Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat – 2/29/24

Dan Szymborski: Ack, I’m here!

Dan Szymborski: Got lost fuming on Twitter

Placido Polanco fan club president: Just read Ben Clemens’ article about team depth. Don’t the ZiPS projected standings account for depth? Does ZiPS handle depth differently than the way proposed in Ben’s article?

Dan Szymborski: Sort of. ZiPS always has a generalized model that varies the playing time availability of top players so sometimes those Plan Bs or Cs or Ds get a lot more playing time than you expect

Dan Szymborski: For example, in that one run in the AL projections that I alluded to for the O’s, the O’s mostly ended up with David Banuelos and Michael Perez catching

Harry Lime: Can you suggest any articles that talk on late round players for deep drafts? thx

Dan Szymborski: That’s more a Zimmerman Q!

Angelus Novus: O’s have a ton of good position players. When will we see Mayo? Do they need to make a trade to free up room?

Dan Szymborski: They may need to trade, but I don’t think it’ll be before the start of the season

Dan Szymborski: I think they’ll take a wait and see approach

Jeremy: When looking at the 2024 Pre-Season Projections, “Fantasy” dashboard, how are the players sorted by default? Doesn’t seem to indicated the “sort on” metric.

Dan Szymborski: Looks like it’s still sorting by the WAR order

David M: Nl only keeper…down to one of these 3.  Pfaadt, B Garrett or Bohm

Dan Szymborski: depends who is available if you don’t keep. I’d probably go with Pfaadt

Refugee: When you analyze MiLB data, do you have a way to filter PA or IP versus comparable (let’s say top 100 or top 150) prospects as to avoid showing a guy feasting on mediocre competition?

Dan Szymborski: No, not really. But those guys don’t hang around at levels very long

Refugee: Is there hidden criteria for stats to be indexed? My impression is that indexing is an ideal way to put a stat in context, but I’ve found that how far it strays from 100 can be misleading. A 111 Stuff+ changeup was the best among all qualified starters in 2023. A 111 Stuff+ slider was 11th. I know it would be clunky to add standard deviation to every index stat, but couldn’t it be useful?

Side note: for stats like OPS+ or wRC+, do you also find a way to index by position?

Dan Szymborski: I don’t usually. Generally speaking, I think OPS+/wRC+ speak for themselves, at least they do with me

Dan Szymborski: I try to avoid stats ABOUT stats where possible. I think it’s better for someone to have the long term knowledge that a 110 OPS+ is mediocre for a 1B but very good for a SS rather than try to distill it even further

tumtum: When does ZiPS see Semien hitting the age curve?

Dan Szymborski: Like most players his age, there’s a slightly increasing risk every year

Question marks: Both Alex Kirilloff and Kerry Carpenter are 26 and have question marks after their names: Kirilloff, his health and whether he’ll be platooned; Carpenter, his horrid second half and wherther he’ll be platooned. Who would you rather invest in?

Dan Szymborski: I think Carpenter’s safer, but Kirilloff missing a lot of time from injuries makes him more uncertain and thus, more upsidey

Guest: Who are the biggest ZiPS movers after the first few games of Spring Training? For example, Nolan Jones is hitless in 10 PA with 4 Ks already.

Dan Szymborski: I don’t do spring so nobody’s moved! lol

Who’s Fabio?: Dan, is it too early to start thinking about Deadlinesmas?  The Jays didn’t do much this offseason so I’m hoping for something spectacular in July.

Dan Szymborski: I think it’s tough until April at least

Edgar scores, Junior scores, they all score: O’s prospect Enrique Bradfield seems to have a nice hit tool, and his speed is off the charts. He seems to be the second coming of Mickey Rivers. Why isn’t he a higher-ranked prospect?

Dan Szymborski: Well, you’d have to ask Eric and Tess if it’s about the FG rankings

Dan Szymborski: As for ZiPS, it just doesn’t have a lot to go on

Dan Szymborski: and college stats, which ZiPS does use when it has to, are really erratic in value

Dan Szymborski: And let’s just say his 2023 Vandy translation did not go well

Donut holestein: Do you personally agree with the ZIPs projection of Adolis Garcia?

