Dave Cameron: It’s Wednesday, so let’s talk baseball for an hour or so.

Dave Cameron: The queue is now open and we’ll start in about 15 minutes.

Comment From Darth Stout
It’s Wednesday, so let’s talk Javier Baez for an hour or so.

Dave Cameron: The Alfonso Soriano comparison feels lazy, but also feels pretty accurate. Hope you enjoyed the Soriano experience the first time, Cubs fans, because you might just get it again.

Comment From Stanatee the Manatee
Apparently the Cards and John Lackey have come to some kind of unofficial agreement about his option for next season. Am I correct in assuming it’ll a 1 or 2 year deal at or slightly above market value to make up for being underpaid for one season?

Dave Cameron: Lackey said after the trade that he will honor the $500,000 option because he likes STL. He also noted he wouldn’t have done that for every city. I still wouldn’t be too surprised if STL made that option go away with a two year deal for real money.

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody!

I’ll be here at 9 pm ET to answer all of your base-and-or-ball questions. Jeff may be as well, I’m not sure, I forgot to ask him if he was available tonight. But either way, I’ll never leave you, faithful chatter!

See you soon!

Paul Swydan: Hi peoples

Paul Swydan: Let’s do this.

Paul Swydan: I never saw Jeff online, so I’m guessing he’s not going to be around tonight.

Comment From JV
How awesome is Jordan Zimmermann? He seems like another Wainwright to me. He is better than Sonny Gray, right?

Paul Swydan: Hmmmm…

Jeff Sullivan: Now’s as good a time as any to baseball chat

Jeff Sullivan: So let’s begin to baseball chat!

Jeff Sullivan: Usual thing about fantasy questions, etc.

Comment From Edward
Fluke season for Michael Brantley or has he figured something out?

Jeff Sullivan: I believe in the power gain. Doubt he’s going to be a long-term five-win player, but he was always average before he improved so he looks like a good one for a while

Comment From Kris
Cubs go after Lester pr Max? or a year too early?

Dan Szymborski: And we are live.

Dan Szymborski: I’m not at home at the moment, so no election today.

Dan Szymborski: (and I have to strictly stick to 1 PM today)

Comment From Guest
With the Mets having one of the best farm systems in the league after the Twins Cubs and ‘stros, and the rest of the NL East teams having below average at best farm systems, can you forsee any time in the near future where the Mets run away with the division every year, or is that just every Met fans fantasy?

Dan Szymborski: I know I’ve talked about this before, but I’m a big fan of the Mets future, simply because they have so many of the necessary elements right there.

Dan Szymborski: The issue is ownership and on-field management.

Nicholas Minnix: Hello, everyone! Happy August. Looking forward to answering some questions. Be with you at the top of the hour!

Nicholas Minnix: Apologize for the delay because of the erroneous code post, folks! Be with you shortly!

Comment From Elias
Thoughts on Kennys Vargas and Anthony Ranaudo?

Dave Cameron: So, we’re 75 minutes from the deadline, and most of the big moves have probably already happened, but we’ll spend the next couple of hours live blogging the rest of the run up to 4 pm, and the spillover that happens after. Come hang out with us.

Dave Cameron: Alright, I’ve got the chat on one screen and Twitter on another, so let’s chat for a while.

Dave Cameron: Plan is to go for a few hours, but things could change depending on what breaks. if David Price gets moved, I’ll have to go write about that, so we’ll see.

Dave Cameron: And, as you guys probably guessed, the queue is very full. Please don’t be mad if your questions don’t get answered.

Paul Swydan: Dave, I heard we traded Cistulli and a package of interns to the Rays for David Price? True, false?

Dave Cameron: And we have news: Asdrubal Cabrera has been traded somewhere.

Eno Sarris: I’m here! Barely! Much reduced.

dub0badger:

Comment From Billy Beane
Lester for Cespedes? Who in the blue blazes saw that one coming?!?!? Overall thoughts on the blockbuster?

Eno Sarris: It’s crazy. I don’t think I like it. They have to score some, too, and I thought Cespedes — who might be slightly overvalued — was a good foil to Donaldson and Moss. I like going three deep in the middle.

Eno Sarris: Of course that rotation is pretty sweet now.

Comment From Bobo
Is giving up Taveras in a 14 team keeper where he will be $9 next year worth it for a 2 month rental of Madison Bumgarner? Need a pitching boost.

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. Deadline questions welcome too.

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

Neil Weinberg: Also, two points of business: 1) There is a gentleman fixing my car’s windshield, so at some point I will disappear in order to pay him. 2) I injured by right index finger over the weekend so my typing is a tad slower than usual. I’ll make up for both by chatting for a long time.

Comment From Chris
That’s what you get for parking behind Fenway.

Comment From Jobber
Did you injure your right finger in the same travisty that harmed your windshield?

Neil Weinberg: I now realize how alarming those two facts were side by side.

Neil Weinberg: And no, they were not the same incident. Burned my finger in a small grease fire, windshield was hit by a rock. Windshield is fixed…finger less so. Let’s chat!

Dave Cameron: The trade deadline is tomorrow, but the guess here is that we see most of the notable action today, as the teams in on Lester, Price, and Hamels will want to have time to pursue a Plan B. So we’ll chat for awhile, and maybe Lester will get moved while we’re talking.

Dave Cameron: The chat will start at noon, but the queue is now open.

Dave Cameron: Going to start a few minutes late.

Dave Cameron: Okay, sorry about that delay folks.

Dave Cameron: We’ll definitely go long to make up for it.

Comment From Sad Jays Fan
FanGraphs teamed up with Sporsnet.ca? Awesome! PS: For those that don’t know Rogers Communications owns Sportsnet as well as the Blue Jays. Hopefully the Blue Jays Front Office actually increases their Analytics staff from only two people now (AA went on record to in a Sportsnet.ca article earlier this season that the Jays have an analytics staff of two guys). Did Sportsnet approach Fangraphs or did Fangraphs approach Sportsnet?

Paul Swydan: You. Me. TRADES.

That’s right, it’s the penultimate night before the trade deadline, so let’s talk some trade rumors!!! Jeff will be off watching live baseball, so you have me all to yourselves tonight.

9 pm ET. See you soon!

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody! I’ve got the last can of Summer Shandy cracked and a queue full of questions, so let’s do this thing.

Comment From Pale Hose
Hey Paul. Is Jackie Bradley figuring things out, or just having a good month in a bad season?

Paul Swydan: I think we need to wait a little longer before we call this improvement.

Paul Swydan: The general tone of the media is always going to be positive wrt Bradley, because everyone likes him. But it’s one month with a 110 wRC+, and for the season he’s still at 70. I want to see more.

Comment From Andrew (Ontario, Canada)
Hey Paul – How beautifully would Beltre fit in the Jays lineup? Move Lawrie to 2nd when healthy, that would be a scary lineup. Would a Norris+Pompey+Barreto package get it done?