August Fagerstrom FanGraphs Chat — 7/19/16

august fagerstrom: coming to you live from not-Cleveland, it’s a baseball chat!

august fagerstrom: for our soundtrack, I’ve been revisiting one of my all-time favorites lately, Animal Collective – Feels

august fagerstrom: lastly, we’ll probably get this one started about 10 minutes late or so

august fagerstrom: alright, let’s do it!

Bork: Hello friend! I am back in the office today and not in a waiting room.

august fagerstrom: hi Bork! hope all is well with you and the BORKFAMILY

Bork: not-Cleveland? Is your body accustomed to normal air? Are you okay?

august fagerstrom: so glad I won’t be a part of the crazy this week

Wright Brothers: Why were we so determined to fly?

august fagerstrom: can’t hit a homer on a ground ball, duh

Bork: Which mediocre, probably depressing starting pitcher will the Jays trade for at the deadline?

august fagerstrom: Rich Hill wouldn’t be depressing!

august fagerstrom: unless he gets hurt 🙁

RT: You wrote back in May about some of the holes in Jose Iglesias’s defense. He’s now grading out as a Top-5 defender in the AL. Have you noticed changes in his game, or is more season needed for the metrics to even out?

august fagerstrom: He’s still getting killed going to his right, which was the main point of my post. BIS has him -13 on plays to his right, +9 straight on and +7 to the left

august fagerstrom: He’s been better on air balls and double plays

Bork: So, Yan Gomes.

august fagerstrom: Feel so bad for the guy. What a rough couple years.

august fagerstrom: For the Indians, as shitty as it sounds to say, I think it might be a blessing in disguise. A healthy Roberto Perez is worlds better than Yan Gomes at this point

Joe: Ryan Flaherty “come on mfer” great gif or greatest gif?

august fagerstrom: someone post this!

Erik: How do selling GMs make known that a player is available? Public statements? Calls to every other front office with initial offers? Some private group chat with all the other GMs?

august fagerstrom: I’d guess there’s some group-chatting, plenty of mass e-mailing, and above anything else, word spreads quick

august fagerstrom: They use the media, too

natsfan: People have been talking up Miller to CLE but that seems like too big/too expensive a move. Setup guy or maybe Beltran more likely. Agree or disagree?

august fagerstrom: For Cleveland? 0 chance on Beltran. He’s got nowhere to play. I’ve long thought Cleveland and NYY matched up well on one of the relievers; I’d thought Chapman made more sense, though Miller’s been being reported more strongly. I wonder whether the emergence of Naquin makes the FO more willing to part with a guy like Zimmer for Miller

august fagerstrom: I’d thought a Bradley/Sheffield/Clevinger/Mejia deal for Chapman might make more sense for Cleveland, rather than giving up one of the outfielders for Miller. But their window should be open for a few years and Allen’s going to get expensive soon, so maybe they value the extra years of Miller

OddBall Herrera: What would have funnier looking crowds walking around downtown Cleveland, the RNC or ComicCon?

august fagerstrom: RNC, for the day I was there while everyone was rolling in, was just a bunch of rich, white dudes in suits

august fagerstrom: I’d guess it’s gotten a bit crazier since I left

august fagerstrom: I saw a video of a guy “walking” another human on a leash (guy on leash was walking on all fours) saying “please kick my dog for Trump”

august fagerstrom: I didn’t really get it.

Justin: Which five pitchers make up the Dodgers’ rotation come mid-August, and what happens to the leftovers?

august fagerstrom: this is essentially asking me to predict health

august fagerstrom: the rotation will be the five healthy ones. hopefully, one of them is Clayton Kershaw

august fagerstrom: if we’re operating under the pretense that they’re all healthy, I’d guess it’s Kershaw/Maeda/Kazmir/Wood/McCarthy with Norris and Ryu in the pen

Jeff: why did the National call up Reynaldo Lopez to start rather than Giolito?

