Travis Sawchik: Happy Monday, folks

Travis Sawchik: I’m no longer a Yinzer. First chat live from Bay Village, Ohio …

Travis Sawchik: Let’s get to it …

Moonlight Graham: Happy moving, Travis!  Pittsburgh misses you.  Have you found a replacement for Mineo’s yet?

Travis Sawchik: There are many things I will miss about Pittsburgh, incuding Mineo’s. Working on it!

Zonk: Bryant is not really in the NL MVP conversation, despite being in the top group of players by fWAR.  Is it possible the reigning MVP is underrated?

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to Friday baseball chat

Sterling Mallory Chris Archer: I appreciate you and our Friday chats, Jeff.  Last year we had the Cubs storyline enthrall us all. What narrative this year could bring us some kind of excitement like last years?

Jeff Sullivan: It’s the Indians, right?

Jeff Sullivan: It’s obviously the Indians

Jeff Sullivan: Longest existing title drought, modern-record win streak, smaller-market operation, coming back from one of the most devastating World Series losses imaginable

Eno Sarris: I am an anemone

Eno Sarris: I’m here!

Brad: So which team looks like they made the best trade deadline moves to prepare themselves for the stretch run and playoffs?

Eno Sarris: I’m partial to getting the best starting pitcher you can, so even if the Dodgers haven’t been amazing, I like them getting Yu and the Astros getting Verlander.

JD15: What would you bid on Otahni right now in Ottoneu FGPTs?

Eno Sarris: I wonder if you’ll get both his hitting and pitching points. Fantasy baseball is headed towards a game breaker moment. Otani is Shaq for fantasy baseball. I dunno that I’d want to pay more than 10/15 though. What if he comes over as an OF that pitches sometimes? Or a pitcher that only hits sometimes? Then you’d want him like you’d want a Strasburg or Greinke before he threw a pitch.

Dan Szymborski: Party status:  Started hot.

The Average Sports Fan: Will the Twins be able to hold on for the 2nd wildcard?

Dan Szymborski: It’s getting closer – two games is significant with this amount of time remaining.

Dan Szymborski: It’s enough that it makes them vs. the field a coin flip or so.

Brad: will you do a hitting and pitching projection for Ohtani?

Dan Szymborski: Yes.

Dave Cameron: Happy Ohtani Rumor Day, everyone.

Dave Cameron: Here’s what I wrote about his situation this morning.

Dave Cameron: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/how-to-sign-shohei-otani/

Dave Cameron: We can talk about other things too, of course, but I’m guessing this will be an Ohtani-heavy chat.

PF: Is there ANY chance whatsoever the Jays get Otani? They had like five guys there scouting him…. or is that just advance scouting for next season when he’s with the Yankees…..

Dave Cameron: Sure, I think you could reasonably argue that every team has a greater than 0% chance here. This isn’t a situation where the big market teams can just drive the bidding to a place where the low revenue clubs can’t afford to get involved. Everyone will be able to afford Ohtani. So if someone can make a particularly great argument for why he’d be best served joining their organization, I wouldn’t rule anyone out.

Paul Swydan:

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody!

Pizza Pie Thompson: Could Kris Bryant be the leadoff hitter the Cubs have been looking for?

Paul Swydan: Interesting, interesting.

Jeff Zimmerman: He’s fine there or in any of the top 4 spots

Paul Swydan: He’s one of the four-best hitters, and of the four-best hitters he has the highest OBP. But the key is his willingness to hit there. If he doesn’t want to be the leadoff hitter, I wouldn’t make him the leadoff hitter.

Eric A Longenhagen: Howdy, all. Let’s get right to it…

GPT: Hey, you saw a bunch of AZL Giants baseball last week, thoughts on Seth Corry and Diego Rincones, and anybody else who might make the next Giants prospect list?

Eric A Longenhagen: Corry is a bit of a project. Body, velocity and breaking ball all look the part but he has 30 command right now. Rincones has some feel to hit but the tools are middling, he lacks physical projection. He needs to hit a lot to profile, though I did speak with someone who thinks he will. Izzy Munguia is a fun little sparkplug who I’ve liked in CF and I think he has above avg bat speed. Jake Gonzalez and Heliot Ramos are obvious ones and I’ve written about Camilo Dovall.

Chris: Do you think Glasnow will be different this go around?

Eric A Longenhagen: He’s objectively different but I don’t know if he’ll be much more effective. I hope so, though I’ve always been skeptical about the strikes ever coming. I guess we’ll see. He’s 24 now, I think?

Bork: Any September call ups really standing out to you so far?

Travis Sawchik:

Travis Sawchik: To begin, some free life advice!

Matthew: Are the Indians “peaking too early?”

Travis Sawchik: The Indians would be better off winning 18 straight games in October, sure (though all that is required is 11)…. But this is still a team that looks very well situated for October with the game’s best starting staff .

mike: does CLE make it to 20?

Travis Sawchik: Carrasco today, Kluber on Tuesday vs Det … so, yeah, I think so

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to Friday baseball chat

Bork: Hello, friend! Apologies for my absences. Bork Jr. can be very distracting.

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friend

Ray Liotta as Shoeless Joe: Anticipatory: We don’t want to hear about the NFL!

Jeff Sullivan: The NFL is stupid

Dan Szymborski: Chat time!

ChiSox2020: How does a rotation of Carlos Rodon, Lucas Giolito, Raynaldo Lopez, and Michael Kopech look in the 2nd half of 2018?

Dan Szymborski: Super-interesting at least.  I think the White Sox rotation has the upside potential to come back super quickly.

The Average Sports Fan: Are the Diamondbacks a legit matchup problem for the Dodgers or have the last couple series just been noise?

Dan Szymborski: I don’t think it’s a matchup problem.  Head-to-head really doesn’t provide any predictive value above-and-beyond what the team records do.

Dan Szymborski: The team-team interactions just aren’t as complex as they are in football or basketball.