Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat – 10/25/21

Ben Clemens: Hey everyone, welcome to the chat. I assume there are plenty of postseason questions, but I’m going to talk free agency a little bit as well, and maybe some Great British Bake Off (great season this year), board games, whatever people come up with. Mostly baseball still though!

Cole: Rank the following 5 hitters by how many total dollars they’ll get in free agency: Rizzo, Canha, Conforto, Belt, C. Taylor

Ben Clemens: Oh no, you won’t get me to release these rankings early. Our top 50 free agents piece is coming out about a week after the season ends, and it will have you covered. The crowdsourcing that comes first should be starting soon, in fact.

Tal: Fill in the blank: Corey Seager is a top _ shortstop if he can keep his defense near average.

Ben Clemens: 5? There are a lot of great shortstops in baseball today

White Sox Fan: Would it be crazy to consider trading Jose Abreu? With natural replacements already big league ready (Vaughn/Sheets), that $ could surely be used more wisely, no?

Ben Clemens: It would be crazy, yes

Ben Clemens: A) everyone on the team loves Abreu

Ben Clemens: b) Vaughn and Sheets not only aren’t as good as Abreu, they played plenty this year despite all of them being on the team. Depth is good

Ben Clemens: c)I like Vaughn, but he hit .235/.309/.396 this year (94 wRC+). Sheets hit far better, but he did it in 179 PA. His career minor-league line is worse than Abreu’s major league line in 2021

Ben Clemens: This is getting wayyyy too cute

Tacoby Bellsbury: Christmas is two months away. Who you got — Santa, or the Supply Chain Gremlins?

Ben Clemens: This is a good reminder to everyone to order your presents early

Ben Clemens: My Halloween costume (David Rose, it’s lazy but easy) is taking far longer to arrive than I expected

AstrosSuckLOL: Are the Asstros still cheating? Surprised they could add so much velocity on Luis Garcia between games 3 and 6, something definitely smells funky in that bullpen.

Ben Clemens: Ugh, what a tired narrative

Ben Clemens: Here’s all I’m going to say on this one: if you can find a way to just add 3 mph, wouldn’t you do it earlier in the playoffs? Stop it

James: Are Series umps chosen by merit or randomness?

Ben Clemens: Merit

Mark: If you Are the Giants, what

Ben Clemens: So, there’s more to this question

Ben Clemens: But I really liked this phrasing

Mark: If you are the Giants, what are your priorities this off-season?  Posey?  Belt?  Bryant? Resign the half your pitching staff that are free agents or look for new reclamation projects?

Ben Clemens: They’re gonna pick up Posey’s option, so there’s that

Ben Clemens: My priorities would be Bryant, and then pitching

Ben Clemens: Belt is great, and if they can fit him in I’d do it in a heartbeat

Ben Clemens: But LaMonte Wade can provide an okay approximation of what he does, whereas the other pieces are harder to replace

Zach: Do you find the current narrative of the Dodgers demise as a elite ball club next year to be greatly overexaggerated? Even with all of their free agents isn’t there roster still top 3 in baseball?

Ben Clemens: Oh yeah it’s wild

Ben Clemens: If we drafted WS winners next year

Ben Clemens: Without knowing anything about the offseason

Ben Clemens: The Dodgers are a windmill slam first pick

Cream: Do you think the outcome of this series has major implications for where Freddie is playing next year?

Ben Clemens: No

Ben Clemens: short answer, but c’mon

Ben Clemens: He’s either committed to staying in Atlanta, or he’s not

Ben Clemens: I don’t think finishing the job will change that either way

Multiphasic: I have so many questions about Freya.

Multiphasic: Like, to what degree is her accent Yorkie, to what degree is it posh, and and to what degree is it Kardashian?

Multiphasic: And: how do you emotionally balance how grating Vocal Freya is compared to the doofy affable George with the fact that she clearly baked circles around him, including the last episode? Even if she was wobbly-ish, that was some Flores checked-swing horsehockey.

Ben Clemens: You’ll never convince me that her accent is a real accent

Ben Clemens: There are so many letters that are just transposed into different sounds for no obvious reason

Ben Clemens: I think it’s just impressive that she made it so far. I’m not 100% sure she deserved to go, but she was baking uphill by trying to bake vegan

Greg: Is Kevin Newman a DFA candidate?