Eric: Is this a trade audition for Reynaldo Lopez, spot start, or does he have a chance to stick?

august fagerstrom: two submissions seem relevant to one another

august fagerstrom: if the Nationals are serious about Miller/Chapman, the Yankees would be real interested in Lopez

Austin Hedges: He has been tearing it up at AAA. Has he made genuine strides with the bat or is most of a product of the PCL environment? What can we expect offensively when called up?

august fagerstrom: just scouting the stat line, it seems like almost all of his offensive improvement is in the power department (jesus christ, .369 ISO) which definitely has some PCL fog covering it. that being said, his wRC+ even adjusting for league is still 196, and the nice thing about Hedges is that the bat doesn’t even have to be great at the ML level for him to be valuable. just needs to be playable.

august fagerstrom: you’d have to ask Longenhagen for a more scouty-type assessment

Jack C.: Hey August, I had a question about catchers and defensive WAR. I was checking out catcher framing stats today and saw that Salvador Perez ranked 4th to last – just in front of Realmuto, Navarro, and Vogt (yuck). However, when you look at defensive WAR for catchers (or DEF), he is way ahead of the pack in first. My question is – does defensive WAR or DEF take into account pitch framing? How important is pitch framing compared to something like DRS? Thank you!

august fagerstrom: Not at FanGraphs, no. BaseballProspectus’ WAR has catcher framing included, so that’s where you’d want to look. He’s at 2.3 WAR here, 1.8 WAR at BP with framing included

august fagerstrom: And pitch framing is very, very important. Far moreso than DRS, or any single part of a catcher’s defensive contributions

Eric: Shouldn’t Marcus Stroman be much better or was he just a bit overhyped?

august fagerstrom: For one, I think he’s pitched better than his results indicate both this year (17.9 HR/FB%) and for his career (68 LOB%)

august fagerstrom: I think also it’s worth questioning whether his approach is allowing him to maximize his stuff

august fagerstrom: The stuff is legit

august fagerstrom: I wonder what happened if he expanded the zone a bit more and pitched less to contact

Eric: Do you buy this new Jake Lamb based on the extensive swing change?

august fagerstrom: Yep. I was the one who wrote about it, after all!

Eric: Why doesn’t Hunter Renfroe get more love? Former first round pick with great raw power who has shown real improvements this year.

august fagerstrom: Because he’s in the Padres organization, probably

Sammy Meatballs is a loon: Over/under on Hamilton SB this year at 50?

august fagerstrom: Under

august fagerstrom: Get on base, Billy!

Erik: Some in the Philly media seem convinced that Cameron Rupp is a decent trade chip. Would he bring enough back that it would be worth losing him and Ruiz within a few months of each other? He does rank somewhat surprisingly as the 9th-best catcher by WAR.

august fagerstrom: Yeah, he’s been surprisingly solid, and with him being 28 next year and Knapp and Alfaro on the way, it could make some sense for a move to be made if the demand is there

august fagerstrom: After Lucroy the catching market thins out pretty quick to guys like Suzuki and Navarro. Rupp could be interesting

Pessimistic White Sox Fan: There is a hole my my heart and I blame Adam Lind. I also blame David Robertson – what kind of trade value does he have? It’s not like he has been terrible, but he doesn’t have much of a use for a team that isn’t contending.

august fagerstrom: The White Sox still fancy themselves contenders, if not this year than in 2017/18, and Robertson’s still under a reasonable contract

august fagerstrom: I’d guess they hang on to him

Bork: Borkfamily is all good. Bork jr is about the size of a lego piece right now. Borkwife is beginning cravings and just made an entire batch of cupcakes for herself.

august fagerstrom: BORKGRATS!

TanGraphs: In what month were you born?

august fagerstrom: August

august fagerstrom: wow.

august fagerstrom: what?!

august fagerstrom: I was born in June.

august fagerstrom: Did I just do that

august fagerstrom: jesus

Josh: Do you think there’s a legitimate chance Danny Valencia gets DFA’d by Oakland? There is reportedly not much of a market for his services.

august fagerstrom: Someone will give them something.

