Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to Friday baseball chat

Jeff Sullivan: Feels like it’s been a while

Sterling Mallory Chris Archer: I appreciate you, Jeff.  You make Fridays so much better.

Jeff Sullivan: /pats self on back

Jeff Sullivan: Let’s just go ahead and appreciate me for the next couple of hours

Eno Sarris: Apparently this is obpmusic, so it can get on base or what

Eno Sarris: Let’s!

Hannah Hochevar: Vampire Tanaka struggled in the evening last night. Was it the dome? Or is there just no rhyme/reason at this point?

Eno Sarris: As much as I’ve advocated for the no fastball approach, I think it might lead to this sort of thing. Dave Righetti once told me that if you throw that many sliders, you’ll lose it for stretches. He was talking about Romo, who was the original All Breaking Ball Guy.

Jose: Has the flyball / swing revolution reached the minors? If not, how might that impact guys who look ready to make an impact?

Eno Sarris: Every day sees more FanGraphs readers in the minor leagues. Absolutely sure there are guys we can find. Look at Hoskins, he’s hitting 50% fly balls and loving life. Ryder Jones just told me he used plate discipline (like Bruce) to lift the ball better.

The Average Sports Fan: The Cardinals are now over .500.  Are they an actual playoff contender?

Dave Cameron: It will take either the Rockies or D’Backs falling apart. They aren’t going to catch the Cubs, most likely.

Rod: Dave, can I use the rolling charts in a blog article? Secondly, if so, is there an option to get a picture of chart? Screenshot?

Dave Cameron: Yes, you can always use any of our graphics in your posts, as long as you link to FG in the process. There’s a download image button coming soon, but for now, screenshot is the way to capture them.

christopher: Tigers fans complain about the JD return, A’s fans about the Yonder return, but those two + the crater of the bat only FA market last offseason means… that was about the reality? Has the market overcorrected?

Dave Cameron: I think there’s a decent argument to be made that bat-first players are now underpriced, yes.

Paul Swydan:

Paul Swydan:

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody!

Paul Swydan: One sec, still getting set up.

Paul Swydan: OK, let’s do this thing.

Austin: Reynaldo Lopez had a great stretch from June-July, but his last three starts have been more pedestrian (15 IP, 8 ER, 9 BB). Cause for concern as he makes his White Sox MLB debut?

Travis Sawchik: Howdy

Travis Sawchik: My apologies for the slight delay here ….

Travis Sawchik: I enjoyed my first Saber seminar over the weekend. Lot of great research and people getting together at Boston U over the weekend

Travis Sawchik: And thanks to everyone who attended our FanGraphs meet-up on Friday. That was a lot of fun

Travis Sawchik: OK, OK … let’s get to the questions

Matty P: Jay Bruce has a positive DRS. and has great power. why isn’t he on a contender?

Eno Sarris: Moving Day! I’m very happy to be here for a bit.

Eno Sarris: Starbucks Wi-Fi. Moving Day. Let’s do this.

Steve: Zack Godley is a top _____ arm going into 2018.

Eno Sarris: SP2 in most leagues. 30-40.

ST Tiger Fan: Do you prefer dynasty or redraft leagues?

Eno Sarris: Dynasty. Churn and burn is not super fun to me.

Dave Cameron: Happy Wednesday, everyone.

Dave Cameron: Before we get to the chat, I wanted to note that I unfortunately won’t be able to attend this weekends Saber Seminar or the Pitch Talks event in NYC on Monday as originally planned. My dad had a stroke last week, and I’m in Seattle helping out for a bit. Given the fact that Carson is also on paternity leave learning how to be a Dad and that a good chunk of our staff is traveling to Boston this week, I’ll ask for a little more grace than usual this week if things aren’t running at 100% on FG. We’ll get back to normal soon enough.

Dave Cameron: I will really miss being at Saber Seminar, and hopefully if you were planning on saying hi this weekend, we can catch up in the not too distant future.

Dave Cameron: With that out of the way, let’s talk some baseball for a little bit.

striker: Love Eric’s rankings of prospects dealt during the trade deadline season. Based on that write up, looks like Hahn did really good with his returns for all of his deals so far. Would you give him an A so far? What, if anything, would you have done differently?

Dave Cameron: I think he got the best deal he probably could have in almost every trade he’s made, maybe save the Frazier/Kahnle/Robertson swap. I do think the prospects he’s acquired are generally more well regarded by fans than is justified by their value within the game, and he’s bought a lot of of very high-risk prospects, so the White Sox failure rate might be higher than you’d expect from a farm system this good. But clearly, they have some pieces with very high upside as well, and if a few of their gambles pay off, they’ll find some stars to build around.

Paul Swydan:

Paul Swydan:

Paul Swydan:

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody!

Paul Swydan: Jeff should be along shortly.

Michael: No Rockies option for winning the deadline?

Eric A Longenhagen: Hello from Phoenix.

Eric A Longenhagen: I ranked all the traded prospects and, more importantly, there are link to all their scouting reports in this post: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/ranking-the-prospects-traded-during-dea…

Eric A Longenhagen: And if they don’t have a post of their own the report is just in that doc.

Calhoun: Am I the future DH for the Rangers, or can I actually play D in the outfield?

Eric A Longenhagen: DH for me

Pearced: Thoughts on Pannone? Solid back end starter?

Travis Sawchik: Happy Trade Deadline Day, folks

Travis Sawchik: T-minus four hours until the non-waiver deadline …

The String Cheese Incident: Think the Tigers are done, or do you see another piece (Kinsler, Iglesias, etc.) moving today?

Travis Sawchik: Tigers seem committed to moving pieces so I could see another trade or two … not sure what the market is like for Kinsler. …. They need to do better than the J.D. Martinez return

Benny from the Glock: Would Yankees push for Darvish if Gray fell through?

Travis Sawchik: Darvish is a shorter-term option, of course, but it seems logical that they would target him if Gray fell through