Dave Cameron: Happy Wednesday, everyone. I just flew back from SF yesterday, after a fun Pitch Talks event on Monday night. Seriously, these shows are great, and you really should make a point of going if one comes anywhere near you.

Dave Cameron: Watching Jonah Keri get made crushed by Jon Miller was a lifetime highlight.

Dave Cameron: But with a month left in the season, we’ve got plenty of stuff to talk about, so let’s spend the next hour talking baseball.

wilson: Shelby Miller is back up today, do you think theres a shred of hope for him going forward?

Dave Cameron: Sure, there’s no reason to think that a guy who was a quality pitcher for several years is now just utterly useless. It seems like his season just snowballed on him, with his mechanics getting out of whack, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Miller turned out to be a useful pitcher again. Remember, Roy Halladay had one of the worst seasons in baseball history, got sent back to A-ball to redo his mechanics, and came back as a Hall of Famer starter.

Guest: Hendricks peripherals are pretty much identical to last year? Has he actually gotten better?

august fagerstrom: Yo! Chat will start shortly after the top of the hour

august fagerstrom: In the meantime, listen to this new Bon Iver single that I have not been able to quit replaying:

august fagerstrom: I’m not even a particularly huge Bon Iver fan, but I can’t get enough of the new sound he’s displayed on the three singles. Insanely hyped for this new record. Love the new direction

august fagerstrom: ok!

august fagerstrom: let’s begin

Brett W: Your chat might be more efficient and effective if you lead with the curve.

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to baseball chat

carrotjuice: I recommend the Rob Arthur article on 538 the other day about Statcast missing batted balls. The craziest thing: 21.7% of batted balls in the Arizona Diamondbacks stadium aren’t tracked!

Jeff Sullivan: If I recall this was an issue a year ago — many of the weakest-hit batted balls weren’t tracked. Stands to reason that wouldn’t get fixed right away. So what we’re seeing in the data isn’t necessarily “true” in terms of capturing everything

Jeff Sullivan: There are problems with balls hit directly into the ground, and there are problems with balls hit so high the cameras lose sight of them

Jeff Sullivan: It’s not random — the missing batted balls tend to be extremely unproductive batted balls, from a hitting standpoint

Eno Sarris: Something weird happens to your Limbic System when you have kids. It’s like someone turns on the hose, and suddenly you’re sitting there listening to a song you’ve heard a million times and you’re wiping tears from your face.

Eno Sarris: I’m here!

Gary: Let’s assume Benintendi is fine for next year. Better keeper: him or Brantley in a points league?

Eno Sarris: I’d rather take a shot on Benintendi’s power, he looked really impressive at the plate.

Al: How much value does a manager actually provide and is there a quantifiable metric to show how their decisions impact the win-loss total?

Eno Sarris: My guess is 2-4 wins, and no. Which sucks, because I got my first vote this year, and it’s for AL MOY.

Dave Cameron: Happy Wednesday, everyone. Let’s talk some baseball for an hour or so.

Ed in Iowa: I have several questions/comments this week, but most importantly: Was there good news yesterday? Is it time to start planning that fancy, costume, pool party?

Dave Cameron: For those who aren’t sure what Ed is referencing, I had my five year remission checkup yesterday. It was, indeed, good news. I’ll never be really “cured”, as there’s always a small lingering chance of recurrence, but the five year mark is the point where 95% of AML patients end up living a nice healthy life until something else kills them.

Dave Cameron: So yeah, we’re going to have a big party.

britishcub: Are NL pitchers stats more predictive of future performance if you look at non pitcher at bats only or do you just lose information?

Dave Cameron: I would imagine it probably doesn’t make a big difference one way or another, but I haven’t seen it studied.

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody!

Paul Swydan: Sorry, was just talking with Jeff.

John Olerud: Start Danny Duffy @ BOS this week? I know it seems crazy to sit him given the roll he’s on, but his peripherals and dropping velocity are a little concerning. I’d probably start him in any other situation (except for an @ COL start), but based on the team and park factors for 2016 @ BOS is on par with an @ COL start. What say you guys?

Paul Swydan: I think Podhorzer made a compelling case to drop him last week at RotoGraphs. In my opinion, the Sox have been scoring less, so I’d rock Duffy til the wheels fell off. But you are right to be wary.

Paul Swydan: Hold on guys, Jeff is having issues.

OddBall Herrera: Did I get the poll questions right? You never publish answers to these things

august fagerstrom: I am here!

august fagerstrom: Let’s chat!

august fagerstrom: This week’s soundtrack, is of course, all the new Frank Ocean material

august fagerstrom: All of it is great. I’m actually partial to Endless right now, though Blond is growing on me. Interested to hear y’alls thoughts

Bork: Hello, friend!

august fagerstrom: Hello, Bork!

Eric A Longenhagen: What’s up, everyone? I published the first of an obviously multi-part series on the prep summer showcase stuff I’ve been seeing. Part 1 is here: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2017-draft-summer-showcase-series-left-handed-pitchers/

Eric A Longenhagen: And time to chat…

Julio Pepper: How would the top of the 2015 draft go today? Bregman/Benintendi/Swanson?

Eric A Longenhagen: Too early to go back and re-do that sort of thing and definitely too early to imply that mistake up top were made. Like I wouldn’t fault the Rockies for taking Brendan Rodgers at 3 if he’s there, even with Benintendi on the board.

Great 8: What’s your future value for Yohander Mendez?

Eric A Longenhagen: Stuff is really good, has a chance to be an above average Major League starter, maybe make an All Star team or two at peak.

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to Friday baseball chat

Jeff Sullivan: This has been awfully inconsiderate of me

Bork: Hello, friend!

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friend

Rick Roll: The rick roll has not started yet