Coastal Carolina: What’s your best guess on where Chapman and Miller go?

august fagerstrom: One to Chicago the other to Cleveland

Bundy on what’s that: Despite the meh line, Bundy’s fastball was electric. Late life and HEAVY. Assuming the arm holds, is he still an ace or more of a solid #2?

august fagerstrom: I don’t think you’ve given me enough options

nowhammies: Could D-Backs try to convert Shelby Miller into a closer ?

august fagerstrom: Would be stunning if they did that given the price they paid for him. They’ve got to still believe there’s a starter in there

Johnny Coconuts: Which front office do you think has improved the most in the last 5 years?

august fagerstrom: Phillies in the last one

Erik: With the Gurriel signing making Bregman more of a luxury than a necessary building block, is there any chance the Astros shop him around for similarly talented young pitching? Something like a Bregman-Nola swap (with add-ons on whichever side is necessary) would minimize risk for the Phillies (since pitching is always risky) while allowing the Astros to exchange a surplus for something more immediately valuable. Am I crazy to think that’s worth considering?

august fagerstrom: I brought up Archer when I wrote up the Gurriel signing, but since then it’s been reported that Archer actually might be off limits

august fagerstrom: Maybe Gray?

august fagerstrom: I do think it makes some sense. Though it likely makes just as much sense to not trade the top prospect in baseball just because you signed a 32-year-old third baseman

Instant potatoes: augustus, what are your predictions for tribe roster tweaks? lefty in the pen? uribe still at third? he does all that sucking on offense, but hes’ been a top defender.

august fagerstrom: When Brantley comes back, Uribe probably stands to take the biggest playing time hit, with Ramirez getting most of the starts at 3B

Pessimistic White Sox Fan: https://twitter.com/RantingOriole/status/755223626769629188

august fagerstrom: Oh man, that’s great

august fagerstrom: The tongue really sells the crazy

Anthony: So…Yulieski Gurriel. What can you tell us? Is he a stud? Think he’s with the big club soon?

august fagerstrom: I can tell you 943 words! http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/astros-add-yulieski-gurriel-to-suddenly-crowded-infield/

Bork: Dave Stewart just sends out mass emails to all teams and media and does media releases everytime he decides something that should be kept internally

Bork: Actually most GMs probably have Dave Stewart going straight to junk email since he forwards Loria’s groupon emails to them.

Justin: Since slugging percentage is flawed and ISO is a more valuable stat, why do people love OPS? I don’t get it.

august fagerstrom: Because it’s easy

august fagerstrom: It’s the logical stepping stone to more people using OPS+ or wRC+

Dave: What does Houston do with their lineup down the stretch considering the Gurriel signing, Bregman, Reed and Valbuena?

august fagerstrom: Think between LF, 3B and DH there’s enough at-bats to go around for Bregman

august fagerstrom: Reed/Valbuena probably lock down 1B/DH vs. RHP. Gattis becomes strictly vs. LHP option

Hal: If Jason Heyward was 6′ 190, would the narrative around him be the same, or would we be talking about him as a guy who had a outlier rookie year before pitchers figured out how to exploit the holes in his swing and cut his power?

august fagerstrom: It would certainly be different. But that’s also a totally different guy you’re talking about there

august fagerstrom: Body type is one of the first things you evaluate in a player

august fagerstrom: Heyward has like an 80-grade frame. Take that away from him and it’s a new player

Johnson: Does peak Kris Bryant has a 50+ HR season? Does he do it more than once?

august fagerstrom: With the way homers are going, sure

Mike: Possible return for Chapman? Is a top 50 prospect a possibility?

august fagerstrom: Maybe

august fagerstrom: I think around 50 or so is right. Maybe a little lower than that + lower-upside, closer-to-ready piece

