August Fagerstrom FanGraphs Chat — 3/22/16

august fagerstrom: happy Tuesday!

august fagerstrom: chat soundtrack: El-P – Fantastic Damage

august fagerstrom: be back in 10!

august fagerstrom: sorry guys, need a few more minutes before I begin. will go extra today

august fagerstrom: ok! apologies. lets begin

Bork: How crushed would Cleveland be if Lebron opted out and signed somewhere else? HE UNFOLLOWED THE CAVS TWITTER!!

august fagerstrom: sometimes the internet can be a terrible place

CamdenWarehouse: Who are your favorite non-FG baseball writers?

august fagerstrom: I probably get more excited for a new Sam Miller piece than anything. Then the rest of the obvious ones — Jonah Keri, Grant Brisbee, Ben Lindbergh, Buster’s daily column, anything Rosenthal puts out. As far as beat guys go, I don’t think anybody does it better than Derrick Goold in St. Louis. Travis Sawchik is a must-read in Pittsburgh, as are Andy McCullough and Pedro Moura in LA, Brian MacPherson and Tim Britton in Boston and Zack Meisel and Jordan Bastian in Cleveland

Christian: Can you rank the rookie shortstops as far as production this year? Turner, Story, Arcia, Jp Crawford. Thanks!

august fagerstrom: as far as counting stats go, it’s gotta be Story just because he’s there on Opening Day and is likely to stick for the year

august fagerstrom: Turner is probably up the next-quickest, so he’d be next, followed by Arcia and then Crawford

august fagerstrom: Long-term and the list is the exact opposite order

Nick in Cleveland: “Cody Anderson Looks Like Matt Harvey” !!!! — just that headline alone turns me into that emoji with hearts for eyes. Does Anderson’s velo uptick on its own give him a shot at overtaking Tomlin for the last starting spot at the beginning of the season?

august fagerstrom: I’d be surprised. I suppose Tomlin could open the season in the pen, but with the extension (albeit a small one) and the way he pitched last year, I’d be surprised if he isn’t the 5th starter on Opening Day

august fagerstrom: The velocity is encouraging, but I need to see a more from Anderson than just velocity to be sold on him as a quality big league starter

Larry: Do you think the Brewers will trade Will Smith?

august fagerstrom: Yeah, not much need for a back-end reliever entering arb next year on a rebuilding team, and he’s good enough to where he could net them a useful prospect

august fagerstrom: Might not be before the season starts but I’d be surprised if he were still a Brewer by season’e end

Mike: Should I be worried about Jacob Degrom only throwing 91-93 versus his normal velocity in his ST start yesterday?

august fagerstrom: No

august fagerstrom: You should be worried if he does it in the regular season

Ross: How worried should I be about the Mariners bullpen?

august fagerstrom: It wasn’t very promising to begin with and already there’s been several key injuries. It’s definitely not encouraging

august fagerstrom: You should allot six of your 10 worry points towards it

Broakland: Could the A’s still swing a trade for a SP – such as James Shields – with a B-level prospect that has been jumped in the org – such as Nunez or Pinder?

august fagerstrom: what do the A’s want with James Shields?

uru: What happened to the very awesome Fangraphs Top 200 Prospects List? Did I miss it? It was published in February of last year — not happening this year?

august fagerstrom: Still got 7 more prospect lists to go

Bork: Do you believe in Chris Colabello?

august fagerstrom: I dont believe in Chris Colabello, .900 OPS

august fagerstrom: I believe in Chris Colabello, improved and useful hitter

august fagerstrom: He probably shouldn’t be an everyday player, especially on a team that has an everyday DH

Eric: Thoughts on Tyler White? Will he play? What’s his ceiling?

august fagerstrom: He should play. Him, Singleton and Reed should all get their shot this year

august fagerstrom: Hard to see anything less than a hitter there, given what he’s done in the minors, and he’s got the kind of profile that doesn’t come with much risk.

august fagerstrom: He doesn’t have Reed upside, but I like him more than Singleton

George Harrison: SI has picked the Astros to win the world series.

august fagerstrom: SI also picked the Cubs, Cubs and Mets to the win the World Series

august fagerstrom: they do this every year. they’re regional covers

august fagerstrom: FWIW, I’d take the Astros to come out of the AL right now too

CamdenWarehouse: What, to you, have been the most annoying offseason/ST stories? Tanking? Drake?

