Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat — 4/26/21

Ben Clemens: Hey everyone, and welcome to the chat. I filed an article literally five minutes ago, so my brain is full of random details about pitchers losing or gaining velocity… I might be a little flighty at the start of the chat. You’ve been warned, as it were.

JJ: So. How about Padres-Dodgers? Seems like everything about these matchups so far is great for the game. Intensity, stars, memes! How can MLB market this more?

Ben Clemens: I’m not sure how they can market it more than they have, aside from using the Statcast broadcasters more often. I missed most of Sunday’s game due to weekend plans, and when I turned it on and heard A Rod talking, I got very annoyed IMMEDIATELY

Ben Clemens: Then Meg told me there was a Statcast broadcast and things got great

Ben Clemens: So I’d say mainly less A Rod ruining the game’s premier matchup

Matt Damon: MATT. DAMON.

Ben Clemens: Hello there Matthew

Mike Tyson: designated hitter: Kimbrel is back?  Top 7 closer?

Ben Clemens: Kind of seems that way. Jay Jaffe wrote about him two weeks ago and most of it still holds:

Ben Clemens: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/craig-kimbrel-is-dominant-once-again/

brad penny for your thoughts: Mo had some pretty frank comments re: carpenter recently.  how close do you think carp really is to be moved off team (in whatever capacity)?

Ben Clemens: Oh I think it’s getting close

Ben Clemens: Er, off the team is maybe a stretch, because he backs up three infield positions

Ben Clemens: It’s not hard to imagine 8 starters, then a bench of a backup catcher, a 4th outfielder, a middle infield backup, and Carpenter

Ben Clemens: I think continuing to use him as a starter is sketchy at this point, though. There’s a good deal of evidence that his bat, right now, is just not gonna get it done

Roy Hobbs: Do you see Josh Rojas becoming viable with his recent improvement?  In a 14 team league with 5 player benches.  I like his versatility and love his minor league stats.

Ben Clemens: Yes

Ben Clemens: I’m not good at fantasy baseball, so take this with a grain of salt

Ben Clemens: but lots of good fantasy people love Rojas

Ben Clemens: And I don’t see why he wouldn’t

Lawrence: When looking at EV for hitters, whats the general breakdown of the tiers?  For example, what number/range is considered excellent, very good, good, average, poor, terrible, etc.

Ben Clemens: First rule of thumb: don’t look at average EV

Ben Clemens: I know it’s annoying, but basically, average is the wrong way to think about it

Ben Clemens: Look at percentage of balls hit over 100mph, maybe?

Ben Clemens: Or average EV of the top 50%?

Ben Clemens: It’s frustrating that average EV has very little correlation to production on contact, but those are the facts

Ben Clemens: It’s a misleading stat

Bubba: I asked this to Kevin too, but here goes.  On a practical level is it better to get 10 WAR out of a Pitcher (deGrom) or 10 WAR out of a position player (Trout).  My thought is that there must be diminishing returns on squeezing excellence into one game (you can’t make your chances of a win = 100%), and so the position player is probably better.  Thoughts?

Ben Clemens: Posting this not to answer it (I’d have to take too long thinkingn about it), but to flag it as something I’m going to investigate and see if it merits an article

Ben Clemens: What a cool idea

brad penny for your thoughts: Rockies GM Jeff Bridich has resigned.

Ben Clemens: We now go live to Dan Szymborski, trying and failing to suppress a giggling fit

Ben Clemens: I mean, it’s about time!

Ben Clemens: Bridich has been doing bizarre stuff for quite some time now

Ben Clemens: How many hundreds of millions have they spent on middle relievers?

Derek: What in the world would compel Bridich and the Rockies to part ways now, less than a month into the season, that wouldn’t have been reason enough before??

Ben Clemens: I truly have no idea

Ben Clemens: But I’m very excited to hear more

Roberto Beers: How late is too late to drink coffee?

Ben Clemens: Bobby Beers (can I call you Bobby Beers?), let me tell you, this problem vexes me to no end

Ben Clemens: I’m a huge lover of both caffeine and hot beverages

Ben Clemens: I’ve had coffees at extremely inappropriate times in my life

Ben Clemens: I would say that it truly depends on how caffeine affects you

Ben Clemens: I can drink a coffee in the late afternoon and go to sleep at a normal hour with normal sleep cycles

Ben Clemens: If my wife has a coffee after 3, she doesn’t sleep well

Jeff: Carson Kelly or James McCann over the next 4-5 yurrs?