Mike is Stow: Miguel Sano, will he live up to expectations or turn into Chris Carter?

august fagerstrom: He’s already way better than Chris Carter’s ever been

august fagerstrom: The “live up to expectations” thing is always tough, because fans consistently have totally unrealistic expectations

Ben: Do you think any team becomes desperate enough to change the Braves’ mind on Teheran (meaning offer an absurd package)? Or is he a Brave come August 2?

august fagerstrom: I think he’s moved

Johnson: CLE needs a lefty in the pen. Buchter/Derek Norris to CLE for Clevinger + a #8-15 ranked prospect in their system. What do you think?

august fagerstrom: I don’t think Derek Norris is an upgrade over Roberto Perez

E: Guys who played in the MLB – Dallas McPherson, Juan Rivera, Jorge Sosa, Alan Embree, Gabe Kapler

august fagerstrom: I just stumbled upon McPherson going through former top 100 BA prospect lists the other night!

august fagerstrom: phew!

august fagerstrom: No. 12 overall prospect in 2005!

august fagerstrom: That’s like Joey Gallo, right now

august fagerstrom: 1.2 career WAR for McPherson

august fagerstrom: this sport is scary

august fagerstrom: also- the CespedesBBQ boys were snapchatting their road trip to San Diego over the last couple weeks, and there was a night when Jake was just yelling out the names of random relievers from the early 2000’s, and it made me think of this chat

august fagerstrom: He was deriving so much pleasure from the exercise, just as I do from E’s list of five names every week

Joe, Esq.: When is Tyler Naquin’s BABIP going to resemble the numbers of the mere mortal baseball players?

august fagerstrom: FWIW, Naquin has a history of running super-high BABIPs. Projections already have him at true-talent .338. Not crazy to think he could settle in around .350 or so

august fagerstrom: Obviously it’s gonna come down, but maybe not as much as we’re conditioned to expect

august fagerstrom: The question is whether he can sustain a high BABIP *and* the power. In the minors, he had the BABIP, but never the power.

Dock Ellis: No one likes fake trades but tell me this doesn’t make too much sense: Correa, Reed, two high B level prospects and two lower level prospects for Trout. Everyone wins including the fans!

august fagerstrom: Don’t think the Astros do that, actually.

Jack C.: Since Chapman is a FA this offseason, teams have to look at trading for him is getting half a year of a closer and a 1st round pick, correct? I’m assuming this helps his trade value on the Yankees end.

august fagerstrom: Nope, a player has to be with their team for the entire previous season to be tendered a qualifying offer

SlumDog: Does a catcher who handles the staff feel slighted when one pitcher prefers a different catcher? Should they?

august fagerstrom: No, because certain catchers prefer certain pitchers, too.

OddBall Herrera: I can only assume Dahl’s 311 WRC+ so far in AAA is representative of his true talent level, right?

august fagerstrom: Totally.

el gasino: if you could improve one thing about the game, what would it be?

august fagerstrom: no injuries!

Roger: Whom should the Reds most be looking to trade out of Cozart, Duvall, and Desclafani?

august fagerstrom: Cozart

august fagerstrom: only one that is certainly not a member of the next good Reds team

august fagerstrom: also the one most likely to never have higher value

Doug: How much regression can we expect from Sandy Leon?

august fagerstrom: so much

Kyle: WHEN ARE ALL THE TRADES HAPPENING?!?! I need some more excitement in my life!

august fagerstrom: Soon!

august fagerstrom: Literally can’t be more than 11 days away

Bubba Gump Shrimp: Odds that Altuve wins AL MVP?

august fagerstrom: Trout probably deserves it right now, though Donaldson’s probably the favorite

august fagerstrom: That being said, Altuve’s close, and if the season ended today, I’d guess Altuve would somehow get more votes than Trout because his team is in the playoffs

august fagerstrom: I’ll say like 38%

mike: with the BP explosion last night, does Cleveland now really need to address this BP need?

