be healthy and productive this season? Most reports are saying late April return, but some have said as long as August.

august fagerstrom: Everything I’m hearing puts him back closer to April than August. No idea where Gammons’ stuff came from, though it’s hard to discount it when it comes from Gammons

august fagerstrom: As for productive, hard to say. It’s certainly scary seeing what’s happened to Gomes and Kipnis the last two years. The one positive is that Brantley won’t be trying to rush back or play through it during the season, he’s got an offseason to recover and have a normal Spring Training-like ramp up to everyday ball

Lawrence: How brilliant is the Cespedes deal for the Mets? I get he is not an ideal defensive CF, but he will play LF vs. lefties. If he has an okay year, he’s still a Met for three years…but if he has another 2015-type season, he gets to opt out and get the huge deal he originally desired. Seems like a win-win for both! I also think Cespedes and his family really enjoy NY and the chance to be the hero hitter on a solid playoff contender with arguably the deepest rotation out there.

august fagerstrom: no idea how Cespedes and/or his family like New York, but I agree with everything before that. Like the move for both sides, and the Mets look for real

Bob Sacamano: Looking at a few high ceiling, inconsistent, havent had a breakout yet type guys- who do you like – Yordano Ventura, Taijuan Walker or Carlos Rodon?

august fagerstrom: Rodon

august fagerstrom: Never been a huge Ventura or Walker fan

august fagerstrom: Would take Walker over Ventura, though

BK: After seeing Kennedy get 5/70, doesn’t 3/36 for Happ and 2/26 for Estrada seem a lot better?

august fagerstrom: yep, especially Estrada

august fagerstrom: Love that deal

Doc: Best pitcher under 25 this year?

august fagerstrom: Jose Fernandez

Dove Cameroon: Do you think Gleyber Torres forces Addison Russell to move to second when he’s ready to come up?

august fagerstrom: Getting a little ahead of yourself there, Cameroon

august fagerstrom: That’s years away. Who knows who’s even on the Cubs at that point

august fagerstrom: Addison Russell might be a pitcher by then

guest guest guest: baez to the rays?

august fagerstrom: Makes a lot of sense, though the Dickerson rumors might squash that. Don’t think the Rays are going to deal multiple young arms

Pat: Tell me why I shouldn’t pick Correa 5th behind MT, BH,PG, and CK?

august fagerstrom: didn’t mean to publish this, but go ahead

august fagerstrom: took me a while to figure out who PG was

David: Do you think the Indians will end up making any notable trades this offseason? I’m pretty disappointed that they haven’t really improved their holes at CF or 3B given that they’re in a window of contention and I’m losing hope that they will.

august fagerstrom: I’m surprised too. Even after the winter meetings and Napoli/Davis signings, I thought they’d make a trade to consolidate Ramirez/Perez/Chisenhall/Urshela into an everyday asset, but it looks like that won’t be the case. I think now their course of action will be to re-evaluate when they know more about Brantley, and how the team plays while Brantley is out

august fagerstrom: If they start to falter with that outfield while he’s gone, or his outlook doesn’t look as promising as they’d hope, I would foresee a midseason trade to address the lineup

FTF: What are your thoughts on Chisenhall’s defensive value in RF (for the next season) ? Are we taking small same size too seriously ?

august fagerstrom: He’s not a +30 defender but he looked legit out there. I’d say +5-10 isn’t an unreasonable expectation

Jaime Goldenhand: I understand there are MASSIVE injury concerns across the board, but why is the Yankees rotation viewed as so relatively average when any of their top 4 can pitch like an Ace several times a year?

august fagerstrom: the first thing you said

august fagerstrom: There’s sizable risk with pretty much every one of their starters

Goldenhand the Just: for Fantasy would you rank them Carrasco, Kluber, Salazar? If so, how far of a drop off is Salazar from Kluber?

august fagerstrom: in real life that’s how I’d rank them

august fagerstrom: guess that applies to fantasy, too?

august fagerstrom: Carrasco and Kluber are a wash, but I slightly prefer Carrasco

august fagerstrom: Tough to say what the drop-off is, but Salazar is a solid “No. 2” who I think has legitimate ace upside

David: Any picks for potential mid/late season impact callups? Crawford? Mazara? Winker?

august fagerstrom: Crawford and Arcia strike me as the two who will be up quickest

Dinger: Rays and Rox are again being connected via trade chatter with Dickerson as the primary player mentioned. Would either Odorrizi or Smyly be a reasonable target? Too lofty/too low?

august fagerstrom: Smyly seems reasonable

august fagerstrom: Odorizzi might be a bit high

Matt: Gut reaction: are 0, 1, or 2 of Ender Inciarte and Julio Teheran Braves after the August 1 deadline?

