Jay Jaffe: Hey hey, folks!  Welcome to another edition of my Thursday chat. As I’m less than 24 hours away from flying solo with a 21-month-old toddler who can channel the Antichrist, i’ll be cutting this a bit shorter than usual so that I can figure out which whiskey will knock her out the longest. And with that, let’s get to the questions…

John Oleruds Helmet: Mr Jay! Shine thy light upon this chat!! Grace us with thy wisdom!!!
Is it possible after Mariano and eventually Mussina and (possibly) Schilling that we may not see another pitcher inducted into the Hall until Verlander??

Jay Jaffe: The late Roy Halladay is eligible for the first time this year, and I think he’s got a chance to get elected, if not this year then soon. Lee Smith will be eligible for the first time on the Today’s Game ballot, and given that he broke 50% on the writers’ ballot before, you have to figure he’s got a shot in that format. But those two and the three you mentioned might be the only pitchers who get in until somebody currently active, and as I noted last week, Verlander is pretty much at the head of the pack now given his age and recent dominance.

Dave: Howdy!  Robinson Cano seemed like an eventual shoo-in for the HOF before his PED-related suspension.  What are his chances now?

Jay Jaffe: I’d say they’re pretty low, but we’ll see how the voters handle Alex Rodriguez when he becomes eligible in 2022. We’ve yet to see a previously PED-suspended player top 23.8%.

bonnie: If you were casting a baseball flavored remake of Space Jam, who would be your star and who would you pick to make up the MonStars?

Meg Rowley: Good morning, and welcome to the chat!

Meg Rowley: I am clearly not Kiley, who is off watching college baseball.

Meg Rowley: I am a sad Mariners fan, which the queue has clearly guessed at. Let’s get started.

The Old Buccaneer: Is the Mariners’ second base situation worse than the Dodgers’?

Meg Rowley: Let’s assume that the world isn’t so cruel that Gordon’s injury will require more than 10 days. In that case, no, at least not among starters. Dee Gordon is good!

Meg Rowley: Obviously losing Cano until August is this horrible, devastating thing and I am sad about it every day, but if Gordon is back soon, they’re probably better off than what Utley and Forsythe offer? Maybe? Let me have this, ok?

Kiley McDaniel: Kiley is here but Scout needs a quick potty break, so we’ll get going a few minutes behind schedule

Kiley McDaniel: Okay we are back

Kiley McDaniel: Quick update on my schedule: headed out tonight to see Mason Denaburg vs. Triston Casas in the FL state HS playoffs and will head out tomorrow morning to Clearwater to see Shane McClanahan face Wichita State in the AAC conference tourney, may run back over on Thursday to see Tim Cate as well, but may also stay here to see Florida/Tampa if the pitching lines up

Kiley McDaniel: Now to your questions…

Jim in Chicago: If Casey Mize doesn’t go #1, where does he end up?

Kiley McDaniel: This seems to be the question of the moment. Detroit is seriously thinking about other options at 1-1, and the talk of this got around right after out mock came up. The specifics about what medicals Mize has shared, what Detroit has, what other teams have and what those medicals say is a little hazy and some of the answers are protected by HIPAA so we won’t get everything we would like to know pre draft.

Travis Sawchik: Happy Monday, folks

Travis Sawchik: Let’s get started, shall we?

Zock Jr.: I don’t know what’s better: Mookie’s performance or the fact that xwOBA thinks he’s actually deserved better results.

Travis Sawchik: Trout is still the best player in the world but Mookie is making it an interesting conversation. He’s always had elite eye-hand skills and now he’s learned to produce game power

westcoaster: Travis! Mookie is on pace for like a 50/40 season. No question really, just wanted to point that out.

Travis Sawchik: Not bad

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to Friday baseball chat

Jack: Is C.J. Cron for real?

Jeff Sullivan: I’ve always liked Cron as an obvious source of power. There were hints of some development that got hidden in his “down” 2017; the Rays jumped on the chance to land some upside

Jeff Sullivan: That being said, he’s neither a premium defender nor a premium pitch-taker, so he’s limited in how valuable he can become. I think, at the time, it made enough sense to basically swap Dickerson for Cron, but not because Cron was on the verge of becoming a four-win player or anything

greg: What kind of trade value does Scooter Gennett have?

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