august fagerstrom: probably the part where nobody played any baseball for 4 months

august fagerstrom: that always sucks

Gerb: In 316 hours from now will I be watching Michael Brantley trot out to left field?

august fagerstrom: yep

august fagerstrom: assuming 316 hours from now is Opening Day

mtsw: What should we be looking for in Byung Ho Park’s first few months to help project how he’ll end up doing long term in MLB?

august fagerstrom: I’d probably look for how he does against big league breaking stuff

august fagerstrom: Diagnosing it, laying off of it, etc.

august fagerstrom: He’s never seen that low and away slider from a righty the way it’s thrown in the MLB

Mike P: What are the olds the Mets go to a 6 man rotation when wheeler comes back?

august fagerstrom: slim

august fagerstrom: him or Colon can go to the pen. More likely scenario is that when he comes back, the Mets don’t have all 5 guys they have now

august fagerstrom: Baseball seasons are long and unpredictable and pitchers are pretty prone to hurting themselves

daneyko: Kevin Quackenbush will be the closer sooner than later ?

august fagerstrom: back to Maurer might be more likely

JDogg: thinking of dropping Granderson for Pillar as my reserve OF. Am I crazy to think Pillar could go for 30SB’s and 100 runs at the top of the Jays lineup? While Granderson could just be average this year?

august fagerstrom: 30/100 is tough to do with an OBP around .300

august fagerstrom: I’d also be surprised if he’s actually their leadoff man for most of the year

TK: Who do you like more between Ryan Braun, Adam Jones, and Carlos Gonzalez (if any!)?

august fagerstrom: Braun easy

august fagerstrom: not a fan of Jones or CarGo at all

berezin: Phillies: Best option for the 9th inning: Andrew Bailey or David Hernandez

august fagerstrom: best?

august fagerstrom: least-worst?

august fagerstrom: that’s grim. Bailey, I guess. Reports from camp have sounded good.

Bill: Who would you say are the top 5 times that are the least analytically inclined in their front office?

august fagerstrom: Sure seems like the DBacks are leading the way here

august fagerstrom: Maybe the O’s?

august fagerstrom: Angels?

august fagerstrom: Pretty much everyone is on board by now

august fagerstrom: even those teams are using data in some way to make decisions. everyone is.

berezin: Juan Nicasio is really on fire. Do you believe in him to put this numbers (maybe not as good) during the regular season ?

august fagerstrom: I’ll buy him as a starter when I see it

august fagerstrom: He can definitely be an elite reliever. He already was for most of last year

The Average Sports Fan: The only interesting thing from the Laroche thing is how long does it take for Mrs Laroche to resent Drake? I can hear it now, “We gave up $13 million for you, and you can’t even get your clothes in the hamper!!”

JDogg: So Trevor May probably has the best arm in the Twins BP- and why isnt he closing?

august fagerstrom: because Perkins still has another year left on his contract and hasn’t yet lost the job

Dave the Rave: What do you see in terms of PA for Grichuk and Piscotty?

august fagerstrom: mid 500s

august fagerstrom: Less certain for Grichuk — he really needs to prove he can stay healthy

august fagerstrom: If the O/U were 550 I’d probably take the over for Piscotty and the under for Grichuk

The Cincinnati Kid: Now that he’s playing in ST games, what would you set the O/U for PAs for Brantley this year?

august fagerstrom: 600

BossManSwag: Will Chris Bassitt be interesting?

august fagerstrom: He already is

Reginald Denton III: So projections are once again very good for Max Scherzer, but I’m concerned about his second half of last season. Do you have any thoughts as to what was going on, why he dropped off? What are your expectations of him this season?

august fagerstrom: he struck out 32% of the batters he faced in the second half

Domingo Santana: Am i going to hit 20 Home Runs this year?

august fagerstrom: yes

august fagerstrom: and it’s going to be so much fun

CamdenWarehouse: What are the chances Panda is a starting 3B come September?

august fagerstrom: better than 50%

august fagerstrom: I don’t buy the Travis Shaw everyday 3B thing

JDogg: who would you consider Betances lite? RP with 100+k’s, 1.0 WHIP, and sub 2 era? But doesn’t get saves

august fagerstrom: well 100+ K’s is unfair

august fagerstrom: the Yankees have the only 3 pitchers in baseball who did that last year (lol)

august fagerstrom: but I guess Uehara?

august fagerstrom: gotta be the next-best non-Yankee non-closer in baseball

Make WAR not Love: Cody Anderson comp to Harvey … a whhhaaa? Is Sullivan crazy or genius?