august fagerstrom: 1

Zorak: Thoughts on raising the strike zone? Better than moving the mound IMO

august fagerstrom: I think I’m in the minority of folks who actually prefer the low run scoring environments. My favorite kind of baseball game is the 2-1 or 3-2 game, where each run is really exciting, like soccer. Slugfests are cool, I guess, too, but I’d way prefer a low scoring game than a high scoring one. So I’m not at all bothered by how the game’s gone recently.

august fagerstrom: if it’s better for the sport, though, then sure, raise it up a bit and get some more runs across the plate

august fagerstrom: could make for interesting analysis, too

jtt: T/F – Injuries are the only thing that will derail the rest of Miggys career? He still has an 80 grade hit tool, will he age gracefully enough to churn out some 2-3WAR seasons as a DH in his late 30’s?

august fagerstrom: Yeah, you wanna say that his body might make him a candidate to age more poorly than most, but his hand-eye coordination, plate coverage, disciple, etc. is just unprecedented

august fagerstrom: Think all that stuff could make up for whatever physical declines he may experience

Mike: There’s no way the White Sox open with Avisail Garcia in right field, right? Are they more likely to address this via free agency (Fowler/Jackson) or trade (Rockies OF, etc.)?

august fagerstrom: Don’t see the Rockies as a fit, they can offer the kind of pitching Colorado wnats

august fagerstrom: can’t*

Jeff: Holy pirates relievers, batman! That edge/heart ratio list is dominated by the 2013-2015 pirates

august fagerstrom: Love those Pirates pitchers. Love Ray Searage

Chad: Can the Spangenberg/Pirela platoon be decent in SD?

august fagerstrom: depends on your definition of decent

Keel: Why isn’t TJ House mentioned as a rotation candidate for the Indians in most coverage of our starters?

august fagerstrom: Because he was most recently really bad and hurt, and the Indians have plenty of depth. I do agree with you though, that he’s slept on

august fagerstrom: For a 7th? 8th? rotation option, it’s not a bad guy to have

august fagerstrom: He was pitching through his injury last year. He’s not as good as he was in his rookie season, but I think he’s closer to that healthy guy than last year’s injured guy

FTF: What are your thoughts on a Soler/Gray trade ? Read some lines from BP’s Christopher Crawford who believes it would be close to Soler’s value

august fagerstrom: Value-wise, yeah, they match up, and for the Cubs it makes all the sense in the world. Don’t see how it benefits the A’s necessarily. Don’t see any incentive for them to just swap young, cost-controlled talents like that, and Gray is a much more certain thing than Soler, pitcher and all

CamdenWarehouse: Have you researched what certain teams might be doing that increases the risk of TJ surgery? Braves and A’s seem to be hit a lot with it. I wonder if those teams have certain routines for their pitchers (maybe weightlifting) that could explain it.

august fagerstrom: I have not, but I’d bet you’ll enjoy Jeff Passan’s new book

Ben: Let’s take a moment to appreciate Adrian Beltre’s 30s.

august fagerstrom: They made him a Hall of Famer

FTF: Did you know that Jeff was also doing a “hidden sth” article few days ago ? Were you trying to found out MLB’s Great Secret ?

august fagerstrom: Nope, made me laugh when I saw it though. Tweeted out a screenshot as soon as my article went up

august fagerstrom: Then yesterday we had Rymer Liriano and Francisco Liriano articles back to back

Billy: Where does Matt Kemp project to hit in San Diego this year? Feeling a good year out of him?

august fagerstrom: not really

august fagerstrom: he was barely a league-average hitter last year, people just liked his season because of the RBI

august fagerstrom: Kemp’s one of the more terrifying players in baseball, to me.

Billy: Bigger impact on the Rangers this season: Joey Gallo, Nomar Mazara or Lewis Brinson? That major league OF is thin…

august fagerstrom: realistically probably Mazara if they need someone to play every day in the OF in case of an injury or something. But if Gallo can get at-bats somewhere, the ceiling is tough to match

FTF: Will we heard you on a Fangraphs Audio ? I hope you know it is a small but important audiance…

august fagerstrom: probably at some point. Carson and I were going to record one in Nashville at the Winter Meetings but it never came to fruition

Bork: How much worse does the O’s rotation get if Ubaldo goes back to being terrible?

august fagerstrom: not *that* much worse because it’s already bad

Arthur Dayne: Won’t McCann’s contract be really bad in a year ?

