Paul Swydan: Hi everybody! I’m flying solo tonight. Jeff is having some computer trouble. Sorry to postpone last night, but after three hours of the snowblower vibrating my hands, the last thing I was up for was rapidly typing for an hour. Hopefully you understand.

But I’m here tonight, and starting at 9 pm ET we can talk all the baseball talk you can talk. Or something. See you soon

Paul Swydan: OK, let’s do this.

Comment From Rated Rookie

Paul Swydan: This was more or less me yesterday.

Comment From DC
Whatcha think about me trading a $17 Carlos Gomez for $17 Hanley and $5 kris Bryant? These values would be set for 3 years.

Paul Swydan: I think that if you can make up the steals elsewhere then this is a no-brainer.

Dave Cameron: It’s a Wednesday, so we’re chatting. Because the wife is at the dentist, leaving me with both child and dog, there’s a chance we’ll start a little late today; I don’t know how well I’ll be able to work and care for two attention craving beings at the same time.

Dave Cameron: Alright, Mom’s home just in time for the kid to start screaming, so let’s talk some baseball while I ignore it.

Comment From mtsw
Any good reason to think Travis Snider is a better options for the Orioles outfield than De Aza or Lough? Does he make more sense as half a DH platoon with Delmon Young?

Dave Cameron: Why is it either/or? They didn’t DFA De Aza or Lough. Having three useful outfielders is better than having two.

Comment From David
Casey Janssen can’t replace Clippard because almost nobody can, but do you expect a rebound from him next year?

Dave Cameron: Yeah, he seems like a decent bounce back candidate. Probably more of a decent arm than a relief ace, but he could be a nice little addition.

Jeff Sullivan: Hey guys

Jeff Sullivan: Having some operational issues but this should be resolved any moment

Jeff Sullivan: There we go. That was weird

Comment From Amoeba
ASTROS_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2014 GB/FB ratio
Evan Gattis_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 0.87
Colby Rasmus_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 0.81
George Springer_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1.15
Jon Singleton_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 0.85
Jose Altuve_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1.60
Jed Lowrie_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 0.71
Luis Valbuena_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 0.66
Jason Castro or Hank Conger_ _ _ _ _ 1.26 (0.79)
Chris Carter_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 0.53
AVG_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 0.94 (0.89)MARLINS_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2014 GB/FB ratio
Christian Yelich_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3.42
Marcell Ozuna_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1.44
Giancarlo Stanton_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1.06
Michael Morse_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1.37
Dee Gordon_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3.13
Adeiny Hechavarria_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2.26
Martin Prado_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1.65
Jarrod Saltalamacchia_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 0.93
AVG_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1.91

Is it fair to say that Astros and Marlins have opposite team construction philosophies?

Jeff Sullivan: Well that’s a hell of a way to start

Jeff Sullivan: Let me try to parse whatever this is trying to say

Dan Szymborski: From his secret lair here on Skullcrusher Mountain, it’s the Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat!

Dan Szymborski: (No presidents as I am not home)

Comment From Dan
Do you have the Zips PC at least so we can get some projs?

Dan Szymborski: On my laptop, so no. There would be long waits between.

Comment From Eric
Your best guess as to where Shields lands?

Dan Szymborski: That’s hard as he’s the last really desirable free agent standing so there are a lot of options.

Kiley McDaniel: I’m starting to run out of non-snappy things to say to kick off chats.

Comment From Raza
Where would you rank the Yankees farm system? Top 10? Top 15? 20? Bottom 10?

Kiley McDaniel: Just wrapping up their list right now. I have them 11th at the moment, but as covered in my last piece, the idea of ranking the systems depends on what you want to emphasize, since there isn’t an objective method for this yet.

Comment From j
Your Yankee list coming out today?

Kiley McDaniel: That’s up to the editors when it gets published, but about 30 min away from finishing it…once I finish this chat, of course. Currently at 6900 words.

Comment From The Butter-Upperer
Kiley, Old Bean, your chats are top drawer material.

Eno Sarris: be here shortly.

Eno Sarris: my car is cold, and for some reason that puts my shuffle on the fritz, and this is the first song in my ipod so I’ve been listening to a lot of this recently

{“author”:”RHINO”}:

Comment From Fish
Haven’t been to one of these in a while. Is it still weird?

Eno Sarris: Probably.

Comment From Tony G.
I realize that this is a broad question, but I hope you’ll answer it anyway. I’m in an AL-only league and currently focusing on the type(s) of strategy I will use going into this season. Care to share some thoughts/pointers based on your own approach? Thanks!

Dave Cameron: May have to start a few minutes late today, as I’m working out of the house this afternoon. If we start late, we’ll go a little long to make up for it.

Dave Cameron: Alright, I just finished off one of the better meatball sandwiches I’ve ever had, so I should probably plug this place: if you’re ever in Greensboro, NC, check out Giacomo’s Italian Market. Everything’s homemade, and that was really good.

Dave Cameron: Now for some baseball.

Comment From Eric
What do you think are the most likely landing spots for Shields?

Dave Cameron: Toronto seems like the clear fit to me. They still have money to spend, prefer shorter term contracts, and have a clear need for another big time starter.

Comment From lostpond
Are you looking to hire any interns for Fangraphs? I’m a college student with a variety of experiences and I would love to work for the site.

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody! Jeff and I will be here to cram some baseball down your cramholes at 9 pm ET! Or, at least I will be. To be fair, I haven’t talked to Jeff yet, and he’s a busy guy. While we’re sorting that out, take a look at some polls.

Paul Swydan: Whattup peeps! Long time no chat. Let us remedy this!

Comment From Guest
Dean Anna should be a verb

Paul Swydan: Definitely let us know which players you think should be verbs.

Jeff Zimmerman: Carson agrees

Comment From Blueyays
How was Banknotes Harper not in the verb poll?

Jeff Sullivan: Hey everybody

Jeff Sullivan: Welcome to live baseball chat

Jeff Sullivan: Last week, I had to end earlier than usual, because I had to go meet Rob Neyer and fall down on an artificial infield.

Jeff Sullivan: This week, I have to end *even earlier* for a different thing I have to do. We’re looking at something like a conventional hour or so. So, ask good questions

Jeff Sullivan: Or don’t, I don’t really care tbh

Comment From DerpyDan
Could you see Strasburg going to the mets for syndergaard and a complimentary player?