Ben Clemens: I don’t think the Pirates should do it, but he definitely is

Ben Clemens: I think that you might as well keep him around, but don’t let him block you from doing something else you’d be interested in

brad penny for your thoughts: this is partially in jest but have you seen any evidence that michael girsch does anything in the stl front office?

Ben Clemens: GM is just not a very important job these days, at least in front of the cameras

Ben Clemens: He’s probably doing a ton behind the scenes, though

Ben Clemens: Like, find me something that GM’s on other teams have done in public

Guest: Should the Reds pick up Wade Miley’s option?  His overall season stats were solid, but his 5+ FIP in the second half is concerning.

Ben Clemens: So, Miley’s option is for 9 million net

Ben Clemens: I think it’s close. He’s on our free agent list, but we have a replacement lined up in case they exercise it

Multiphasic: Fair enough. Based on my experience with vegan baked goods, I wonder if the judges were being extra vocally supportive because she’d handicapped herself while secretly thinking, “This tastes like gravel mixed with frosted flakes”?

Ben Clemens: 100%

Ben Clemens: I think she was graded on a curve for sure

Appa Yip Yip: The Red Sox cheated with an Apple watch in 2018 and won the world series and nobody cares. Is it the sheer blatancy of the trash can that still has people mad? The fact it was a trash can and not like, an exposed pipe?

Ben Clemens: Well, the sheer systematization of it also grates

Ben Clemens: It seems to have been far more widespread than the Red Sox cheating scheme, perhaps largely b/c the Red Sox one got caught early

Ben Clemens: But yeah, Alex Cora is a great manager, and also presided over two cheating schemes, seems VERY strange

Sharps: The lack of an undo function on BGA is ruining some games for us on mobile.  Should all digital games have a “go back” button?

Ben Clemens: I 100% think so if you’re playing with friends. I know BGA has weird tournament modes and maybe not for those

Derek: Have you played Gloomhaven? Friends and I have been playing the digital version since it came out last week and it’s really, really good.

Ben Clemens: My mom bought us Gloomhaven as a wedding present, and then we lugged it across the country when we moved out here.

Ben Clemens: Still hvaen’t played it! It’s just too imposing

Ben Clemens: When we will, I’m sure it will be awesome though.

Dan: Given rumors that there’s no love for Verlander in the Astros clubhouse plus Greinke’s awful second half, is it possible that it makes sense to give neither a QO?

Ben Clemens: Greinke isn’t eligible for a QO as he’s already received one

Ben Clemens: I think they’ll 100% give Verlander one, and there’s a roughly 0% chance he accepts

Greg: In a worst case scenario, what date does the season start next year?

Ben Clemens: 2023

Blake: So what board games are you playing at the moment? I’ve been on a bit of a Scythe and Inis kick.

Ben Clemens: LOVE Inis

Ben Clemens: I haven’t played it a ton, because I don’t own it, but I’ve been blown away every time I’ve played

Ben Clemens: We’ve been playing some Flamme Rouge, which is a lightweight bike racing game, and some Taverns of Tiefenthal

Ben Clemens: Both great, would recommend

vtdonof: Do you think Detroit will spend this offseason? They have the $$ and it seems like there’s a foundation starting to coalesce.

Ben Clemens: I do

Ben Clemens: I’m not saying they’re going to sign three top free agents

Ben Clemens: But I think that they need to start supplementing their core, and it’s better a year too early than a year too late

Appa Yip Yip: How well do you think Marcus Semien ages? It’s fair to say this was a career year, but it’s all pull side power with swing and miss. I have concerns.

Ben Clemens: I’m a bit worried. I can share that every time I sent out preliminary free agent rankings for feedback, people said I was too low on Semien

Ben Clemens: I ended up bowing to the wisdom of crowds and bumping him up to a lofty spot, but I’m quite scared about how maxed out he already is

dezre: Hey Ben! Any good baseball book recommendations, preferably those that focus on the business side or applied stats usage? I’ve read The Only Rule Is It Has To Work, Lords of the Realm, The Process, etc. Love narrative baseball stuff, but want more of a numbers dive. Thank you

Ben Clemens: The Book is great for applied stats usage. I really found Dollar Sign on the Muscle enjoyable for nuts and bolts on scouting. Aside from that, I liked Curveball by Jim Albert, but I’m more of a narrative baseball book reader tbh

Ben Clemens: Oh, and Jeff Zimmerman’s yearly ‘The Process’ is awesome

Ben Clemens: if you want to look at it from the fantasy side of things

Mark: Board games huh?  Ever played the Dune board game?  It’s a classic.  Played a session the week before the Dune movie to put us in the mood.

