Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat – 6/3/24

Ben Clemens: Hey everyone, I’m going to get started in a minute or two, just finishing a few things up over here

Ben Clemens: Okay let’s get started

Justin: Joey Ortiz winning NL ROY?

Ben Clemens: Hm, I wonder how gambling markets are handling his hot streak

Ben Clemens: They have him seventh, behind the two NPB imports, the two Pirates pitchers, Jackson Merrill, and Andy Pages

Ben Clemens: I’d take him over the two hitters, but yeah, even if he’s out-WAR’ed Shota so far, I don’t think the nice defensive 3b who’s hitting well will beat the pitcher who makes every start with an ERA around 2

Ben Clemens: I think I’d probably have him fourth in my probabilistic rankings, just ahead of Jones, who looks like he maybe was not built up for a full season

Judge and Soto:

1. Judge and Soto are the only hitters in baseball over 1.000 OPS. 2. They have both played every single game (so has Volpe). When does Judge shed “injury prone” label given he’s had one 10 day IL stint that didn’t evolve a dumb wall since 2021? 3. Where would you rank the two of them, at their peaks (which they are) among all-time hitting duos? (Purely hitting, not dWAR and so on.)

Ben Clemens: Well, 1’s just a question

Ben Clemens: just not a question*

Ben Clemens: 2 is a lot of caveats, because there are walls in baseball! He only played 106 games last year, he had injury issues of some type in the three seasons before 2021

Ben Clemens: also who cares?

Ben Clemens: that’s why the label is there, but if you think it’s wrong, great news! Judge is better than people think

Ben Clemens: 3 that’s really beyond the scope of the chat b/c I don’t have a hitting duos ranking handy and I’m not ready to make one here

Ben Clemens: but, highly!

Idiotic Failson: Do you think Hunter Brown can become an above average starter? He’s been pretty bad, but had some prospect hype.

Ben Clemens: I still do

Ben Clemens: I think he’s always gonna have home run issues though

Ben Clemens: which is worrisome

Johny5Alive: Thoughts on Henry Davis. Worth trading a $44 Freeman who can only be kept for 1 more year for a $5 Davis that can be kept for at least 3 years in a $270 NL only. Team has not performed and ready to transition to next year.

Ben Clemens: I sympathize with the idea but I’d hope you can do better. There are good reasons to worry about whether davis’s bat is good enough to secure him a lot of playing time in the long run. I know they’ve dabbled with him in the outfield in the past but it looks less likely given two years of ML struggles

garrett cooper: How tired of writing about the yankees is the Fangraphs team?

Ben Clemens: I personally am not, I was thinking about writing about Soto recently. But I’m sure people are tiring of them b/c it’s always kinda boring to write about the same hot team too often

C: I think that the Dodgers will win more games in the next two seasons than the White Sox will win in the next three seasons. I could also see this with the Rockies, A’s, Angels, and Marlins. What do you think?

Ben Clemens: Oh this is fun

Ben Clemens: Boy I think you’re right

Ben Clemens: if the Sox are .500 in one of those years it’s basically impossible?

Ben Clemens: but that seems so unlikely

Ben Clemens: let’s poll it

Ben Clemens:

Idiotic Failson: You have a chance to win $10,000,000 depending on you achieving a positive result between: 1) throwing an at bat against Juan Soto; or 2) getting a hit off of Mason Miller – which do you choose?

Ben Clemens: if I have to get a hit specifically? and avoid letting Soto get on base?

Ben Clemens: I think I’d pick Soto, because he didn’t hit all homers in the home run derby

Ben Clemens: I’d just lob em in there and let him go wild

Ben Clemens: if my walking would count as a win…. eh, I’d probably still pick Soto

Ben Clemens: there’s just no chance of me doing anything against Miller. At least I could get babip lucky against Soto

Nervous Flyball Pitcher: I find the Orioles rotation in a precarious situation because they have three above average or better starters, but the other three guys are arguably “pray the hard hits land in gloves,” and this is all dependent on health. How would you ease Cade Povich into the rotation knowing he wouldn’t be better than existing options for sometime? If anybody else goes down, his debut will become mandatory.

