Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat – 1/6/22

Zoned: Who has a better chance to exceed their zips projection in your opinion, Enrique Hernandez or DJ Lemahieu?

Dan Szymborski: Probably DJ as ZiPS is pretty bullish on Kiké

Dan Szymborski: Oh, and hello, and welcome to 2022!

BlueJayMatt: How does ZiPS see Matt Chapman’s offense next year? Is he a target for Toronto to fill the 3B hole?

Dan Szymborski: Cheating to try and see the projection early!

Dalton Wilcox: How does ZiPs like Cubs prospect Richard Gallardo? 90+ above average innings in A ball at 19 with a maybe 55% GB rate and 7-8% BB rate

Dan Szymborski: Haven’t run him yet. Don’t like running pitchers below Double-A because the error bars are pure ROFLcopter. I do run them for the Top 100, but I’m not confident enough for a seasonal projection.

Adam Egret: Where do you get your ideas from?

Dan Szymborski:

Dalton Wilcox: Thoughts on the Cubs trading for Kim on the Padres?

Dan Szymborski: I’m not sure it’s the best fit, the Cubs should be more interested in outfielders right now

Slapshot: Happy New Year, Dan!  Given Tatis and Ohtani got pretty similar total WAR projections in ZiPS, it got me to wondering – if they wound up with a tied WAR at the end of 2022, which player is more valuable?  Tatis given the overwhelming offense and playing a premium defensive position?  Or Ohtani given that quite a bit of value is derived from pitching?

Dan Szymborski: If it’s tied, it becomes tricky!

Dan Szymborski: And who is more valuable may come down to circumstances of which I dot not know of ahead of time

Cynthia: Were you surprised to see Tatis Jr.’s WAR projection? Do super young MLBers who are already great improve at a different rate as they age compared to super young MLBers who are average?

Dan Szymborski: A little since ZiPS isn’t usually that aggressive. But given how Tatis has played, it’s hard for me to find a real objective reason to talk it down

Chris: When does the Mets projections come out?

Dan Szymborski: I guarantee the Mets will be one of the next nine teams to go in ZiPS!

DickWhitman: I’ve been following ZiPS projections for 6-7 years now, and it always seems to undershoot Xander Bogaerts’ WAR.  Excluding the shortened 2020 he has outperformed his preseason projections by more than 5 wins since the beginning of 2017.  The offensive projections are always spot on though, which leads me to believe it’s something with how D is incorporated, and I know Xander’s defense has always been wonky depending on where you look.  Is there a difference there or am I imagining things?

Dan Szymborski: I’d have to dig into the cause which is a little tricky.

Dan Szymborski: You do expect a few players to outperform/underperform regularly just by chance

Dan Szymborski: It’s the kind of thing that’s hard to extract, simply because the easy calibration stuff is done.

Dan Szymborski: Year-to-year over/underperformance correlation is just about 0.

Dan Szymborski: Lemme open ZiPS and get the WAR data v. fWAR

Dan Szymborski:

Dan Szymborski: (Not only is there no correlation between Year 0 miss and Year 1 miss, there’s no correlation between X number of under/overperformance to future ones)

TomBruno23: Have you ever done a ZIPS for Ray Chapman? Thinking about it as I read The Pitch That Killed.

Dan Szymborski: I have not. I may do that for a Time Warp

Hopeful Rox Fan: Is Bill Schmidt a net positive over Bridich just in the fact that he seems to be nicer to deal with?

Dan Szymborski: While that’s possible

Dan Szymborski: He’s also farther from being fired than Bridich was last year

Dalton Wilcox: Will Jo Adell emerge late or just bust?

Dan Szymborski: I think he was derailed, but I’m still cautiously optimistic

Inaccessible Rail: It seems to me that every year FG projects the Mets to do OK, and every year they disappoint. Is this just my bias as a disappointed Mets fan, or is this actually happening? If it’s actual, is this the opposite of the Rays projection problem, that the Mets don’t have enough depth?

Dan Szymborski: Depends what you mean by FG.

Dan Szymborski: ZiPS and FG use different methodologies

Dan Szymborski: Like FG had Rays at 82.9 preseason, while ZiPS was at 87.4

Dan Szymborski: And ZiPS had Mets tied with Braves while FG had Mets 3.5 ahead

Dan Szymborski: Conversely, ZiPS had Red Sox at 79.3 with FG at 85.0

Inaccessible Rail: Is the knuckleball dead because of the low seams on the current baseball?