august fagerstrom: I’d guess last night’s game did little or nothing to affect the way Cleveland’s FO handles the deadline

august fagerstrom: That’s not how smart teams are run

Roger: Do you think the Rangers’ true talent level is closer to their current record (55-39) or their BaseRuns record (45-49)?

august fagerstrom: the latter

Sean: Yasmany Tomas is 11th in baseball for hard hit % but only a .296 BABIP. Bad luck?

august fagerstrom: Not that simple. He also hits a bunch of grounders and is very slow. And Hard% isn’t perfect

Eric: As a Vogt fan, I’d like him to stay in Oakland, but I keep hearing about him as an option for CLE. How likely do you think it is that he’s moved?

august fagerstrom: He probably shouldn’t be a catcher, and CLE doesn’t have a DH/1B spot open.

august fagerstrom: Also, you just don’t see catchers moved midseason all that often

august fagerstrom: I looked back about five or six years the other day trying to find precedent when doing research for my Yankees post wrt McCann, and I could barely find any notable catchers moved midseason

august fagerstrom: Lucroy would be the biggest name in years

Dog: Profar (and some other prospects) for Archer and Colome, who says no?

august fagerstrom: Rays

Spankle: What happens after we die?

august fagerstrom: we find out

Todd: Angels wRC+ is 102. Rangers wRC+ is 93. Is the Angels offense really that much better than the Rangers?

august fagerstrom: been that way

august fagerstrom: extra two wins from position players, too: http://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=Team

august fagerstrom: (projected)

Josh: Is Aaron Nola fixed?

august fagerstrom: was he ever really broken

India Pale Lagares: I know we all love RPs these days, but is it really worth the farm for 30 IP of Chapman/Miller when there are the MIL options, Abad etc. etc.? I don’t fully appreciate how we’ve swung so far around on RP valuation.

august fagerstrom: It’s not 30 IP of Miller. It’s ~160 at what looks like a more-than-fair price. And Chapman’s not worth the farm. He’s probably worth a top ~75 prospect

Burgur: Do you prefer chicken beef or fish beef

august fagerstrom: this just grossed me out for some reason

august fagerstrom: really not a fan of the words fish and beef being next to each other like that

Matt: You are tasked with relocating the Marlins. Where to and whats the new name?

august fagerstrom: the Loria Lorias

mike: do you honestly think that Chapman has 4 B/B+ prospect value? The proposed package for him from Cleveland you posted above seem rather steep.

august fagerstrom: I was suggesting one of those guys as the center piece, as I did in my post yesterday

august fagerstrom: Deffffinitely not all 4

Another Erik: On the subject of Gurriel, what kind of numbers/slash line do you think we can expect from him for the rest of the season?

august fagerstrom: Brian Cartwright’s OLIVER translation had him at .283/.330/.458 (.340 wOBA) before the start of the season

Reginald Denton III: Is Miller really the Yankees’ “best trade chip”? What about Betances? No chance they would move him?

august fagerstrom: Doesn’t seem likely, not when Chapman and Miller are expendable

JoshP: How do the Mets align their outfield now that Ces wants to play more LF?

august fagerstrom: I guess they put Conforto in center. Good luck with that.

Borxa Dork: Why would the Cubs be shopping for one of the Yankee bullpen arms as their closer when Rondon has pitched fine this season?

august fagerstrom: because bullpens typically work multiple innings

Hal: Ryan Howard has 33 hits, of which 13 are homers and 4 doubles. Do you know if anybody’s finished a season with more XBH than singles before?

august fagerstrom: nope but now I

august fagerstrom: ‘m interested!