Dan Szymborski: I think it’s fair

Dan Szymborski: We’re talking a 31-year-old player; there are for more chutes than there are ladders and it only gets worse from here

Eric: After MJ Melendez’s horrible first half, he hit .273/.352/.485 in the second half and finally tapped back into his power. ZIPS sees him bouncing back as well. Thoughts on a potential breakout?

Dan Szymborski: Bearish on a breakout. ZiPS hasn’t found a ton of value in chopping up the season

Refugee: Should two-seamers and sinkers be tracked separately? They have different columns in all of FG’s dashboards, but it seems like nobody is being categorized that way, which I find hard to believe.

Dan Szymborski: Pitch tracking is tricky in that it’s not simply a cluster analysis exercise, you also have to give classifications that fans are familiar with or they’ll just not care and not use it

Smitty*: oh, and don’t you hate pants?

Dan Szymborski: I love working at home so I can mostly just wear gym shorts. Ah, mesh gym shorts, the working man’s silk

>this guy<: Dan have you had the neural network or Copilot create any chili recipes?

Dan Szymborski: I have not

Dan Szymborski: wait, I HAVE

Dan Szymborski: but I don’t use the AI that tries and give you right answers because that’s no fun

Dan Szymborski: Inferkit’s GPT implementation is way more fun

Dan Szymborski: (it’s rawer and less focused on the correct answer)

Dan Szymborski:

Mason: Does players not signing till into spring really make anyones lives worse?

Dan Szymborski: No

Dan Szymborski: Because it’s not really about that, and MLB hopes stupid people will buy that

Guest: Dan fuming on Twitter? glad i just re-joined after deleting the old account

Guest: Aliens are going to invade Earth, and you don’t have access to ZiPS. They ask you to project the top 30 players with the highest batting average for this season. What 5 metrics do you look at?

Dan Szymborski: BA, contact rate, strikeout rate, BABIP, walk rate

Romorr: Don’t you love it when people overreact to Spring Training stats? Always makes me laugh. Anyway, Coby Mayo should be the Orioles opening day 3B, right?

Dan Szymborski: They’ll see what happens at AAA I’m sure

Guest: Is this your first ever leap day chat?

Dan Szymborski: Maybe?

Dan Szymborski: Leap Year was a Monday in 2016, lemme see

Dan Szymborski: Nope, did one in 2016

Dan Szymborski: https://www.jotcast.com/chat/dan-szymborski-fangraphs-chat-2-29-16-120…

Dan Szymborski: Remember, while FanGraphs didn’t hire me until 2018, I’ve been doing chats longer than that as ESPN gave me permission

Andrew P: If the Red Sox sign Montgomery, how much higher does their rotation move in the league rankings? I think they were at 18 or 19 right now

Dan Szymborski: Given how closely clumped teams are, Montgomery LOOKS like it would bump them to the 11th-14th range in our depth charts for SP

JV19: Does ZIPS ever have weird probability distributions?  Similar to (I think) Chris Mitchell had on prospects where some had bi-modal distributions on FV.  I remember some were 60/10/10/10/20 for bust, 40, 50, 60, 70 for example.

Dan Szymborski: It does! I noted a few years ago that there were two pitchers that had significantly bimodal distros: Tanner Scott and Michael Kopech

Matt Waters: Although Elly De La Cruz understandably gets ample pub, I am extremely bullish on the futures of Encarnacion-Strand and Will Benson for the Reds. How do you feel about these players, Dan?

Dan Szymborski: Moreson on CES. I’m bullish about heir future

Dan Szymborski: My relative grumpiness about the Reds is mostly due to a weirdly designed roster and when they choose to spend money, getting the least bang for the buck

Kevin: Why do you think the other projection systems are so much higher than ZiPS on Jazz Chisholm’s 2024 PAs? It seems like ZiPS is the only one appropriately considering his injury history.