Ben Clemens: I think I’d keep doing what they’re doing and letting him pitch in Triple-A

Ben Clemens: like you said, he isn’t better than existing options right now

Guest: Is it just me, or has Camilo Doval been a little shaky even before yesterday’s big blowup? I haven’t had the “we have a great closer, the 9th inning will be chill” feeling this year…

Ben Clemens: I was having this discussion with my wife over the weekend actually

Ben Clemens: she has the same vibe as you

Ben Clemens: I think that his command has been shaky enough that it never FEELS good even when he’s comfortably converting

Oaktown Blues: Zack Gelof was due for some regression after his huge debut, but he has totally fallen flat so far this year. Are you still a believer?

Ben Clemens: Hm, I’m perusing through his numbers here and I think I’m as much of a believer as I was last year

Ben Clemens: Or, you know, less b/c he’s been bad, but not a lot less

Ben Clemens: his underlying skills don’t seem to have changed a ton, he’s the same high strikeout high effort guy from last year, he just isn’t hitting the ball hard enough at the moment

JOHNNYHELLER: Thanks for doing these chats! So helpful. I need to make room on my roster (NL 10 team 5×5)  for PCA. I have B Perkins at $1 and either he or Tauchman need to go (N Jones is back soon too).
Do I except an offer for an end of contract Suwinski -hoping he starts hitting again – for Perkins or search for a better deal? SBs are at a premium
thanks!

Ben Clemens: I too am wondering what to do about suwinski, I have him in Ottoneu. It’s hard to have a lot of trust given that, you know, he’s in the minors and striking out 44% of the time

Ben Clemens: If you can get a bonus roster spot b/c he’s not active, that seems great. but I’d rather have Perkins than Suwinski so that’s the only reason I’d do it

Doug: What would Vlad command in FA..his power has disappeared he has 5 homers and has become a 110 EV singles hitter

Ben Clemens: I’m so curious

Ben Clemens: I think he’d be a pillow contract guy

Ben Clemens: Matt Chapman deal or something

Ben Clemens: He’s a valuable player

Ben Clemens: but kind of like Pete Alonso’s upcoming free agency, how much the brand name matters is an open question

Chris: Aaron Judge had a 49% barrel rate in May

Ben Clemens: That’s just silly

Who’s Fabio?: Hi Ben – just wondering if you accept solicitations for your 5 things weekly?  Vlad Jr.’s head first slides are super fun to watch and I think he had one on the weekend but I forget which game.  What do you think?

Ben Clemens: If I don’t, I should

Ben Clemens: that sounds great, and I’ll definitely look into it

Bob: Watching the Cubs lately has been brutal. Are they really this bad or just unlucky?

Tom: can Masyn Winn be as beloved (and valuable) as Ozzie Smith?

Ben Clemens: Let’s do both b/c I was thinking about Cards/Cubs and picked these

Ben Clemens: eh, the Cubs are getting unlucky of late but it’s not like they’re great. Not an amazing offense and their bullpen is atrocious

Ben Clemens: BaseRUns thinks they should be 28-32, for example

Cube Jockey: Let’s say there was evidence of Hank Aaron hitting 8 HRs during the period of time that NL state are incorporated.  Does MLB still incorporate NL stats if it means changing the all time HR leader?

Ben Clemens: Yeah, I think they would jump at the chance

Ben Clemens: do you know how badly they wish it was noble Hank Aaron instead of everyone hates him Barry Bonds?

Concerned Bird: Do you take Judge or the field for the HR title this year? It was kind of him to give everyone else a head start, but he seems poised to leave my mustachioed masher in the dust.