Dan Szymborski: I think the larger reason is that it’s just a hard thing to do

bb: Hormel chili in a pinch?

Dan Szymborski: PRetty big pinch

20longyears: A few years back in the positional power rankings for…2B? you wrote one of the funniest things I’d ever read, inside or outside of sports writing, and I can’t find it anymore. It was about the Marlins; you wrote a paragraph about Buddhist corpse meditation. Any chance you have a link and/or can repaste it here?

Dan Szymborski: That may have not been me?

Dan Szymborski: Yea, doesn’t appear to be me.

Dan Szymborski: Dangit

Jake Burger Bomb: I am one of the better projected player via Zips this year for the Sox with nowhere to play. Do I get traded? If so, where is your best guess?

Dan Szymborski: I think Sox hang onto you

Dete: Odds that the season starts on time?

Dan Szymborski: I’m actually 70/30 in favor

Dan Szymborski: And I’ll tell you why

Dan Szymborski: It’s a mess right now, but on a fundamental level, they’re not so far apart on things.

Dan Szymborski: So I think it’s longer than ideal to get serious

Dan Szymborski: but then when talks become actually serious, it starts quickly

Dan Szymborski: well, goes quickly

Dancing Dan McGraw: Does Story make sense for Boston?

Dan Szymborski: It wouldn’t be a bad idea, looking to play Kiké more as a CF

Dalton Wilcox: What’s the 90%tile ZiPs projection for Kris Bryant’s 2022?

Dan Szymborski: 6.5 WAR

Kiermaier’s Piercing Green Eyes: Have you been to a Jollibee? The jolly spaghetti feels like something you would find upsetting.

Dan Szymborski: God, I’m afraid to google that

Dan Szymborski: Googling terms I’m not familiar with has led to a lot of frightening sexual images

Dan Szymborski: HAM AND HOTDOG?

Guest: I am on a boring work call that reminds me why I never want to go to sleep. Please help.

Dan Szymborski: On boring conference calls, I’ll do something like mine in FFXIV

Dans cat: Will we be getting another teams ZiPs this week? If so, why do you hate the NL East?

Dan Szymborski: Yup, one more team

Dan Szymborski: And it’s all random!

Dan Szymborski:

Giancarlo Stanton: You seriously think I’ll have the same wRC+ as Anthony Rizzo?

Dan Szymborski: ZiPS likes Rizzo in Yankee Stadium (which he won’t be at)

Guest: What does ZiPS rely on most when it comes to its opinion on how good a player’s defense is? Especially for minor leaguers.

Dan Szymborski: I have a probabilistic measure with Gameday data.

Olson Vs. Chapman: Without giving away any ZiPS spoilers, if you had the choice right now, would you trade for Matt Chapman or Matt Olson? Can only pick one

Dan Szymborski: Yes, given a choice, I would choose to trade for Matt Chapman or Matt Olson. I am only picking the one: the option that allows me to trade for Matt Chapman or Matt Olson.

Christian Colon for Men: Has the NY Times tried to buy ZiPS?

Dan Szymborski: No

Dan Szymborski: What would they do with it?

KB: Do you collect anything?

Dan Szymborski: If my office is any indication, computers and dishes I need to bring upstairs.

Tacoby Bellsbury: If you were to exchange surname consonants with another Fangraphs writer, which writer would you pick, which consonant would you take, and which would you give back in return? Why?

Dan Szymborski: I think I’d take one of Jay’s J’s.

Dan Szymborski: Given him an S

Dan Szymborski: And make people figure out HTW to say Zjymborski

Jim Leyland Palmer: What would be a good starting point for someone looking to get into classical music?

Dan Szymborski: Depends what you’re into!

Dan Szymborski: I have a basic spotify playlist of recordings I like over a broad segment

Dan Szymborski: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6kxDNlGanj3U25TKD6fDk6?si=031c906e7d…

soxfan: What is the most surprising(to you) ZiPS projection that you have seen this year? Good or bad

Dan Szymborski: Generally speaking, how positive the ZiPS for Detroit are.