Dan Szymborski: Well, Steamer uses the depth chart playing time!

Dan Szymborski: Invader Zimmerman did a look at it

Dan Szymborski: and found for the guys who were undeniably major leaguers, ZiPS actually did a really good job with playing time, much better than I had expected

Dan Szymborski: So ZiPS is SORT OF a playing time predictor, just for some dudes

Dan Szymborski: but not for, say, Samuel Basallo, who will not play in the majors at all this year

Dale: Hey Dan, long time listener, first time caller. First off, thanks for all your work with ZiPS; It’s a massive advantage in fantasy baseball! Is there any way for the public to access 90th percentile projections? I’m trying to identify some breakouts

Dan Szymborski: I don’t publish 90s as a whole, but I do publish 80s!

Eric: The Cubs aren’t going to trot out Nick Madrigal at 3B on Opening Day, right?  RIGHT??

Dan Szymborski: They may. We’r enot quit ein March yet so wait and see

TomBruno23: Have you seen Leapday William yet today?

Dan Szymborski: Ha! I appreciate a good 30 day reference

Dan Szymborski: 30 rock

Guest: Is this year dragging on for you as well? Feels like we should be in March already…

Dan Szymborski: No, January-March always flies by for me

Dan Szymborski: Becuase I always have a bazillion projects I want to get done over the winter and then I finish like 7 and see it’s March 22nd and shit’s about to get real

Nervous Flyball Pitcher: Roughly speaking, is the offensive gain in platoon advantage worth the defensive penalty for having someone play multiple positions? Thinking about Gunnar Henderson playing 3B vs. SS in order to get Jorge Mateo in against LHP. This isn’t a question about Jorge Mateo per se, I just mean if there was a generic RHH shortstop.

Dan Szymborski: It CAN be

Travelling: Maybe a better question for Eric, but if one was going to the Dominican for a week beginning April 1, and wanted to watch some good baseball, any clue where they would find it?

Dan Szymborski: That’s definitely an Eric Q!

Dan Szymborski: I’ve never even been to the DR!

8th overall pick: Rank these three by games played in 2024: Yordan Alvarez, Judge, and Ohtani

Dan Szymborski: a, o, j

TomBruno23: I am a Cardinal BFIB fanatic going on Season 40 of the soap opera…sell me on purchasing season tickets please. Thank you.

Dan Szymborski: 2024 almost HAS to be bette rthan 2023

Tino: Do you feel like Nolan Schanuel has potential in the MLB? I am deciding between him and Harrison Bader (have both as low money keepers and can sign to 3 year contracts). Thanks!

Dan Szymborski: I think so. You’re not properly incentivized to like Bader in a fantasy format

Dale: Do you believe in ghosts?

Dan Szymborski: No

Dan Szymborski: Though I don’t categorically *deny* their existence. If ghosts do exist, we currently do not possess the scientific knowledge of how it could come apart, nor the tools to confirm their existence.

Dan Szymborski: But the null hypothesis is that ghosts do not exist, so I have yet to see anything that would cause me to reject the null hypothesis.

Dan Szymborski: I’m open to a lot of things, such as the concept of some kind of creator, even if not accurately described by anyone yet. To an ant, a human is supernatural, after all.

Jack: With RSNs going under and MLB finally embracing in-market streaming, will the league have to start subsidizing even big market teams to maintain competitive balance? It seems like if you don’t already have a lucrative TV deal like the Dodgers, Phillies, etc, you’re screwed.

Dan Szymborski: I’m really not sure how it’s all going to shake out, honestly

The Next Billy Beane: Any advise for getting into data analytics through baseball? Specifically through SQL Server, R Studio, etc.?

Dan Szymborski: https://www.amazon.com/Analyzing-Baseball-Data-Second-Chapman/dp/08153…

12 to 6: i know, i know, its one spring training game and we dodger fans shouldn’t get too excited yet, but yama’s splitter:

teeheeheheheheheheheheeeheeeeheeeheeeheeee.

the person who asks the lunch question: what’s for lunch?

