Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, folks! Welcome to the April 1 edition of my chat. This April fool is still recovering from having accidentally sent my mom’s birthday gift to my Brooklyn apartment instead of her Salt Lake City residence.

Jay Jaffe: In housekeeping news, my second entry in our Positional Power Rankings series went live this morning https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2022-positional-power-rankings-right-field…

Jay Jaffe: I also did first basemen https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2022-positional-power-rankings-first-base/. And before that I was visiting my folks and skiing (advance celebration for my mom’s 80th bday), which is why you haven’t seen much of me on the home page lately

Jay Jaffe: But… that’s about to change. I’ll cover the Pollock/Kimbrel trade for Monday — had to see it about 18 times before I was willing to concede it was real and not an April 1 conspiracy on the part of the industry’s newsbreakers.

Jay Jaffe: In other news, happy Jon Spencer and the Hitmakers release day to those celebrating! https://jonspencerthehitmakers.bandcamp.com/album/spencer-gets-it-lit

Jay Jaffe: And now, on with the show…

Dan Szymborski: Welcome to SzymChat! Now, we should have had baseball this week, but at least we’ll have it next Thursday instead of , say, nothing until 2023!

Fish: What’s for lunch?

Dan Szymborski: Probalby some leftover pizza.

Biscuit Barn: Daaaan !!!
How worried are you about Bellinger not being able to hit ?

Dan Szymborski: Quite. There were already reasons to be worried

Dan Szymborski: And while spring training doesn’t mean a LOT, Rosenheck showed some years ago that it means a LITTLE of something

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, folks, and welcome to my Friday chat! It’s a lovely day outside in Brooklyn and I’ve got spring baseball on my TV

Jay Jaffe: it’s been a busy week writing about transactions. Yesterday alone I wrote up the Kris Bryant deal (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/kris-bryants-enormous-payday-highlights-qu…) and the Zack Greinke/Mike Minor/Amir Garrett ones (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/zack-greinkes-return-to-kansas-city-headli…)

Jay Jaffe: and when I haven’t been covering transactions I’ve been burrowing into my Positional Power Rankings assignments. First up: first base, where you might have heard about a few transactions

>this guy<: Jay what is your favorite trade or signing since the lockout ended? and least fav?

Jay Jaffe: I don’t like anything about the Reds’ sequence of deals. Saw them as contenders for a Wild Card spot with a little TLC but they seem intent upon getting into the draft lottery.

Jay Jaffe: I’m not wild about the Rizzo signing by the Yankees but the projections for  him are stronger than my gut instinct. And I’m still not sure what to make of the Kris Bryant deal

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, folks, and HAPPY BASEBALL SEASON!

Jay Jaffe: Brooklyn resident here, and I’m trying to get my blood pressure under control after this:

Jay Jaffe: But nonetheless, i’m delighted that the lockout is over and that we’re going to get a full baseball season in. My coverage of the new CBA deal is here https://blogs.fangraphs.com/we-have-a-cba-deal-and-a-162-game-season/

Jay Jaffe: I’ve also got a fun podcast spot with SB Nation’s Jon Bois here https://blogs.fangraphs.com/fangraphs-audio-jon-bois-on-dave-stieb-lou…

Jay Jaffe: My recent piece about Dave Stieb’s Hall of Fame case (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/cooperstown-notebook-born-in-the-fifties/) and the first installment of Jon’s four-part documentary series on the great Blue Jay () coincided so it seemed only natural for the two of us to nerd out together.

Jay Jaffe: Anyway, let’s get to it! A word of warning: between my Hall of Fame coverage and the negotiations, I haven’t thought about transactions very much since early December. Things could be a bit rusty.