Nermal Network: Jollibee is a Filipino fast food chain featuring fried chicken and a version of spaghetti that is like something from one of those limited ingredient cooking shows — “you must make spaghetti, but your only ingredients are noodles, ketchup, and leftover hot dogs”

Giancarlo Stanton: Only a 127 OPS+ for me? Why does ZiPS not like me? I hit ball very hard

Dan Szymborski: You’re also not young and your bonkers year is also farther back

Guest: is AEW falling into the same trap as mid 90s WCW (sign a bunch of wrestlers over from another promotion and hope they continue their success)?

Dan Szymborski: There’s always that risk, but between the playoffs, crazy pre-lockout market, and then ZiPS, I’m WAY behind on my vieweing

Guest: Love your ZiPs post on Jays – big fan – which got me dreaming of how Jays might best address their pitching. Would Kirk/Groshans to Marlins for Cabrera/Bender make sense ? Who says no ? or who has to add ?

Dan Szymborski: It’s not crazy

Jefferson: Can you help me understand how Zips projects a pitchers wins and loses? (yes, I know those are terrible stats to look at). For instance, Antonio Senzatela is projected for a 4.35 era in 28 starts and an 8-6 record. Kyle Freeland is 4.85 era in 25 starts but a 9-8 record. What drives that difference? Shouldn’t Freeland have less wins because of his higher Era?

Dan Szymborski: Sorry door

Dan Szymborski: It’s mostly a decision thing

Dan Szymborski: As far as I can tell looking at this for 45 seconds

Dan Szymborski: ZiPS has Freeland getting to a decision slightly more often

Dan Szymborski: But it’s hard to extract that from a model super quickly

Door: Apology not accepted.

Sporter’s Five Horses: What do you estimate forecasting ZiPS accuracy is, relative to teams in-house models? E.g., 50%? 75%?

Dan Szymborski: It’s hard to say as they don’t give me access.

Dan Szymborski: Now, teams and agents still buy as much data as ever. So it’s at least being perceived as useful somehow.

Dan Szymborski: But I can’t really answer that question accurately!

Jordan: If someone where to take on the entire Hosmer contract as it stands right now would the team, from a LuxTax perspective, be responsable for the original contract AVV (18mil/y) or the AVV of what’s remaining (14.25mil/y) and does the 3 year 39/mil player option change anything? I dpm’

Dan Szymborski: If the Base Salary (plus any deferred compensation or annuity costs) in a Player Option Year (“Player Option Year Value”) is less than 80% of the Base Salary (plus any attributed Signing Bonus, deferred compensation or annuity costs) in the Guaranteed Year with the smallest such figure before the first such Player Option Year (80% Figure), then, for each such Player Option Year, the difference between the Player Option Year Value and the 80% Figure shall be allocated pro rata across the Guaran- teed Years preceding the first such Player Option Year; provided, however, that if the 80% Figure is itself less than 75% of the AAV of the Contract (calculated as if the Player Option Year was not a Guaranteed Year), then the 80% Figure shall instead be 75% of the AAV calculation set out immediately above.

David: Do you have a chili recipe you recommend/follow or at this point do you just do it all from memory.

Dan Szymborski: Recipes are for baking, not cooking!

Dan Szymborski: The basics are easy.

Dan Szymborski: Cubed steak

Dan Szymborski: Reconstitute interesting chili peppers in water. Sear them a bit on the stove

Dan Szymborski: Make a paste in processor of chili peppers, masa harina, salt, pepper, cumin, can of chipotle en adobo, and some water until it’s like a condiment.

Dan Szymborski: Brown the meat. Add the paste. Cook low until the meat is your desired toothsomeness

Highway61: Probably a stupid question, but can agents talk to GMs during the lockout? Will we see a flurry of signings once this ends? Thanks

Dan Szymborski: As I understand it, agents cannot talk to GMs in any capacity that involves representing their client

Guest: What’s the worst contract in MLB right now?

Dan Szymborski: It may be Stanton. He’s fine now, but he’s owed just under $200 million or so

Zoned: Nick Yorke for Boston didnt get a Zips projection as well as Jasson Dominguez, would you expect projections for them next year? What is the cutoff to make team lists full season of AA?

Dan Szymborski: Dominguez will likely get one next year.

Dan Szymborski: Very likely

Dan Szymborski: Yorke too.

Zoned: have you ever had chicken chili? Its a white base instead of red & its delicious

Dan Szymborski: Not really my thing, though I like chicken

SJ: Shostakovich’s 8th string quartet is an 80 piece

worst contract: Strasburg says hi

Dan Szymborski: Given the health worries, that’s another option

Marshall: As a Dodgers fan, I’d say Bauer is the worst contract

Dan Szymborski: Depends if we’re talking financially!