Dan Szymborski: Egg salad

Dan Szymborski: well, egg salad sandwich

Dan Szymborski: Eggs, mayo, salt, pepper, celery seed, worcestershire, mustard, paprika, gochujang

Colton: Is no data or manufactured data worse in a projection system? Had a discussion last week with a friend about the lack of high school prospects on ZiPS 100 and we were at a crossroads over the topic.

Dan Szymborski: Depends exactly what you mean by manufactured data

Jack: I know it’s hardly unheard of for rookie hitters to start hot and then pitchers figure them out. But what’s up with Davis Schneider? Going back to last September, he’s gone from Barry Bonds to Bartolo Colon.

Dan Szymborski: I think people freak out too much about upsa nd downs

The guy Dan was arguing with on Twitter: Yeah that’s right, I followed you here to continue our discourse

McGraw45: Odds you do this chat on the same day next year?

Dan Szymborski: Zero. There’s no 2/29 until 2028!

Dan Szymborski: And it’s a Monday

John Angelos: Why didn’t the O’s sell for more than $1.7 billion?

Dan Szymborski: I mean, it’s not the Dodgers in terms of market

KC Pain: Would you rather have Baz or Ragans long term?

Dan Szymborski: Baz

Victoria: Who wears their eyeblack the best in baseball? Chris Morel? Lindor? Harper?

Dan Szymborski: I don’t have Smoky+ but maybe Eno does?

Dan Szymborski: I am now conducting this chat

Dan Szymborski: FRAUD!

Dan Szymborski:

Not Mike Morse: How much does ballpark and team defense affect a projection for a strikeout pitcher? Does the difference between say Yankee Stadium and Oracle Park do much to Snell’s projected stats?

Dan Szymborski: Slightly. The park factors *are* predictive, even if relatively small compared to other stuff

Dan Szymborski: You should see me in MLB the Show when there’s a Moment or some other game in Target during day games! lol

Dan Szymborski: Ah, someone else had this complaint

Dan Szymborski:

KC Pain: Who do you see the Orioles moving?   They cant possibly keep all their prospects with a logjam at positions.  They have to move some before the shine wears off, age, or injury strikes right?  They didnt even clear a spot with the Burnes move lol

Dan Szymborski: I suspect Santander could go in the right trade

Nate: Re Melendez: ZiPS is probably more concerned about the 1100+ MLB PAs of below replacement level production primarily due to a glove made of lead

Gold Star: Are you on Bluesky yet? It seems to have taken the lead for replacing Twitter.

Dan Szymborski: I am, but I have to admit I’m kinda lazy on posting on it

Dan Szymborski: since so many people who read me are still on twitter and they only JUST opened up

szyn pouches: in a hypothetical world where the diamondbacks lose gallen and kelly to free agency in 2 years, am I wrong to be unreasonably optimistic about a combo of Pfaadt-E-Rod-Mena/Lin?

Dan Szymborski: If you are, then so is zips

Jeremy: I’m assuming ZiPS takes into account the player’s teammates and position in the order, right? For example, does the projection change/refine once they sign as a free agent? Thinking a Justin Turner, for example.

Dan Szymborski: SPECIFICALLY, no. Though it does use proxies that work

Dan Szymborski: For example, it estimates the level of team offense by the projections of the returning guys and average production elsewhere. Same with defense

Dan Szymborski: And as a kludge, it works surprisingly well

Dan Szymborski: And I find the downside here — missing something on a team with HUGE turnover — isn’t worse than the cost of constantly changing everybody’s projection every day

Guest: Obviously Trevor Bauer isn’t on a team but if he does go to one does fangraphs have his expected stats?

Dan Szymborski: I do have his projection in the system somewhere

Dan Szymborski: Waitk, he’s projected

Dan Szymborski: https://www.fangraphs.com/players/trevor-bauer/12703/stats?position=P

Guest: Who will be the brewers starting 3rd and 2nd baseman?

Dan Szymborski: I don’t think our depth charts are off

Dale: Christmas came early this year! Where can I find the 80th percentile ZiPS projections?