august fagerstrom: “name one genius that ain’t crazy” — Kanye West, 2016

Sean: How fun is doing these chats? I see some that do them by obligation and others that truly enjoy them. You definitely fit into the latter.

august fagerstrom: I find it really enjoyable to connect with the readers and get a sense of what’s on peoples mind. Also helps generate topics sometimes. It can get tedious sorting through all the fantasy and “who hangs up first on this ridiculous trade proposal” questions

TankShark: Wacha: Ace-in-the-making or solid contriBut or?

august fagerstrom: the latter. Carlos Martinez is the ace in the making

Make WAR not Love: Is your favorite band August Burns Red – because it should be

august fagerstrom: have never heard any of their music

august fagerstrom: from what I understand I don’t think I’d find it too enjoyable

Hank: The Carson Smith injury (depending on the severity) could be really bad for the Red Sox bullpen. If they find that he’s out a while, do you think they fill that role in house with someone like Henry Owens or do they try and bring a reliever in via trade?

august fagerstrom: they already had an embarrassment of riches

august fagerstrom: it would suck for sure because Carson Smith is awesome, but Carson Smith is pitching the 9th for like 75% of teams in baseball and he was slated to pitch the 7th

august fagerstrom: they’ve still got two of the best closers in baseball back there. they’d be fine

Well-Beered Englishman: Which player would you choose for an MLB-based Space Jam reboot, based on 1. playing skills, 2. movie star charisma?

august fagerstrom: wow, fantastic question

august fagerstrom: should expect nothing less from you

august fagerstrom: the first guy that came to mind was Andrew McCutchen because of star-power/marketability and he seems like he’d do a good job on screen

august fagerstrom: but the more I think about it, the more I think Chris Archer is the only right choice

august fagerstrom: or A-Rod!!!

august fagerstrom: A-Rod!

august fagerstrom: my final answer is A-Rod and any other answer is wrong

Max: predict a breakout for a 2B

august fagerstrom: Rougned Odor

marichal: Juan Nicasio?

august fagerstrom: that’s a guy alright

lefty: as a gambling man would you put Fangraphs projections against Bovada?

august fagerstrom: most of them yeah

august fagerstrom: think it’s a better strategy than just winging it, certainly

The Cincinnati Kid: With the Pirates looking to run their 2016 lineup out based on the principles written about in “The Book,” do you see any other teams following it so closely before the end of the season?

august fagerstrom: shift has been ongoing for a few years now

august fagerstrom: Teams are way smarter about using the 2nd spot in the lineup than they were just a handful of years ago

august fagerstrom: I wrote about this on Opening Day last year and I believe Neil Weinberg recently wrote about it too

Mike: Indians were 8th in the Catcher Power Rankings…is that appropriate or is there not enough love for the Gomes/Perez combo?

august fagerstrom: Perez is definitely one of the guys the projections miss on because they don’t know he played through facial paralysis in Triple-A 2013 and he couldn’t hit a lick

august fagerstrom: He had a 45 wRC+ in AAA when he had facial paralysis and I’d wager that’s a big reason why his MLB projection is a 76 wRC+. I’d wager his true-talent is closer to 90 and that’s a huge swing.

august fagerstrom: Plus our numbers don’t have framing and both, especially Perez, are plusses in that regard. So yeah, I’d take the over on what we have

august fagerstrom: Perez is a starting catcher

Liam: Better in 2016: Roughned Odor or Marcus Semien?

august fagerstrom: Odor

JD89: Dan Farnsworth is an amazing analyst with such attention to detail. I’m curious if he has a background as an ex player?

august fagerstrom: he played college ball I’m pretty certain

j6takish: Why don’t people go to Indians games? They used to sell out in the 90’s. Detroit had similar economic issues in the 90’s and the team was also really bad for 15 years and attendance rebounded quite nicely

august fagerstrom: It’s honestly baffling to me

august fagerstrom: The stadium is beautiful, the team is good. I think it has to do with: a) Browns/NFL brainwash that I’ll never understand. b) LeBron being right next door. c) Fans are pissed the Indians traded CC and Lee and let all the stars walk because most don’t understand how the business side of baseball works. So they “boycott” the owner/front office for being cheap

Erik: Is Billy Hamilton the worst player with an 80-grade tool to get significant time in the majors in recent memory?