Ben Clemens: Yeah I’d take Judge

random Colorado guy: Question about the implementation of Elo ratings here, from someone who used to be a very strong chessplayer and directed lots of rated chess tournaments.  How is this system going to handle the influx of replacement-level talent when rosters expand?  Who’s the FG expert on this implementation?  I could bore you with some highly technical questions about the FG system and some concerns that I have, but would rather take that offline if know who to take it to.

Ben Clemens: It’s basically not; we have a very simple implementation of Elo and it’s designed to be that way. We want to keep it separate from our projection models, which incorporate estimates of that replacement-level talent, because that’s a separate factor in the power rankings

Ben Clemens: but the whole point of going to Elo was to care about the games that had been played

Princess Leia: Help us Obi-Wan Clemonobi! You’re our only hope!

Keep Royce Lewis from any more freak injuries, master Jedi!

Ben Clemens: You want the impossible!

Appa Yip Yip: The Vlad/Bo era of Jays baseball is kinda feeling like one big wet fart. What happened?

Ben Clemens: I dunno what’s going on with Bo

Ben Clemens: the guy is the streakiest hitter around

Ben Clemens: but yeah, chalk this one up to bad development variance. I think the Jays have done a good job supplementing their core with talent, though trading Gabriel Moreno instead of finding some way to trade Kirk looks like it’s going to haunt them. But they spent and traded

Ben Clemens: and like…. Vlad just never could consistently hit the ball in the air and Bichette puts up 4.5 WAR every year but in the strangest ways

Pete: I’ve heard a lot of talk that the return for Alonso would be pretty light and they may consider keeping him, having him reject the QO and only get a 4th round draft pick.  However, couldn’t there be a bidding war between multiple teams (3 or more) in need of a 1B at the deadline, sweetening the package for the Mets?

Ben Clemens: I mean, it could! Hard to predict a market dynamic like that ahead of time

Ben Clemens: And if that happens, they’d probably do it

Ben Clemens: One thing I’m really not sure about is whether the Mets are hoping to keep Alonso and re-sign him at a mid-tier deal

Ben Clemens: I’ve heard that basically he doesn’t want one, he wants a superstar contract, and hey, he might get it

Ben Clemens: but if the Mets trade him, they’re probably closing the door on being a convenient landing place if his market doesn’t develop like he hoped

Nic: This feels embarrassing to even ask, but has Soto suprised you with how good he has been this year? I mean, I knew he was good. But 190 WRC+ is another level of good

Ben Clemens: No, but I’ve been really high on Soto for a long time

Ben Clemens: I think that it has surprised people in general

Ben Clemens: One of the years where I did bold predictions, I had Soto putting up a 200 wRC+ for the year

Ben Clemens: like, the guy has the best batting eye in baseball and won the home run derby

Dugan: What do you think Yariel Rodriguez’s outlook is for this season? How about beyond- SP or RP in the future?

Ben Clemens: I think that he should probably relieve

Ben Clemens: But I think that having him with the ability to do both is really important to the Jays

bosoxforlife: I can’t get off of the idea that the Orioles have to give a lot but they must go after Garrett Crochet. It looks like a perfect opportunity to move some of the excess talent and the White Sox have to do something. Would Kierstad and Mayo be enough? too much?

romorr: I flip back and forth here. Elias went big with Burnes, so I wonder if he will do so again at the deadline. We know he likes his prospects. But then again, Burnes is here for just 1 year, so in a way…

Ben Clemens: I think that Kjerstad and Mayo is probably more than it would take, but it’s not off by a ton. Crochet is going to be one of the hottest tickets tehre is if the Sox are trading him

Ben Clemens: I think that the O’s are well set up to deal from prospects, but if I were them, I’d be choosy

Ben Clemens: Like, they don’t need to get just any random pitcher. I think that Crochet is the kind of guy they should be targeting

Rob Manfred: Hi Ben. Has anyone to your knowledge done any analysis into what the average number of “bad starts” are on average till an SP is demoted or moved into a reliever role? Bad starts meaning something completely arbitrary

Ben Clemens: No but that sounds interesting?