Ben Clemens: Oh, give me Kelly by a HUGE margin

Ben Clemens: If you want to see me get too excited about him:

Ben Clemens: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/carson-kelly-is-raking/

Jacques Pederson: would you rather have Tommy Edman or Nick Madrigal?

Ben Clemens: Ooh, fun one

Ben Clemens: I think I’ll take Madrigal, but it’s kinda close

Ben Clemens: My thinking is that Madrigal’s contact is much more of a plus tool than anything Edman has

Morbo: “What in the world would compel Bridich and the Rockies to part ways now, less than a month into the season, that wouldn’t have been reason enough before??” It’s the Rockies and Birdich what has compelled them to do any of the myriad of inexplicable things they have done in the past 7 years?

Ben Clemens: What a solid counterpoint, Morbo

Ben Clemens: My puny human brain failed to realize that

Charley: Someone dropped Dominic smith in my dynasty.. spent $9 faab to claim him… Thoughts on him going forward? Is the offensive progression from him last yr for real?

Ben Clemens: Yes, I totally buy the Dom Smith career arc

Ben Clemens: I’d take him over Alonso right now

Ben Clemens: Good pickup in my eyes

BringBackDeSpanielHair: Ben! Lou Bob is going to start popping homers soon right? And everything else is gonna be sexy time along with it? Dude looks so good at the plate right now.

Ben Clemens: I’ll be honest with you: I don’t buy it

Ben Clemens: It’s SO hard to keep up his level of production with plate discipline as poor as his

Ben Clemens: He swings at 47.4% of pitches out of the strike zone!

Ben Clemens: He’s swinging and missing at 20% of the pitches he sees

Ben Clemens: Not 20% of the pitches he swings at

Ben Clemens: 20% of the pitches he sees

Ben Clemens: He’s a really fun player, but until he manages to rein that in a little, I’ll be a seller of a true breakout

Appa Yip Yip: What happens with Trevor Story now? Midseason trade with an interim GM? Can’t imagine he signs an extension with so much uncertainty.

Ben Clemens: He wasn’t signing an extension either way

Ben Clemens: “Hey, Trevor, remember your friends Troy Tulowitzki and Nolan Arenado? How’d you like to follow in their footsteps?”

Ben Clemens: “Wait, no, not in the getting traded from the franchise after we didn’t build around them way.”

Ben Clemens: “No, not in the us trashing our personal relationship with them on the way out the door either.”

Ben Clemens: “Definitely not in the number of non-competitive teams they played on, you jerk.”

Ben Clemens: “Okay, this isn’t going well.”

Charley: Hot take or realistic: John means and Trevor Rogers can get to ace level as pitchers/be legit ace(s)

Ben Clemens: Really depends what “can” means here

Ben Clemens: I’m very in on Means

Ben Clemens: I think that people who are underrating him are doing a normal thing, which is letting how John  Means looked when he came up influence their thinking now

Ben Clemens: He throws a lot harder now

Ben Clemens: He’s not a soft tosser, but he has soft tosser skills

Ben Clemens: Rogers is more of a traditional stuff-first guy

Ben Clemens: I think he’s got a shot at it, but he’ll need to improve his command

Ben Clemens: I like the fastball, and I love the changeup — lefties with plus changeups are one of my favorite archetypes

Guest: is there any value in “punting” games (using all your worst relievers when you’re already down 3+). My hunch this is one of the reasons why the Brewers always seem to outperform their Pythag: their better relievers always seem available in close games.

Ben Clemens: I definitely think that there is

Ben Clemens: It’s a tough thing to quantify, though worth trying to do

Ben Clemens: But teams don’t usually win when they’re down 3

Gregg: Interesting point on average EV; are there any other stats where the average is the wrong number to use?

Ben Clemens: Launch angle

Ben Clemens: That’s the one that most springs to mind

Ben Clemens: Anything where production isn’t linear and monotonic

Ben Clemens: I’m actually not sure whether the word there is monotonous, but I mean the mathematical definition of monotone

Ben Clemens: Always either increasing or decreasing

LFC Mike: Hi Ben. Is Blake Snell  who he really is going to be? 5 IP  maybe 6 occasionally if he doesn’t nibble too much and elevate his pitch count?  5 starts and 5.1 is his longest outing and he had the debacle against Pittsburgh. He was 5 IP guy at Tampa last year… granted they do things their way  plus the late start for Covid….maybe pass on last year. Weren’t the Padres expecting a little more?

