Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, folks, and welcome to another edition of my Friday chat!

Jay Jaffe: a bit of housekeeping while the queue fills up… today I’ve got a piece on Shohei Ohtani’s 45-degree, 110.7-mph homer from yesterday, and a dive into some other Statcast extremes https://t.co/HvBXV8OuR5

Jay Jaffe: Earlier this week, I wrote about the Yankees’ “Jumbo Package” outfield of Joey Gallo, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton http://blogs.fangraphs.com/jumbo-package-helps-power-the-yankees-into-…. I also paid tribute to the late Bill Freehan, an 11-time All-Star catcher who got particularly shabby treatment by Hall of Fame voters http://blogs.fangraphs.com/remembering-bill-freehan-the-thinking-mans-…

Mork Borg: Chris Sale had his 3rd immaculate inning last night (9 pitches – 3 Ks), something only Kofax had accomplished before. Which made me think, “Sale is such a great pitcher. What will he need to do to make the hall?”

Jay Jaffe: I think that if he gets to a major milestone (3,000 strikeouts or 200 wins) he has a decent chance, but from a JAWS standpoint, he either needs a couple more very big seasons or some serious longevity. From his B-Ref page:

Starting pitcher (124th)
46.1career WAR |39.57yr-peak WAR |42.8JAWS |5.7WAR/162
Average HOF P (out of 65):
73.3 career WAR | 50.0 7yr-peak WAR | 61.7 JAWS | 4.5 WAR/162

Jay Jaffe: a Cy Young would help, though it’s not essential (see Mike Mussina)

Dan Szymborski: GAFTERNOON

Rick: Thoughts on Bohm for 2022 and beyond? Was this year just a case of 2nd year struggles or more serious? Thanks

Dan Szymborski: I think he’ll be OK. I have nothing to prove it, but he’s a guy who has had limited time in the upper minors before the majors, so he’s not quite there with the adjust-readjust cycle that’s necessary for long-term success

BEN GAMEL GRADE 80 HAIR: Nick Pratto and MJ Melendez improvements this year for real? Both legit ~50 FV types?

Dan Szymborski: I don’t usually use FV personally since I think that’s better for scouting, but I’m bullish on both of them now.

Dan Szymborski: Unless they changed parks and I missed it, NW Arkansas doesn’t play anywhere crazy that would explain Melendez and Pratto absolutely killing it this year

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, folks, and welcome to another edition of my Friday chat! I’m back from a lovely week in San Diego, where I got to hang out with family for the first time in 18 months, get my feet wet in the ocean and a pool while watching my daughter play with her cousin, catch a game at Petco Park (no Tatis Jr., alas), drink some excellent craft beer, see one of my oldest friends, and much more.

Jay Jaffe: Anyway, no article from me today, but I’m on this weeks’ FanGraphs Audio podcast, talking to the great Trent Rosecrans about Joey Votto’s rebound and what it’s like to cover him: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/fangraphs-audio-len-kasper-and-lenny-dinar…

Yesterday, I wrote about Chris Bassitt’s good luck yesterday (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/chris-bassitt-escaped-a-potential-nightmar…), and on Monday I’ll have a tribute to Bill Freehan, the 11-time All-Star catcher who passed away on Thursday.

WinTwins0410: Jay, between the domestic violence allegation last year against Omar Vizquel and the recent sexual abuse lawsuit and allegations against him, is it safe to say that Vizquel’s Hall of Fame chances are officially dead?  (I very much hope so.)

Jay Jaffe: That’s a good question. Not only do I think it’s going to be much harder for voters to overlook yet another transgression, but I wonder if he could face a fate along the lines of his former double play partner, Roberto Alomar. Recall that Alomar was fired by MLB as a consultant and placed  on its ineligible list due to “an allegation of sexual misconduct by a baseball industry employee.” The latest Vizquel allegation of sexual misconduct was also brought an industry employee, which would appear to me to leave him open to discipline by the league, hence my speculation.

Bdubs: Given Bill Mazeroski is in the HOF, is Terry Moore a viable candidate?

Jay Jaffe: No. Using the worst picks for the Hall as the new bar for entry opens up the field to literally thousands of players — go look up Tommy McCarthy, an even worse choice than Maz from a player perspective, and the Early Baseball Era Committee ballot, which only gets voted on once every 10 years, is even more crowded now that Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues Black baseball candidates are eligible again.

Jay Jaffe: Hey folks, pardon my tardiness. I have been working on a big Hall of Fame-related piece that I had hoped to run today but that still has some loose ends to tie up and got a little carried away.

Jay Jaffe: That piece absorbed a lot of my attention this week, hence the lighter load of published pieces. I was very happy with the response that the Joey Votto piece (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/joey-vottos-gotten-his-groove-back/)

Jay Jaffe: Anyway on with the show…

Lorenzo: Will someone be doing a piece on J.R. Richard?  I didn’t realize that his career was tragically cut short at his peak, along with some major controversy over how the Astros handled his injury.

Jay Jaffe: The news of Richard’s death hit me hard, because I remember how impressive and imposing he was (especially when Nolan Ryan joined that staff), and then how sad it was that he was struck down in  his prime. A tribute to him is right in my wheelhouse, but as I am heading to San Diego for a week of vacation with my parents and my brother and his family on Sunday, I’m not sure i can put together something in a timely fashion. We’ll see.

Jay Jaffe: Reminds me that I wrote my Frank Robinson tribute while in Salt Lake City for a long weekend of skiing. tough timing.

Dan Szymborski: The appointed time has arrived.

Sad, Confused Marlins Fan: Is this a regular Gallo ebb and flow thing or is he pressing with the new team?

Dan Szymborski: I think it’s just a bad run

Moose_Bolton: If you became a chess grandmaster, what do you think the Szymborski Gambit would consist of?

Dan Szymborski: Dunno, grandmaster Szym would be better than actual Szym

Dan Szymborski: And I think all the good gambits have probably been discovered?