Kevin Goldstein: Hey everyone. We have baseball! Real games! Stats! Data! Video! Fights! All sorts of fun stuff. Let’s get to the questions….

Kevin Goldstein: It’s 2% of the season. No real conclusions to be made. Obviously Oakland had a horrendous weekend, but would you be shocked if they were over .500 in a couple of weeks? I wouldn’t. Some teams looked great like the Phillies and Astros, and some looked like dogcrap, like Oakland and Boston. Feel like it’s too early to get super excited or pessimistic until somewhere towards the end of the month.

Larry: Would Jud Fabian be better off opting out of the draft and going back to Florida for another year?

Kevin Goldstein: No. He’ll get picked and get paid, just not as much as he expected in say February. I wrote about his swing and miss issues in the first week of the season, and it hasn’t gone away. Last I looked he was the NCAA leader in whiffs. It’s a real concern, but he does have tools.

workermonkey: what’s it finally going to take to get rid of local market tv blackout restrictions for baseball?

Kevin Goldstein: RSNs generate an enormous chunk of revenue for teams, and as long as that’s the case, and it will be for quite some time, this isn’t going to change.

Kevin Goldstein: FanGraph After Dark in full effect! Good evening everyone!

Dodger Fan: I am very excited to watch Lucas Giolito face this Angels lineup.

Kevin Goldstein: You should be excited to see him face any lineup, no?

Eric A Longenhagen: Howdy from Phoenix Muni. I’m here to see Chase Silseth and will also be popping in and out of here.

P: This gap in live games seems like an oversite by MLB on opening day. Couple this with the fact that I couldn’t stream my team from the office and It kinda feels like MLB just can’t get out of it’s own way getting it’s product to the people. I know this is a broken record at this point by man, for a day we are all hyped for, the flaw is just so obvious.

Kevin Goldstein: I mean, hard to blame MLB for the Nats’ COVID issues.

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, folks! Welcome to the 2021 baseball season and this, our Opening Day marathon chat.

Kevin Goldstein: Hi everyone, Jay is starting with the Yankees/Jays, while I’m sticking to my Midwest roots with Indians/Tigers in the SNOW.

Jay Jaffe: I’ll be joined here by Kevin Goldstein and David Laurila for the first leg of today’s action, and other colleagues will take the ball as the day (and night) continues.

JT in Town: For Kev – obviously everyone’s going to ask you about your time with the Astros from now until forever, so here goes – what’s the funniest/quirkiest thing you can remember from past Opening Days during your time with the team? Any kind of  superstitions or just general oddness? And I’ll hang up and listen.

Kevin Goldstein: I wish I had a good one, but I only think I did one Opening Day in Houston. I was a player evaluator and I didn’t live in Houston. I remember spending Opening Days watching college and high school games and I remember spending Opening Day night watching a amazing low-budget MLB whip around like show in my hotel in the Dominican. I wish I could get that channel here.

Kiermaier’s Piercing Green Eyes: Oh boy, every team will play today!

Justin: what kind of things should an awful rebuilding team like the Pirates be doing over the next 6 months?  Maybe you learned lessons from good and bad things from your early Astros days that they should apply.

Kevin Goldstein: Hi everyone! Welcome to the chat and happy Opening Day Week (is that a thing?). I look forward to your questions. The Pirates have some decent arms and they should be looking to deal them this summer to improve their long-term outlook. Pretty simple, really.

DaleMurphy: You’re building a dynasty team and can start with either Wander Franco or Bobby Witt. Who do you choose?

Kevin Goldstein: Franco is the No. 1 prospect in baseball, no question. So it’s Franco. That’s not an insult to Bobby Witt, who is really damn good.

Scott: Hi Kevin!  What is your outlook for Cristian Javier and Jose Urquidy this season and for the future?

Kevin Goldstein: I don’t see any reason they can’t be soild middle of the rotation starters now and for years to come.

Dan Szymborski: Hello, been trying to figure out why it’s not on the front page!

Dan Szymborski: Oh wait, NOW it is!

Dan Szymborski: lol

Dave: Legend you would most want added to MLB The Show 21?

Dan Szymborski: I don’t know who is in it yet!

Dan Szymborski: I want to see some 19th century mustache petes

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, folks! I’m back after a very abbreviated chat full of technical difficulties last week.

Jay Jaffe: I’ve been kind of scarce on FanGraphs this week because I was working on the first of my two Positional Power Rankings assignments, the catchers, but I did just publish something about Jacob deGrom’s Hall of Fame chances, inspired by numerous questions along those lines in this space. Enjoy! https://blogs.fangraphs.com/jacob-degrom-might-be-blazing-his-way-to-c…

Jay Jaffe: Also, I am pleased to announce that I’m freshly vaccinated as of yesterday! As is my wife as of today! Yaaaay! Here’s hoping that if you haven’t gotten your first shot, it’s coming soon

Jay Jaffe: And now, on with the show

mmddyyyy: So how much do you weight a pitcher’s offense in their candidacy?

Jay Jaffe: I don’t pay a ton of mind to it except that pitchers’ batting WAR is included in JAWS, because pitchers who can hit (and run the bases) well do have more value than ones who don’t. Zack Greinke, who has 5.1 bWAR for example, gets a nice little bump in his JAWS thanks to his offense.

Eric A Longenhagen: Morning, everyone. Hope everyone is well and looking forward to a weekend of two- and three-screening hoops and baseball. Let’s do this thing…

Greg: I hate to be that annoying guy, but I will be anyway — any timeframe on the Braves prospect list?

Eric A Longenhagen: Monday or Tuesday

Larry: Anything to the Michael Harris hype out of Atlanta’s camp?

Eric A Longenhagen: “Wouldn’t surprise me if he were (the Braves) top prospect a year from now.”

Gas throwers union: *MLb Draft question* Have you gotten a chance to look at Matt Mikulski or Jason Coules? And what’s your evaluation?

Dan Szymborski: And greeting! Sorry about no chat last week, but I was not feeling well!

Sodo Mojo: I know that springs stats are noise but is there anything you’ve seen from Tramell’s approach this spring that shows progress in his profile?

Dan Szymborski: He’s certainly played well! I haven’t seen him play though, so I can’t say much for the change. Spring stats are *slightly* meaningful, but it’s smart to be careful about excitement.

druidiful: Hi Dan, just wanted to say “hi” and keep doing the good work!

Dan Szymborski: Yo!

You da Bohm: Enrique Hernandez has looked really good at leadoff this spring, but historically he hasn’t been much of an on-base guy. Do we think a new team and a change in approach and park can make a difference?