Ben Clemens: I have, and it’s great

Ben Clemens: I hvaen’t seen Dune yet, though I’m excited to

Ben Clemens: I’m just always worried these books I love will get ruined by people trying to translate their vision of the book, which inevitably clashes with mine, into a visual story

Guest: Is there any hope that Shogo Akiyama can be an MLB regular-caliber player?

Ben Clemens: Yeesh. I sadly think that ship has sailed. With his kind of power, you need to be either an incredible defender or have an incredible eye

Ben Clemens: I thikn there’s still hope that his eye is good — he did walk 14% of the time in 2020 — but between injuries and aging, I feel like he’d need that kind of walk rate just to be an average hitter

Ben Clemens: And that’s not gonna do it, he can’t really play centerfield either

Ben Clemens: Or at least, talent evaluators definitely don’t think he can do it sustainable

Ben Clemens: sustainably*

Ben Clemens: maybe he’ll surprise me, but I doubt it

Giant Gonzales: As a longtime fan of the GBBO, I’m sheepishly admit that I had no idea about the Great British Menu, which if you haven’t watched, you should definitely check out. Random seasons are on prime but imho, it blows GBBO out of the water.

Ben Clemens: Never heard of it, I’ll definitely hceck it out

Wed Theeler: I’m starting to think Giuseppe is one of the best bakers in Europe. Assuming he and Jurgen go all the way: 1. Who is the annual “favorite who chokes in the finale”, and 2. Who is the dark horse that gets the third spot?

Ben Clemens: I think Jurgen will choke at some point, though he’s probably my favorite character

Ben Clemens: And I am very high on Chigs

Ben Clemens: He has the biggest chance to go completely ham and win it all of the non-Jurgen-and-Giuseppe crowd

Hugh Duffy: How much of this Braves outfield do you think they’ll try to retain this offseason? Non-tendering Duvall was a cost-cutting move. Do they do it again? Soler and Rosario are both free agents. Do they offer them a contract? Do they pick up Joc Pederson’s option? Do they assume that Ozuna will be able to make it back sometime next year? Can Pache or Waters hit major league pitching? So many questions. Any answers?

Ben Clemens: I think they will: go to arb with Duvall, let the rest hit free agency, and end up resigning Rosario

Giant Gonzales: Also side note, the Red Sox apple watch was under Farrell, and Cora was with the Astros during trash can gate but got suspended for that while he was the Red Sox manager FYI

Ben Clemens: Useful! Somehow I thought it was in 2018

Appa Yip Yip: One of my favourite offseason pastimes is getting irrationally attached to players posted from the KBO and NPB. Seiya Suzuki. Do you know anything about this dude?

Ben Clemens: I know very little, but I know that we are hopefully gonna get some projections for him

Ben Clemens: Also, he seems great, has absolutely crushed it in NPB

Guest: Michael Girsch was a GM in my Strat-o-matic league and I will confirm he does do stuff as we made a trade during his tenure.

Ben Clemens: SEE????

Chip: What do you think Michael Fulmer’s role is in ’22? He’ll be 2+ years from TJ

Ben Clemens: My guess is they’ll try him as a starter but be willing to pull the plug reasonably quickly if he’s not working out there

Ben Clemens: If you don’t think his changeup plays (it did pre-TJ, hasn’t since), he’s a two-pitch guy

Jacob: What Narrative baseball books do you like?

Ben Clemens: Tons of stuff by Roger Angell, The Arm by Jeff Passan was very well done, there’s obviously Moneyball…. I think that The Only Rule Is It Has to Work fits there too

Ben Clemens: Big Data Baseball by Travis Sawchik was really good

Ben Clemens: Though amusingly the lessons the Pirates learned all stopped working at once soon thereafter

Guest: Re: Akiyama: In that case, what do the Reds do in the OF?  Senzel will be hurt and Castellanos will likely be gone, so that leave Jesse Winker as the only established outfielder.  Could they really be content with, e.g., Aquino and Naquin?

Ben Clemens: They really shouldn’t be, so I think they’ll be shoppers in the Soler/Pederson tier this offseason

Derek: Seiya Suzuki was great for me in an OOTP franchise once!