Luke l.: I know Jared Jones had a tougher and shorter outing recently, but what (other than that) makes you suspect he isn’t built up for a full season? He pitched 126 last year and 122 the year before. What is a reasonable expectation? 145? 155?

Ben Clemens: Just his velo dips as the game goes on

Ben Clemens: they’ve gotten slightly more extreme of late

Ben Clemens: and like, fifth inning he’s 93-95, that’s not the same guy as the beginning of the year

Ben Clemens: he’s clearly a max effort type, throws his hardest in the first inning, but i’ve been surprised by the magnitude of velo dropoff

Ben: If you airdropped Andrew Friedman and the rest of the Dodgers’ front office (or your front office of choice) into the Rockies organization, do you think they’d be able to develop a pitching pipeline capable of long term success at Coors? Or is this just an intractable problem irrespective of the front office working to address it?

Ben Clemens: Great question, dont’ really know the answer but ownership certainly plays a part in this as well

Ben Clemens: so that makes the whole thing really tricky

Christian: Should the Mariners consider the $20 mil left on Garver’s contract a lost cause and trade for a DH with a wRC+ over 80?

Ben Clemens: Nah, I think I’d run with him

Ben Clemens: I need to see more to think he’s definitely a lemon

Idiotic Failson: What does Clay Holmes next contract look like, and will it be the Yankees that offer it? He looks like he’s going to get paid, and Hal made some noise about unsustainable payrolls, something there has to break.

Ben Clemens: Yeah I think they’re gonna let him leave

Ben Clemens: He’s been awesome, but I think that realistically, they are more likely to develop good relievers than good any other position

Ben Clemens: and they’re money constrained at least a little bit

Ben Clemens: so that’s a smart place to cut back imo. it’s playing the numbers

ZOMG Skenes: So Skenes is good ya? Plus Jones the Pirates have a formidable front line of pitching. A good bat or two and the Pirates are instant contenders. I mean look how much better they have been with Nick Gonzalez running .300/.360/.500 out there. Can the lineup be fixed this season, either by callups or trades, or are they going to “let it ride” this season and (hopefully, maybe) be more aggressive next offseason? How often do teams get blessed with two aces? F’ing go for it is what I say.

Ben Clemens: I completely agree with this

Ben Clemens: I don’t think that the lineup can be fixed this season, though. Having big problems at three positions (1b, C, CF) is just hard

Ben Clemens: I think that there’s a bit of throwing good money after bad here, making a bunch of trades this year feels too early

Ben Clemens: I think that being aggressive this offseason is a completely logical fit. Will they do it? I dunno! Bob Nutting does not inspire confidence

Hans Gruber: How do you like Christian walker at 1B for the Yankees at the deadline if the ‘backs don’t inch closer to the WC and rizzo (who isn’t fielding well either) doesn’t start hitting?

Ben Clemens: I think the DBacks would have to fall further out of the race for them to trade Walker

Ben Clemens: They made big upgrades this offseason to try to run back their success

Ben Clemens: I think that they’re probably pretty intent on having a good season and trying to make the playoffs, so they’d have to be blown away by an offer to move someone

MORE SOTO QUESTIONS: Soto has a career low walk rate but is hitting for more power. I know the evidence for lineup effects is mostly nothing, but I’m curious if any of that is because of Judge behind him?

Ben Clemens: I mean, hasn’t been enough data to say I don’t think

Ben Clemens: and like, it’s a career low but not by a ton and it’s still 14.4%

Colton: Buy or sell, Mariners are getting the second coming of 2009 Franklin Gutierrez with this Victor Robles signing lol

Ben Clemens: Buy! He’ll get hot, and then cool off but everyone will remember him fondly anyway

André René Roussimoff: Is Sutter Health Park a pitcher’s stadium or a hitter’s stadium?

