Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat - 6/8/15

12:00

Dan Szymborski: Noon: A Time for Chatting

12:01

Dan Szymborski: Let’s start off with our typical Monday business.

12:01

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12:02

Dan Szymborski: Today is our first three-way dance, brought on by the Taylor/Arthur first-round tie.

12:02

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12:04

Comment From RotoLando
What a day! What a glorious day!

12:04

Dan Szymborski: Draft or are you just ina really good mood?

12:04

Comment From Clay
Vincent Velasquez expectations?

12:05

Dan Szymborski: In majors right now, just OK. He got what, 4 starts above high-A ball?

12:05

Comment From Total Clown
Hey look Dan, regression!

12:05

Dan Szymborski: Don’t see regression. I see my laptop, my monitor, a can of soda, and a gray cat

12:06

Comment From Bruce
Here a perfectly suitable chat question: Why are there so few African American pitchers?

12:06

Dan Szymborski: That’s more a question for sociologists.

12:06

Comment From Danswers
Afternoon Dan. Question for you, my Kang & Souza for his Carrasco & JD Martinez. Thoughts?

12:06

Dan Szymborski: Wash

12:07

Comment From Josh I
If you’re the A’s, what do you do? Who is traded where, for what kind of return?

12:07

Dan Szymborski: Zobrist and Kazmir certainly on the trading block. The return depends on what the offers are.

12:09

Comment From Curtis
Has there ever been a crop of highly touted rookies in the Majors this early? Seems like there’s quite a few high profile rooks up….

12:09

Dan Szymborski: Not sure offhand

12:09

Dan Szymborski: But there have been a few relaly big names promoted this year

12:10

Comment From Josh G
How concerned are you about Boxberger? Do you see Jepsen keeping the closer gig?

12:10

Dan Szymborski: I don’t see Jepsen keeping it for that long

12:11

Comment From OddManOut
Will Carlos Santana bounce back like he did last year? His GB% is up and FB % rate down.

12:12

Dan Szymborski: His line really isn’t all that out of line with last year’s final line. It just may be he’s a 120 OPS+ guy now.

12:13

Comment From Josh G
Is Addison Reed going to resume closer duties anytime soon or does Ziegler have that locked down?

12:13

Dan Szymborski: Hey, where’d my answer go?

12:13

Dan Szymborski: Santana’s line isn’t all that different from last year’s final line. I’m starting to think he’s just a 120 OPS+ guy at this point.

12:13

Dan Szymborski: Thanks for showing up answer!

12:14

Comment From Curious Cyrus
In my weekly H2H points league where wins/losses are weighed heavily would you start Tanaka against WAS or Wacha at COL?

12:14

Dan Szymborski: Think Wacha

12:14

Dan Szymborski: Even in COL

12:15

Dan Szymborski: And another answer disappeared, but this one didn’t revive

12:15

Dan Szymborski: I think Arizona’s going to keep giving Reed shots at closing.

12:15

Comment From Curtis
First manager fired?

12:15

Dan Szymborski: Ron Roenicke

12:16

Comment From Ace
Gooood morning from the West Coast. Why are the Astros calling everyone up all of a sudden? Is it in part due to them wanting to solidify a playoff spot? Or would they have made these call-ups even if they were doing as lousy as they had been doing the past few years?

12:16

Dan Szymborski: They’re players that they can actually use. And they’re smart to do this – when you actually have excellent division chances, it’s smarter to take the opportunity over worrying about service time games

12:16

Comment From Josh G
When do you see Steven Matz getting the call?

12:17

Dan Szymborski: Sometime in the next couple weeks.

12:17

Comment From Not+Big+Trouble+in+Little+China+too!
Who do you prefer as a long term keeper: Gallo, Russell or Correa?

12:17

Dan Szymborski: Correa

12:17

Comment From Ryan
Based on what you’ve said on twitter, I’m guessing you think Kemp is just broken, and there really isn’t hope for him to catch up to his rather meh projections?

12:17

Dan Szymborski: He certainly looks broken.