august fagerstrom: another great question

august fagerstrom: let’s see

august fagerstrom: well

august fagerstrom: my first thought was relievers with 80 fastballs but no command and no secondary stuff? like Daniel Bard? but I’m not 100% sure what makes an 80 fastball because I have no scouting background — can you get an 80 on pure velo? Because if so, Bard would’ve had an 80, but he couldn’t command it at all so I doubt it would’ve been graded that high

august fagerstrom: then I’m thinking maybe like an 80 arm right fielder that can’t do anything else? but nobody’s coming to mind and if he couldn’t do anything else he wouldn’t get PT

august fagerstrom: so, yeah, I think you’re right. Hamilton makes sense. Joey Gathright comes to mind too though obviously he’s further back than Hamilton

louis: Is the most optimistic view of Jackie Bradley’s future career something like that of Mike Camerons?

august fagerstrom: Bradley doesn’t have that kind of power

ButchHobson: just wanted to say i love your work, August. thx.

august fagerstrom: thank you Mr. Hobson

Hank: Will Smith to the Red Sox for a B- to C+ prospect makes a lot of sense.

august fagerstrom: Yah, the more I thought about the Smith question I answered above, the more I realized the Sox have *very* thin depth behind the “big 3”

august fagerstrom: losing Carson Smith would thin it out even more. they might wanna make a move if he’s gone, actually

Murray: Do you think Carlos Carrasco will outpitch Kluber this year? Are they about the same in strikeout potential? Thank you

august fagerstrom: yes I think they’re almost identical in skill level. it’s just as likely Carrasco outpitches Kluber as the other way around IMO

Bork: Article idea – each team has 10 worry points, say what each team should spend those points on.

august fagerstrom: yep

Well-Beered Englishman: OK, how would you distribute your 10 Worry Points league-wide?

august fagerstrom: worry points article is definitely happening

sean: Could you maybe answer fewer Cleveland questions? These are quality chats but I think most people want to hear more about other teams

august fagerstrom: Sorry, I get a lot of Cleveland questions. I just answer what’s in the queue and what looks interesting

TKDC: If you had to bet on one current first baseman to make the hall of fame, but not Pujols or Cabrera, who would you bet on?

august fagerstrom: Votto?

Brian: Astros pitching is a little dicey, right? I suppose maybe that was the real Kuechel last season (though doubts are pretty reasonable) but the rest of the staff, especially after McHugh, is pretty questionable.

august fagerstrom: I don’t think it’s a super strength but it’s good enough. as long as McCullers’ injury isn’t serious, which it doesn’t sound like it is, he’s a really solid 2nd/3rd option and the missed time at the start of the year could actually be a blessing in disguise to help limit his innings without missing time down the stretch. Fiers and Fister I think are fine back-end guys. They’re maybe missing someone in between the third guy and the fourth guy but that can be addressed if necessary

august fagerstrom: It’s not ideal, maybe, but it’s not the kind of thing that would have me worried if I were an Astros fan

jenn: Giolito versus Urias. Who produces more down the stretch?

august fagerstrom: this year? Giolito all the way

august fagerstrom: no guarantee Urias even debuts this year. Giolito will be up in June

Alex: Steven Matz reach 150 IP this year?

august fagerstrom: I’d take the over

Billy: Better Red Sox bounce back candidate: Rick Porcell or Clay Bucholtz?

august fagerstrom: Porcello

Drew: Is Trevor May in the bullpen a huge waste of resources? Especially if it’s to make room for Tommy Milone? He could be a solid mid-rotation guy in my mind.

august fagerstrom: he’s really making room for Jose Berrios

mtsw: Given O’s surplus of excellent relievers and budget-consciousness, should they explore trading Zach Britton? Britton for Soler or Baez would make a lot of sense on paper.

august fagerstrom: not yet

august fagerstrom: O’s still view themselves as a contender and Britton is exactly the kind of guy you love to have in important games

gest: Gio Gonzalez has significantly underperformed his FIP the last two years. Do you think he will have a comeback season this year?

august fagerstrom: I’ll say that I really love the adjustment he made to work down in the zone with his fastball last year. Huge GB% spike without giving away any K’s

NCKLM: Do you believe in A.J. Pollock this year?

august fagerstrom: As a 4-5+ WAR player? Yes. Repeating 7 WAR again? Not so much

Billy: Do you think we could see Hank Conger move in to the starting spot at C for the Rays? I’ve always been intrigued by his bat and his defense is superb. I’d love to see him get 450 AB’s for them this season to see what he can do.