Ben Clemens: I don’t have the answer for you, but I can tell you that it felt small to me

Patrick: Hello Ben Thanks for your time. is the “first half” filter in baseball splits leaderboard referring to first 5 innings?

Ben Clemens: first half of the season

Mike Hazen: What do you think I’m doing at the deadline? Things look bad, but presumably the starters won’t be hurt forever and Corbin Carroll will remember how to hit eventually, and it’s not like SF and SD are *that* far ahead.

Ben Clemens: Yeah, just like I said, I think you’re going for it

Chickie: Edouard Julien just got sent to AAA for poor performance and the return of Royce Lewis. Take a look at both Julien and ELDC’s numbers over the past 28 days and they’re pretty darn close. With the exception of SBs and K’s, where Elly holds that advantage/disadvantage. If McLain and Marte were healthy and active , I’d guess Elly would’ve been AAA bound himself.

Ben Clemens: I mean, what?

Ben Clemens: I do not think that makes sense? And like…. if you’re sending people down for 28 days of performance you should not be anywhere near a GM’s seat

Ben Clemens: Dan is writing about the Julien demotion later today, or maybe it’s already up actually

Clubhouse Chemistry: Have you noticed many GM’s go after clubhouse glue guys despite lackluster stats? Look at the whole Dodgers bench, Austin Barnes, Chris Taylor, Kike Hernandez, and Miggy Rojas are all usually terrible hitters and sporadic at defensive

Ben Clemens: This feels like a Dodgers specific thing of bringing back the old band

Ben Clemens: I think that Taylor is tehre b/c he used to be a roster band aid who could hit like 10% better than league average

Ben Clemens: and like…. hey he still has a contract

Ben Clemens: but I agree that their bench is too heavy on veteran presence types

deBride: Crochet has never thrown more than 65 documented innings in a season…ever. High School, College, Minors, Majors. How high can his IP total responsibly climb this year?

Ben Clemens: oh man…. like…. 120? maybe?

Ben Clemens: it’s definitely a concern

Guest: if you were a prospect and heard your name in talks going to the White Sox (or Rockies or Tigers or Pirates or), how badly would you panic about your future earning potential?

Guest: (better framing: if you were their agent)

Ben Clemens: Rockies, yes!

Ben Clemens: Coors hitters get devalued ‘b/c coors’ but their pitchers never pan out

Ben Clemens: I think that I’d panic less on the other teams b/c if you’re good, great news, they’ll trade you

deBride: Tampa, Cleveland and Milwaukee have three of the four lowest average team fastball velocities on the FG leaderboards. Coincidence, or is there some intentionality going on there?

Ben Clemens: At least for Tampa and Milwaukee, some of that is that their hard throwers have gotten hurt

Ben Clemens: so maybe that’s intentinoal?

bosoxforlife: There needs to be some exploration on the reason that very few of the touted young hitters are delivering anything close to what was expected. Is the gap between Triple-A pitching and the Show so great that is next to impossible to predict who can handle the velocity jump?

Ben Clemens: I don’t know what makes the gap so different, but it’s indisputably there. I don’t think this is new. Every offseason Derek Carty, the guy who does the BAT projections and is generally just a good baseball prognosticator, sends a list of touted prospects and which ones under or over performed expectations in their rookie year

Ben Clemens: almost everyone is under!

Ben Clemens: baseball is hard and people fail. Gunnar Henderson is the exception not the rule

Guest: would you worry in advance about the coaches/player dev/org as, say, a hitter going to Pittsburgh, or wait until you got there?

Ben Clemens: I’d wait until I got there

Ben Clemens: look, from the outside, this is just rumors and mumbling

Ben Clemens: and not only that, but teams are constantly changing

Ben Clemens: how many teams do you think are using AI assistance in planning workouts and the like these days? Probably most

Ben Clemens: how will that affect the quality of the training you receive? Way too soon to tell

Steve O: Fill in the blank. Anthony Volpe is a ___ WAR player moving forward.