JD: Who’s your favorite player to write about?

august fagerstrom: probably Kershaw

august fagerstrom: I mean, even Trout’s wRC+ is like 165 every year, and there’s always a handful of guys that do that. Kershaw is just so unlike any other player

august fagerstrom: also Billy Hamilton

august fagerstrom: real big fan of writing about Billy Hamilton

august fagerstrom: think I’ve written more Hamilton-centric posts than any other player

Erik: Is the much-maligned RBI stat maybe actually pretty useful for All Star, MVP, and Hall of Fame voting? While it’s a terrible metric to build a team around since it isn’t very predictive or indicative of true talent, it’s a pretty good measurement for coming up big at the right time, which is a good approximation of what those voters should be looking for. It’s hard to be the “most valuable” if your teammates don’t give you the opportunities to provide value.

august fagerstrom: I actually do think RBI% should get some weight in MVP discussion

august fagerstrom: just as I slightly prefer ERA to FIP in Cy Young

august fagerstrom: it’s a philosophical thing, though — what do you want the award to do?

august fagerstrom: I think I’m less interested in process and more interested in results when it comes to the awards

Matt Damon: MATT. DAMON.

august fagerstrom: thumbsup

Erik: With homers near record levels, why aren’t the home run leaders anywhere close to record pace? How can the average HR per player go up without the HR per player at the top level go up correspondingly?

august fagerstrom: I don’t understand anything about all the new home run stuff, to be honest

august fagerstrom: Good thing I’m not alone in that regard

Mike: Was Oakland actually on to something with that chart showing all of Khris Davis’s 2015 homers would go out of O.Co? ESPN shows him on pace for 40 this year, which would be pretty incredible out of that park, no?

august fagerstrom: No, park factors have much more to do with the air than the park construction

august fagerstrom: He’s projected for 36 homers because he’s got a ton of power. His ISO is really no different from his career average, he’s just playing more.

Batman: Is Betances left behind in NY’s Bullpen to be current/future Closer?

august fagerstrom: Think so

Kristen: Why do SD fans think Norris has trade value? He’s hitting a pathetic .208 and has a WRC+ of 75.

august fagerstrom: Yeah, he’s been terrible for more than a year now

dock ellis: between lindor, correa, boegarts, and seager, who would you prefer to build a team with?

august fagerstrom: Throw darts. Seriously.

august fagerstrom: It wouldn’t be Bogaerts, I don’t think.

august fagerstrom: I kinda wanna say Lindor just because I think he’s the only one of him/Correa/Seager with a decade-plus guaranteed at shortstop. But, man, the offensive ceilings of Correa and Seager are crazy.

VanExellent: At this point is Yasiel Puig worth anything more than maybe a middling reliever in a trade?

august fagerstrom: Yes.

Shin soo-Choo Express: whoa, shots fired in Cleveland, good thing youre gonzo

august fagerstrom: there were like six separate shooting the first day everyone started coming in

august fagerstrom: also happened to be my last day downtown

E: I’m glad you enjoy the names, its fun to remember guys who were decent but never show up on any leaderboards.

august fagerstrom: the most fun

Santa: Is Rajai’s playing time just going to continue to drop with the return of Brantley? Safe to drop for those of us who were hoping to get steals out of him?

august fagerstrom: He still spells Naquin/Chisenhall vs. LHP, and probably even gives Brantley some days off, as I doubt they rush him back into playing every day

VanExellent: is Chance Sisco a top 3 all time baseball player name?

august fagerstrom: lotta good baseball names out ther

Tom: How good of a catcher is JT Realmuto now, and how good can he be? Is the offensive improvement real?

august fagerstrom: He’s the National League’s worst farmer

august fagerstrom: !!!!!!

august fagerstrom: framer!

august fagerstrom: Please let the record show that I have *not* decided to cast aspersions upon J.T. Realmuto’s ability to grow a healthy potato.

