Dan Szymborski: And welcome to 2021!

Dan Szymborski: IT STARTS NOW, EVERYTHING ELSE WAS 2020.2

Tony Schiavone: Welcome to one of the greatest chats in the history of our sport!

Dan Szymborski: I am in the top 100% of all chats.

See! You! Later!: What do you think is the biggest area for potential improvement to ZiPS? What are you focusing on improving with the system?

Dan Szymborski: Injuries, though that’s harder to actually *work* with

Meg Rowley: Hi all, and welcome to the chat. Give me just one moment to run something to the mail box before my carrier comes for the day!

Meg Rowley: Ok, am back.

Meg Rowley: Everyone be nice to their mail carriers – they are having a heck of a time.

Jerry dipoto: When am I making my next move?

Meg Rowley: Please not today, I have gifts to wrap after this and feel tired.

Syndergaardengnomes: What is Realmuto’s market now?  With the Mets out of the picture, where do you think he ends up?

Eric A Longenhagen: Morning, everyone. I’m gonna let a few more questions flow in and then we’ll begin

Philip: forget the team situation for the second. CJ Abrams maximizes his value at SS/2B/or CF?

Eric A Longenhagen: Any/every player would max out at shortstop, which is the most valuable defensive position on the field. If you’re asking which I think Abrams would end up playing independent of Tatis? I’m still more in the 2B/CF camp. I was CF-only until this fall, CJ looked pretty good on the infield.

Jeff: What puts Steven Hajjar ahead of Chrisitian MacLeod in the college ranks?

Eric A Longenhagen: Athleticism/body projection right now, but they’re not crazy far apart and MacLeod could have bigger conference stats to tout by the time we’re through.

Guest: Your pick to win the central? Cards could do it with Hicks, Reyes and a nice season from Carlson

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