Meg Rowley: Hello! Welcome to my first FanGraphs chat. I’ve done a number of these over the years, and am excited to talk with you all. A few words of warning: these won’t be super heavy on fantasy or prospect talk. My fantasy claim to fame is losing consistently and *not* being the person in my league who drafted Mike Zunino in the first round in 2015. With that said, let’s begin!

BEN GAMEL GRADE 80 HAIR: Will the Mariners add any more SP’s via Free Agency or trade? The group after Paxton, Leake, and Felix (whats left) is not super encouraging for a team going for a Wildcard

Meg Rowley: Based on everything Dipoto has said, and their refusal to play in a very tepid market so far, I think this is what you’re getting. They really needed Ohtani. Now they really need James Paxton to be healthy and brilliant all year, and for Felix to return to something like form, and for Mike Leake to be good, and I guess for Ariel Miranda to stop giving up so many home runs, and and and. It is not, as you point out, super encouraging.

John Luther: best OF in baseball?

Meg Rowley: I was trying to think of a creative answer to this, but you know sometimes we get too cute. I’d say Yankees, Angels, and Red Sox in some order, with the Red Sox probably third. If I were trying to be cute about it, I might point out the Brewers as sneaky really good with lots of depth, though they’re not in quite the same tier as the three I’ve mentioned.

CamdenWarehouse: Can you describe your feelings about the Mariners Top Prospects (?) list?

Jay Jaffe: Hello and welcome to my FanGraphs chat debut, part of what we might call my soft launch at FG (Im going on a previously scheduled vacation next week) ! I’m an old hand at chats from my Baseball Prospectus days, and we did a few at SI around trade deadlines, but I’m looking forward to getting back to doing these regularly. Anyhoo, on with the show…

Clay Achin’: What can you tell us about yourself, for the uninitiated

Jay Jaffe: I laid out an outline of my career in my introductory post (https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/stepping-into-the-box/) but for those who haven’t gotten there yet, I’ve been writing about baseball since 2001, when  I started up Futility Infielder. Debuted at BP in early 2004, writing about Hall of Fame stuff, and later creating the Prospectus Hit List and writing a column called Prospectus Hit and Run. in 2012, Sport Illustrated hired me to start up a new daily baseball blog, and gradually that morphed into a less bloggy/more column-oriented role. I’m best known for my HOF work, which culminated in the publication of my book, the Cooperstown Casebook,  this past July. I live in Brooklyn, amm married to a baseball writer/editor, Emma Span (late of SI, now at the Athletic) and have an adorable 18-month old daughter.

Brad: Replacing Eno’s chat is tough act to follow.  I wish you the best.  Chase Utley a hall of famer in your opinion?

Jay Jaffe: Eno has left some very big shoes to fill, both in terms of baseball and craft beer. I do think Chase Utley is Hallworthy; he’s 10th among second basemen in my JAWS system, which averages a player’s career and 7-year peak WAR. Alas, I think the late start to his career will make him a tough sell among voters, because so much of his value is tied to defense and because he’ll likely fall short of 2,000 hits — a proxy for career length that has unfortunately become a bright-line test for voters (Bobby Grich, Dick Allen, Minnie Minoso, Jim Edmonds are among those on the wrong side of that line).

CamdenWarehouse: Welcome, Jay!  This timeslot is known for accepting beer questions, is that ok with you?

Kiley McDaniel: A few minutes late after being taken on a circuitous route by my dog, it’s Kiley chat

A big dumb idiot: *extremely seinfeld voice* Whaaaaats the deal with prospects

PAC-12 FAN: You seem lower on Toglia and higher on Rutschman than some other outlets (D1, BP) were this past summer. Obviously you can’t speak for them but do you have any idea on what you may dislike/like with these two prospects that other evaluators may not?

Kiley McDaniel: Didn’t think I’d get questions parsing the specific rankings of the 2019 MLB Draft list but here we are. Main difference here is Toglia (1B/RF, UCLA) is bat-only and doesn’t have huge power whereas Rutschman (C, Oregon State) has comparable, above average raw power and is a better athlete who can catch.

Geebs: Is this another chat dominated by prospect conversation? If so please tell us now so I can leave, I’ve had my fill.

Kiley McDaniel: This chat is what you make of it and it seems like you’re a Debbie Downer

Eric A Longenhagen: Good morning, all. Prospects Week is over at FG but you can check out all the links to our work near the bottom of the FG homepage.

Eric A Longenhagen: So please do that.

ChiSox2020: Which team has the best relief pitching pipeline?

Eric A Longenhagen: The Yankees. Multiple Rule 5 picks every year, trading 40-man crunch relievers for actual prospects.

Dan: Any thoughts on Fernando Kelli (Cubs CF)?

Eric A Longenhagen: Can really run but that’s it right now. Needs reps in CF and I’m confused about whether or not he’s actually a switch-hitter anymore or if he ever was because I’ve never seen it.

Travis Sawchik: Greetings!

Travis Sawchik: I understand pitchers and catchers are reporting …

Travis Sawchik: Well, at those who have signed contracts for 2018 …

Travis Sawchik: Spring is creeping closer. Rejoice.

Travis Sawchik: Let’s chat …

Desperate, confused Marlins fan: Darvish contract? great right?

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to Friday baseball chat

Bork: Hello, friend!

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friend

Tim: Does Pecota have a glitch where it just automatically projects the Rays to make the playoffs every year?

Jeff Sullivan: Projection systems always tend to be based on something like BaseRuns. According to BaseRuns, the Rays are always at least okay!

Eric A Longenhagen: Good morning from Arizona and welcome, esteemed readers.

Eric A Longenhagen: Reminder that the top 100 is here: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2018-top-100-prospects/

Kiley McDaniel: I’m also here!

Eric A Longenhagen: You probably already knew that but, if you haven’t already, read the opening graph of the hundred which might answer a lot of your questions already.

Eric A Longenhagen: Okay, let’s begin.

Lawgiver: Acuna listed as CF, his ACTUAL position, but with a 45 present defense?  I didn’t buy into the hype from other outlets that suggest he might push Inciarte off of CF, but I haven’t heard anything about him being below average defensively.

Travis Sawchik: Happy February

Travis Sawchik: Not so happy for many unsigned players …

Travis Sawchik: Let’s chat …

aw: When does the prospect stuff get posted today?

Travis Sawchik: A LOT of prospect content this week

Travis Sawchik: And I believe there will be several posts today

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to Friday baseball chat

Bork: Hello, friend!

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friend

Forrest: How is everybody’s morning/afternoon?

Jeff Sullivan: Fine

Kiley McDaniel: Kiley estoy aqui

Lurker: When will your top 100 drop?

Kiley McDaniel: Okay schedule is a good place to start here. Just recorded a podcast with Carson but it isn’t up yet so I guess I’ll break some news (?) that the top 100 drops Monday and there will be a whole week of top 100 related content.

Kiley McDaniel: The list is essentially done now, gonna lock it tonight, so I can talk in generalities about some players but don’t want to give too much away.

Kiley McDaniel: And since we’re blowing this out a bit and the Braves list is like 1/2 on the the top 100, that and the Yankees list got pushed back a bit but should both be coming soon after prospect week.

Kiley McDaniel: And sortable 2018/2019/2020 draft rankings drop the next Monday, so it’s a true 7-day week of rankings