Eric A Longenhagen: Hey, everyone. Finishing up a podcast. Will be here shortly

Eric A Longenhagen: Okay chat, I am here

Eric A Longenhagen: Sorry. Pod went long, because they’re fun to do with Carson and Kiley.

Eric A Longenhagen: Ok

Mike: Anything you’d change in the top 10 of the mock based on new info?

Eric A Longenhagen: Swaggerty to 9, McClanahan out of the top 10, Grayson Rodriguez anywhere from 10-TEX

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon/morning and welcome to another edition of my weekly Thursday chats.

First, some housekeeping. In last week’s discussions of favorite sandwiches in NYC, I mourned the loss of the fried chicken sandwich from Van Horn Sandwich Shop, but I neglected to mention the loss of a sandwich that trumped even that: the Italian at Bierkraft, a Park Slope specialty beer shop that also did great subs. For meats, theirs had house roasted  ham, hot sopressata, proscuitto di Parma and something called petit jesu, which is a garlic-and-red-wine salami that looks like this https://stinkybklyn.com/shop/charcuterie/petit-jesu/. Also arugula, tomato, onion, roasted red pepper, balsamic and EVOO.

Jay Jaffe: That and a pint or bottle of any craft beer was a reliable go-for dinner or a picnic lunch back when my wife lived nearby. And per my complaint about not being able to get a decent Italian sandwich nearby — no, i’m not paying $18 f’ing dollars to the place with 150 different combos at Dekalb Market, edit your damn menu — it’s because none will ever measure up to that one.

(and yes, I do have a jpg of a menu for a place that went out of business three years ago. What’s weird about that?)

Accountability about sandwich remembrances is what I’m here for.

Marshall: Would you vote for Chase Utley for HoF?

Jay Jaffe: Hell yes. Hugely underrated player because he was not only an exceptional hitter but fielder and baserunner as well. Ninth in JAWS at 2B https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/jaws_2B.shtml but I think he’s gonna get burned by the Rule of 2,000 as he needs 126 more hits and I’m just not sure he gets enough playing time to get there.

John Oleruds Helmet: Mr Jay! Enlighten thou with thy wisdom across the chativerse!! With the way front offices have devalued aging veterans and the prominence of players increasing their launch angle at the expense of contact, could a 3000 hit player become an impossibility in our lifetime like the 300 win pitcher has become??

Jay Jaffe: Well, we’re probably going to see Miguel Cabrera and Robinson Cano reach 3,000 within a few years, but after that, it could be awhile, as nobody active has more than ~2,100 and the guys that do (Markakis and Reyes) are 34 and 35. But I do think somebody like Altuve and of course Trout will have shots at it, if they stay healthy. We’ll have more of ’em than we do 300 win guys, for sure

Kiley McDaniel: Hello everyone, a couple quick plugs for the new @FG_Prospects twitter account and yesterday’s mock draft: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2018-mlb-mock-draft-v-2-0/ and of course THE BOARD, which will be updated shortly https://www.fangraphs.com/scoutboard.aspx

Peter: What’d you think of Muller the other day? What does he project as? #4?

Kiley McDaniel: Saw Florida/St. Lucie yesterday with Kyle Muller and Justin Dunn pitching, included some notes on twitter and Cristian Pache video @kileymcd if you’re interested in that. Muller now appears to be essentially what was expected out of HS: low 90’s touch 95, solid avg offspeed that could be 55’s along with starter command and a sturdy frame with some projection. Still young enough that things can still change a bit, but he’s fully recovered from a rocky 2017. Also has easy plus raw power he’ll get to use in Double-A.

Foolish Child: is Bart’s floor the Mets at 6?

Kiley McDaniel: I think it’s probably 5/CIN but yeah maybe 6/NYM, right around there.

Jimmy: Do you buy or sell the Dodgers missing the playoffs ?

Travis Sawchik: Happy Tuesday, folks

Travis Sawchik: We need to talk …

Miky: Hi Travis. What are your thought on Giolito? He seemed so different, so much better during Spring, and even though it was only a Spring, it seemed somewhat indicative and important looking forward. But since the start of the season he’s been back to being absolutely terrible, with no velocity, no control, no putaway pitch. Is it mechanics? And more importantly, is he just a toast? Thanks

Travis Sawchik: That’s a great question and the White Sox would love to have the answers. Giolito looked like he might be on the cusp of something back in the spring. Is he healthy?

Chris: Seems like it’s hip to link the Indians to the potential Machado sale, but am I crazy for thinking the better position player get for the Tribe would be Adam Jones and the best deal overall might be for Brach or O’Day?