Ben Clemens: Mike, let me tell you about something that will go up on FG soon

Ben Clemens: I looked into which pitchers do best at holding their velocity late into games

Ben Clemens: 17 pitchers this year have thrown harder late than early

Ben Clemens: Blake Snell….. is not one of those

Ben Clemens: Blake Snell is among the league leaders in LOSING fastball velocity as the game goes on

Ben Clemens: I think that it is reasonable to short-leash him given that

Aaron: Padres-Dodgers really delivered the goods. Both teams reasonable could have won every game. What was your favorite part of the series?

MM: LAD and SD play 19 games this season. If our hearts can survive through these games so we live to see the end of the season, how many wins will each team get in the season series?

James: Padres fans call it a rivalry. Dodgers fans insist that it isn’t. Whatever you label it, if you’re a baseball fan LA-SD games are 100% must watch television holy hell. They have delivered 7 out of 7 times so far.

Ben Clemens: It’s been a minute since we talked about this series, so I just want to bring it up again

Ben Clemens: It was absolutely amazing!

Ben Clemens: I’ve watched five of the seven games so far, and they’re riveting

Ben Clemens: Both teams are so dense with fun players, too

Ben Clemens: My wife is a big baseball fan but more of a team fan than league fan, so she knows, eh, 50% of the players on each team

Ben Clemens: And she keeps asking me when they’ll play agian so we can watch more

Ben Clemens: That’s a good sign

Ben Clemens: It’s just been a blast

Appa Yip Yip: Like they valued Bridich over Arenado, then just … Gave them BOTH away???

Ben Clemens: To be fair they didn’t give Bridich away

Ben Clemens: In that no one would take him

Kevin Cash: SEE GUYS I WAS RIGHT

Connor: There’s no way Steve Cohen and friends spent 341 million bucks on a guy who can’t hit breaking balls, right…?

Ben Clemens: That’s correct, ther’es no way

Ben Clemens: 75 plate appearances, people

Ben Clemens: Lindor has had worse stretches than this in, let’s see

Ben Clemens: Every year of his career other than 2016

Ben Clemens: If you’re looking at 15-game stretches

Ben Clemens: Let’s make it 18-game stretches; that changes it to, nope, the same

Ben Clemens: Also I goofed up, and he had a swoon to end 2016, so it’s every season of his career

Morbo: I guess the Pirates have now inherited the crown for worst front office? Unless Monfort appoints himself their new gm

Ben Clemens: Nah, the Pirates have turned their front office over and I think that Cherington is well-regarded still

Ben Clemens: I’m actually not sure who holds the title now

Guest: Hi Ben,Casey Mize or Nate Pearson longterm? Do you feel both, one, or neither will ever reach elite status?

Ben Clemens: I’m on Mize, mostly because I’m more worried about Pearson’s health

Ben Clemens: I thinkt he smart bet is neither b/c pitchers are always tricky

Lee Bum-Ho: Cherington has tried (and failed) to pull off a few post-hype-prospect revivals so far (Alford, Fowler, Carson Fulmer, and one could argue the homegrown Keller). Love the idea, but some combo of the execution and luck haven’t been there. What makes teams like the current reds or the giants so successful at this?

Ben Clemens: Excellent question that I don’t know the answer to

Ben Clemens: I think that some of it is a volume thing

Ben Clemens: I really like the thought process, you can’t win them all, and I don’t think we have enough data points to say which teams are best and worse at it but it does seem very player dev related

Cashman: Who are you most excited to see when MiLB starts

Ben Clemens: You know…. I’m going to go off the board and say Nick Allen

Ben Clemens: I love good defensive shortstops, and I’m also bought in on him because he was one of my under the radar minor league picks

Ben Clemens: Not only that, but he has a cool future legend card in OOTP Perfect Team, and I traded for him in our crowdsourced Brewers sim, so I’m just max long Allen

Ben Clemens: I’d like to see him… you know… play

Appa Yip Yip: Way too early trade deadline question, what uniform is Story in by the end of July?

