Dan Szymborski: Here! Sorry, I had a weird problem getting int

thelwynn: The Mets are back, how long until they are in first place?

Dan Szymborski: It’s hard to say. The Mets will get to first place if there’s sufficient time remaining in the season for another tragic downfall

Farhandrew Zaidman: Evergreen question – is Shohei a better hitter or pitcher?

Dan Szymborski: Probably still hitter

Judge, speed demon: It’s pretty funny Judge’s “slow” start is 9 HR and a 163 OPS+ with 5 steals. With Ohtani and Soto probably taking it easy because of pitching and injury, maybe he’s the next huge slugger with surprising SB totals (he usually does steal 10-15 a year)

Brendan Gawlowski: Hello everybody

Brendan Gawlowski: Couple list updates… KCR is in editorial as we speak and is going live tomorrow.

Brendan Gawlowski: Eric’s rundown of the Nats should also go this week

Brendan Gawlowski: I will be picking up either Padres or Giants right after that.

Brendan Gawlowski: We will also have a weather report on some of the 50 FV guys coming out soon.

Brendan Gawlowski: Made sense to take a look at it because we’re going to have a couple new 50’s on the lists this week

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, and welcome to another edition of my weekly chat. I’ve got a piece about Edwin Díaz’s impending elbow surgery in the pipeline, while yesterday I wrote about Yordan Alvarez’s hot start (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/amid-houstons-problems-yordan-alvarez-is-l…).

Jay Jaffe: Last Friday, I wrote about the Mets’ losing streak (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/no-offense-the-new-look-mets-are-in-quite-…), which has now reached 11 games. It’s brutal.

Jay Jaffe: Thanks to everyone who had kind words about my tribute to Davey Lopes (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/davey-lopes-1945-2026-speedster-student-an…), my first favorite player. And now, on with the show…

21127: After you wrote about the Mets, would you have guessed another FG writer would write about the Mets before the losing streak ended?

Jay Jaffe: Hah, that is brutal. I focused my piece on the offense’s shortcomings, knowing that there would probably be room for a follow-up on their pitching or some other aspect of their struggles at some point, but I did expect them to at least win a game here or there along the way.

Justin: I don’t think Mendoza should be fired, but I’m surprised he hasn’t been. Do you think the Mets let him go? Thanks

Eric A Longenhagen: Howdy from Port Charlotte and sorry for the delay. I had planned on chatting from the Rays stadium during their Extended Spring game against the Orioles, but the Orioles (according to personnel on site) canceled. So I hustled over to a Halloween-themed coffee shop down the road.

Eric A Longenhagen: The Red Sox and Twins canceled three of their four extended ST games this week due to lack of pitching availability on both sides (Boston twice, Minnesota once) so I’ve seen a little less baseball on this leg of the trip than I had planned. I will try not to be machiavellian about how I respond, but I’m pretty frustrated with those orgs at the moment.

Tom: Eric, Justin Campbell keeps coming back strong in short outings. Is he back on the radar as a potential 4? Rule V eligible, so wonder how he fits for Guards future. Thanks!

Eric A Longenhagen: Saw him the day before camp broke and was at last night’s game with a scout who covers Cleveland and we both think Campbell is back from the dead. He was throwing harder for my source than he did for me on he last day of ST and has been sitting 93-96 so far, averaging 94.4 mph. That’s up from college. He pitched well in the spring outing I saw, four pitches, feel, built like a starter, moves like a starter.

Eric A Longenhagen: Let’s see if he can hold that velo all season as he goes from 0 to a whole slate.

Guest: How high are you feeling on Jonah Tong these days?

Dan Szymborski: It’s clobberin’ time!

Dan Szymborski: AI is getter better at making fun of me, BTW.

Guest: Vegas had notably much worse ratings on the Twins than both ZIPS and PECOTA (not to mention the fans). Has anything you’ve seen in the Twins playing what has been pretty good baseball so far justified that much higher projection in your mind?

Dan Szymborski: Well, Taj Bradley’s been really darn good, I mean sub two FIP

Dan Szymborski: and Mick Abel has been really solid too (and one of the boom picks)

Dan Szymborski: I’m not confident at all they’re this good, but I think this was always a team in the .500 vicinity

Brendan Gawlowski: Hello everybody. A little list housekeeping to start… I wrote up the Rangers system yesterday, and Eric tackled Sacramento last week. He’s currently working on the Nationals and I’m writing up Kansas City. Hopefully both will be live by this time next week.

Brendan Gawlowski: I also went out to Everett last week and wrote up some notes on a few Top 100 guys — Farmelo, Bremner, Celesten — and a few other guys, including Luke Stevenson, who has a chance to make the list on our next update.

Brendan Gawlowski: It appears Johnny Level has homered again

Brendan Gawlowski: I’ll have Brecht and the Spokane/Vancouver game in the background, maybe we can all follow along with that together too

Brendan Gawlowski: Otherwise, let’s get going

Insert Witty Name Here: Have you watched Painter’s games at all this year? SSS of course, but curious to know how you think he looks.

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon! Welcome to my first chat of April

Jay Jaffe: I was out of town last week, traveling in Austria with my family, retracing some ancestral roots and testing out my newly-acquired dual citizenship. It’s very weird to drop in on baseball when there’s a 6-hour time difference in that direction, to say the least

Jay Jaffe: Yesterday I wrote about Andy Pages, whose hot start I followed from afar https://blogs.fangraphs.com/with-a-hot-start-andy-pages-has-turned-the…

Jay Jaffe: For tomorrow I’ll be writing about Davey Lopes, my first favorite ballplayer, who passed away last week.

Bob: Do you think the Brewers will regain their magic this year?

Jay Jaffe: if I’ve learned one thing, it’s never take the Brewers lightly. They always seem to find a way to contend, and in that division, that’s often more than enough