august fagerstrom: Problem is despite switch-hitting status he can’t hit lefties, and the arm could become a real problem in an everyday setting

august fagerstrom: That doesn’t mean he couldn’t play against most righties and get the brunt of playing time and be their best option though

gest: Have you heard much word on Michael Brantley’s outlook for 2016?

august fagerstrom: I think he’s ready Opening Day

august fagerstrom: Indians fans won’t forget about Kipnis rushing back from injury and underperforming in 2014 and Gomes rushing back from injury and underperforming in 2015, though

Alexandros: By July 1st who is the A’s first baseman, Yonder Alonso or Mark Canha?

august fagerstrom: Canha

M&M: Who’s your favorite player to watch play defense? I love Lindor as an Indians fan, but watching Kiermaier is dazzling.

august fagerstrom: yeah Kiermaier is too fun

august fagerstrom: watching Machado work in foul territory is pretty special too

august fagerstrom: there’s something really pleasing about Heyward tracking down a ball that I can’t get over, though. I think it’s how big he is

august fagerstrom: The strides are insane. He doesn’t look like he should be able to be doing what he’s doing

Greg : Sano has his K rate down to aroun 29% this year, is that sustainable this year and does he hit 36+ HR’s this year?

august fagerstrom: I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Sano hit 40

New Guy: Should I cut my fancy new Bryce Harper out of desperation for more cash? Nearly a fifth of my payroll is his salary.

august fagerstrom: Just a heads-up, I’ve never played in a salary league before and have no idea how any of it works, so these type of questions will literally never be answered. Sorry!

august fagerstrom: cutting Bryce Harper sounds like a bad idea

Mike: If I gave you an over/under on Miguel Cabrera at 120 games, what would you take? And 30 HRs?

august fagerstrom: Over on the former under on the latter?

Kolten: I liked your take on Derek Norris quite a bit and completely agree with you, but would you really rather trade one of Mazara/Gallo/Brinson for Lucroy than send a middling prospect or two for Norris? That, of course, is assuming that a middling prospect or two is really enough for Preller to pull the trigger, and that Stearns really won’t trade Lucroy for anything less than an absolute stud.

august fagerstrom: No I would not trade one of those guys for Lucroy. If that’s what it takes, stand pat, I guess

august fagerstrom: I just don’t think Norris is an upgrade over Chirinos worth giving up anyone of note

Billy: Do you think Khris Davis hits 30+ home runs for the A’s this season?

august fagerstrom: He could, but injuries/playing time could make it difficult. I’m high on Khris Davis though. Actually writing about him tomorrow

Alexandros: Are Danny Valencia’s adjustments against RHP real or a mirage?

august fagerstrom: When looking at righty/lefty splits, *always* side with the larger sample. For his career, he has a 136 wRC+ vs L and 79 vs. R. Going with mirage until proven wrong

John: What outfielders do you think make the opening day roster for the Cleveland Indians?

august fagerstrom: Brantley/Naquin/Chisenhall/Davis/Byrd

Jeet: Why aren’t any prospects given great comps? For example all prospects have at most major league comps with successful major leaguers not HOF worthy people. Correa had weak comps before the majors etc. No one is projected to even be say a Tulo

august fagerstrom: because plenty of prospects fail and the guys that are making the comps are putting their reputation on the line. would be a really bold move to comp anyone to Tulo, who is a Hall of Fame talent

Nashvile Dude: Whats your spotify?

august fagerstrom: I actually don’t have one. I’ve never used music streaming services — never saw the need. Always have my iPod on me. I did recently get sucked into the free trial of TIDAL for the new Kanye record and it’s been somewhat convenient having it, so I may actually begin using Spotify once my TIDAL trial runs out

Bork: A-Rod vs juiced up monsters is a hilarious irony.

Zorak: More important Space Jam question, who would be the five players the Monstars steal the powers of?

august fagerstrom: Harper, Trout, Giancarlo, Billy Hamilton, and, fuck it, Barry Bonds

Bob: Believe in Franco’s spring?

august fagerstrom: I just believe in Franco. The spring doesn’t hurt

august fagerstrom: (wrote about him recently if you’re interested!)