12:17

Dan Szymborski: ZiPS (and me) were very pessimistic and ragged pretty hard on the Padres for that trade this winter. And he’s been *way* worse than the projection

12:19

Comment From joe
extend the nets at baseball games – yes or no?

12:19

Dan Szymborski: No

12:19

Comment From Mike
Other than Colabello’s BABIP fuelled magic, is there any reason to expect the Jays offense to regress?

12:19

Dan Szymborski: Not really, though Colabello sure will

12:20

Comment From Dave+in+London
Thoughts on Kyle Kubitza? Do you think we’ll see him in the majors before Sept?

12:20

Dan Szymborski: I think so.

12:20

Comment From Mike
20-team dynasty. I have Correa, Gallo and Rusney. No question here just wanted to brag

12:20

Comment From laxtonto
Do you have any comments about the supposition that by removing the true “once in the generation” level talents from the draft, the WAR levels for picks 1-6 or so stabilize? It is an interesting issue about outliers and to include or not include them in a discussion

12:21

Dan Szymborski: But those players *do* exist.

12:21

Dan Szymborski: If you take out all the Michelin Star chefs, restaurants look a lot more similar too

12:21

Comment From Danny
Any idea if Fangraphs will be getting Batted Ball velocity data added to the site?

12:22

Dan Szymborski: This is your weekly reminder than I do not work for FanGraphs so I am exactly the worst person at FanGraphs to ask questions about what FanGraphs is doing!

12:22

Comment From RotoLando
New Mad Max movie quote? No? Dang.

12:22

Dan Szymborski: Haven’t seen him

12:22

Dan Szymborski: Err it

12:22

Comment From MSW
Seriously, somebody made up the names Swanson Dansby. Could have easily been named Swansby Danson, too.

12:22

Comment From dom
wat is ur cat’

12:23

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12:23

Dan Szymborski: He’s a cat

12:23

Comment From Uther Lightbringer
Can you tell me why the projections are so down on the Rangers the rest of the way?

12:24

Dan Szymborski: Lots of holes and they’ve gotten some really fortunate performance from some guys

12:24

Comment From Compton
Is there anywhere that I can find reverse comps? E.g. what active player is most similar to Clint Hurdle circa 1978?

12:24

Dan Szymborski: No

12:24

Comment From Joe
What do you think is the optimal usage of Venditte? Have him alternate each batter OR have him alternate days. Two days as a RHP two days as a LHP thus making him availalbe on almost every single day?

12:24

Dan Szymborski: Standard short reliever who is hard to pinch hita gainst

12:24

Comment From Mark
How confident are you in the splits projections? Looking at Jeff Baker (my fav guy to look at for this), he has a career OPS split of .870/.636 vs LH/RH pitching. The last two years are even more drastic with splits of .824/.535 in ’14 and 1.073/.536 in ’13. Yet, I see ZiPS has a projection of .736/.657 for this year.

12:25

Dan Szymborski: Quite. Actual platoon splits for hitters aren’t as good predictors of future platoon splits as generic platoon splits are until 3000-4000 PA

12:26

Dan Szymborski: And with a guy with so few PA predicted, the rounded platoon splits are going to be a little warped

12:26

Comment From dom
you can’t see regression but can you see why kids love cinnamon toast crunch

12:26

Dan Szymborski: Kids like cinnamon toast.

12:26

Dan Szymborski: The thing is that cinnamon toast is much better than cinnamon toast crunch

12:26

Comment From Total Clown
Is the cat’s name regression?

12:26

Dan Szymborski: Galileo

12:27

Comment From MSW
Hector Rondon out a job? Who closes the most games for the cubs here on out?

12:27

Dan Szymborski: I think Rondon gets a lot but he’s going to go committee route here

12:27

Comment From mtsw
Matt Wieters the prescription to fix what ails the O’s? Team suddenly looks a lot scarier with him in the lineup.

12:29

Dan Szymborski: Here’s the thing – Wieters is obviously better than Joseph going forward, but the O’s *have* gotten a .718 OPS out of catcher this year. Wieters is a .746 OPS career hitter that has not been a regular hitter for a year and a half. Don’t let expectations get out of control

12:29

Comment From Marcus Stroman
My dad can beat up anyone’s dad.