Ben Clemens: I think Yankees at this point

Ben Clemens: It’s getting easier to justify moving Gleyber off short and finding a way to make it work

Ben Clemens: I dunno what’s going on with him, but the lack of power is really concerning

Ben Clemens: It’s two years in a row at this point

BringBackDeSpanielHair: TLR sends Kopech back to the bullpen after a 10k outing, and we’re supposed to believe he’s the man to take them to the world series?

Ben Clemens: I would argue that he’s not, but also that sending Kopech to the bullpen isn’t why he’s not

Jeff: I could have told yous guys that Torres wasn’t *that* good

Ben Clemens: Dan is the resident FG Gleyber hype man

Ben Clemens: I never really got why he’d play shortstop

Will.Hunting.: Hey Ben! Dem sawks have had a wicked pissah of a yeah so far…am I right? Gotta luv dem apples. Will. Hunting.

Ben Clemens: As the only (I think?) person out of everyone on staff to pick them to make the playoffs, I have to root for it, right?

Ben Clemens: Honestly, I’m generally into what Boston is doing this year, I think they’re just better than everyone thought

Ben Clemens: And they still hopefully have Sale coming back at some point

Guest: Are you more excited to watch a Corbin Burnes start or a Jacob deGrom start at this point?

Ben Clemens: Ooooooof

Ben Clemens: This is a tough one

Ben Clemens: It’s deGrom by a hair for me, because I get such joy from listening to the Mets broadcast

Ben Clemens: I don’t know who I’d pick if it weren’t for that

Ben Clemens: It’s just so enjoyable

Ben Clemens: Burnes is a more fun story b/c he’s doing it now and wasn’t before, but deGrom is a phenom

Ben Clemens: A meteor we’ll never see again

Ben Clemens: I think I’d pick him even without the broadcast

SlightlyOff: Speaking of the Giants, did any of their pitchers pop- in a good or bad way- on that SP velocity chart you were consulting? Gausman’s rate stats are a little down from last year, so I’m wondering if it’s just my hometown bias that has me convinced he’s still firmly turning the corner into legit #2 SP land?

Ben Clemens: Cueto is the fourth-best!

Ben Clemens: I’m surprised by that, but Cueto is such a blast to watch that I’m happy about it

Ben Clemens: I haven’t watched much of Gausman this year, so I’ll stick with my prior that he’s good now

Brew Crew: how worried are you with yelich?

Ben Clemens: Extremely

Ben Clemens: Like, extremely extremely

Ben Clemens: Back injuries are realllllly bad

Ben Clemens: I’ll be less worried when he’s playing and feeling no side effects, but yeah, super scary

Fernando Tatis-Buck Jr.: suarez better days ahead? Montas too?

Ben Clemens: presumably Suarez has at least somewhat better days ahead

Ben Clemens: I don’t think he’s gonna finish the year with a .253 OBP

Ben Clemens: Same with Montas — I don’t think he’s ending the year with a 6.75 ERA

Greg: Interesting tactical decision when the Padres walked two guys (Muncy and Taylor) to load the bases and face Kershaw with one out in a tie game in the 10th.

Wouldn’t it be better to just walk Muncy there and face Taylor with runners on 1st and 3rd? As long as Kershaw doesn’t GIDP, you have to face one real hitter. I think the tradeoff of facing Taylor over Peters is worth the margin of error you sacrifice by loading the bases when a walk ends the game

Ben Clemens: I thought about writing about this todya, and I might for tomorrow

Ben Clemens: It’s a really interesting spot

Ben Clemens: It’s not JUST Taylor vs. Peters, b/c you get the benefit of sequencing

Ben Clemens: Chris Taylor could do lots of things that are outs but end the game

Ben Clemens: But if you figure Kershaw is extremely likely to strike out, you’re getting edge there

Ben Clemens: So you’re trading sequencing for risking a walk

Ben Clemens: I’m generally not a fan of walking the bases loaded… if you’re curious, the Cardinals have already done it 4 times this year and I have half an article written about it that I couldn’t find a good hook for

Ben Clemens: I think I would have done what they did but I want to run the numbers on it

45 blows billygoats: Are there any Triple-A teams that could compete against the Pirates and give them a series?

