Eric A Longenhagen: Good morning, chat. hope everyone’s well, let’s talk some ball

Mark: Will Ryan Pepiot rise in the prospect rankings for the Dodgers? Reports are of an extremely successful summer camp.

Eric A Longenhagen: Hmm, I’ve already got him stuffed pretty good. He’ll be reconsidered like everyone else during the offseason, but I already considered him a highly-ranked prospect entering the season. https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2020-in-season-prospect-…

Guest: Do you think Stiever is more likely to hang on as a starter beyond this season or is his stuff better suited as a reliever?

Eric A Longenhagen: Still probably a starter long term. Tough to see him enjoying enough of a velo bump out of the bullpen to be a late-inning weapon, and unless he’s a late-inning weapon he’d be more valuable as a 4/5th starter than any other kind of reliever

Larry Jones: What’s your opinion on Padres number 8 prospect Yeison Santana? Do you believe his bat will be able to play at the major league level?

Dan Szymborski: Happy playoff expansion day!

Dan Szymborski: Hmm, happy wasn’t the right word choice

Chris: Ok I get that luis Robert is phenomenal. And his defense is great. And his team is fun. But why is he the favorite for the rookie of the year over Kyle Lewis? Lewis leads him in the majority of hitting stats and has the same war because of defense. This would be the first time a hitter wins a major award because of their defense right, when did voters start caring about that stuff?

Dan Szymborski: Well, if two players are playing similarly — and they are — I’m going to choose the player whose success looks more real.

Daniel: With Tatis slumping, has Freeman overtaken him as the NLMVP favorite?

T: Now that Tatis is slumping a bit, everyone’s calling Betts the MVP favorite. Will Freeman ever get the nationwide respect he deserves?

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon and beware the Ides of September. As I wait for the queue to fill up, here’s the first look at MLB’s freshly-announced playoff schedule:

Jay Jaffe:

Jay Jaffe: This might be too much baseball:

Jay Jaffe: Note that after the so-called Wild Card round, which will be played at the sites of each league’s top four seeds, the rest of the games will be at neutral sites, hence no Dodgers in Dodger Stadium, etc.

Jay Jaffe: Because ties will be settled in the most exciting way of all — mathematically — this year’s Team Entropy is a bit less chaotic than the past, but I hope still helpful in explaining how this playoff format works. Here’s the NL picture https://blogs.fangraphs.com/team-entropy-2020-more-like-un-tropy-right…

Jay Jaffe: and the AL: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/team-entropy-2020-the-pecking-order/

Eric A Longenhagen: Good morning, let’s dive right into it.

Eric A Longenhagen: ah, let me tweet a link i guess….

Matt: How would you rank: Tatis, Acuna, Bellinger, Soto going forward? Ignoring contracts

Eric A Longenhagen: the way you have them listed.

Philip: I know teams are especially secretive about what’s going on in alternate site but have you heard anything that would make you change a prospects ranking in either direction?

Eric A Longenhagen: Some. I moved up Rafael Marchan based on how he’s looked in camp, but I’ve seen that on video myself which is why I felt comfortable moving him already. Other teams video from the camp wasn’t published like Philly’s has been which means any opinions coming from camp are from the team in question, which should be heavily scrutinized because of their incentive to say their players are good.

Dan Szymborski: Let’s get this party* started!

Dan Szymborski: Disclaimer: There may not be an actual party

Travis: SSS or has Acuña taken the next step?

Dan Szymborski: I’m optimistic. Dude’s 22!

Dan Szymborski: Especially amazing given where he was after the first week

Peter Thomas: What do we think about Zach Davies? .248 ERA, 4.29 xFIP, 4.28 SIERA

Dan Szymborski: It is a time to chat!

Dan Szymborski: The chat is now!

Dan Szymborski: Now is the chat.

Fan Graphs Suck Up: Where can I get my ” I Know Who Dan Szymborski is and I am a Better Person For It”   T- Shirt?

Dan Szymborski: I’m just happy that there’s a Dan Szymborski character on a TV show! (Young & the Restless). I don’t need a Dan Szymborski t-shirt empire.

B: There are few things I love more than daytime baseball