Dan Szymborski: Party. Started

Dan Szymborski: First thing, our usual business.

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Comment From Jolly Roger
If he continues on his current trajectory, when do you think Luis Severino joins the Yanks’ rotation? Any thoughts on floor/ceiling?

Dan Szymborski: He’s still very young – if he continues as he has, he’ll get some innings in the majors at the end of next year, I think, but the yankees aren’t usually super-aggressive

Comment From Dave
Is it time for the Jays to shut down Drew Hutchinson?

Nicholas Minnix: Hello, everyone! I’ll be with you at the top of the hour, as usual.

Nicholas Minnix: Gonna go ahead and get started. Hope to wrap not much past the hour today. Bring it.

Comment From Guest
I know you and Eno touched on it yesterday but are you ok with dropping a $13 Minor in 4×4 Otto, i have cheaper more effective options.

Nicholas Minnix: Yes.

Eno Sarris: I’ll be here soon. Here’s a song for no one.

Per Bolmstrand:

Comment From Lude for No One
Mike Trout has the longest dinger in 2014 per Hittracker. Wow.

Eno Sarris: I prefer dongers.

Comment From Kris
I’ve got Big Fern, Tanaka, and now Tulo on my bench (only one DL spot). Is it still worth rostering guys like McCarthy and running a platoon of Norris/Jaso at C, or has my replacement level gone down with the decrease of bench spots?

Eno Sarris: Tanaka may come back, so if you’re asking if you should drop anyone, my answer is no. You do need innings and PAs, so I think you’re doing fine.

Neil Weinberg: Hey all. We’ll get started at 3pm, but go ahead and fill up the queue now with any and all questions.

Remember that this chat is designed for questions about FanGraphs, our features, and our stats, but I’m more than happy to answer any other questions you have. Fantasy and prospect questions aren’t forbidden, but the answers don’t come with a money-back guarantee.

PS: I’m @NeilWeinberg44 if you’re reading this after the fact and have FG related inquiries. I mean, that’s also true if you’re reading it live…see you soon.

Neil Weinberg: Let’s get started. Reminder, I’ll definitely give you an hour, and I’ll run for two if you ask lots of good questions. This is a social contract, make the most of it.

Comment From Matt
What are some of the best ways to learn about the sabermetric stats and how to apply them to writing?

Neil Weinberg: Two general pieces of advice: 1) Go to leaderboards, find a stat you don’t know about, and then go look it up. We have lots of good and improving glossary entries here, and there are others (this is my job here, so you can always ask me to). 2) Read sites that make use of these stats. It’s sort of like learning a language and immersion is the way to go. If you see a post where Dave uses wOBA, you’re going to catch on…”hmmmm these guys seem to be using wOBA when talking about offense…that must be important.” Hang out on these types of sites and you’ll pick it up.

And ask questions! Always ask questions.

Comment From CStat Guy
For pitching RAR, FIP is used in the calculation. Is there a stat where a pitcher’s ERA is used to calculate a value above league average or replacement level? Thanks.

Neil Weinberg: We have a stat called RA9-WAR. You have to click to the “value” tab on the leaderboards/pages, but this is WAR based on the players RA9 (which is ERA without the unearned runs subtracted out).

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody, come back tonight at 9 pm ET, for the best baseball chat that is held at 9 pm ET on a Tuesday!

Paul Swydan: Hey guy!

Paul Swydan: Hey girl!

Paul Swydan: Hey …… horse?

Comment From Aaron Hicks
Are the Twins rushing Buxton by promoting him to AA after not dominating A ball?

Paul Swydan: I don’t think so. He’s now played 87 games there, which is more than he played at his previous two levels, and he hit .295/.380/.448 there. He did that at age 19 and 20. I’d say that’s pretty good.

Jeff Sullivan: I can’t believe it’s a chat

Jeff Sullivan: I can’t believe it’s a chat for all of us!

Jeff Sullivan: Don’t ask bad fantasy questions! Nobody cares and I don’t care!

Comment From Jake
Carlos Ruiz’ ROS wRC+ projection: 109. That feel high to you?

Jeff Sullivan: He has a 110 wRC+ right now

Comment From Fish
The Royals! The Mariners! The Orioles! Wow!

Dan Szymborski: And awwwwwaaaaaaay we go!

Dan Szymborski: (No presidents again, I just got back home and just haven’t had the time to get it ready)

Comment From Mike
BJ upton joke

Dan Szymborski: It’s like we’ve used up all the B.J. Upton jokes that are possible to make. So all we can do now is just say “B.J. Upton joke” and skip the actual joke.

Comment From Xolo
Thoughts on Preller calling up Rymer Liriano as his first order of business in San Diego?

Dan Szymborski: It’s a good move – the Padres should try to see as much of him as quickly as possible and he killed in his brief AAA visit

Nicholas Minnix: Hello, folks! Fire away, and I’ll be with you at the top of the hour.

Comment From Jolly Roger
In the second year of a rebuild (dynasty) with good depth and potential if not production at every position, but I’m looking to concentrate value a bit more. Thinking of offering Belt, Arenado, and Gio Gonzalez for Rizzo. Other guy has Chris Johnson and Chisenhall at 3B, and his pitching staff is Samardzija and a bunch of OK to good prospects. Sound like a fair deal?

Nicholas Minnix: Sounds like a fair OFFER, sure. I’d like to come up with Rizzo at 1B in a keeper/dynasty if I could.

Comment From Jack
Would you drop Maikel Franco for Jake Lamb in a dynasty league? Who has the brighter future? Thanks!

Eno Sarris: hello! let’s start with a bang.

MystikalVEVO:

Comment From Astroglide
Ben Paulsen aquitted himself nicely while filling in for Morneau. Between him and Kyle Parker, who do you think has the better shot at being the Rockies future 1B and why? Thanks.

Eno Sarris: Kyle Parker because of age at level. Can’t forget that Paulsen is already 26.

Comment From Darth Stout
Is Bryce Harper your 2014 fantasy baseball LVP?

Eno Sarris: There’s still time to hit a few homers and improve the line, but yeah he’s been underwhelming.

Neil Weinberg: Hey everyone, let me remind you of the guidelines.

My job here is primarily to serve as something of a Site Educator. This means that I’m responsible for providing resources to readers about our data, advanced metrics, and how to make use of the features available at the site.

My Twitter handle is @NeilWeinberg44 and if you want to get in touch about these kinds of questions at times other than 3pm on Wednesdays, that’s where to find me. It’s my job, so take advantage of it.

With that said, I will prioritize “how does this work?” and “what does this mean?” type questions during the chats, but feel free to ask regular questions about anything as well. Although if you’re here for fantasy advice or prospect talk, I’m probably less helpful than some of our writers.

Think that’s it, queue is open and we’ll start at 3pm!

Neil Weinberg: Also, I’ve observed that people really like seeing pictures of Dave’s dog, so I am shamelessly posting a picture of my dog in the name of both science and friendship.

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Neil Weinberg: Alright, let’s chat. If you’re new to the game, I’ll chat for at least an hour, but will happily go two+ if you pepper the queue with many excellent questions.

Comment From Pale Hose
Hi Neil. I have a couple questions on HR/FB. 1.) Are all HRs defined as fly balls? 2.) Does FB include IFFB? 3.) Would HR/(FB + LD – IFFB) make more sense? Thanks!

Neil Weinberg: 1) No. 2) Yes. 3) Not really. At least for the way I think about the stat. I think you could make the case that the stat you’re proposing is interesting, but a lot of line drives are 15 feet off the ground and that’s not what we typically care about with HR/FB%