Dan Szymborski: The hatches are battened, the sails are trimmed, the splines have been reticulated, and the hedgehog has been hidden, so let’s do this!

Gub Gub: If you were a long-haul trucker, what would you name your truck?

Dan Szymborski: Trucky McTruckface.

Colin: Dan, do you think Jose Ramirez turns it around? What would you project ROS?

Dan Szymborski: I still suspect that he does.

Dan Szymborski: Though I still don’t quite get why he’s so BABIP anemic.

Eric A Longenhagen: Hey from Tempe, folks. I’m going to try to move through questions quickly today as I’ve much to do before UCLA/ASU (which should be dope)…

Reid: Hi Eric, thanks for the chat. I’m curious as to what you think is the least common 20-grade tool at the major league level. My first thought was hit, because it’s incredibly difficult to be valuable as a .200 hitter, but I also can’t really think of what a 20 grade arm would look like.

Eric A Longenhagen: I guess *someone* has to have a 20 arm somewhere (Kris Davis, maybe?) but even the wettest of noodles I can surmise (Ben Revere, Juan Pierre) I’d probably 30

Eric A Longenhagen: but yeah, i think you’re right, it’s probably arm

GraphsFan: Question about weighting tools… All else being equal, is a 70 Hit / 40 Game Power prospect = 40 Hit / 70 Game Power? Is there a hierarchy to which tools are more valuable than others when rolling it into a FV?

Eric A Longenhagen: hit uber alles, there are probably better ways to show, with a number or two, the way the this and power tools interact for a given player through the use of batted ball data

Kiley McDaniel: Hello from ATL! I’m living in a writer’s personal hell today as there’s 8 people installing a new roof and they’re all banging as hard as they can for going on 5 hours now. Scout is slowly adapting to being in the climactic scene of a Matrix movie but is still sitting next to me in case something goes down.

Kiley McDaniel: We’re getting into the stretch run for the draft and ___ guy won’t get to pick ___ is getting a little more concrete. The draft rankings for every class (https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2019-mlb-draft?sort=-1,1…) are getting updated daily and here’s last week’s mock for those interested in such things (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/mock-draft-1-0-the-top-ten/). And lastly, here’s your draft order/pools (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2019-mlb-draft-signing-bonus-pool-and-pick…).

Kiley McDaniel: My tentative weekend game plans look doomed by weather, so I may stay local this weekend around SEC country. I’ll go get at least one of the two games CJ Abrams is playing Thursday and next week will likely be making a run in North Carolina. After that I should be able to get the Luis Robert/Cristian Pache/Drew Waters series in Birmingham.

Kiley McDaniel: Sorry, had to step away to deal with the source of that noise

Kiley McDaniel: to your questions!

A big dumb idiot: See my username, but is there any changes to one’s opinion of Cavan Biggio with him demolishing AAA?

cavebird: Do you think they should allow Carter Kieboom to get the Boxburger exception to the no emojis rule for player’s weekend?  And if he does, what if his brother is also up that weekend?  Of course, they would have the same name on the back of their uniforms in normal games, too.

Meg Rowley: I really can’t imagine caring what a player puts on his players’ weekend jersey so long as it wasn’t a slur?

Greg: The top 5 teams in defensive runs above average are the Giants, Dodgers, Padres, Diamondbacks, and Rockies. Is this a weird coincidence? https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0…

Meg Rowley: Given some of the individual guys those teams have, it isn’t super surprising, but also, I would warn against looking at a month’s worth of defensive data and thinking it’s anything so meaningful.

The Chop is for Chumps: Meg, what do you make of all the young, superhyped, Atlanta arms flopping at the big stage i.e. Kyle Wright, Touki Toussaint, Bryse Wilson, Luiz Ghohara, and Sean Newcomb?

Meg Rowley: That pitching is really hard and that there is a reason that we were all a little nervous about a pitching-forward approach to building the farm?

Dan Szymborski: Happy April!

Matt: My friends keep telling me to reach out to Don Szymbarski to ask about baseball, so here I am, Don. What are your opinions on baseball?

