Dave Cameron: Back for our weekly Wednesday chat, and the queue is now open. Feel free to ask all non-fantasy related Qs.

Dave Cameron: Jeff always starts late and you guys seem to enjoy his chats, so just assume I’m copying his shtick.

Comment From JEB
Billy Hamilton has some stones running on Yadi eh?

Dave Cameron: Major league debut, take off on the best defensive catcher in baseball. That’s fun.

Comment From Guest
If Cabrera is off and on like this for the rest of the year, can Trout win MVP?

Dave Cameron: There’s no chance Trout wins because of his team’s record. He probably won’t even finish second if Baltimore makes the playoffs.

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody!

I will be here at 9 pm ET, maybe Jeff or Chris will be here too. And hopefully you will too! Load up the queue and I’ll see you soon! (Poll results at bottom of transcript)

Paul Swydan: Evening, folks.

Paul Swydan: In Russia, Paul wins you!

Jeff Zimmerman: Hi, just working on a poll.

Paul Swydan: For the record, Jeff did that poll. I’m not THAT full of myself … yet.

Comment From cistullishairline
Will Carson Cistulli continue to write for fangraphs from France?

Jeff Sullivan: Hey guys, we’ll get going in a couple minutes. Finishing off the last of breakfast, as is always the case, every single time.

Jeff Sullivan: I spent the entire long weekend in the North Cascades and have next to no idea what’s been happening in baseball lately. As such this is going to be the worst live baseball chat you’ve ever experienced.

Jeff Sullivan: Educate me!

Comment From Brian S
Why on earth is Kevin Gregg still a Cub?

Jeff Sullivan: He’s still the same Kevin Gregg who signed a minor-league contract after the start of the season, plus five months

Comment From Fun fact of the day
Pedro Astacio, 1999: 5.04 ERA, 1.435 WHIP, 38 HR… and a 5.9 rWAR, good for 5th in the NL. Coors Field!

: Happy Friday… We’ll get started in about 15 minutes so get your prospect and general baseball questions in now!

Comment From greg
carson cistulli, drop or keep?

: Keeper all the way. He’s the life of every party…

Comment From LarryA
If all goes great, when could we see Glasnow in the Majors, mid-2015?

: That sounds about right, assuming he stays healthy and continues on the same development path.

Comment From Tripp
Do you see Jonathan Schoop ever becoming an impact player for the O’s?

Eno Sarris: Top of the hour!

Eno Sarris: lyrics of the day from a band I liked from the opening sounds of this song

Hey, what’s the matter? Nothing’s the matter.
That’s why I can’t leave my house.
You must get lonely. No. I don’t get lonely. So…
That’s why I can’t leave my house.
Well… Head into the city? Well, I guess it can’t hurt.
Nothing’s on the television. On the networks.

Comment From Jeremy
In a dynasty: Choo and Rendon or E5?

Eno Sarris: E5 even if he doesn’t have the long-term upside. I saw some behind the scenes decline in Choo’s numbers last year and he’s not the most athletic guy.

Comment From Bkgeneral
Will Matt Kemp provide any value this year? Or will he play just enough to tempt me to put him the lineup and then continue to disappoint as he has all season?

Eno Sarris: I think he’ll play every day fairly soon. They’ll need him to be hitting on all cylinders in the postseason, and the time off for his ankle probably helped his shoulder some.

Dave Cameron: We’ll be starting just as soon as I hit publish on this piece explaining some of the features of our new Playoff Odds page. The queue is now open.

Comment From Guest
how is the going rate of a win on the open market calculated?

Dave Cameron: We use projected values from forecasting systems like ZIPS and Steamer along with aging curves to create a forecast number of wins over the length of the contract. So, say you’re signing Jacoby Ellsbury for 7/150 this winter, and over the next seven years, Ellsbury is projected to accumulate 25 WAR. The contract would pay him an average of $6M per win over that span.

Comment From Smell the Glove
Can someone please explain Jed Gyorko? Crazy 2nd half, including going from decent-to-good BB% his whole professional career to a 1.6% in the 2nd half.

Dave Cameron: 2nd half is, what, 150 plate appearances? Things happen in small samples.

Comment From GSon
Excited to see how Taijuan Walker does in his first ML start on Friday?

Paul Swydan: Hi everybody!

Jeff and I will be coming at you live at 9 pm ET. Until then, read my take on Khris Davis, Jeff’s take on Matt Harvey, and pepper the queue with questions.

See you soon!

Jeff Zimmerman: I am working on an article about what I call “leaners” (maybe there is already a name). It looks at players who have a majority of their HBP happen in X-2 counts. Are there any known “leaners” you know of?

Paul Swydan: DEREK. JETER.

Paul Swydan: Sorry, the hate still flows strongly within me, I suppose. Anyway, let’s get this started.

Like we always do about this time.

Paul Swydan: But yeah, let Jeff know in the comments.

Comment From Sgt. Pepper
Is Carlos Quentin too obvious?

Jeff Sullivan: And now this is happening.

Comment From bdhudson
whoa, on time….

Jeff Sullivan: I am. You guys aren’t.

Jeff Sullivan: So hello there everybody. Let’s talk about Allen Craig and his batting splits, because that should occupy an hour or so!

Comment From Kris
How big of a nonstory is the Astros turning a profit?

Jeff Sullivan: On a scale from 1-10, it’s a 5 non-story. We don’t actually know the real true numbers, and of course the Astros are making money with a payroll of 11 cents.

: I’m all set up on the back deck of my house so we’ll get started in about 10-15 minutes…

Comment From zack
Who should the Mariners build around: Smoak or Montero?

: Of those two players, I’d lean more towards Smoak but I’m not sure if either player is a guy you’d want to build your club around… I’d wait and see if Franklin or Miller can be that guy… or some dude named Zunino, when he’s healthy.

Comment From Keeper? I hardly know her
What do you think of Zimmer, Syndergaard, and Stephenson? Is there a standout of the pack?

: All 3 are pretty impressive… I ranked all three of them in July: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/fangraphs-2013-mid-season-top-50-prospects/

Comment From Andrew
Do you think Avisail Garcia will live up to the “Little Miggy” nickname? Thanks.