Ben Clemens: A foolproof stamp of approval

David: Do you think the Dodgers move Bellinger to try and re-sign some critical guys or roll the dice he bounces back? If they move him, what type of return are they looking at in addition to the team absorbing his salary?

Ben Clemens: I do not, because I think that he’s far from an obviously enticing trade chip

Ben Clemens: I think they’d get a very scant return if they traded him and didn’t want to eat his salary; he has only two years left until free agency, both at around $20 million, and the bat is just such a question mark

Ben Clemens: Steamer projects him as a 113 wRC+ hitter in 2022, which is a nice player in CF but not a huge bargain at that contract

Ben Clemens: I think you could talk yourself up or down, but if the Dodgers are shopping him, they clearly don’t believe he’s bouncing back, so the teams buying will be cognizant of that

The Oberamtmann: Saw Dune yesterday. Three friends who loved the books loved the movie. Yes, changes had to be made, but they thought it caught the spirit 100%

Ben Clemens: Amazing!

Weekend Hack: so- sticky stuff is back, right? seems like pitchers pretty obviously have stuff on their caps again,, everyone just decided what the heck why not or what>

Ben Clemens: Spin rates have been ticking back up slowly — still way below where they were pre-enforcement

Ben Clemens: I think that there’s been some tacit acknowledgement that you can have a liiiiittle, and maybe pine tar?

Ben Clemens: But the umps are still checking every pitcher, it’s not like anyone is going out there at max stickiness

Lars Nootbaar: I’m tied for the AFL lead in HRs

Ben Clemens: You’ve also trademarked “Nootbar” and are looking to develop a snack for athletes

Ben Clemens: There’s a lot to like here

Sullen in SD: This is now the 2nd time Preller has assembled a roster that cratered. Why does he still have a job

Ben Clemens: My sense is that management is going to wait and see what happens in 2022

Ben Clemens: This roster was somewhat injury-unlucky, and some of the moves were really to reinforce 2022 (Clevinger)

Ben Clemens: If they’re bad again next year, I’m pretty sure he’ll be gone

Henry Owens: Do you think the Red Sox will deploy Garret Whitlock as a starter or a reliever next year?

Ben Clemens: I think they’ll stick to multi-inning relief, but it’s a close call

Ben Clemens: He’s so good that it might be worth just seeing if you can get away with starting him and get 175 innings out of him, even if it’s lower quality than his relief apperances

Ball Guy: In an offseason with so many teams needing a SS, do you think it would be smart for the Cardinals to shop DeJong for pitching? The Twins for example are in need of a SS, how about a deal for closer Taylor Rogers?

Ben Clemens: Yes, I think that the Cards should shop DeJong, unless the team thinks that DeJong is the real shortstop of the future and Shildt was going rogue by playing Sosa (to be clear, I don’t think that this is true)

Ben Clemens: I think someone of Rogers’ ilk would make sense, if they actually move the relievers they’ve been talking about (Hicks, Reyes, maybe Cabrera) to the rotation, there’s a ton of relief slack to pick up

Appa Yip Yip: The fundamental flaw, to me, of any Dune adaptations is that having real people say “Kwisatz Haderach” out loud is always going to sound really, really dumb. Curious to see how the new adaptation threaded that needle.

Ben Clemens: Just gonna leave this here while I make a coffee

Guest: If Preller’s fired, would people like Dave Cameron be fired at the same time?

Ben Clemens: It varies by circumstance

Ben Clemens: That said, Cameron has already announced that he won’t be back in 2022, as reported by The Athletic

Ben Clemens: So in this case, it’s a moot point

Ben Clemens: But yeah, sometimes staff carry over, sometimes they don’t

Grant: While the Angels definitely need a shortstop, they’d be stupid to spend big money on one of the big FA’s there rather than on pitching, right? Seems like Pitching + a Freddy Galvis type at short is the way to go.

Ben Clemens: Oh 100%

Ben Clemens: I liked their Iglesias experiment, I’d try the same thing again

Ben Clemens: They just need pitching SO badly

The Stranger: Appa Yip Yop has identified the fatal flaw in fantasy adaptations. Looking forward hearing people try to say Aes Sedai as well.