12:29

Dan Szymborski: Well, my dad’s dead, so I would hope that your dad could beat up mine

12:30

Comment From Jack
What do you think ROS looks like for Taijuan Walker?

12:30

Dan Szymborski: H is last couple of starts have been really good and his command much better, but he’s bene so erratic that I don’t want to count on that yet

12:30

Comment From RYAN
Josh Collmenter needs to shipped ups red label back to the bullpen

12:31

Dan Szymborski: It’s a waste to use UPS to ship a couple hundred feet

12:31

Comment From bob
If a relief pitcher came into the game in a non-save situation, pitched an inning, left the mound to play right field, then came back into the game in a save situation and won, would he be in line to get the save?

12:32

Dan Szymborski: No, he enters the game is the qualification

12:32

Dan Szymborski: Can still get the three inning save if he finishes

12:33

Comment From Barles Charkley
Is there any reason to be concerned about Jorge Soler’s start this season?

12:33

Dan Szymborski: Yes, but I think he’ll be OK

12:33

Dan Szymborski: I frigging *warned* you guys to be cautious though about Soler when everyone got mad at his 252/310/460 half-time projection

12:34

Dan Szymborski: You had a guy with essentially one full season of professional playing time that had missed a lot of time due to injuries – that’s a *very* uncertain player

12:34

Comment From @RationalMLBfan
Regarding Pat Venditte: If a batter came up with reverse splits (e.g., RHB who hits better against RHP than LHP) should Venditte pitch with the opposite arm? Or should he stick with the same arm, since that’s probably what he’s most comfortable with?

12:35

Dan Szymborski: What he’s most comfortable with. And real reverse split guys are kinda rare

12:35

Comment From dom
what do you think Zobrist gets in FA

12:35

Dan Szymborski: Maybe 2/26 or something liek that

12:36

Dan Szymborski: Though that presumes he bounces back considerably

12:36

Comment From laxtonto
At what point are we going to overdo the idea that we can quantify everything in baseball? At some point the hubris that we can actually know all the variables to measure is going to lead teams down the wrong trail.

12:36

Dan Szymborski: It’s hard to tell until we get to that point. Some would say 30 years ago that it’s hubris to think we’d be able to track the velocity and direction of each hit ball, but we can do that

12:36

Comment From Dave+in+London
With Jon Singleton seemingly crowded out in Houston, would he be a good fit in Oakland in a mid-season trade? Power hitter, cost controlled for several years, seems to be improving his batting eye.

12:36

Dan Szymborski: I don’t think the Astros are in a hurry to sort things out, nor should they be

12:37

Comment From mtsw
Any reason to think Travis Snider is anything other than a replacement level outfielder? Hard to see what he does better than David Lough at this point. Lough even has as many homers.

12:37

Dan Szymborski: He’s a 4th outfielder type. Always was.

12:37

Dan Szymborski: Snider hype going into the season was a product of people seeing a short-term split and constructing a narrative around it

12:38

Dan Szymborski: Even smart people can succumb occasionally to recency bias

12:38

Comment From Curioso
When do the Rays turn to a pitching machine as a starter?

12:38

Dan Szymborski: Pitching machines dont’ have elbow ligaments

12:39

Dan Szymborski: (I’m writing more on recent and future minor league callups this week at some point)

12:39

Comment From Robert
Think it is better for the Astros to go after a Hamels type or a Tier 2 guy and keep their system stocked?

12:39

Dan Szymborski: Depends on the offer. As long as there’s no Correa, Hamels is a good target. The problem is that I have no reason to believe that Ruben Amaro Jr. is reasonable.

12:40

Comment From Mike
What’s wrong with Kendrys? Just hi my waiver wire 12-team.. Ownable?

12:40

Dan Szymborski: He hit above his ability for awhile. Now he’s hitting below his ability.

12:40

Dan Szymborski: Whether he’s ownable depends on the player you would no longer own in order to own him

12:40

Comment From RYAN
are the dbacks buyers or sellers?

