Craig Edwards: Happy Opening Day everyone. We’ve got Cubs Marlins starting shortly and Carlos Martinez against Noah Syndergaard also coming up. The queue is open for questions and comments. Meg Rowley will be here for the early games as well. We will get started very soon. Baseball.

Meg Rowley: Baseball!

Meg Rowley: Hello! We are back! Thank you for chatting with us! Exclamation point! We have a full day of chat ahead. Craig and I have you covered for the early games.

Meg Rowley: Travis and Jay will sub in for the midday games.

Meg Rowley: Sheryl Ring and Roger Cormier will take the late shift.

Meg Rowley: And Jeff Sullivan and Eric Longenhagen will make appearances at some point as well.

Eric A Longenhagen: Morning, everyone. Sorry I’m a few minutes late, was having HTML issues with the Phillies list. Let’s get right to it…

Jed: What have you heard from Hunter Greene this spring? Has he started throwing? Was a bit of a mixed back last summer.

Eric A Longenhagen: Upper-90s, better breaking ball than last year.

Don: Is Joey Lucchesi a viable option in San Diego this year?

Eric A Longenhagen: Yes

Tommy N.: What distinguishes Kingery from Urias and Hiura and who do you personally prefer between the three?

Travis Sawchik: Happy almost end of spring training, folks

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

Mel: Projection for Kingery now that he’s up for good?

Travis Sawchik: It looks like Depth Charts haven’t been updated for volume, but we are forecasting a modest 87 wRC+

Lars: Jose Matinez a 10-team bat for you or too shallow?

Travis Sawchik: The upside is so great I’d spend a roster spot on him

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to Friday baseball chat

Bork: Hello, friend!

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friend

Jordan: It seems like every publication is underestimating the Jays, they seem to be solid across the board if unspectacular, currently projected for 5th best record in the AL which amounts to a second wild card but when I see publications of contenders they are nearly omitted.
Is there something I’m missing that’s causing them to be completely overlooked?

Jeff Sullivan: Many publications put a lot of weight on previous season record and offseason activity. The Jays are coming off a bad record, and they didn’t have an astonishing offseason. So it goes

Meg Rowley: Hello! And welcome to a special Wednesday chat.

Nat: I’ve been greatly enjoying your contributions since you joined the site! Do you expect any big, Craig Kimbrel-esque trades to go down before opening day?

Meg Rowley: Thank you! And I’d be surprised (though I suppose we are often surprised by these). This isn’t a trade but boy, Greg Holland still needs to sign somewhere, huh?

Davy: Have you read today’s THT article? It was fantastic.

Meg Rowley: I, the managing editor of The Hardball Times, in fact edited today’s piece! And I agree that it is fantastic.

Meg Rowley: You should all read Annie’s piece on her journey through fandom: https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/a-rebuilding-year-my-way-back-to-basebal…

Kiley McDaniel: As I mentioned in other places, have a flight today, so moved things up a bit in the day to accomodate

Tommy N.: Could Madrigal possibly move to the outfield in the future if he had to?

Kiley McDaniel: He could probably catch too, but I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t play 2B or SS.

Ronnie: Hi Kiley, what do you see Willie Calhoun’s hitting ceiling looking like? Is .300/.400/.500 too high for his ceiling?

Kiley McDaniel: Maybe not quite that much, but he’s one of the rare guys with a chance to do that. I would almost bet he does the .300 and .500 at least once in his career in the same year. .400 is much tougher for him with that bat control

Tigers Fan: If you are the GM of the Tigers, with the abundance of pitching prospects that they have up top, would you still take the BPA (like McClanahan or Mize) or go play the bonuses by drafting a hitter (Madrigal)?

Eric A Longenhagen: Hi, everyone. Some links before we get rolling….

Eric A Longenhagen: I wrote up a deep Marlins system: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/top-29-prospects-miami-marlins/

Eric A Longenhagen: And dumped some amateur notes: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/scouting-oregon-righty-matt-mercer-and…

Larry: Breakout Braves prospect from outside you and Kiley’s top 32?

Eric A Longenhagen: I think Anyelo Gomez is going to be very good.

Waltharius: Is there any updates on prep guys like Hankins, Gorman, Turang and Kelenic?

Travis Sawchik: Greetings from the Pirates media work room in Bradenton, Fla….

Travis Sawchik: The FanGraphs spring training tour bus has made its way to Florida

Travis Sawchik: Still, there’s always time to talk. We have an open-door policy. Let’s get started …

Acuna Matata: Acuna is basically the love child of Mike Trout and Hank Aaron, right?! RIGHT?!

Travis Sawchik: Obviously, right?

Travis Sawchik: If you believed Acuna was a better prospect than Ohtani, that’s looking pretty good as of March 19

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to Friday baseball chat

Mike: Hello Jeff, have you contemplated mortality today?

Jeff Sullivan: Yes

The Man With No Name: Still on the Wilmer Font hype train?  What about Scott Alexander?

Jeff Sullivan: Yeah, I still like Font. Not going to abandon that hope because of a bad day on March 6

THE Average Sports Fan: How would you feel about getting rid of extra innings and just having 9 inning ties?

Meg Rowley: Hi and welcome to the chat. Yes, I jumped the gun with a question, but to answer it: If the idea is to prevent injury in the minors, then I’d prefer a tie rather than the weird theater of a runner on second.

Meg Rowley: Sadly, I don’t think that is the purpose here. I think the purpose is as a laboratory for the majors, and boy would that be a dumb bummer.

Meg Rowley: I’ve been with Manfred on mound visits and pitch clocks and automatic intentional walks, but this feels like a fundamental misunderstanding of his product. Extras are exciting!

Uncle Charlie: Hi Meg! Do you do fantasy questions?

Meg Rowley: Never very well! But this is a great chance to encourage you read Fantasy Preview Week over at The Hardball Times! Those guys actually know what they are talking about.