Paul Swydan:

Paul Swydan:

Paul Swydan:

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody!

Paul Swydan: Jeff might be a few minutes late.

anonymous: Isn’t run prevention (defense) more valuable than run production (offense) when available in equal amounts? Because you’re saving wear and tear on your pitchers…?

Eric A Longenhagen: Good morning from Arizona.

Eric A Longenhagen: Chat, go.

Nientsniew: What happened to Giolito’s mechanics that made him struggle?

Eric A Longenhagen: Pretty sure Giolito has said publicly that they tried to make him more upright, but I don’t know that that’s why he struggled. It just seems illogical, on the surface, to mess with one of the better pitching prospects in baseball like that.

AA: Which Cody Reed do you feel will have the better career? I feel Cincinnati’s Reed has been a bit disappointing but still think he’s got more upside than Cody Reed Arizona.

Eric A Longenhagen: CIN’s Cody Reed I think will be a fine mid-rotation starter. I do not ARI’s Cody Reed to be a prospect.

Travis Sawchik: Welcome to Sawchik Chat V

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

Erik: Roughly what percentage of MLB hitters would benefit by swinging with more of an uppercut? Are we talking everybody except Billy Hamilton, or more like a quarter to a third of hitters? And what profile of hitter would fit into that group?

Travis Sawchik: (The swing path was the subject of my Monday morning post, FYI …. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/can-more-mlb-hitters-get-off-the-ground/) Erik, I would say the majority to vast majority of hitters would benefit form more loft and fly balls. Hamilton is one that probably would not, but he’s an exception. Hey, Christian Yelich, get the ball in the air!

Bork: Are you surprised that Hammel only received $16M? That elbow must be a big question mark.

Travis Sawchik: There’s gotta be something going on with the arm/shoulder/elbow, right?

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to Friday baseball chat

Bork: Hello, friend!

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friend

Jeff Sullivan: Apologies for this brief immediate delay but now I have a phone call real quick

ZMP: Do you think we see a spike in K-rate from Stroman or Taillon this year?

Eno Sarris: The last few days have been more like

Eno Sarris: when I’m searching for my inner

Paul R: Ever play in a league that had a 3rd place prize?

Eno Sarris: all the time

Gub Gub: gub gub

Eno Sarris: bug

Paul Swydan:

Paul Swydan:

Paul Swydan:

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody!

+ison Russell: Hendricks in the 14th; Giolito in the 23rd; Mazara in the 26th (26 rounds, rd picked is the cost to keep). Pick 2.

Paul Swydan: Hendricks and Mazara

Eric A Longenhagen: Morning, everyone.

Eric A Longenhagen: So, there are A LOT of questions in the queue about other peoples’ lists. I won’t be answering any of those.

Eric A Longenhagen: I will say this…

Eric A Longenhagen: The gap between Prospect # 20 on a list and prospect #80 on someone else’s looks a lot bigger than it actually is.

Eric A Longenhagen: Yeah, I’m looking at my Top 100 right now and the gap between #2 on the list and #21 is literally a half grade

Eric A Longenhagen: And those tiers get even bigger the further down you go.

Travis Sawchik: Welcome, everyone. Let’s talk …

Erik: Do you think the Golden Age of Shortstops could force a rethink of what it means to be a good shortstop? Currently, a glove-first shortstop with a chance to slap his way to a decent but completely empty batting average is considered a shortstop prospect. Could the current crop redefine the position to the extent that that’s no longer the case?

Travis Sawchik: I think there is the potential, yes. This current crop of shortstops is amazing … and the prospect lists are loaded with impressive shortstop potential, too. I don’t think we know much about what the 21st century athlete is going to do going forward but there’s a chance it redefines what we expect from the position (Shameless plug … I wrote about this Golden Age of shortstops on the Site today)

Rb: Quintana for meadows Keller and Newman. Who says no white Sox or pirates?

Travis Sawchik: I doubt the Pirates would part with both

GERB: What does a ceiling for Jose Ramirez look like? 2016 with a few more walks?

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to Friday baseball chat

Bork: Hello, friend!

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friend

Joey Gallo: What do you expect from me in 2017? Going forward?

Jeff Sullivan: To be perfectly honest it’s hard for me to see you as anything more than Chris Carter. Which, hey, Carter has been a pretty good hitter. But Gallo isn’t all the way there yet, so Carter might be the 60th or 70th percentile outcome

Dan Szymborski: Now, fill up the glasses with treacle and ink and anything else that’s pleasant to drink!

Dan Szymborski: The chat has started.

RotoLando: Save us, Dan, from the worthless wasteland Twitter has become…. tell us about your cats.

Dan Szymborski: I think they’re all sleeping. It’s 2 PM, so Galileo should be appearing any minute to sit on my lap and start buttering me up for dinner.

Ryan: Greg Holland to the Rockies. Good or bad for the Rockies? Good or bad for Greg Holland?

Dan Szymborski: I’m optimistic. I’m not sure it’s the best environment to rehab your value, but he’ll probably help the Rockies.