12:40

Dan Szymborski: Ought to be sellers

12:40

Comment From Eager Seager Beaver
Is Maikel Franco supposed to be hitting this many HRs? Is this just some residual “call up” adrenaline, or did I miss something? I mean, I know power comes up in spurts, but this isn’t like Dom Brown silliness right?

12:41

Dan Szymborski: He *has* shown power beofre

12:41

Dan Szymborski: ZiPS did have him hitting 23 in full-time in majors coming into the season

12:42

Comment From Cain Marko
Indians transactions the last 24 hours: love em, hate em, or think they’re ok?

12:42

Dan Szymborski: Meh.

12:42

Comment From laxtonto
Would you ever consider being a benevolent dictator of a small Caribbean country? And if so, what is the criteria of working for your Banana Republic?

12:42

Dan Szymborski: Air conditioning.

12:42

Dan Szymborski: I’ve played Tropico at least.

12:43

Dan Szymborski: Being a dictator seems like a lot of work and frequently an unseemly end. I’ll stick to being a baseball writer.

12:43

Comment From Guest
What are your thoughts about the fan injured over the weekend? Near worst case for maple bats (bloody fan). Do you thinks and changes should or will happen?

12:43

Dan Szymborski: Bad things happen.

12:44

Dan Szymborski: We all assume risks every day in our lives. And sometimes we lose the lottery.

12:45

Dan Szymborski: Get in a car, take a pill, eat a sandwich. All of these things carry risks of death.

12:45

Dan Szymborski: Now, whether it may be in *MLB’s business interests* to approach it differently is their decision

12:46

Dan Szymborski: But I know every time I’m at a baseball game, there’s an associated risk of balls and bat pieces. If I go to a ballpark and don’t sit in the nosebleeds, I personally feel I am assuming that risk.

12:46

Dan Szymborski: This isn’t an unexpected risk, after all.

12:47

Comment From Josh G
Is Brady Aiken the type of player a team like the Brewers should avoid drafting due to the high risk, or is the potential worth it even though it’s a small market team?

12:47

Dan Szymborski: I think smaller market teams should be less risk averse

12:47

Comment From hscer
Is National Best Friends Day *really* a thing and if so how

12:47

Dan Szymborski: Wait, that’s a thing?

12:47

Comment From mtsw
Pitcher vs Batter data is garbage, I know. Any truth to idea it’s actually valuable to look at for guys facing knuckleballers though? Makes intuitive sense that certain players would be much better at hitting knuckleballs separate from standard hitting ability, given how idiosyncratic the pitch is.

12:47

Dan Szymborski: The problem is that even if it’s meaningful, we still have small sample size concerns. The signal is there, but it’s still lost in the noise

12:48

Comment From rey
Do you think Ian Kennedy has the goods to turn it around?

12:48

Dan Szymborski: Yeah, but it’s not like normal Ian Kennedy is all that exciting

12:48

Comment From Duane
How would you handle Carson Smith in weekly leagues? Debating him or Tyler Clippard this week.

12:48

Dan Szymborski: Sign Smith, then buy the Mariners and fire McClendon and Jack Z.

12:48

Comment From The Boat
How good of a comp is the Lester trade for the inevitable Cueto trade?

12:48

Dan Szymborski: Reasonable.

12:48

Comment From I am the Walrus
Starlin Castro at age 25 just reached 900 hits. Could he be the first player who gets to 3000 hits and isn’t even in the conversation to make the Hall? (We know Palmeiro’s issue but at least their is an argument that he belongs).

12:49

Dan Szymborski: Could be, but it’s a little soon.

12:49

Dan Szymborski: If he continues to play like this, he won’t make 3000 hits.

12:49

Comment From CTW
How confident are you in projecting guys with pretty unique skill-sets like Gallo? Any more or less confident than projecting a more ‘normal’ player?

12:49

Dan Szymborski: I should smack you for pretty unique

12:49

Dan Szymborski: But anyway, I don’t think his skillset is all that unusual

12:49

Comment From BH
I’m 29 and haven’t played baseball in years. Is this the year I get selected in the MLB Draft?

