Paul Swydan: Hi everybody!

Jeff and I will be here at 9 pm ET to answer all of your various baseball queries. So fill up the queue and we’ll see you then!

Paul Swydan: Hey people. I have a bowl of mint choc chip ice cream and some MLB.tv fired up. Lets do this.

Jeff Zimmerman: OK, I guess.

Comment From Darth Stout
So Brandon Belt. This is some kind of something.

Jeff Zimmerman: About time they let him play.

Paul Swydan: All spring I touted a breakout from Belt, and then I didn’t end up with him in the league where I could have because I had already landed Votto. Sad face.

Jeff Sullivan: Hey everybody and welcome to baseball live-chat.

Jeff Sullivan: Today we’ll discuss many of the things that I already know about in baseball, and fewer of the things that I would have to research in order to provide an informative response to a prompt

Comment From Daniel Poarch
IS it time to baseball live-chat?

Jeff Sullivan: Yes

Comment From jocephus
who won, you or the wasps

Jeff Sullivan: I got one wasp out but I suspect there is another somewhere in my living room because I heard a rattle in the blinds.

Jason Collette: Sorry for the late start — I pulled a Pascual Perez and got stuck in traffic, albeit at a BBQ restaurant and not I-285

Comment From Guest
Teixeira looks dreadful at the plate. Is he cooked?

	Jason Collette: Aprils have never been a good month for him, but as long as he’s complaining about that wrist, things won’t be good for him. His history buys him some leash, but early results have not been encouraging.

Comment From jocephus
can we determine the world series after 3 games?

	Jason Collette: Mariners vs Marlins — Selig’s worst nightmare!

Comment From Mikey
Jason! Thanks for the chat, was getting concerned. Thoughts on Corey Dickerson? Does his talent push him above Blackmon by late April?

	Jason Collette: Yes, I think the talent wins out here. Someone has to stand out from the crowd here eventually.

Comment From benj
Who is a better offensive player right now: Jean Segura or Brad Miller?

	Jason Collette: Two of my favorite players to watch. I’m biased with Miller as he’s from Orlando, so I’ve watched him quite a bit. I love his motor.

Comment From john
Please tell me I am dreaming. Lucas Duda over Ike Davis? There is nothing that Duda does better than Davis. Even saber-knowledgable Sandy Alderson idolaters must be going insane. Can this team get any worse?

	Jason Collette: When you have three first basemen, you really have no first basemen. Still, they’re in a better position than Milwaukee or Pittsburgh at the moment at the position. Can the Mets get worse? Are you double-dog daring them to?

MLB:

Comment From Fantasy Guru
Brad!!!!! I need your fantasy guidance this afternoon!!! Should I start Yordano Ventura in Detroit? Over/Under an ERA of 3.50?

Brad Johnson: Because you have no time to decide, I’ll do this one early.

Yordano was on my short list, he projects to about 1.1 fewer innings than Anibal if you’re able to rework your roster.

Brad Johnson: I think Ventura will do fine. Detroit has terrible hitting conditions today, which works in his favor.

Brad Johnson: Ok my dog has finished pooping. We can start.

Comment From hooha
You are not Eno. Please explain

Dave Cameron: We’ve got real, actual baseball. Let’s talk about it.

Dave Cameron: Queue is open, chat will begin in 15-20 minutes.

Comment From Ryan
Still too early to be legitimately optimistic about the M’s playoff odds?

Dave Cameron: It’s two games. They count, and the gap between the Angels and Mariners is now smaller than it was a few days ago, but I have the gap much larger than the FG Playoff Odds do, and I still don’t see the Mariners as more than a .500ish team.

Comment From Depressed Braves Fan
Is BJ Upton fixable? Obviously a SSS but he has not had a good past few games.

Dave Cameron: Remember last April? The one where Justin Upton was Babe Ruth? Don’t overreact to small samples.

Paul Swydan: CLEVER INTRODUCTION!

