Jay Jaffe: Hey folks, good afternoon and welcome to my first chat of June! I’m on something of a working vacation with my family’s annual trip to Cape Cod. Got a bit of sand between my toes, a bit of fried seafood in my stomach, and some local craft beers as well.

Jay Jaffe: (not yet today, last night that is)

ChuckNChino: Missed you last week — hope all is well.

Jay Jaffe: Thanks. Missed last week due to festivities for the end of my daughter’s school year and thus her preschool experience. It was pretty emotional but in a positive way

Slapshot: I saw your retweet yesterday of MLBN’s question about who is leading for AL MVP between Vlad and Ohtani.  Assuming they keep up their current pace (Vlad for hitting, Ohtani for both sides) with fairly close WAR, who do you see getting the title between those two at the end of the day?  Also, do you see writers giving Vlad more of an edge if he somehow nabs the AL Triple Crown along the way?

Jay Jaffe: The MLB Network screenshot was incredibly inane

Eric A Longenhagen: Good morning from Tempe, give me one second to adjust The Board to reflect the Wisler trade…

Eric A Longenhagen: okay, thanks, let’s get to it…

Mike: Any draft rumors for the top 5 picks (Red Sox rumors specifically would be appreciated)?

Eric A Longenhagen: We’ll have our first mock early next week. Think PIT’s desire to cut at 1 means we won’t know who they’re on until the mixes behind them really solidify. Think Watson has a chance to be in the mix at two in addition to the obvious names. Boston I think would just take Leiter if there. Teams have BAL wanting to cut, too, prob w/ prep bat. It’s super early still

Mike: Anything on Spencer Strider this year? Stats seem impressive, does the scouting report match it?

Eric A Longenhagen: It’s basically what I have on the Braves list (he was 22nd entering the year, 40 FV) except now he’s backed up the velo spike he showed during instructs by holding it to start this season. Still relief probability there.

Dan Szymborski: dangit

Dan Szymborski:

Dan Szymborski: There we go, third time’s the charm!

Jon G: Has Kris Bryant played himself back into $200M+ on the open market?

Dan Szymborski: Doing a piece on the Cubs Big Three FA for tomorrow!

Max: How are you (and zips) feeling about Jared Walsh? Is the sample size and eye test large enough to say “all-star first basemen for many years for the angels?”

Dan Szymborski: OMG ITS CHAT TIME

Tim Tebow’s Thunder Thighs: In your recent article re: deGrom you stated that, “Shane Bieber‘s 1.63 was the second-best ERA for a qualifying pitcher since Gibson’s in 1968, behind only Dwight Gooden’s 1.53 in 1985.” Why don’t Greg Maddux’s 1.56 in 202IP in 1994 and 1.63 in 209.2IP qualify? Dudeman’s ERA was 1.5959 across 411.2IP in 53 games in those strike-shortened seasons!

Dan Szymborski: That was my screwup (which I’ve fixed). My brain was a little fried and I as trying to compare the excellence to full season ERAs to show how high they ranked, but I messed up the talking point and ranked it *with* the full seasons instead of contrasting

Dan Szymborski: And didn’t bring 1981, 1994, 1995 back in

Dan Szymborski: Everything else should be solid though

Jefferson: Ke’bryan Hayes is back today! How scared is Zips from a two month long wrist injury?

Eric A Longenhagen: Howdy from Tempe, let’s do it

AJ: Odds we ever get a NYY rotation with the 3 Luis: Severino, Medina and Gil

Eric A Longenhagen: All in a rotation? Like 10%?

Todd: Royals brass hyped Nick Pratto’s change big time before season. How much are you buying on him? Is he up to a 50?

Eric A Longenhagen: I think what I wrote on the Royals list holds up, not a 50. Still has holes but definitely better now, has the look of a piece but not a 50. I 50’d Alonso and Hoskins, it’s tough to be a 50 1B.

Dave: When do you think you’ll do your first mock? Enough info now to start connecting team to players?