12:49

Dan Szymborski: I would guess not

12:49

Comment From _THANLON_
Brett Lawrie sent flowers to the poor woman he impaled. I have to think signed memorabilia was the least he could do….What say you?

12:50

Dan Szymborski: In hospital, flowers *are* traditional

12:50

Dan Szymborski: And again, saving off-topic questions for the Lightning Round.

12:50

Comment From Compton
On a scale from 1 to Liam Neeson, how legit is Jason Hammel this year?

12:50

Dan Szymborski: Probably 2 Legit 2 quit.

12:51

Comment From mtsw
Isn’t the ultimate value of someone like Venditte getting him good enough to be a starter and then eat innings? Presumably he could throw 9 innings every 4 days splitting the stress between 2 elbows. Even if he were only average performance-wise he’d be one of the most valuable guys in the league if he could do that.

12:51

Dan Szymborski: That would be a lot of fun to try.

12:53

Comment From hscer
Is CIL eating questions too?

12:53

Dan Szymborski: Don’t know, I wouldn’t see questions that I don’t see

12:54

Dan Szymborski: But I can only answer about 15-25% of my questions

12:54

Comment From _THANLON_
Are you surprised at Chi Chi Gonzalez’s first two major league starts? His AAA numbers this year were pretty meh.

12:54

Dan Szymborski: Let’s not go nuts, he struck out 4 guys in 2 starts

12:55

Comment From mtsw
Worse contract going forward, in your opinion: Kemp or Cano?

12:55

Dan Szymborski: Kemp

12:55

Comment From mtsw
You buying the new rejuvenated Ubaldo or is he due to regress to something like his 2014 self?

12:55

Dan Szymborski: To a degree. His walk rate *is* improved. I did have him on my bounceback list remember!

12:55

Comment From Compton
Any reason to believe that the Uribe-Callaspo trade was more about Callaspo than we originally thought? Dodgers are in the bottom third of the league in contact%, and if there’s one thing Callaspo does well, it’s put the bat on the ball. Just throwin crap at the wall…

12:56

Dan Szymborski: Yeah, but Callaspo’s contact is of the who cares variety

12:56

Comment From STiVo
Why wouldn’t the Rays use McGee instead of Jepsen?

12:56

Dan Szymborski: I expect McGee eventually gets the job back

12:56

Comment From Mike
I love how you say no to extending the nets. I hate how some writers assume all fans want the nets extended. I for one would hate it.

12:57

Dan Szymborski: MLB’s decision of course.

12:58

Comment From Jeff
Public service announcement: peanut butter and sriracha are delicious on hot dogs.

12:58

Dan Szymborski: Sriracha yet. Peanut butter? I’m calling the police.

12:58

Comment From Nik
Maikel Franco – legit .200+ ISO guy going forward? Bat speed is pretty crazy – the bomb off Chapman was impressive.

12:58

Dan Szymborski: I think he’ll have goo diso

12:58

Comment From The Oriole Bird
Who you got going first overall today in the draft?

12:58

Dan Szymborski: I’m in the Swanson camp

12:58

Comment From The Oriole Bird
If you were managing the Orioles, would you be playing Steve Pearce more?

12:58

Dan Szymborski: Yes

12:59

Comment From laxtonto
Outliers in all data exist.. the question is do you include all outliers or not in a data model trying to model WAR in the draft. The onside provides you a modeling environment of all possible players eligible for the draft, the other 99.9%. From a modeling environment a 0.1% data loss and one more constraint isnt a huge deal..

12:59

Dan Szymborski: You darn well know that we have smoothing functions!

1:00	Dan Szymborski: My model has pick 402 being nearly worthless despite Albert Pujols. And there are way smarter people than me

1:00	Comment From Curtis Which player has had the most disappointing season thus far, in your opinion?

1:00	Dan Szymborski: In a way Hughes

1:00	Comment From Jeff You have to admit, though, that finding out the player closest to 1978 Clint Hurdle is an important question. Right?

1:00	Dan Szymborski: Yes

1:00	Comment From Dave Thoughts on Aaron Sanchez. Do you buy thats he’s improving and getting better?

1:00	Comment From jt Should we expect consistency from Hutchison the rest of the year or is he going to keep having these intermittent blow-ups?