august fagerstrom: could be. the scary thing is that he hasn’t aged well as a receiver

august fagerstrom: even though framing doesn’t get paid, it would be easier to stomach if he was still an elite receiver

august fagerstrom: was four runs below average by BP last yaer

Matt: Do you ever see Trevor Bauer ever putting it all together? His volatility start-to-start is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

august fagerstrom: Could, but it’s getting harder to see. I know he’s overhauling things this offseason. If this next approach doesn’t stick, it might become a “gotta see it to believe it” scenario. The ceiling is still high, but the floor could be pretty low

august fagerstrom: The one thing that he’s got going for him is he’s incredibly durable. Even if he never reaches the ceiling, he’s got value as an innings eater, as long as he can throw league average-ish innings

FTF: The back of the Indians bullpen scares me a little. Should they make a trade ? What could be a great target ?

august fagerstrom: Allen is maybe the most underrated closer in the game, and Shaw/McAllister/Manship (I know) isn’t bad for the set-up innings, though I agree it lacks some fire power. They seem to really trust their player development with pen arms. Shawn Armstrong is intriguing, and they took so many fliers on veteran guys, I think they’re hoping to find build another Manship out of Otero/Chamberlain/Detwiler/Gorzelanny

august fagerstrom: A lot of those names sound kinda laughable, but then again so was Manship

august fagerstrom: I dont mind the way they’ve approached the pen this year

Hank: Marcus Stroman was highly touted last offseason before the injury. He now seems to be “forgotten” this offseason. How does August value Marcus Stroman this season?

august fagerstrom: Very highly

august fagerstrom: though the Jays rotation still seems pretty thin

David: Kipnis to the Dodgers for Pederson? With JRam it definitely makes sense for the Indians and I think it could make sense for the Dodgers, no?

august fagerstrom: Dodgers are fine at 2B with Hernandez/Utley platoon and neither team wants to trade those guys

FTF: Do you (secretely) hate a team ? You don’t have to name one, I was just wondering…

august fagerstrom: nope

DXpwns: What do you expect of Marco Estrada in 2016?

august fagerstrom: Worse than last year’s 3.13 ERA, but better than his career 3.95 ERA

FTF: Has baseball writing hurt your Indians’ Fandom ?

august fagerstrom: yep, I don’t really consider myself a fan anymore. I certainly pay more attention to the Indians than the rest of the teams, and will always have a soft spot for them due to my childhood and my father, but I dont really consider myself a fan of any team in pro sports outside of the Cavs anymore

august fagerstrom: I guess the best way to put it is I’ll probably always have an allegiance towards Cleveland, but I haven’t actively “rooted” for the Indians in several seasons. I just root for good baseball and good stories and interesting analysis

Stan: Do we see another big trade before spring training starts?

august fagerstrom: probably see the Rockies do something, and still think the Cubs do something, and maybe the Brewers move Lucroy. Dont think you’ll get any blockbusters though

august fagerstrom: Unless you think Lucroy is a blockbuster

august fagerstrom: Could see the Angels making a deal if they can’t sign a LF, too

TRIBE !: Who’s your favorite comedian ?

august fagerstrom: might be cliche but Louis CK

august fagerstrom: he’s the only standup that I can watch the same special multiple times and laugh just as hard every time

Urban: Rob Refsnyder’s. Not a prospect?

august fagerstrom: not as an everyday player until he can field a position

Biscuit: Think Matz and Nola can each make it to 180 innings this year?

august fagerstrom: Nola’s more likely than Matz

august fagerstrom: Nola threw 180+ last year, and the Mets don’t need Matz to eat innings

Phil: Ignoring the projections and just using gut or fan instinct only… does it feel like Kershaw might be building up to a Pedro ’99/00 caliber season? Obviously the variance and chance on historically great seasons are un-projectable and just goofy talk, but just in looking at his career arc and the gluttony of scrubs in the NL, I just get a feeling and I am excited to see it.

august fagerstrom: We may never see a 99/00 Pedro again, so no

august fagerstrom: but Kershaw’s as close as we’ve had since

Biscuit: Can Kiermaier get to 15 HR’s consistently?

august fagerstrom: have a hard time seeing it with struggles vs LHP

august fagerstrom: and to be honest, I think even the 10 HR he’s hit the last two years is a bit surprising, based on scouting reports. his “power” should probably be expected to come more from turning singles into doubles and doubles into triples with good speed and aggressive baserunning

Bork: Could the Angels use of Trout (or mis-use) be the biggest blunder of modern MLB?

august fagerstrom: It’s definitely upsetting. And it’s not like they didn’t *try*, their attempts just backfired and now they’re hamstrung/gun shy

Biscuit: Does Brandon Nimmo contribute to the Mets this year, or did Cespedes just put an end to that idea?

august fagerstrom: They’ve got solid depth in Lagares/De Aza, too, but in case of emergency or #PanicCity, he’s probably next one up

George: Any young pitcher (24 or under) in major or minor leagues that you’d take over SYndergaard?