Dan Szymborski: the player pages!

Dan Szymborski: err the team rundowns

Dan Szymborski: trying to figure out how much we can stuff onto player pages

Dan Szymborski: I know we’ll have the splits up in the near future

Sirras: What is your favorite article you wrote in the last year? That FG published, regardless of author?

Dan Szymborski: Not sure on the second, so it would be unfair to name on

Dan Szymborski: for my personal fave?

Dan Szymborski: Hmm, sorry it takes a few

Dan Szymborski: I’m the type of person who immediately hates and regrets everything I write as soon as I hit send

Dan Szymborski: I think this?

Dan Szymborski: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/yes-hitter-xstats-are-useful/

Zach: Re: Feels like we should be in March already

I think that was a joke Dan! It’s leap day

A dumby: So if you would expect about 10% of players to hit their 90th percentile and 10th percentile, does that hold true for every percentile bucket? You should see approximately 10% of players roughly distributed across all outcomes?

Dan Szymborski: Yeah! Ideally yould’ have 10% in each decile

szyn pouches: Are you haunted by any single season a player had that ran completely afoul of the ZIPS projections?

Dan Szymborski: Haunted? No. I do the best I can and that’s all I can do

Dan Szymborski: Though for teams, the O’s projection haunts me, not because I regret it, but that it led to me hearing for six months that I have a secret grudge against the city I’m from and team I root for, for some reason

Chichikov: If team control weren’t a thing and the Jacksons (Holliday and Chourio) were free agents right now, how much would you and/or ZIPS estimate they’d get on the open market? Assume they’re trying to maximize this contract and not enter free agency again in their late 20’s.

Dan Szymborski: 1.8 shitloads of money

Eddie Planks Constant: I stopped following baseball in 2008 and got back into it this season. Glad to see you are doing well. I remember when Zips was on Baseball Primer. What should I know about the 15 years I’ve missed?

Dan Szymborski: We have a very weird president and 2020 was even weirder!

Dan Szymborski: I was at ESPN from 2010-2018

Dan Szymborski: I’ve also gotten 16 years older since 2008, so I’ll be 46 in June rather than turning 30

Dan Szymborski: But I bet you had a similar change in age!

Guest: Which Brewers prospect (besides Chourio) will have the biggest impact?

Dan Szymborski: I think Black COULD

Guest: mookie says he wants to be considered a legend of the game when its all said and done. seems to me like he might hit that very ethereal benchmark
what is his projected final WAR total?

Dan Szymborski: I like when people ask me the things I already have!

Dan Szymborski: ZiPS projects Betts finishes at 81.4 WAR, 2557 hits, 432 homers, 128 OPS+ over 9282 AB

Also 2016 Dan: el gasino: when will we see robot umps?

Dan Szymborski: 2040.

Dan Szymborski: I think we’re beating that one

Todd Bonzalez: Didn’t Grandma Szymborski haunt this chat for generations? WAS THAT NOT CONVINCING?!?!

Pitchers of Interest: Which projection do you feel more confident in, Yamamoto or Imanaga? Or is it more “they share a lot of the same data set, so both about the same”?

Dan Szymborski: About the same

Victoria: ok i’m done reading your 2016 chat, jeeeeezus was there a lot of Tr*mp

Dan Szymborski: Wait, did I talk a lot of politics in 2016?

Dan Szymborski: I hate talking politics, what did you people do to me that I’m suppressing?

Matt: Hey Dan, any thoughts on the terms of Bellinger’s contract?

Dan Szymborski: It’s reasonable for a contending team

Jake Heisenripbauer: In 2024 it feels like MLB is the only major sport that hasnt been ruined by the influence of Vegas. NBA and especially the NFL are jokes. Is it just a matter of time or maybe Vegas already has a huge influence on MLB and it just isnt as noticable? or is there something inherent with the game of baseball specifically that makes it harder to affect outcomes?