1:00	Dan Szymborski: Latter

1:00	Comment From CatManDan Is this where I come for the Fangraphs Cat Chat

1:01	Comment From Curtis What is one trade you wish you’d see made this month?

1:01	Dan Szymborski: Caleb Joseph for Mike Trout

1:01	Comment From laxtonto Did you ever run Zips for Ruben Mateo’s time in the Rangers.. before he got hurt his rookie season… Not sure if I want to see that or nor

1:01	Dan Szymborski: I have not. Ruben Mateo isn’t exactly one of the most requested ZiPS Time Machines

1:02	Comment From dbet Sad Szymborski 🙁

1:02	Dan Szymborski: I am sad?

1:02	Dan Szymborski: Well, I did have my homage to the Sad Flute player.

1:03	Dan Szymborski: (the Villanova one)

1:03

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1:03	Comment From Jeff Can Marcus Stoman’s living dad beat up your dad’s ghost, though? How do living vs dead fisticuffs even work?

1:03	Dan Szymborski: My dad’s ghost would be pretty big – he was 6’5

1:03	Comment From Ampersand Heard some pretty firm rumors about Zobrist to the Nationals. Does that make any sense with Rendon back?

1:04	Dan Szymborski: Zorilla would be an awesome supersub

1:04	Comment From laxtonto In your eyes what is the most foolish anti-stats argument? Passing the eyeball test? Small sample size? Failure to accept independent events?

1:04	Dan Szymborski: Ranking some stupid arguments is quite difficult. Small sample size still is widespread

1:05	Comment From RotoLando Damn. I had a whole bunch of Mad Max stuff lined up, like how Venditte is like the flamethrower-guitar guy. Serves no real purpose but it still awesome anyways. Really took the wind out of my sails, guy.

1:05	Dan Szymborski: I haven’t seen it, but flamethrower guitars do sound cool.

1:05	Dan Szymborski: I did play Brütal Legend though, so the ref would likely work for that

1:05	Comment From Jack Many Rays pitchers don’t seem to have elbow ligaments at the moment, either.

1:05	Dan Szymborski: That’s why Jesus invented leg ligaments in 22 AD.

1:05	Comment From Jack They also could field a team of reasons to believe that Ruben Amaro is unreasonable.

1:06

Comment From laxtonto
Is front office moves something that can be looked at from a game theory approach or something much more confused because of how convoluted the information structure of each team is. Most decision models are built off of asymmetric information environments, but in MLB it is almost to an extreme that so teams have better information on a team minor league talent than the parent team themselves

1:06	Dan Szymborski: Ben, I’m going to smack you if you keep asking philosophical questions that I have 10 seconds to think about before answering

1:06	Dan Szymborski: The information structure is convoluted though

1:06	Comment From mtsw Do you buy the study that tries to demonstrate that teams with pitchers’ parks are more successful? Given all the other variables it seems pretty dubious.

1:06	Dan Szymborski: Haven’t read it

1:07	Comment From The Boat With absurd infield glut in LA, could Friedman trade Howie Kendrick? That still leaves Turner, Guerrero, Hernandez, Seager, Olivera, Rollins (lol)…

1:07	Dan Szymborski: As a win-now team, I think they can hoard the depth somewhat

1:07	Comment From Tito Speaking of the Indians, are you surprised that sent down theit left side of the infield and didn’t bring up Lindo? What does Francisco need to show to demonstarte that he’s ready?

1:07	Dan Szymborski: I am, actually, even though he hasn’t been amazing

1:07	Comment From Jenna Haze Hi Joe, what do you think Fernando Rodney needs to do to be more consistent?

1:07	Dan Szymborski: Find a new job at which he can regularly not suck

1:07	Comment From Elliott Dan thanks for the chat, please rank moving forward: Kemp, Yelich, Bruce. Or is too close to call?

1:07	Dan Szymborski: Yelich, Bruce, Kemp

1:08	Comment From dom why is ur cat

1:08	Dan Szymborski: He exists because of his parents, I assume.

