Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon and welcome to my first chat in [mumbles] weeks. I’ve been busy with my annual Hall of Fame series and just a few minutes ago the first entry in my One-and-Done set, covering outfielders Shane Victorino and Michael Cuddyer, went live https://blogs.fangraphs.com/jaws-and-the-2021-hall-of-fame-ballot-one-…

Jay Jaffe: You can see the full schedule here https://blogs.fangraphs.com/a-2021-hall-of-fame-ballot-of-your-own-and…, and find a link to our Crowdsource Hall of Fame ballot, which allows registered users to vote for up to 10 candidates, just like the pros.

Jay Jaffe: I’d also like to call your attention to my spot with Shakeia Taylor on last week’s FanGraphs Audio podcast, where we discussed the life of Dick Allen, and the racism and other obstacles he encountered during his career https://blogs.fangraphs.com/fangraphs-audio-reflecting-on-dick-allen/

Jay Jaffe: And since it’s been awhile, I’d like to wish those of you out there celebrating a Happy Hanukkah. I hope your latkes are as good as the ones in the Jaffe-Span household.

Jay Jaffe: Ok, on with the show

Bart: Any more news about baseball season may be 140 games and start in May per owners

Eric A Longenhagen: Good morning from Tempe. I had several pieces go up over the last 24 hours and I trust folks know how to find those, so I won’t bore you with links (so long as you don’t bore me with questions about stuff I’ve already written about) and instead will get right to the chat

Peter: What are your thoughts on the Lowe/Heriberto trade? Is Lowe a little like Solak, ready to shine but just fell victim to Rays 40-man? Or is there another reason they “gave up” on him?

Eric A Longenhagen: great start

BlueJayMatt: What position do you think Jays prospect Austin Martin will play in the majors?

Eric A Longenhagen: I think that’s very much up in the air. He could fall as far down the defensive spectrum as LF. He was not running well, nor throwing well from third base early in the season but if that is because of an injury that has since healed then maybe the left side of the infield is a fit, still.

Andrew: Do you see Rockies going HS position player route? Mayer or Lawler would pair nicely with Veen, Romo in building back the farm

Meg Rowley: Hi everyone! I’ll be getting started in just a few minutes here – just wrapped recording Effectively Wild and need to grab a seltzer.

Meg Rowley: And am returned, with a seltzer and some chips. Let’s chat!

Scotty: Meg…. hello

Meg Rowley: Hi there!

dude: Rank these OF for 2021; Arozarna, Teoscar, Carlson, JD Martinez, Laureano, Mountcastle, Winker.  Going to be thinking about who to prioritize as keepers and trade bait soon.

Meg Rowley: My name is Meg and I am once again going to ask you to direct fantasy questions to our fantasy writers, as they know what they’re talking about when it comes to fantasy, and I decidedly do not.

Dan Szymborski: Last Thursday, you got to eat turkey. THIS Thursday, you get to talk with a big turkey!

DJ Tanner: Is baseball the only sport where teams in the draft don’t always take the best player available? Like Heston Kjerstad goes second overall but only went there cause they got him under slot. But wouldn’t how much better Austin Martin (or others) is be worth the extra $1.8M?

Dan Szymborski: I can’t say anything about hockey, but the NBA and NFL have a mechanism that works against this sort of thing: trading draft picks.

Chris: Was it a mistake that the Indians ZIPS includes Yasiel Puig? Or did I miss a signing?

Dan Szymborski: IMA GONNA MAKE YOU READ THE ZiPS DISCLAIMER

Turk: The non-tenderpocalypse was very underwhelming.

Chris: You’re back!?!

Bb: M-Ro is in da house!

Meg Rowley: Friends, I am indeed returned.

Meg Rowley: I appreciate your patience with my absence, but I should be able to be back in the mostly regular swing of things from now on.

Drew: Was the “flood” of coming non-tenders perhaps overestimated? Many of the bigger question marks such as Pham, Gray and Sanchez all seem on their way to tenders, and with the exception of Rosario so far no big profile name has surprised me much

Meg Rowley: I don’t think we can really gauge it yet. Outside of Rosario, you’re right that no big names have revealed themselves yet, but given the general uptick in non-tenders over the last few pandemic free years, I don’t imagine cost conscious teams are going to be suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of payroll generosity.