Ben Clemens: No

Ben Clemens: Or, well, yes

Ben Clemens: Because the Pirates can beat the Dodgers in a series

Ben Clemens: But if they played 162? No

Rich: Any player in particular who has surprised so far that you feel will continue?

Ben Clemens: If this counts, Carson Kelly!

Ben Clemens: But eh, I don’t think he’ll continue like this

Ben Clemens: I think Burnes is one of the best 5 pitchers in baseball, so I’ll sya him

Ben Clemens: I definitely don’t think that he was a consensus top 5 pitcher coming into the year

Guest: Clayton Kershaw career %K as a batter: 27.5;  Chris Taylor career K% as a batter: 27.1

Ben Clemens: Haha okay sure, but in a left/left matchup, when the pitcher needs the strikeout, you’re telling me you think they’re equally likely to strike out?

Ben Clemens: I disagree

Ben Clemens: Kershaw is also less likely to make loud contact, etc

Ben Clemens: Did you see the shift they played against him? It was hilarious

Ben Clemens: Hilarious!

Ben Clemens: They had 3 infielders between second and third, two between first and second, and only two outfielders

Ben Clemens: So they played him to hit the ball the other way on the ground

Ben Clemens: Oh, and there was legitimately no one in right field

Ben Clemens: Both outfielders were in shallow left

devil rays: maybe brandon lowe was meant to be a part time player……… like everyone else on the team… but HEY.. at least they’re competitive

Ben Clemens: I think that Lowe is an everyday player, but yeah, the Rays are really good at finding good part-time players and getting the most out of them

Ben Clemens: Neat little trick

Jeff: Any thoughts on Eduardo Rodriguez? He’s got to be one of the most interesting FAs this offseason, only 2 BBs so far this year too

Ben Clemens: I thikn people will be surprised by how much money he gets

Ben Clemens: He doesn’t FEEL like he’s this good, but I thikn some of that is me being anchored by seeing him pitch live and getting a bad game

Ben Clemens: he’s just very consistent

Coors: so which player (if any) benefits most/least from Bridich’s departure?

Ben Clemens: Nolan Arenado, in sheer self-satisfaction

Ben Clemens: Other than that, I don’t think that’s obvious. It’s not like he’s setting playing time

Greg: Richard Rodriguez could be the best reliever in baseball. The Pirates have to deal him this year right? His value can’t posibbly get any higher

Ben Clemens: Yeah, they should

Ben Clemens: I don’t think he’s the best reliever in baseball, but he’s on right now, and he won’t be part of the next good Pirates team

Tim: “Guest” was wrong.  Kershaw’s k percent as a batter is 24.8.  He should be teaching Taylor about plate discipline!

Cool Papa Bell: So many slow starts.  Do you think 2020 has adversely affected many hitters and that it may take a month or two before overall stars play like their normal selves?

Ben Clemens: I mean…. no idea?

Ben Clemens: There are slow starts and hot starts every year

Ben Clemens: Offense is down a bit this year, but I really have no idea how to disambiguate it between better pitching, worse hitting, weather, etc

Ben Clemens: New ball

Ben Clemens: The list goes on

Brad Pitt: just wanted to throw my hat in for Colorado’s job opening.

Ben Clemens: How hard can it be? Tell him, Wash

Guest: Pirates are 11-11. Can’t we pick on Detroit or Baltimore already?

Ben Clemens: Who’s picking on the Pirates? I don’t think they’re particularly trying to win the Central this year, just find some new fun players and accumulate some value in trade

Ben Clemens: I think they’re doing well at that

James: eugenio suarez…. talk to me about him cause im hitting the panic button

Ben Clemens: I would say, make sure you mash that button frequently

Ben Clemens: Things look really bad

Ben Clemens: I am very worried

Ben Clemens: He’s makin SO little contact, it’s quite scary

Ben Clemens: Get him off of shortstop asap, imo

Ty France: How good can I be?

Ben Clemens: Very good

Ben Clemens: middle of the order bat on a good team level good

Lawrence: Are the Cubs only making deals if and when they fall a certain number of games under .500, or is it a foregone conclusion?  Selling high on Bryant has to be on the table right now.

Ben Clemens: I’m honestly not sure how to think about this

Ben Clemens: If I were the Cubs, I think I’d just go for it

Ben Clemens: If they fall way out, of course, then fine

Bell: If Suarez gets moved off shortstop, who plays SS instead? Asking for a . . . friend.