1:08	Comment From Jorge Solarium I wouldn’t want baseball memorabilia if I was that woman. “Congrats on surviving your spaceship accident. Here’s a model spaceship.”

1:08	Comment From Josh G Why should small market teams be less risk averse? They don’t have the capital to make up for bad draft decisions like the bigger market teams do.

1:08	Dan Szymborski: Because they need to hit jackpots more often

1:09	Dan Szymborski: And if you’re not buying in free agency, the draft is the only place to get high upside guys

1:09	Dan Szymborski: OK, we’re after 1 o’clock, so let’s start the Lightning Round.

1:10	Dan Szymborski: The rules are, I have to answer every question given, no matter how stupid or ridiculous, assuming that’ it’s not on-topic and that it doesn’t follow one of the exclusions (work-related things, very explicit things)

1:10	Comment From RotoLando Have you ever thought about getting your cat one of those red vests and taking him to places as a “service animal”? Like a fancy restaurant, or a cinema showing a movie about post-apocalyptic life and racecars?

1:10	Dan Szymborski: He would take my food

1:10	Comment From Uther Lightbringer In a good mood.

1:10	Dan Szymborski: Why? Your class is weak in the current meta

1:10	Comment From Guest What video games are you playing this week?

1:10	Dan Szymborski: Hearthstone and strangely enough, Heroes of Might and Magic 5

1:10	Comment From Jeff What fictional bands would you put in your Fictional Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

1:11	Dan Szymborski: Wyckyd Sceptre, Sex Bob-omb, Spinal Tap, Three Times One Minus One

1:11	Dan Szymborski: Johnny Zhivago

1:11	Comment From mtsw Think the Game of Thrones showrunners have some secret focus group data that shows their audience LOVES seeing horrible things happen to likable female characters or is there another rational explanation for their sadism?

1:12	Dan Szymborski: It’s quite a violent world. Sansa got it easier than Jeyne Poole in the books

1:12	Comment From Reginald Denton III Favorite restaurant?

1:12	Dan Szymborski: I honestly don’t have a personal favorite

1:12	Comment From Reginald Denton III Favorite food?

1:12	Dan Szymborski: tagliatelle with real bolognese

1:13	Comment From mtsw Why do people get up-in-arms about the prices of purely cosmetic items in free to play games like Hearthstone or Heroes of the Storm? $10 for a hero portrait seems silly to me, but it’s totally optional! Don’t buy it if you hate the price so much.

1:13	Dan Szymborski: Yeah, it’s either $10 for something cosmetic or $10 for something that gives an unfair advantage for the people paying $10

1:13	Comment From baltic+wolf Beatles or the Rolling Stones?

1:13	Dan Szymborski: Depends on my mood. Honestly, I listen to the Kinks more than the Beatles or Stones

1:13	Comment From laxtonto Why do I suck so bad at Hearthstone? Should I just give in and use a premade deck format?

1:13	Dan Szymborski: Hard to tell – are you on my friends list? I can never connect the real names with IDs. At least mine is easy to figure out

1:14	Comment From Cain Marko John, Paul, George, or Ringo?

1:14	Dan Szymborski: Paul.

1:14	Dan Szymborski: I find Lennon pretentious

1:14	Comment From The Big Dipper Why are you so overweight?

1:14	Dan Szymborski: A combination of too many calories, with beer by far the largest factor, and a lifestyle is more sedentary than is healthy.

1:14	Comment From laxtonto What is the worst “great place to eat” suggestion yo uhave got?

1:14	Dan Szymborski: I don’t think I have one

1:15	Comment From Compton Why does the US spend so much on healthcare while lagging far behind in outcomes?

1:15	Dan Szymborski: This is beyond my area of expertise.

1:15	Comment From Running Man Do you have time to bleed?

1:15	Dan Szymborski: Bleeding doesn’t take much significant attention – you can do other things while bleeding

1:15	Comment From The Big Dipper That looks like a Clarinet

1:15	Dan Szymborski: I don’t own a flute.

1:15	Comment From Curtis Civil War Cavalry or Vietnam Cavalry?

1:16	Dan Szymborski: Civil War

1:16	Comment From Reginald Denton III Favorite band of all time?

