august fagerstrom: chatty chat chat!

august fagerstrom: The soundtrack is the new Radiohead record, A Moon Shaped Pool, which I cannot link, but you can (and should) acquire. It is blissful and flawless

Byron: What’s wrong wi

august fagerstrom: off to a good start!

mtsw: Shouldn’t the Nationals assume (or strongly suspect) that if Boras is willing to do an extension for Strasburg, there must be something wrong with his elbow that they don’t know about?

august fagerstrom: I think this is something worth considering, but at the same time, Strasburg’s looked as good as ever lately, so it would be odd if *now* was the time when Boras felt the need to make that move

Dan Szymborski: Initiate communication.

Dan Szymborski: Happy Monday to all of you!

Dan Szymborski: Well, unless some of you are serial killers on the run or something, in which case I wish a less-than-happy Monday to you.

Dan Szymborski: Usual reminder: I will be saving any off-topic Qs for the Lightning ROund, but since I sometimes miss questions due to velocity, actually waiting until 1 PM for off-topic questions is a better strategy.

Jason: What does Texas do about Prince? He’s owed so much money but his production is horrid and he’s far and away the worst offensive player on the team so far.

Dan Szymborski: What can they do other than sit him down? It’s not like anyone ought to want him.

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Bork: Hello, friend!

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friend

Jeff Sullivan: Let’s baseball chat

Bork: Can Trout trade the Angels?

Jeff Sullivan: Have to examine the particulars of his contract but you have to think that the answer is yes

Eno Sarris: Be here shortly! In the meantime

Eno Sarris: challa!

Matt Harvey: Are you worried about me?

Eno Sarris: Look a little doughy, not doing well in the fifth, velocity dropping off, it’s hard to change fitness in the middle of the season, but I’m less worried about him than a guy like Keuchel at 88 mph.

Inquiring Monde: I think I know the answer to this q given your podcast/love of Nola, but here goes: trade Travis Shaw to get back Nola in a redraft?

Eno Sarris: Shaw looks like a .260/20 type third baseman, which I like a little less than a strong fantasy #2.

Dave Cameron: Back after a nice vacation last week, so let’s try to get two weeks worth of questions in today.

Alan: As a miserable Atlanta fan, can you give me some hope? And when’s the earliest you could see this franchise back in the mix for a playoff spot?

Dave Cameron: Have you seen what Swanson and Albies are doing in the minors? There’s a real chance that could be your starting middle infield next year, and those guys could represent a massive improvement from the disaster that Aybar/Peterson have been. Inciarte is still a nice player when he gets healthy, Freeman will bounce back. They are halfway to a decent lineup. The pitching stinks, so this will take a few years, but there are pieces in place.

O’s Lover: Is it time to give up on Schoop? All predictions had his breakout year coming – too soon to pull the plug?

Dave Cameron: He is what he is; a powerful slugger with lousy command of the strike zone.

S: Rockies fans have to be encouraged by Jon Gray so far, right?

august fagerstrom: let’s do a chat!

august fagerstrom: I wanted this week’s chat soundtrack to be the new Drake record, but unfortunately it’s horribly boring, so instead watch the new Radiohead video and then listen to a bunch of other Radiohead while you’re at it

Bork: Hello, friend!

august fagerstrom: Hi, Bork!

Shawn: Outside of a few bad pitches, Matt Moore has looked great so far this year. Think this is the year he finally puts it all together?

august fagerstrom: I’ve never been a big Moore believer, but I touched upon him a bit in the Rays post I wrote last week. Everything he’s doing — velocity, movement, command — either looks exactly like rookie season Moore, or better

Jeff Sullivan: Well dammit friends

Jeff Sullivan: Let’s just baseball chat

Jeff Sullivan: Hello

Guest: Jeff, OMG did you fix Chris Archer???

Jeff Sullivan: Chris Archer didn’t need very much fixing, which helps

Jeff Sullivan: It’s like trying to fix David Price

Eno Sarris: The game has gone

Erik: The Phillies are over .500! That must mean they suck at everything, even tanking, right? Are they being decent in any way that’s actually sustainable?

Eno Sarris: Hey I love their staff, loved it from the beginning. Eickhoff, Nola, Velasquez, Franco… Franco… and eventually JP Crawford! They have some decent pieces and will have some money to spend. Their rebuild won’t take forever.

George is Curious: Has your opinion of Rich Hill changed any since last week? I sat him for his past two starts and boy did he make me pay for that. And now I see he’s atop the leaderboard for most-improved pitcher projections?

Eno Sarris: Yeah but, watching it, I don’t get it. He relies on throwing a curveball half the time, and in the zone more than anyone, so to some extent he’s relying on non-swings. Has no fastball command, so there will be games with five or six walks. He’s super risky to me. And I haven’t even gotten into the injury risk.

Howard: So after spending time with the padres what did you learn about them? Other than the fact that they are going to be terrible this year.

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody!

Paul Swydan: Couple warnings for tonight’s chat. 1) Jeff is in the middle of a lightning/hail storm that is causing him to lose intermittently lose power, so he may be in and out. 2) I’m watching the Celtics game because a) it’s the playoffs and b) last night’s Sox-Braves game was super boring. Sue me.

William Wallace : Berrios hot takes

Paul Swydan: You’re talking to a guy who went to $11 on him in Ottoneu. Yes that was partly because I had accidentally left a lot of money on the table, but still. I’m excited. Be excited!

Paul Swydan: The rookies are coming.

Paul Swydan: Jeff lost power FYI.

august fagerstrom: Hello! My internet is being weird so hopefully this all goes smoothly.

august fagerstrom: In a Death Grips mood today. Death Grips — Government Plates

august fagerstrom: Also, if you’ve missed the announcement, make sure to check out this cool thing myself and other baseball writers will be attending in New York in June: www.fangraphs.com/blogs/staten-island-yankees-sabermetric-day-event-on-june-19th/

Jake M: Milky Cabrera after a awful first Hal last year had a 110 wRC+ in the 2nd half and now has a 155 wRC+ with the best strikeout to walk rate in baseball last time I checked. Turnaround I can believe in?

august fagerstrom: Milky!

august fagerstrom: Let’s begin.