Ben Clemens: They’re kind of in a bind, too

Ben Clemens: You can’t change the words, because oh boy would fans riot

Ben Clemens: But those words have never sounded THAT good out loud

Ben Clemens: In almost every fantasy/sci fi book

Ben Clemens: LOTR managed it but only barely

Derek: How far up the bottom of the standings would have to go, combining teams, to have a playoff caliber roster? I’d say at least 5 – D-Backs + Orioles + Rangers + Pirates + Nationals – and probably 6 to grab the Marlins pitching. 8 gives you the Cubs and Twins and likely seals it…

Ben Clemens: I think that you’d make it just at 5. You can cobble together a few interesting pitchers, and Ketel Marte + Cedric Mullins + Soto + Reynolds + Hayes is a pretty nice position player core

Ben Clemens: If you add the Marlins, I think you’re all the way there

Guest2: What do the Jays even do in offseason? Doubt they’ll pay Robbie Ray and Semien. With such a stacked AL East do they just blow it up and tank?

Ben Clemens: Presumably this is a joke

Ben Clemens: If not, this is the kind of thinking that makes me dislike sabermetrics

Ben Clemens: This kind of team giving up would mean that 28 of 30 teams (give or take) should always be giving up

Ben Clemens: And, ew

Appa Yip Yip: I love Sci Fi and Fantasy it’s 80% of what I read but as soon as you start explaining that stuff out loud to a normie…

Ben Clemens: Haha right? It’s much better in writing

Ben Clemens: My wife was VERY out on reading the Name of the Wind series when I described it to her, but when she just read it, she loved it

Justin: The record for most games without a hit (minimum one at-bat) in a single season is held by Mario Mendoza with 86 games. Brad Miller and Matt Carpenter had 80 games without a hit in 2021. So close to the record! No question but fascinating.

Gabe: Ben, thoughts on the Marlins you hitters Jazz, Jesus Sanchez & Lewin Diaz, in particular?

Ben Clemens: Love Jazz

Ben Clemens: I’m kinda unsure on Lewin

Ben Clemens: He’s looked the part in several minor league seasons, but he needs to keep mashing to be good, b/c the approach is scary

Ben Clemens: He swings SO much

Ben Clemens: I think he has a future as a role player type

Ben Clemens: I’m not in on Sanchez, though

Ben Clemens: I think he’s probably an average hitter, which is below what you want for a 1b/corner of type

StuShea: Really? Trade Rogers for Dejong? The Twins couldn’t find a shortstop who hits better than that who wouldn’t cost a good pitcher?

Ben Clemens: I’m not saying the Twins would make that trade, but DeJong definitely has value

Ben Clemens: average-ish shortstop bat with fine defense on a cheap contract

Ben Clemens: Teams value cheap contracts for average players quite highly

Ben Clemens: And Rogers is only under contract for next year

Ben Clemens: I don’t think it’s far-fetched at all

Don: What do you make of some longtime baseball people saying players aren’t necessarily throwing harder, the technology/radar guns, etc. are just different (whether more accurate now, calibrated differently or other reasons)? Maybe they agree about there being more hard throwers, but not that they throw harder than flamethrowers of the past

Ben Clemens: So, I kind of buy that?

Ben Clemens: But also, not completely

Ben Clemens: I buy that there were dudes popping 100 at times in the past

Ben Clemens: Not everyone, and certainly FAR fewer than do today, but the occasional guy

Ben Clemens: But I don’t think there’s ever been a Brusdar Graterol before

T: Just a random aside, but I never realized how good Kevin Youkilis was

Ben Clemens: Yeah secretly great

Ben Clemens: I feel like he just became a meme because of Moneyball

Ben Clemens: And when he turned out to be good, all anyone could hear is ‘The Greek God of Walks’

Didace: The problem with scifi/fantasy names transitioning from page to screen is that when reading a book I don’t really pronounce the name in my head. It just kind of translates into “that guy”. Hearing the name spoken is jarring.

Ben Clemens: Yeah, same type of problem

Ben Clemens: There’s no problem with the names not sounding right b/c you just abbreviate them in your head

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt: If you’re the A’s, do you run it back out there next year or is this the off-season the Matts go on the trading block?

Ben Clemens: Oh boy, this is a tough call

Ben Clemens: I have a hard time figuring the A’s out, because they’re always working in two directions at once

Ben Clemens: It’s a very impressive balancing act, and I won’t pretend I could approximate it

TomBruno23: OK Mr. Cardinal Fan…how should this BFIB feel about the Oli Marmol hire?