Dan Szymborski: Don can go spit on a sparkplug

Dan Szymborski: (that’s a reference to the TV-version-edited line from Barry Corbin in WarGames)

Canik: In your experience, how does minor league BABIP translate to major league BABIP? I figure that with less batter ball data, less shifting, and inferior fielders in general, it’s safe to shave off about 15 points (or more for pull-heavy guys)?

Dan Szymborski: I have a zBABIP that I use for minor leaguers, as expected it doesn’t translate cleanly

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon folks, and welcome to today’s chat. I’ve been buried in studying career strikeout rates and totals in anticipation of CC Sabathia’s 3,000th K, which did not go off last night (hency my shelving the piece until next week, most likely). Anyway, on with the show.

Skip: I purchased your book from an online discount book outlet. I saved a ton of money. Then it occurred to me, are you fairly compensated for that purchase? I assume the copies (they had around 100 available) was purchased in bulk from the original purveyor of the book but I have no idea how that works in terms of royalties. Am I a jerk for trying to save some cash?

Jay Jaffe: First off, thanks for your support! I appreciate you taking the time not only to read but to think about your purchase decision, even if you did go with the lowest price (as I quite often do myself).

Basically, the way it works with The Cooperstown Casebook is that I was given a significant advance up front by the publisher, which means that I don’t see any royalties until that figure is reached. And like most books, my sales have not yet reached that mark (in part because the book has not come out in paperback, though I’d make less on those copies). So I wouldn’t sweat the decision too much. I do like it when people choose to support independent bookstores in purchasing the Casebook. You can do so via indiebound.com to find, say, a local one near you; I fulfill requests for signed copies at a bookstore near me in Brooklyn, Greenlight Bookstore. https://cooperstowncasebook.com/2017/07/21/signed-copies-of-the-cooper…

New York Railriders: Do the Yankees have the best AAA lineup in the majors? How have the injuries not stopped yet. Good lord.

Jay Jaffe: Am I the new Jonah Keri? I wrote about Clint Frazier earlier this week and now he’s on the IL.

BenZ: I know they are all somewhat longshots, but how would you rank Jon Lester, Cole Hamels, and David Price in likelihood of reaching the Hall?

Kiley McDaniel: Hello from ATL! Scout is chasing critters in the back yard and I’ll be leaving shortly for a Georgia HS state playoffs double dip, popup RHP Zach Maxwell then popup SS Brennan Milone

Kiley McDaniel: Going to Alabama for at least part of the weekend, seeing rising prep SS Gunnar Henderson tomorrow then the weekend has tons of college options that I’m still sorting through

Kiley McDaniel: If you are already in draft mode and somehow didn’t see yesterday’s mock, here it is: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/mock-draft-1-0-the-top-ten/

Kiley McDaniel: The dope we’re hearing is mostly top 7-10 picks and not a whole lot of specific stuff beyond that because many of the top 10 picks are kinda shrug emoji we’re not sure who will make it to us, so obviously beyond the top 10 there’s even more of that

Kiley McDaniel: And it’s a lot of “their top evaluators are seeing players x y and z” and “their mix appears to be a b and c” because we specifically know what a couple teams up are thinking (either they tell us off the record or aren’t good at obscuring the truth) and that’s as far as they’ve gotten at this point….so we can’t really give you much more than that for most clubs, even picking up high

Kiley McDaniel: And most of the clubs we speak with in the 10 to 20 area are really interested in who we think they have no chance to get, so they can focus resources on the guys they have a shot at.

Meg Rowley: Hello all, and welcome to the chat. We’ll get started in just a second here.

Gene: I’m very bored in Economics. Will the Mets pitching be fine?

Meg Rowley: Hmmm maybe?

henryv: Best former Seattle baseball team name: Pilots, Hustlers, Yannigans, Clamdiggers, Siwashes, Chinooks, or Turks?

Meg Rowley: Clamdiggers or Chinooks imo.

CamdenWarehouse: I was happy to hear you are on the right side of the almond/soy/etc milk vs. juice debate