Gerb: Roberto Perez is so fun. 17 PA , 7BB 0 Hits. If he maintained a 38% walk rate, elite d-fence, and got 0 hits, would he be good?

august fagerstrom: Nah, walk rate would need to be closer to 50%

Instant potatoes: if mike napoli gets around to having that party, should i bring a nice key lime pie?

august fagerstrom: Ha, this is weird. “instant potatoes” submitted this query 17 minutes before I started talking about potato farming

august fagerstrom: ALSO, fun fact: that time, I type “farming” as “framing”

Wayne: Ranger fan here, what would we have to give up to get both Teheran and Vizcaino from Atlanta? Thanks AF!

august fagerstrom: well Vizcaino just hit the DL, so that’s going to keep his value down

august fagerstrom: which is a bummer for the Braves, because I think he was going to be a real nifty under-the-radar chip for the teams who missed out on Miller/Chapman

Roger: Are you sold on Sabathia being a viable trade chip? And what kind of return could he fetch?

august fagerstrom: No, he’s probably a post-deadline waiver guy for a team willing to pay the remainder of his 2016 salary

august fagerstrom: and if his option is going to vest nobody will take him

Bernie: Brady Aiken for Chapman too rich?

august fagerstrom: Think that’s close.

Gerb: Albert Bell ’95, 103 XHB, 70 1B

bryan: Barry Bonds 2001 had HOME RUNS than singles

august fagerstrom: amazing

Borxa Dork: What do you make of AJ Reed’s slow start? More seasoning needed? Should the Stros buy a hitter like Beltran?

august fagerstrom: It’s 49 plate appearances and he has a .167 BABIP. And the last thing the Astros need is another hitter when they’ve got Gurriel and Bregman soon available

august fagerstrom: Particularly one who can’t play the field

Jack Glasscock’s Cup: I work in downtown cleveland. the best thing to come out of the rnc is the fact that our entire office can work from home.

august fagerstrom: Best thing that came out of it for me is subleasing my apartment for $3500 a week

Bobby Sandy: Who’s your favorite Fangraphs writer?

august fagerstrom: i love them all equally, like my all-older-than-me children

Pinstripe Wizard: Why is ESPN’s baseball rank list so bad?

august fagerstrom: ESPN

Guest: When a healthy Zimmerman and Daniel Norris replace Pelfrey and Sanchez in the Tigers rotation, do they become favorites to take a wild card spot?

august fagerstrom: Favorites? No. The favorites are the top six in the AL still. Favorites among the current “out” teams though, yeah

Pinstripe Wizard: Should Chris Correa really have gotten that much jail time for hacking another baseball team’s computer>

august fagerstrom: I know nothing about the legal process so I have 0 idea but it does strike me as rather harsh

Erik: Who is the NL’s worst farmer?

august fagerstrom: Open to taking suggestions on this.

OddBall Herrera: That’s a good typo – can we please change it from ‘pitch framing’ to ‘strike farming’ officially?

august fagerstrom: I’ll allow it.

Pinstripe Wizard: Best Baseball Name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_Titcomb

Avi: JT couldn’t cut it as a farmer so his dad let him go into baseball.

Pinstripe Wizard: So now Realmuto is from Idaho?

Farmer Realmuto: Thanks for clearing my name…if you ever question my farming again you’ll instantly regret it

Zorak: If a baseball was shaped like a potato, how difficult would it be to frame?

Scuba Steve: Where are you?

august fagerstrom: stayed at my girlfriend’s in the suburbs for a couple days, now at my parents’ house in Kent for the next week, farrrr away from the crazy

Brittany: Any chance in the future R. Perez becomes the starting catcher and Gomes becomes the backup if one of them is not traded in the future?

august fagerstrom: Yeah, I think it’s Perez’s job to lose moving forward

Kevin: Someone mentioned Daniel Norris. Do you see him as a top of the rotation SP?

august fagerstrom: No, but he’s a part of Detroit’s future rotation

august fagerstrom: Alright, this has gone long to make up for the last couple weeks being right at an hour. Had fun this week, y’all, as always. Thanks for chatting!

august fagerstrom: Until next week…