Dan Szymborski: The Tigers owe Cabrera like $72 million

Guest: Would you take the over or under on Zips’ projection for WAR for Tatis? (7.6 or 7.9, depending on where in the article you look)

Dan Szymborski: Probably the under since I tend to be a pessimist

Farhandrew Zaidman: Hi Dan! Would you rather field a team of players who ~each~ have 60 bats and 45 gloves, or 45 bats and 60 gloves?

Dan Szymborski: Probably the former – variance among hitting is higher and I can design my pitching staff towards these concerns

G: Often in these chats, my questions aren’t answered. I’m not offering this as negative feedback, but an opportunity for me to learn how to ask better questions on here and figure out response times. I try and ask questions early however I obviously will never know what your queue looks like. Do you choose quality of question over chronology for the most part and what recommendations would you make for higher engagement on these chats (also thank you for your work and diligence).

Dan Szymborski: How I choose question is a complete madhouse

Dan Szymborski: Because you guys ask a TON of questions

Dan Szymborski: I typically only get to about 20% of them

Dan Szymborski: I try to answer questions that are both interesting to me and interesting to the readers

Dan Szymborski: And questions that I’m able to answer

Dan Szymborski: And questions that I’m able to answer *in a reasonable timeframe*

Dan Szymborski: If I have to think about a question for a few minutes, those are minutes that questions aren’t being answered. So a long-time-to-answer question kind of “eats” other questions

Dan Szymborski: And I like variety

Guest: Can you and will you use ZiPS to find out what Ichiro’s MLB stats would have looked like had he started in his early 20s?

Dan Szymborski: I have!

Dan Szymborski: https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/16206897/if-ichiro-played-…

Dan Szymborski: Marlins outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, already in possession of a number of significant hitting milestones, added another to his collection against the TK on TK. While a player’s 2,978th MLB hit isn’t typically met with balloons and streamers, for Ichiro, it represents a significant number.
Combine his MLB total with his 1,278 hits for Nippon Professional Baseball and it adds up to 4,256, a number that any fan of baseball will instantly recognize as Pete Rose’s MLB record for hits in a career.

Now, reaching this landmark is not exactly the same as catching Pete Rose, but it is significant for baseball. While NPB is not MLB, it is the second-highest level of professional baseball in the world. It ranks below the majors but above the two Triple-A leagues: the International League and the Pacific Coast League.
EDITOR’S PICKS

Who’s the all-time hit king after Ichiro ties Rose? Depends on whom you ask
6yJim Caple
While we can’t consider Ichiro’s NPB hits to be exactly the same as MLB hits, it would al

Dan Szymborski: chiro Suzuki’s Projected MLB Stats

YEARTEAMBAOBPSLGGABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSOHPSBCSSF1992SEA*.228.245.2724092321400421203301993SEA*.177.203.258436231120132800301994SEA*.355.399.48388358671272264312338418711995SEA*.313.377.441123479871501771063415310431331996SEA*.327.375.428130523921711877703660632431997SEA*.315.363.432135518831632378763938336641998SEA*.328.368.443135488701602856592837410621999SEA*.315.363.451103397681252139572848411642000SEA*.354.405.4491053816413517256134413

Dan Szymborski: oh god

20longyears: Corpse meditation was Carson Cistulli, it turns out – it was back in 2014 and thus much farther back than I realized. (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2014-positional-power-rankings-second-base…)  So oops, but thank you for helping me to fix my search, and also for being humorous enough that I thought the line was yours.

Dan Szymborski: Man, I end up researching away my compliment AND GIVING IT TO MY ARCHENEMY, CARSON

Dan Szymborski:

Guest: I’m disappointed you didn’t take the bait on “7.6 or 7.9, depending on where in the article you look”

Bubba: Have you been following the guy on Reddit that draws a new picture of Trout each day during the lockout?  If so, what has your favorite been so far?

Dan Szymborski: I have when I see it on my timeline! Would have to look a them all

Guest: Joining late so sorry if you have already answered this. I am curious if and how you handled the weighting of the pandemic shortened season and the rebound 2021 season.