Dan Szymborski: baseball is pretty coinflippy

Dan Szymborski: And it’s never been the favorite to bet on anyway

Broken Bat: Enjoy your insights Dan. Understand the layers of variances in seeking future performance of the players. That being aside, depth of roster isn’t just nighest WAR etc. of total team but depth is having suitable backup defensive, power, contact, speed, and a degeee of potential among others to play above the 50% projectiles. That’s my opinion, not yours. But I am curious witzhnrosters not being set yet, so it’s early, what teams potentially have maybe deep rosters that might lack the STAR or STARS to be a favorite?

Dan Szymborski: But remember, the more stuff you include, the more work is involved

Dan Szymborski: The FG projections can run instantly when there’s a trade or something

Dan Szymborski: to do the ZiPS method, if I’m doing the full-fat ZiPS projections, first I need two days for the numbers to crunch on two PCs

Dan Szymborski: and then about four hours to run the distribution of team quality from simulated depth charts

Dan Szymborski: and then another two hours to run a million year of sims

Guest: you’ve only been at FG since 2018? in my brain you’ve been at FG forever, like Cameron-far back lol

Dan Szymborski: Again, I was AROUND FG before that

Dan Szymborski: ZiPS was on FanGraphs before 2018 as well.

Dan Szymborski: and I’ve been a staple of the chats going way back

Dan Szymborski: and remember, I was behind the ESPN paywall

Dan Szymborski: I accepted the job offer on my 40th birthday (6/19/18) about 20 minutes after I nearly drowned myself with my life jacket while kayaking

Guest: what are the TO’N 80/20s? I didn’t see them on STL or BOS

Dan Szymborski: they’re there!

Dan Szymborski: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2024-zips-projections-boston-red-sox/

Dan Szymborski: search for 80th and 20th

Dan Szymborski: I think fourth and eighth charts?

Bobby: ZiPS have any interesting longshot ROY of the year candidates? Maybe Busch in Chicago?

Dan Szymborski: Busch isn’t a bad one honestly

Guest: Let’s say there’s a projection system that debuts this year and is 30%-40% more accurate than any other system for 2024, 2025, and 2026. Would you believe the creator is more likely to be a time traveler or has found a breakthrough in the art of projections?

Dan Szymborski: Oh, time traveler for sure

Dan Szymborski: we’ve been squeezing out a pretty dry sponge to get more improvements

Dan Szymborski: and I don’t think teams have found the magic key, else they wouldn’t buy data

Dan Szymborski: presumably nobody gives me money just for liking me

Dan Szymborski: I certainly wouldn’t. I’m not that likable

All the wong moves: I agree with your point about short signing windows being a disservice to player equity, but isn’t there an inescapable, pre-set window defined by the off-season?

Dan Szymborski: Yeah, but 5 months is a lot easier period to make decisions than seven days

Eh?: Dan, I picture you being the type of person to laugh hysterically by yourself at something you saw on your computer. I am also like this. Am I wrong?

Dan Szymborski: No, I sometimes lose my shit at things

Austin Riley’s HoF Plaque: If Ronald Acuna’s 20th percentile outcome is over 5 fWAR and his 80th is over 9, what’s his 99th percentile outcome?

Dan Szymborski: it’s not open, but it was like 10 something

Guy Who Asks The Multiple Choice Question: In general, what is your favourite nickname for hotdogs?

a) Glizzys
b) Meat Missiles
c) Tube Steaks
d) Dongs

Dan Szymborski: I don’t have a nickname for hot dogs

Felines: Post the most recent picture of your cats. No cheating.

Dan Szymborski: OK, most recent is 2/20

Dan Szymborski:

Dan Szymborski: I don’t have a single picture with all four cats

Dan Szymborski: the most i’ve gotten for my current cats is three

Dan Szymborski:

Dan Szymborski: Ok, this is the only picture I seem to have EVER of all current cats in the same picture.

Dan Szymborski:

Dan Szymborski: From 2015

Guest: I would think it’s incredibly rare, if it’s ever happened, that a healthy player has hit their triple-digit or negative percentile in ZiPS?