Ben Clemens: I have no idea, to be honest with you

Ben Clemens: I think I’m slightly happy with it overall

Ben Clemens: But with a big ‘contingent on the players being happy’

Ben Clemens: If the players are happy, I’m into it for sure

Tad: You think Preller gets reassigned  within the Padres if 2022 lines up with how his teams have typically performed? Or will he to go entirely? Do you see him staying in baseball? Would other teams want him?

Ben Clemens: Uh, I don’t think he would accept a demotion, he’d just leave

Ben Clemens: Would other teams want him? Maybe running scouting or something, I don’t thikn he’d get another GM job right away but his scouting acumen remains excellent

Alex Anthopoulos: Prediction for Freeman’s FA contract?

Ben Clemens: I’ll leave that up to the crowdsourcing. I’ve been so-so on predictions on salaries and I’m still trying to get a handle on this offseason

Cole: There only seems to be a handful of teams that wont be pushing in chips to win in 2022: BAL, WSH, PIT, ARI (Could argue CHC but they’ve talked about about spending this winter). Do we have a lot more teams ‘going for it’ right now than usual?

Ben Clemens: Eh, no

Ben Clemens: You’re just leaving out a ton of teams who don’t necessarily say they’re trying to suck but are

Ben Clemens: Are the Rockies trying to win in 2022?

Ben Clemens: I don’ think so

Ben Clemens: Are the Cubs? Absolutely not

Ben Clemens: Cleveland ran a payroll that was shockingly low this year and traded players for literally nothing for salary relief, they’re not gonna start jamming salary to try to win next year

Ben Clemens: Plenty of teams want to win *on their own terms*

Ben Clemens: But lots of those terms are ‘via accruing long-term bargain contracts and avoiding free agency’

Stephen Coelho: Yes or No: The Red Sox spend > $80M on a single free agent this offseason?

Ben Clemens: a) hey Stephen b) I think yes, I think they’ll pay that much for some pitcher

Ben Clemens: Gonna be close though

Todd: It’s hard for me believe some of those older baseball guys when some claim players threw 110+ mph

Ben Clemens: Well right, I don’t believe that at all

Ben Clemens: That’s the kind of thing ‘oh Bob Feller was throwing 108 in the 9th inning’ that makes me think eh okay I don’t need to take this person at their word every time

TomBruno23: Without a CBA it is impossible to forecast how this winter is going to go.

Ben Clemens: 100%

Ben Clemens: I’m super happy that I got the lead role on doing our free agent predictions, it’s a fun exercise

Ben Clemens: And an honor, etc. etc.

Ben Clemens: I’m also a little annoyed that it’s in one of the hardest ex-ante years for predicting contracts

Todd: You think Dalkowski had maybe a Chapman type fastball?

Ben Clemens: I’d absolutely buy that… though likely without the consistency given everything I’ve read about him

Didace: Pitchers in the past may have had to ability to throw as hard as today on occasion, but they also couldn’t do it as consistently as today’s pitchers.

Ben Clemens: 100% this

TomBruno23: Anyone wanna guess the only hall of famer to have played for both the Braves and the Astros?

Ben Clemens: Chat can fire some in here, I’m going to assume that this is some guy who I thikn of mainly with one or the other team

Ben Clemens: did Joe Morgan play for the Braves sometime and I forgot it?

Ben Clemens: He did not

James: Eddie Mathews. Hit his 500th HR during his brief Astros stint

TomBruno23: There you go, James. 1968 World Series Champion, Eddie Matthews.

Ben Clemens: Good work James!

Appa Yip Yip: The thing of it is that the ceiling of the elite players hasn’t gone up by nearly the amount of the floor of the regular players.

Ben Clemens: This is a REALLY good way of putting it

Ben Clemens: Standardization of training benefits the rank and file a lot more than it does the crazy standouts

Alex Anthopoulos: On a scale of 1-10, what’s your level of alarm regarding the lockout and the 2022 season?

Ben Clemens: 8.5

Ben Clemens: It’s easy to forget about it when the playoffs are going on but I’m really worried

Mark: Does anyone really know what the Rockies are trying to do?  Not even the Rockies know what the Rockies are trying to do.

Ben Clemens: Too true

TomBruno23: LIDOM begins on Wednesday. Hopefully with fans in the stands. This is exciting.

Ben Clemens: Now we’re talking

Re: CBA: No deal means an indefinite delay for the winter meetings?  Of course teams will still be able to communicate, no?