august fagerstrom: Answered this earlier: Fernandez

Kyle Schwarber: if you had to choose for the upcoming season..Me or my boy Kris Bryant?

august fagerstrom: Bryant by a mile

Lucas: How many WS championships won by the Mets and Cubs (combined) over the next 5 years

august fagerstrom: I’d set the over/under at 0.5 because winning the World Series is really hard

Lee: Better 2016 – Rodon or Severino?

august fagerstrom: 2016 I might take Severino, but I like Rodon long-term

CamdenWarehouse: What do you think of Jimmy Nelson this year? Lots of improvement last year. Could be a top of the rotation guy?

august fagerstrom: probably Milwaukee’s best starter, but he’s more like a No. 3

august fagerstrom: Not sure I see considerable improvements from 2014, anyway. Peripherals actually got worse. His command needs to get better for any upside

jtt: If you were to appear on fangraphs audio, would you talk about baseball like only dave does? Would you shoot the shit like jeff? or would you talk about the crippling weight of the human condition like dayn perry?

august fagerstrom: I have no idea. Would be up to Carson, really, though I’d be more inclined for one of the latter two

Bork: Will Lebron be the closest thing we get to a player coach/GM? His influence is insane.

august fagerstrom: yeah

Nelson: If the Indians made the playoffs, would the home games definately sell out?

august fagerstrom: Wild Card game sold out in 2013, so yeah, I’d think so

Urban: Wouldn’t A-Jax make sense for the Angels?

august fagerstrom: Is everyday A-Jax that much better than Nava/Gentry? It’s better, I guess, but maybe not worth the money for a marginal upgrade?

Stan: Is Addison Russell a star? All the talk is about Seager, Correa & Lindor (rightfully so), but Russell seems to be on that same tier. He was a SS by trade that got moved to 2B and struggled. Now that he’s at SS full time, do you see him settling in ala Xander Boegarts?

august fagerstrom: Not sure he hits enough to be a star in the Seager/Correa category, and doesn’t have Lindor’s glove, but he’s a really, really solid SS who’s remarkable for his age and is the kind of guy a contender would love to have up the middle every day

guest guest guest: per streamer/600, greg bird is projected to have the highest WRC+ for the 2016 yankees. thoughts?

august fagerstrom: thoughts are Greg Bird is a fine young player who might not make much of an impact on the 2016 Yankees unless something goes awry

BurleighGrimes: What team do you pay the least attention to? Is there a team that stands out (?!) as being chronically boring?

august fagerstrom: Padres and Brewers strike me as particularly dull

august fagerstrom: Rockies are at least fun to think about

Sean : How close would you rate peak Kershaw vs. peak Randy Johnson?

august fagerstrom: Johnson might have had the best extended peak of all-time

august fagerstrom: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/history-peaks-and-clayton-kershaw/

Urban: How is Trout being misused?

august fagerstrom: Trout’s being used just fine. The implication there was that the Angels are wasting his talent with a shitty team

Josh L: Do you see David Peralta hitting 20 HR with a .300 avg this season? What player is he most similar to?

august fagerstrom: No, I think he overperformed a bit last year and if he has to play everyday, the at-bats vs lefties will drag his numbers down

august fagerstrom: .275, 15 HR with good defense seems more reasonable

august fagerstrom: might be a bad comp but comps are hard and the first name that came to mind was Josh Reddick?

yebob: Are the M’s insane for settling on a corner OF mix of Smith, Aoki, Gutierrez, and Cruz? All are north of 32, half are severe injury risks and one is a DH.

august fagerstrom: Leonys Martin’s in that mix too. I don’t mind the M’s outfield

Hank: Not that familiar with Byron Buxton, but he’s consistently a highly rated prospect. Do you think he’s a superstar?

august fagerstrom: Kinda strikes me as a toolsy guy who still needs the tools to translate a bit more, but the tools are off the charts. He may have been rushed a bit, too, I think we’re gonna see him develop on the fly in the big leagues

august fagerstrom: He’s got superstar potential, just maybe not in the “traditional” superstar sense. More in the Mookie Betts superstar sense

Annabelle: Who will have more career WAR, Conforto or Schwarber? What about in 2015?

august fagerstrom: Conforto

Pete : Joc Pederson or Conforto this year and long-term?

august fagerstrom: Joc

Adrian: Best pitcher in NL east and best pitcher in AL East?

august fagerstrom: NL East Scherzer, by a bit, AL East Price, by a lot

Glossy Finknottle: Jesus Montero’s 2016 platoon role at 1B will result in 15HR and a .350 OBP from the oft maligned former prospect: over/under?

august fagerstrom: underrrrr under under under

august fagerstrom: ok, optimistic Jesus Montero seems like the place to end heree