Travis Sawchik: Indians need bullpen help more than anything, and perhaps those arms could be fits, but how fun would a Machado-Lindor-Ramirez infield be?

Dan Szymborski: 2:00: A Time for Chats.

hscer: What do you make of Joseph Nicholas Gallo?

Dan Szymborski: A guy as good as you can be with only one real plus skill but not enough to actually be good

Evan: Best chicken wings in Cincinnati?

Dan Szymborski: Couldn’t say.

Dan Szymborski: I’m in Dayton more than Cincinnati, but in neither have I found really great wings yet.  Maybe it’s the local style

Meg Rowley: Good morning! Welcome to the chat.

Meg Rowley: I am not Travis, but fear not: he’ll be here tomorrow, and back to regularly scheduled programming next week.

Yu: What do the Mariners do about 2B now?

Meg Rowley: Ugh.

Meg Rowley: I think for the moment you’re looking at some combination of the non-catching Romine, and possibly Taylor Motter and (sighs heavily) maybe Gordon Beckham sharing duties there.

Meg Rowley: It sounds like they are reticent to move Dee Gordon off center, but I’ll be curious to see how long that holds up.

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to Friday baseball chat

Palardelphia: Carlos Santana has been on fire lately. Looking at his rolling averages…was he walking too much (and not capitalizing on hittable pitches)?

Jeff Sullivan: My understanding is that, early on, Santana was basically just hitting into terrible luck. Mike Petriello wrote about it at MLB.com. His xwOBA was always strong from the get-go

Yu: Is this a breakout season for Maikel Franco?

Jeff Sullivan: Probably not

Eric A Longenhagen: Howdy from a Morristown, NJ Starbucks where I’ve stopped on the way to see Lenny Torres (which I’m growing worried is going to be rained out).

Eric A Longenhagen: Kiley will be joining momentarily, but I’m gonna get rolling now as I will probably hve to bounce sooner than Kiley to get to the game.

Paul: Wasn’t there a new mock promised at some point soon?!

Eric A Longenhagen: Early next week after I’ve seen who’s at the games I’m seeing this weekend and we make some more cals.

Kiley McDaniel: And I just got home to Orlando where I’m scrambling to run errands and settle in for some serious content putout (and also UCF/Oklahoma this weekend)

Dave: Any chance the Braves go with Kelenic at 8?

Jay Jaffe: Good morning or afternoon, folks, and welcome to another edition of my Thursday chat. If you saw the subtitle of this week’s chat, you’ll understand that I’m in mourning for the impending loss of my favorite neighborhood restaurant — the default place where my wife and I take family and friends who trek to our corner of Brooklyn for a casual night out. https://ny.eater.com/2018/5/9/17336048/ganso-ramen-closing-downtown-br…

The moral of the story is, hug your favorite neighborhood restaurant, because one day it won’t be there no matter how often you go.

THE Average Sports Fan: What is your take on the Harvey-Mesoraco swap?

Jay Jaffe: 1. “Be careful what you wish for, Matt Harvey.” While he was within his rights to reject the Triple A assignment, he’s now about to toil in a place that’s much rougher for pitchers, particularly ones with gopher problems, and he won’t be anywhere close to the postseason.

2. A fair trade of damaged goods for both sides.

Mike: My yankees are on a tear right now, and most of that relates to what I thought was our greatest need. Pitching. What does German look like as a starter going forward? and how sustainable is CC’s FIP defying heroics?

Jay Jaffe: Travis Sawchik took a good look at German a couple days ago. https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/domingo-german-demands-our-attention/ Obviously, Sunday’s six no-hit innings was a promising development, and he does seem to have a mix that should help him survive as a starter. As for CC, he’s not gonna keep up a sub-2.00 ERA but he’s still a very useful starter. After this chat I’m heading up to Yankee Stadium for tonight’s outing against the Red Sox and planning to write about him unless something bigger happens.

Hard hit rate: It seems like a number of players who are sporting career-best or near career-best hard hit rates are struggling. Marcell Ozuna, and the Santanas, Carlos and Domingo, come to mind. Do you have any ideas for why that is the case?

Meg Rowley: Good morning! Welcome to the chat.

Meg Rowley: Let’s dive in with a bunch of sad Mariners questions! Yay!

Alex: How many starting pitchers on the Mariners end the year with a higher WAR than Edwin Diaz?

Meg Rowley: Well, Paxton…

Meg Rowley: mayyyyybe Marco Gonzales if he can ever figure out how to a third time through the order.

Meg Rowley: The pitching really isn’t very good.