Ben Clemens: That’s correct, though winter meetings are not really for teams to communicate anymore

Ben Clemens: Or maybe they are, for teams to communicate in person at least

Ben Clemens: But a lot of them are for vendors, job seekers, that kinda stuff

Ben Clemens: They’re a blast, too, don’t get me wrong

Ben Clemens: But yeah, the meetings will definitely not happen if there’s a work stoppage

Bret: Has the COVID season and the hit to revenue for owners made it more or less likely that we see a work stoppage in 2022?

Ben Clemens: I’d say less, but not by a ton. Most teams did lose money in 2020

Ben Clemens: But they have reserves, and they’ve been making record revenue (and profits before reinvestment) for years

Ben Clemens: And they have the ability to borrow against their astronomical enterprise values

Ben Clemens: So I think that some owners will feel pressure to keep things going due to short-term financial stress, but there aren’t a lot of owners left who aren’t thinking about this in the big-picture, longterm PV standpoint

Ben Clemens: And from that standpoint, COVID is kind of irrelevant to absolutely sticking it to the players and leaving no stone unturned in revenue maximization

Ben Clemens: So my guess is that they’ll still play hardball

Ben Clemens: Alright, gonna do a quick lightning round before I stop for lunch, we meal prepped some Portuguese rice last night and I’m anxious to try it

Appa Yip Yip: These older baseball players swung slower with janky mechanics of course it felt like the guys were tossing 110

Ben Clemens: Yeah, that’s certainly part of it

Tom: Where does Shildt land?

Ben Clemens: San Diego seems too easy…. but it’s a lightning round, so San Diego

TomBruno23: How about a FG Fantasy Camp where us schlub chat posters can spend a weekend living the live of a FG scribe?

Ben Clemens: Depends on how you feel about watching a ton of baseball and parsing through leaderboards

Ben Clemens: Or, if you’re David Laurila, doing awesome interviews with baseball players

Ben Clemens: Yeah, come to think of it I’d go to a Laurila fantasy camp

barney gumble: there’s so much excitement in baseball; young superstars, a two-way player, unlikely playoff heroics…but we have octogenarian broadcasters talking about how bad they think the game is, and we fear a work stoppage. baseball is just unable to get out of its own way.

Ben Clemens: I’m with you

CW: Ben – I am having a really difficult time getting past what you said about DeGrom’s long hair on the pod.

Ben Clemens: I’m sorry to have caused you this pain

Ben Clemens: I just really didn’t think it was that good

TomBruno23: Laurila great call, his Sunday notes column is a must for me.

Ben Clemens: Yeah. Sorry to the other FG writers, but I’ve never missed a Laurila column, and I’ve missed at least one of everyone else’s

vtdonof: Going back a few years, Dom Dimaggio is one of the most secretly great players of all-time IMO. Great OBP, scored tons of runs, incredible D–all skills that were grossly undervalued back in the day.

Ben Clemens: Agreed, plus he has a cool card in OOTP Perfect Team that I use a lot

Ben Clemens: Not that I’m biased

Ben Clemens: But yeah, definitely got caught by his brother’s fame a bit

EL: Carlos Martinez an interesting buy-low rotation candidate?

Ben Clemens: yes, I’d do it for sure if I were, say, the Giants

diadem: Albies’ numbers hitting right handed are so much better than batting left. Why has he not switched to full time righty?

Ben Clemens: It’s a really good question.

Ben Clemens: I bet the Braves have brought it up. He just looks FAR better as a righty

Ben Clemens: There’s reason to wonder how real his numbers vL are, it’s a small sample and all

Ben Clemens: But even by the eye test, he looks far more comfortable to me as a righty

TomBruno23: What makes rice portuguese?

Ben Clemens: Saffron, sausage, some veggies

Ben Clemens: but mainly just that’s what the recipe was called

Sodo Mojo: Given trader Jerry’s history is it more likely the Mariners sign a free agent for a 9 figure deal or trade a top 100 prospect for help in the majors?

Ben Clemens: Free agent. I think all the prospects are gonna be up next year, if you’re Jerry you have to sell that vision at least

Appa Yip Yip: “banging scheme”

Ben Clemens: Sorry for taking this so out of context, but let’s end on that

Ben Clemens: Have a great Monday everyone, and get ready for a fun World Series that definitely won’t have any annoying storylines