Dan Szymborski: I treated it as if it was a normal season that stopped after May

Dan Szymborski: and then did rest-of-season projections to “fill out” the projections

Dan Szymborski: that worked better for hitters than pitchers in the end

Seamus: If you were to run a team, would you want it to be a team you had a pre-existing emotional attachment to? In general, I often wonder about what happens to the childhood fandoms of players and folks in the industry.

Dan Szymborski: Honestly, I’d pick the Reds so I don’t have to go through the hassle of moving

Dan Szymborski: Working full time for a team simply isn’t one of my passions

Dan Szymborski: Though I can’t completely discount the possibility that someone can make a specific offer I find compelling

Flea: I’m the most interesting Chili Pepper.

KB: Can ZiPS express change in league talent over time? Like projecting how someone from the 1980s would do if dropped in 2022 based on how the overall talent in the league has progressed?

Dan Szymborski: It does on a year-to-year basis, but it’s not really geared towards questions like “How would Ruth do today?”

Guest: Think Soto ever achieves a .500 OBP in a full season?

Dan Szymborski: No

Guest: Is the best contract (not counting arb/rookie deals) Wander Franco’s?

Dan Szymborski: It might be Acuña

Dan Szymborski: Or Albies

TomBruno23: Low Cut Connie is a nice companion to your chats.

Dan Szymborski: I’m currently listening to Right Away, Great Captain!

Dan Szymborski: At the start of the chat, I was finishing up Casella’s violin concerto

RH: Dan, could you name the new INDY ball team ballpark sharing with the Legends in Lexington this year.

Dan Szymborski: Well, how much are they asking?

TomBruno23: One cannot create a statistic that convinces me Joe Nathan is one of the ten best baseball players on the ballot, and I am a big hall let them all in guy.

Dan Szymborski: So not sold on SAVES OVER REPLACEMENT WHICH IS USED FOR ALL PLAYERS?

Guest: Bait avoided a 2nd time! [shakes fist angrily in air]

Guest: Worst contract honorable mention – Anthony Rendon.

Lt. Dan: Which team would win in a playoff style bracket? A team that’s all on cocaine, a team that’s all tripping on mushrooms, a team tripping on acid, or a drunk team?

Dan Szymborski: cocaine

Dan Szymborski: easy

Nermal Network: Just to clarify, the Jollibee fried chicken is legit.  And often they are located near a bakery chain called Red Ribbon that has crazy good Filipino empanadas.

Dan Szymborski: Oh, there’s some great Filipino food!

Dan Szymborski: I just don’t particularly care to try the hot dog and ham spaghetti that was linked!

Cynthia: You live near Cincinnati, right? How do you like it there? I’ve thought of moving there from Madison, WI due to the cheaper COL and relatively milder winters.

Dan Szymborski: I do live near Cincy

Dan Szymborski: I like it fine, especially now that Cincy people have forgotten they want to murder me for my Rookie of the Year vote

Dan Szymborski: It’s a simple drive to east coast

Dan Szymborski: Only problem is steamed crab access. I have to order those shipped

Dan Szymborski: You can get seafood, but there’s no market in Ohio for steamed crabs because of what is involved

KB: Have you ever gotten a really bizarre projection request from a legit source like a team? Not talking about a player in the minor leagues, NPB, or KBO. I mean some unknown player from the CPBL or some random dude playing in Australia.

Dan Szymborski: I have, but I observe strict confidentiality.

robertobeers: Pick a player that is in desperate need of a new years resolution and give them a plan (a Dan) to improve. Go.

Dan Szymborski: DAVID FLETCHER, JUST BECAUSE YOU *CAN* PUT ANYTHING INTO PLAY DOESN”T MEAN YOU SHOULD. WE BELIEVE YOU

Guest: let’s say you’re in the mall and someone yells “DANNY!” do you turn around? what about with “DANIEL?”

Dan Szymborski: Only if it sounds like my mom or sister

Dan Szymborski: There are only three living people who call me Danny: My mom, my sister, and my godfather Armin.

Dan Szymborski: Armin is 96 so he’s unlikely to be at a mall 500 miles from his house

Dan Szymborski: The only living person who calls me Daniel is my mom when she’s annoyed with me

Dan Szymborski: Everyone also calls me Dan

Lark: What’s the worst thing you’ve ever eaten?

