Dan Szymborski: *cough*

Dan Szymborski: Don’t worry, I won’t be inserting my coughs.

Chris Hatcher: On a scale from “blow it up and start over” to ” they’ll figure it out and be a strength”, how concerned should Dodgers fans be about me and my ‘pen mates?

Dan Szymborski: It’s a little late to blow it up. And they *still* have the #3 bullpen in the RoS projections – even if you apply some kind of suck factor and say they’re “only” 10th or something, how would they build a better bullpen than the #10 on April 18th?

Tom: Any idea why Tulo has bad offensive numbers since he got the jays?

Dan Szymborski: 2015 wans’t alarmingly worse given the sample size

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Let’s chat already

Q-Ball: Fun Cub Fact: Cubs run differential right now is +43. That is more than the total runs scored of 22 teams.

Jeff Sullivan: I don’t think juggernauts really exist in baseball, but this is what one would look like

Jeff Sullivan: People said our expectations of the Cubs were way too high. They’re exceeding them! It’s so stupid

Raindog: More surprising: Daniel Murphy has highest qualified wOBA in MLB or Russell Martin has lowest?

Dave Cameron: Thanks for joining me on a Thursday this week. Spent a lot of time flying back to NC yesterday, so thanks to Eno for filling in.

Dave Cameron: Now we see if the Thursday crowd is any different!

Gary Gorr: How did you enjoy your time in Toronto and at Pitch Talks?

Dave Cameron: Pitch Talks was great. One of the most fun baseball events I’ve been to, and excited to be part of a bunch more this summer. If you have a chance to go to one, you definitely need to do so. They’re a blast. Toronto itself was also great, but a bit cold. Try to be warmer, Canada.

John: Is it possible to trade for a coach? I feel like teams would part with pretty high level prospects for Ray Searage

Dave Cameron: Yes, it happens, but rarely. Lou Piniella was traded, for instance. Usually it’s more of a guy-wants-to-leave situation, though, and the team gets compensation for letting him out of his contract. I don’t think teams could or would trade a coach against his will. And Searage doesn’t want to leave Pittsburgh.

Eno Sarris: sometimes when you get down in this business you just have to have a center, a calming soothing thing, and yesterday this was that thing for me

Eno Sarris:

Blerick: How could the author of this weeks very good changeup piece be got down?

Eno Sarris: By a little gremlin that finally got rid of his ear infections only to have his teeth bother him from 4:30 on this morning? Woof.

Lindor Truffles: Looming question–must know before league mates: Jepsen or May?

Eno Sarris: I think it might be May! Jepsen has been worse so far, May has been used right before him, and the last close game, it was May that finished the game. He seems to have more strikeouts in the bullpen, and velocity and handedness are about the same.

Jeff Zimmerman: Why match up question Paul?…….well, I guess 18% of our readers failed it

Paul Swydan: Hey, to each their own, right?

Paul Swydan: Let’s do this.

Tom: Melancon, Hanrahan, Bailey, Gagne. Just a few relievers the Red Sox have traded for that were terrible for the club. Any chance the same happens to Kimbrel and/or Smith?

Paul Swydan: Obviously there’s a chance, but I wouldn’t bet on it. At least not in Kimbrel’s case.

Jeff Zimmerman: Boston always seems to be late to the party. I am still surprised they haven’t been able to develop more.

august fagerstrom: Hello!

august fagerstrom: Quick programming note: I’m in the process of moving, and very shortly someone is coming to my apartment to buy my dining room table and chairs. Due to that, we may get this thing going a few minutes late today. Apologies

august fagerstrom: In the meantime, listen to MF DOOM:

august fagerstrom: OK!

august fagerstrom: Table: sold

august fagerstrom: Will chat for an hour starting now

Dan Szymborski: I have arrived to destroy your way of life.

Jeet: OBP League would you do a $4 Story for a $7 CMart?

Dan Szymborski: I don’t think so – even if he comes down to earth a bit (which he will), he’s got firm possession of a Coors Field starting position.

ScoKo: Is a 100r 80rbi season a possibility with Joe Panik? With Pagan in the 9 hole, he seems to be in a pretty ideal spot for both R and RBI.

Dan Szymborski: That’s a bit aggressive – even a Giants team leading the league in runs won’t have a ton of runs to give out given the park

Dan Szymborski: They have like 1 or 2 100-run seasons since Bonds, IIRC

Jeff Sullivan: Hello friends

Jeff Sullivan: Let’s baseball chat

Ryan: Just as high RBI and save totals are a product of opportunity, is it fair to say that great defensive metrics have a lot to do with difficult play opportunity?

Jeff Sullivan: It’s difficult to say the extent, but, yeah. Opportunity is definitely a factor. As one example, take a guy who robs four or five home runs in a season. Is that something he’s particularly good at, or did he just get lucky to have the chances? That can swing several runs

Art Vandelay: *looks at search bar* Glad I’m not the only one who had no idea who Ross Stripling was before today.

Jeff Sullivan: The one Dodgers depth candidate literally everyone ignored when listing them off in March

Eno Sarris: What a classic. Timeless. RIP.

Mark: When/where will your NY meetup be this summer?

Eno Sarris: June 16. Be there. Not sure where, but New York City. Probably just Foley’s but if I can finagle better beer…

Alex: Is Nicasio for real?

Eno Sarris: I’m still suspicious. Was down two ticks late, threw only five changeups.

The Inbetweener: Trevor Story for Trea Turner straight up in a dynasty league in which I’m not contending this year. Yes?

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody!

Big Joe Montferrant: So, the umps completely messed up that 8th inning in NY. Correa did not even run 1 step in the Baseline and was clearly in the way, and Valbuena was K’d on the 2-2 pitch (2 run single the next pitch). Why is runner interference not a reviewable play? and are you for or against automated K zone? Thanks

Paul Swydan: The running inside the baseline is something that bugs me, but guys know they can get away with it, so it’s on the umps. If the umps didn’t give them that leeway, this wouldn’t be an issue.

Paul Swydan: I honestly can’t say I’m for or against an automated strike zone. I can see both sides. Ultimately, you’d still need an umpire back there for out/safe calls at home though, so it’d be pretty awkward if he/she wasn’t doing anything most of the time.

Michael: After 3 years of telling us that Uehara’s warmup routine is so intense that it basically doesn’t matter whether he pitches once he’s been through it, is John Farrell going to think up a new excuse for pitching Kimbrell in all the non-save situations?

Paul Swydan: I’m as critical of Farrell as anyone. More critical, in fact. But I think we can chalk this one up to “it was Opening Day, and they just wanted to show off the new toy.” Also, Uehara and Kimbrel are different people.