Dan Szymborski: You can’t!

ryan: Have you considered adding zStats to player pages over xStats

Dan Szymborski: I have considered it

happy birthday Rose: Is this rose’s facebook? i was told this link i could wish you happy wishes. wishes to you and your best fiends. wishes for another great fantastic to come and such as. birthday.

Justin: Hi Dan! Do you play out of the park, and if you do what does your typical save/game look like?

Dan Szymborski: I do

Dan Szymborski: I usually play rebuilding teams

Dan Szymborski: or the O’s

Dan Szymborski: It’s especially fun since OOTP uses my projections as a starting point

Tom: Rose, best of luck to you on your endeavors. i know this wasn’t easy for you, but hector is proud.

Mason: Is Gunnar a top five 3b or ss at this moment?

Dan Szymborski: yes

Victoria: Total mentions in that chat: 12 of Trump, 4 of HRC, 2 of Sanders, 2 of Bush, 2 of GOP

To be fair, our brains were collectively broken by winter of 2015-16

Dan Szymborski: I’m sure it was the fault of you guys, because it’s a really weird day when I bring up politics on my own

Have you?: Have you ever used your last name spelling as if it were the word “simulate” aka “szymulate”.

Dan Szymborski: I have, sadly

Dan Szymborski: I’ve also described something as szympatico

Buford: Who is the worst general manager to have won a World Series?

Dan Szymborski: worst as in absolute or worst relative to GMs of the time?

Dan Szymborski: if the latter, Dayton Moore

Dan Szymborski: but he’s probably be 10th best or so in 1985

Victoria: hot dog is a nickname for a frankfurter

brad penny for your thoughts: How many of these have you had?

Dan Szymborski: six I think

Dan Szymborski: If I’m eating a hot dog, I mostly just want kraut and a little mustard

Tom: Rose, thank you for posting my wishes on your timeline

Guest: so, technically speaking, does every player have a 1.000/1.000/.4000 ceiling and a .000/.000/.000 floor?

Dan Szymborski: Yeah, though that’s purely theoretical

SC: Would you rather keep Royce Lewis in the 9th round or Josh Jung in the 16th?

Dan Szymborski: Lewis

Dan Szymborski: YOu don’t have to have him healthy enough to play hard positions to get the position qualification

brad penny for your thoughts: are you a fan of the baltimore hot dog?

Dan Szymborski: I assume you mean the old Attman’s dog?

Dan Szymborski: No, I don’t care for bologna or double up on my hot dog meats

TomBruno23: Matt Carpenter v Patrick Corbin right now oh babbbbbeeeeeeeeee

TomBruno23: and Corbin with the backwards K on a pitch down the middle.

Dan Szymborski: Resistible force 1, movable object 0

Phil: You and I are about the same age, and I’m starting to think about retirement. Do you have a succession plan for Zips? Could someone else even do it, or is too much of the process in your head?

Dan Szymborski: I don’t have a succession plan, honestly

Dan Szymborski: I probably should have one for if I drop dead suddenly

Dan Szymborski: it’s doable, but there’s a learning curve and I’d need to document how I do more things

Dan Szymborski: like the database that goes into the projections has a zBABIP field for hitters, for example, but someone who has ZiPS wouldn’t know where to get the zBABIP

Tom: Rose, thank you for posting my thanks on your timeline. not necessary and you can stop now. Regards

Cat Latos: What do my cat friends do?

Dan Szymborski: Last I was upstairs (about an hour ago) all four were sleeping

Eric: Speaking of hot dogs, thoughts on Cincinnati chili/cheese coneys? Most Ohio transplants I know have very strong feelings one way or the other…

Dan Szymborski: No.

Dan Szymborski: That’s my opinion of Cincy chili

Dan Szymborski: Not a refusal to answer

Dan Szymborski: and on that note, it’s time for me to take off for another week!

Dan Szymborski: Thanks for coming all!

Dan Szymborski: Well, not for the one who keep submitting the same very lengthy Trump question I’m not answering