Ben Clemens: Perhaps your friend!

Ben Clemens: I’ve heard they can really pick it

Ben Clemens: And it’s not like there’s much else going on

but but but: if the Cubs wait until they are way out of it, it’s prolly b/c the players suck, hence losing trade value

Ben Clemens: Eh….. that’s not totally true

Ben Clemens: Sometimes, good players play on bad teams

Ben Clemens: And trust me, the Cubs have enough bad players that they could have some good ones and still not be in the hunt

Guest: Technical question about the site. I am looking at Degroms War and he is at 1.8 on the leaderboard, but if I click on his player page and go to batting it has .4 listed as his hitting war. Does this mean his total war is 2.2 or is the leaderboard including hitting and fielding?

Ben Clemens: 2.2 total

Guest: Tatis and Acuna are getting the headlines, but Bryce Harper leads the NL (and MLB in fact) with a .555 xwOBA; is he a dark horse MVP candidate?  Does he need to add Jr. to his name to get attention like Tatis and Acuna?

Ben Clemens: I think dark horse sells him short

Ben Clemens: He’s an MVP cnadidate

but: xwOBA isn’t a thing

Ben Clemens: Sure, but how about this?

Ben Clemens: Bryce Harper is hitting .338/.471/.662

Ben Clemens: How does that grab you?

Appa Yip Yip: Bryce Harper routinely puts up 4.5 to 5 WAR seasons but because Mike Trout exists people think he’s bad the Trout singularity has completely warped our understanding of how good some players really are

Doug: With Fernando’s error filled start, chances the Padres move him to the OF rather than Abrams?

Ben Clemens: I dunno, zero?

Ben Clemens: negative 3.3%?

Ben Clemens: Is this a serious question?

Save Me Jeebus: Think Hicks takes the STL closer role in May or drop for Staumont?

Ben Clemens: I’m down on Hicks, tbh

Ben Clemens: He just doesn’t look right post TJ

Ben Clemens: I’m not saying he won’t get back

Ben Clemens: But he’s not there yet

5 Run Homer: I had an OOTP 21 sim where Tatis ended up a one-dimensional RF slugger. Sometimes that game makes me sad

Ben Clemens: Many worlds theory is wild

Doug: Yes? Just thought with a top 10 prospect at SS that it might be considered if the errors continued. What an odd response.

Ben Clemens: It’s just not even close to being close to being close to being a question

Ben Clemens: He just signed a 330 million deal

Ben Clemens: He’s played like 15 games this year

Ben Clemens: Abrams isn’t even a plus defender at short, he was looking at moving to second regardless of Tatis

Jeff: The Royals have a ton of young pitching btw the MLs and MiLs. Do they move one of the SP prospects? Bubic? Singer even?

Ben Clemens: I’m gonna say no, b/c I don’t understand what they’d be hoping to get for it

Ben Clemens: Like, a good pitching prospect?

Ben Clemens: They have done well developing pitching, and I think they’ll just roll with it

Nationals not Gnats: No update on Soto since he was placed on the IL on 4/20.  Due back this weekend.  Is the silence since then concerning?

Ben Clemens: Yeah I’m marginally concerned

Ben Clemens: Don’t think I’m ready to say concerned yet…. I’d rather have Soto’s news flow than Yelich’s

Ben Clemens: But I’d like to see him return and look normal

DanQuaalude: Soto is hitting off a tee as of Saturday

Guest: Are Brantley and Yuli Gurriel as undervalued as they appear to me, the person rostering them?

Ben Clemens: Yuli, I’m just consistently off on my evaluations of him

Ben Clemens: Brantley is absolutely undervalued

Ben Clemens: He’s just so boring

Ben Clemens: (unfair to him)

Ben Clemens: His production isn’t loud, let’s say

Ron Washington D.C: What argument is there that the Giants’ hot start won’t deflate when facing above .500 teams?

Ben Clemens: Um…. their hitting can improve

Ben Clemens: But yeah, the NL West is gonna be tough this year

Ben Clemens: I absolutely think that

Ben Clemens: Alright guys, sorry for my general grumpiness and a short chat today, but I need to cut out early. Hope everyone has a great day, and welcome back to baseball

Ben Clemens: Or rather, welcome back to short-season takes

Ben Clemens: Have a great week