BASEBALL!!!

Polls coming later.

Paul Swydan: Oh, also, 9 pm ET is the start time. Be there!

Jeff Zimmerman: Question. I am going to examine individual park sections for the THT like I did with the league with this article:

http://www.hardballtimes.co…

I already plan on looking at Oakland’s foul area, Green Monster, Houston hill. Any other requests?

Paul Swydan: Help Jeff out guys!

Comment From JV
Scooter Gennett is getting the start again today (this time vs a lefty). Safe to say he is not in a straight platoon with Weeks???

Paul Swydan: I don’t think it’s SAFE to say, but it’s certainly trending that way.

Jeff Sullivan: Hey guys!

Jeff Sullivan: Shut up!

Jeff Sullivan: I chatted three and a half damn hours yesterday. You take what you get and you like it.

Jeff Sullivan: Let’s talk about the baseballs!

Comment From Guest
Going to be a long season for Toronto?

Jeff Sullivan: Going to be a long season everywhere! 162 games is a whole lot of games and they usually don’t play more than one in a day

Jason Collette: bienvenue…let’s chat

Comment From AL Pitching Coach
Yordano Ventura, and to some extent Tanner Scheppers, have picked up a ton of fantasy buzz over the past week or two. Thoughts on what to expect from them in 2014?

	Jason Collette: Eno and I discussed both guys on the podcast that dropped overnight. I like Ventura more than Scheppers, but Ventura’s delivery worries me. “his arm looks like it is attached to a rubber band” is the phrase I got from a pitching guru and that’s not a good thing.

Comment From Tony the Tiger
How badly does the loss of Iglesias affect the fantasy values of Porcello and Smyly?

	Jason Collette: It certainly does not help.I was really looking forward to seeing what that infield could do for Porcello. Knocks them down a round/round and a half and a $1

Comment From Guest
Miggy’s contract is the n-th worst contract in baseball in the last 25 years. n equals???

	Jason Collette: Vernon Wells, Joe Blanton, Albert Pujols, 50 feet of crap, Ryan Howard….so maybe 6th?

Comment From jocephus
swydan is not a fan of martinez/rosenthal going into BP without chance at starting…yer thoughts?

	Jason Collette: I side with him on this, to a point. You’ve already started down the path with Rosenthal, so if you’re going to stretch him out, do it in the minors. Martinez has drastic R/L splits and would be better served in the minors working on that as well, but I get putting both on the major league level in their current roles.

Comment From Chris
What is your outlook on Jose Abreu? Does he have the ability to be an elite first baseman

	Jason Collette: He was a hot topic of discussion at Foley’s last Saturday night. Crowdsourcing his numbers gave me a .270 avg with 32-35 homers

Eno Sarris: here in 12 minutes it looks like

idumea25:

Eno Sarris: Enjoy this upbeat tune in the meantime.

Comment From Jon
Should we still be worried about Doug Fister?

Eno Sarris: Only a tiny bit more than any other pitcher, given his age and something that might have given him DL time in the regular season.

Comment From Regarding Jeff Zimmerman’s Injury Zone Report…
Hi Eno…do you have a link to this report? You mentioned it a week or two ago on a chat and how Shields and Fister were on there. I did a search and couldn’t find this particular report for this year. Wanted to see who else is on there. Thanks!

Dave Cameron: Welcome to the last pre-season chat of the year. The queue is now open, and we’ll talk Positional Power Rankings, Opening Day, or any other non-fantasy subject you’d like to tackle.

Comment From Roenis Elias
Ummm… who the hell am I?

Dave Cameron: A non-prospect being pushed into a rotation spot because an organization failed to actually build real depth over the winter.

Comment From SRN
Do you put any value in Moustakas’ Spring performance? Any reason (yet) to suspect he’ll outperform projections?

Dave Cameron: No and no.

Comment From the Average Sports Fan
The Reds not a top 15 rotation? Please explain.