TK: Who’s closing in Toronto, Storen or Osuna?

august fagerstrom: Sounds like Storen

august fagerstrom: the leash will be short though. Cecil should certainly be in the mix, too

Charlie: The Mat Latos projections seem pretty pessimistic to me, do you agree?

august fagerstrom: yeah, I’d take the under on them

august fagerstrom: under meaning better

august fagerstrom: that’s kind of confusing with pitchers I guess

Jasper: How much is there to the Holliday to first base rumor? Has he been getting time there this spring? Do the Cards prefer Moss in the outfield over Holliday?

august fagerstrom: He has been getting time there this spring. The Cardinals like that Holliday at first allows Pham to play in the outfield and boost their defensive quite a bit without giving away too much at the plate

august fagerstrom: Wouldn’t surprise me at all if that winds up being the go-to alignment for the Cards at some point this year

Bro: Are a .300/.350/.450 line and a .250/.350/.450 equally valuable? First guy has more hits but second guy more XB hits, does that make a difference in value?

august fagerstrom: Same OBP but second guy has more power? Second guy is probably better

Nick: Any specific players/prospects you were high on that ended up being terrible?

august fagerstrom: I thought the Cavs should’ve drafted Derrick Williams over Kyrie Irving

august fagerstrom: You probably wanted a baseball answer though

TKDC: Jeff Francoeur had an 80 arm.

j6takish: Jeff francouer, 80 grade arm. He’s still playing!

august fagerstrom: This is a good submission, going back to the “worst player with an 80-grade talent to get regular playing time”

TankShark: so you like Domingo Santana? Couldn’t be be like springer-lite?

august fagerstrom: Literally wrote an article about this very comparison

Dodski85: I’ve tried to get this question answered in every chat for a couple weeks, so maybe it’s not interesting, or maybe it’s obvious, but if I worried about that, my wife had never have gone out with me so: take two teams: one has Trout and Donaldson and replacement levels and the other team has a bunch of 2ish WAR players and both team’s WARS are the same. their team stats are exactly the same .328 wOBA, 755 RS, 700 RA. Doesn’t the team with more average players enjoy more opportunities for beneficial random sequencing? Thanks!

august fagerstrom: Your logic seems sound, but I honestly don’t know. Someone smarter than me would need to do the research. Sorry this took so long to get answered and sorry I still didn’t really answer it and good for you for being persistent and getting the girl! Cheers to a happy marriage

Kujo: Trea turner making the big league team?

august fagerstrom: Doubt it. Seemed like a longshot from the start and hasn’t done himself any favors in spring. He’ll be up at the first sight of Danny Espinosa not being an everyday hitter (given it’s not too early in the season for service time stuff to matter)

Rich: Better prospect to make an impact this year: Berrios or Glasnow?

august fagerstrom: I’m partial to Berrios

David: Who’s better at the back of KC’s rotation, Ian Kennedy or Kris Medlen?

august fagerstrom: I’d take Medlen per-inning, but Kennedy will throw more and therefore could wind up more valuable

Sean: Why not Goldschmidt over Votto for HOF? I think Goldy has more ceiling – only 28, similar plate discipline as Votto but better batted ball metrics (more power), better fielder, better baserunner. Does Votto’s longer track record trump Goldy?

august fagerstrom: Considered Goldy (and Rizzo) but Goldy got a pretty late start. I guess Votto was only 7 WAR or so ahead of where Goldy is now at the same age, but Votto’s already got the extra 20 WAR banked and it feels like he should age well

august fagerstrom: I doubt any of them get in, FWIW, but I’ll take the guy who’s already 2/3 of the way there rather than the guy who’s 1/3 of the way there

mtsw: The Orioles’ strategy of loading up exclusively on low OBP guys who hit a ton of HR is likely to underperform it’s BaseRuns, right? “Context neutral” Home Runs will be more valuable than the ton of solo HRs the low OBP O’s are likely to get, right?

august fagerstrom: Dave Cameron recently wrote some interesting research on this (and more is on the way, I believe) that suggests this could be partially true

august fagerstrom: and might help explain some of the Royals madness the last couple years

august fagerstrom: It doesn’t seem like it’s a *huge* effect, but there might be something there

Mike: Orlando Arcia or JP Crawford?

august fagerstrom: long-term? Crawford

Dodski85: What’s your favorite slang term for home run?

august fagerstrom: dinger

august fagerstrom: easy

Trystan: Most interesting delivery outside of Darren O’Day, Ziegler and Neshek?

august fagerstrom: Capps 🙁

august fagerstrom: so I guess Jordan Walden now

august fagerstrom: I never get tired of watching Chris Sale throw a baseball either

some guy: Biggie Smalls > Kid Cudi. Discuss.

august fagerstrom: hot take