Ben Clemens: PO

Ben Clemens: as in a POWAR player

Ben Clemens: I’m gonna put him where I always have, as a yearly borderline all star

Ben Clemens: so call it a 3.5-4 WAR/600 player

Guest: even Gunnar needed a month to get going last year. well, he really just needed me to trade him in a keeper league on May 9, 2023

Ben Clemens: Another great point: it’s too soon to tell!

cesar: Who are some acquisition targets for Guardians? What do they need to be WS caliber club?

Ben Clemens: You’re never gonna believe this, but they could use some outfield help

Ben Clemens: Also I think it would be wise to add a pitcher of at least marignal playoff value

Ben Clemens: I’m not really sure how much they can count on from Gavin Williams this year, and the staff is just thin

ZOMG Skenes: I sure wish the Pirates spent the $25 mil or whatever they blew on Rowdy Roddy + Michael A Taylor + Chapman differently. I have no words for why Tellez is still in the lineup

Ben Clemens: Yeah, I’ve got nothing for you there

Ben Clemens: It’s wild to me that they think he’s still their best option

WAR: “Bichette puts up 4.5 WAR every year but in the strangest ways.” Are you saying not all contributing factors to WAR are created equal?

Ben Clemens: I mean, I surely regress defensive value a bit when I’m looking at WAR

Ben Clemens: but no, what I mean is he does it by hitting .175 for a month and then being the best player in baseball the next month. or with great baserunning, or terrible baserunning despite good speed and BABIP

Ben Clemens: he’s wildly streaky, is my point

Guest: As you said, most prospects have underperformed expectations, but who is one that has overperformed that we should keep an eye on?

Ben Clemens: Joey Ortiz, Jared Jones, Davis Schneider, Michael Busch

Ben: If hitting prospects end up being more variable than previously thought, with their adjustment to major league pitching a lot less predictable, that could shift some of the prospect value back toward pitchers, even with their known demographic risk. Curious to know if those discount rates are already beginning to shift.

Ben Clemens: I disagree with this premise

Ben Clemens: I think they’re as variable as I’ve always thought

Ben Clemens: the point of that Derek Carty mention is that he sends this out every year

Ben Clemens: every year

bosoxforlife: Wilyer Abreu. He has been excellent.

Ben Clemens: Wenceel Perez too

Ben Clemens: Lot of dudes hitting this year

Guest: Is replacement value rc+ 100 or close to it?

Ben Clemens: no, it’s around 70. being an average hitter is meaningfully above replacement level

Ben Clemens: ask the Pirates! they’d kill for some average hitters

Jeff McNeil: What happens to me this season? Do I get moved at the deadline?

Ben Clemens: I mean it saddens me to say this, I’m a big McNeil guy and I loved that he had m ultiple cardboard cutouts of his dog in the outfield in 2020 so he could always look for her

Ben Clemens: but why would a plyaoff contender proactively add Jeff McNeil?

Ben Clemens: If he were free, I’d take him, of course

Ben Clemens: I think he’s an above average hitter despite a rough first half, he’s probably like a 110-ish wRC+ guy

Ben Clemens: but he’s not a great second baseman, and he’s not free

Ben Clemens: he’s under contract through 2026

Ben Clemens: just feels like a very weird trade chip

Mariano Duncan: What are your thoughts on Luis Gil? Will the Yankees leave him in the rotation all year?

Ben Clemens: At this point I think they have to

Ben Clemens: like, he has to fail, you know what I mean?

Ben Clemens: if he fails, if he hits a big bump in the road, sure

Ben Clemens: but you can’t remove him from the rotation when he’s pitching like this

SomeGuy: What pitchers should the Guards target. Is Trevor Williams a viable get for reinforcements? At the very least he’d be better than Carrasco or Allen (who I totally called would suck).