Dan Szymborski: century egg

Dan Szymborski: But luckily, you can’t accidentally eat one

Dan Szymborski: Of things you can actually run into unknowingly

Dan Szymborski: This lavender chocolate that tasted like absolute burning in my mouth. I think it was in a Whitman’s or something similar

Dan Szymborski: It was 25 years ago and I STILL can cringe and taste that awful acrid soaplike burning.

JasonM: Could you provide an guess as to what might have changed on Tatis between his preliminary projection you provided in the NL West Elegy and the one posted yesterday, it seems his WAR landed between the 60-70% of the preliminary.

Dan Szymborski: All the data wasn’t in an processed yet

Kevbot034: Who is your favorite player in the game right now?

Dan Szymborski: Soto

Guest: The Guest insists upon a house feline status update.

Dan Szymborski: Justinian is on my lap (he usually is this time of day)

Dan Szymborski: Mercutio is on the living room floor waiting for the sun to come to him. He has noticed that it’s very cloudy

Dan Szymborski: he HASNT

Dan Szymborski: Constantine is in the spoon of the cat tree sleeping

Dan Szymborski: and Cassiopeia is in one of the closets sleeping. Cassie picked on Constantine but he hit her back harder and she stormed off to closet

Bryan: Looking at that Cistulli article on the 2B class of 2014 makes me feel 100 years old.  How is it possible that was published less than 8 years ago??

Adam: When you were a kid did you like math or writing better?

Dan Szymborski: I loved both. Writing probably a little more

Adam: Which do you find yourself saying in your head more often, Florida Marlins or Anaheim Angels?  (California Angels?)

Dan Szymborski: florida marlins

Kip: Have you ever moved data from normal hard drive to SSD?  If so,  any software recommendations?

Dan Szymborski: I have, but never with software as far as I can tell

Dan Szymborski: I generally use SSDs for OSs and most used programs

Dan Szymborski: While I keep data on several redundant HDDs

Guest: You have any particular interest in the happenings of the James Webb Space Telescope?

Dan Szymborski: I’m not uninterested, but I haven’t been paying attention

Adam: Which company/year had the best baseball card design?

Dan Szymborski: 1972 Topps of course!

Dan Szymborski: I really liked those bluish Fleer cards in the mid-80s that had the scouting reports and heat maps on the back

Dan Szymborski: There was obviously no Statcast or FG then!

Dan Szymborski:

Dan Szymborski:

Adam: How many chats in a row without receiving a question about chili before you’d begin to wonder if something suspicious was going on?

Dan Szymborski: 1

Guest: If analytics weren’t a thing and we only relied on old school stuff, who would be considered to be the best player in the game right now?

Dan Szymborski: Harper

Guest: You will win $1 million if one MLB player gets a hit in one at-bat, one chance at it. The pitcher is Max Scherzer. Which hitter are you choosing?

Dan Szymborski: I want a lefty who makes good contact

Dan Szymborski: Gimme Brantley

Aaron: The Marlins aren’t the Florida Marlins?

bk: Dan, I really enjoyed your ZiPS breakdown of the Jays. Would you say upgrading 3B is the biggest priority post-lockout?

Dan Szymborski: I think one more starter then 3rd

Seamus: How do you rate the quality of the international leagues (whether in ZiPS or just in general)? I’m a Red Sox fan dreaming on Seiya Suzuki and trying to figure out what’s reasonable to hope for.

Dan Szymborski: I get NPB as between AAA 1/2 and KBO as AA 1/2

glt4dc: With Gabe Kapler winning Manager of the Year, he is the 2nd ex-Phillies manager (along with Terry Francona) to the win the award this century.  Does that reflect:
a) badly on Phillies management for not being able to provide a quality manager what he needed when he managed the team at the time?
b) well on Phillies management for identifying up-and-coming managerial talent?

Dan Szymborski: Probably doesn’t reflect anything systemic

Dan Szymborski: Other than in this case, the Phillies ownership/front office misidentified their faults as Kapler’s

Dan Szymborski: They didn’t need a manager “who knows how to win.”

Dan Szymborski: They needed — and still do — better players.

Appreciative: Thanks for doing the chats. They’re awesome

Dan Szymborski: Hope people enjoy them!

Dan Szymborski: And on that note, it’s sadly time to end it for this week.

Dan Szymborski: As I have a ZiPS team that I will not name to finish up

Dan Szymborski: The depth chart will be available on Twitter in a few hours! @DSzymborski