Ben Clemens: yeah, or what about in-division rival Erick Fedde

Inning limits: What do teams usually do with guys who reach their internal inning limit? Move them to the ‘pen? Shut them down a la Strasburg in 2012? What do you think the White Sox would do with Crochet considering it will come early?

Ben Clemens: I think they’ll shut him down

Ben Clemens: but I kind of think they’re hoping someone will trade for him and make it that team’s problem

J: Soto is swinging more often on 0-0 counts (7%, a career high and up from 6% last season). In general he’s swinging much more when ahead of the count than usual (15.7%, a career high and up from 12.8% last year). People will point to Judge but I think the more obvious explanation is simply that he’s trying to do more damage in hitter’s counts. Obviously it’s working.

RTJ: I’m so sad about Spencer Torkelson. Is there any hope left?

Ben Clemens: Some? Surely

Ben Clemens: I do not have a ton left!

Ben Clemens: it’s just been a while at this point

Manfred: Doesn’t MLB changing the balls every year make it harder to compare year to

Ben Clemens: oh 100%

Cursed laser show: Kutter Crawford is regressing to the mean, but it’s a #2 maybe #3 or more #4 maybe #3 starter? And for the next 3 seasons would you rather have him or Bello?

Ben Clemens: I think it’s like a 3/4 thing

Ben Clemens: I’d take Bello, obviously Crawford has been better but I like Bello’s arsenal a lot

damane: Does Matos get sent down for one of the rehabbing Giants OFs (Slater, Conforto)? Dude has a .350 OPS in his last 14 games. I think Heliot Ramos has earned a lot of leeway with the team seeing how well he’s done lately.

Ben Clemens: I think it’s extremely unlikely. I agree that he’s gotten ice cold but he is by far the most legit CF on the team with Lee out for the year, which matters a lot in SF

Ben Clemens: I think Fitzgerald probably gets sent down first

Ben Clemens: with Slater back, they have the righty bat/CF capable slot covered

Ben Clemens: jeez, this team is injured, just looking at roster resource now

bosoxforlife: It is looking like Luis Arraez is going to set a record that will never be approached by winning the batting title for 3 consecutive years on 3 different teams, unless he wins again next year and the year after and the………….

wheelhouse: the yankees’ lineup is going to be substantially thinned out at the end of the season, with torres, rizzo, verdugo, and obviously soto coming off the books. i’m assuming their general plan is to go all out to re-sign soto but will let the rest walk, but i still can’t see them starting rookies at >=3 positions next season. i’d think a trade is more likely than a FA signing for said budget reasons, so who around the league could you see them targeting for corner IF?

Ben Clemens: lot of pieces need to finish moving around before we know who’s even going to be on the market, but I do agree with your general conclusion

Ben Clemens: They’re gonna back the truck up for Soto and I don’t think they’ll retain Rizzo or Verdugo

Ben Clemens: I could see Torres? Not totally clear there, depends on his market

Guest: Gleyber QO

Ben Clemens: Well right… but what happens next?

Ben Clemens: anyway… I think they go the bargain veteran route at 1b

WT Morris: I’d like to see Jordan Walker use Stan Musial’s batting stance.  I don’t know why

Ben Clemens: I think b/c it’d be fun with him so tall

bosoxforlife: Is Soto worth Ohtani money? In today’s game when .240 is average he looks like Williams, Bonds, Aaron in one package.

Ben Clemens: I think he is

Ben Clemens: He’s just so low risk as a hitter

Ben Clemens: wildly durable too

Ben Clemens: the most games he’s missed in a season since his rookie year is 13 when he got covid in 2020

Guest: How valuable do you find looking at wRC+ in the context of just one game?

Ben Clemens: Not very

Ben Clemens: I mean, I use it bundled into game logs

Ben Clemens: but it’s not saying much that you don’t know. hit a hoemr, good wrc+

Ben Clemens: okay, i gotta run and start making lunch

Ben Clemens: which is quesadillas today, lunch question asker

Ben Clemens: have a good one, everybody