1:16	Dan Szymborski: Probably the Kinks

1:16	Comment From Reginald Denton III Favorite album of all time?

1:16	Dan Szymborski: Nevermind

1:17	Comment From Jenna Haze Did you ever watch even a second of The Magic Hour?

1:17	Dan Szymborski: I did not

1:17	Comment From john was dicaprio insane in shutter island? or was the asylum a secret nazi experiment?

1:17	Dan Szymborski: He was insane. Honestly, I don’t remember the details of the movie all that well

1:18	Comment From The Big Dipper Is Caitlyn Jenner attractive?

1:18	Dan Szymborski: Not my type

1:18	Comment From Compton Would you prefer the 2016 presidental election to be between Clinton/Bush or Paul/Sanders?

1:18	Dan Szymborski: Clinton/Bush.. I’d prefer two mediocre retreads to the possibility of Bernie Sanders being president. Personally, of course, your mileage may vary

1:18	Comment From Curtis Nigel Tufnel or David St. Hubbins?

1:19	Dan Szymborski: St. Hubbins. He never killed Mandy Patinkin’s dad

1:19	Comment From Beau Do you believe this season of GoT has been sadly lacking in the Natalie Dormer department?

1:19	Dan Szymborski: Yes

1:19	Dan Szymborski: But there’s never enough Natalie Dormer

1:19	Comment From The Big Dipper Why do they call Tomato Soup baked in a crust pizza in Chicago?

1:19	Dan Szymborski: It’s not tomato soupo

1:19	Comment From Andrew What’s on your wishlist for the upcoming Steam summer sale?

1:19	Dan Szymborski: I’m not sure – I don’t generally wait for sales. I tend to buy things when I remember they exist

1:19	Comment From Jack Who would win a tag team match between Current Wade Miley and Clay Buchholz and the Bushwackers?

1:19	Dan Szymborski: The Bushwackers are quite old

1:19	Comment From Mijo Work or more Fangraphs?

1:20	Dan Szymborski: Don’t understand it

1:20	Comment From Lock Is the hero power worth it? Doesn’t seem to have self-heals and whenever I face a hunter it seems like I bleed health like mad.

1:20	Dan Szymborski: Assuming you’re a zoolock, you need to race the hunter. If you don’t have board control, it doesn’t matter what your health is

1:20	Dan Szymborski: And if you’re a handlock, you essentially tech for this with molten giants and two antique healbots, jaraxxus, etc.

1:20	Comment From The Big Dipper Is Clapton really God?

1:21	Dan Szymborski: No, I think he’s a guy

1:21	Comment From L. Scott % of audio listening in the car: Music vs. Sports Talk/ News

1:21	Dan Szymborski: Almost entirely msuic

1:21	Comment From laxtonto Do you believe that by adding modder support in games (like XCOM2, Skyrim, ect) it increase to longevity of the title and therefore profitability?

1:21	Dan Szymborski: I think so – I’ve never seen a modding community undermine a title

1:21	Comment From Jack Are you a boxing fan?

1:21	Dan Szymborski: I’ll watch it, but I’m not an expert

1:21	Comment From Uther Lightbringer Metallica or Megadeath?

1:22	Dan Szymborski: That’s not really my genre

1:22	Comment From Jenna Haze Would you rather play the role of Andy Richter or Conan O’Brien, on the tv show Conan?

1:22	Dan Szymborski: Richtger

1:22	Comment From The Big Dipper What is a restaurant that you really like?

1:22	Dan Szymborski: In Baltimore, Woodberry Kitchen, Brewer’s Art

1:23	Dan Szymborski: In Dayton, El Meson and Meadowlark

1:23	Dan Szymborski: Those are the areas I primarily have lived

1:23	Comment From Compton Paddleboats: yay or nay?

1:23	Dan Szymborski: Yay, though I prefer kayak

1:23	Comment From The Big Dipper Does that guy not realize that the US has the best healthcare in the world?

1:24	Dan Szymborski: Wont’ get into this one

1:24	Comment From The Big Dipper Marvel or DC?

1:24	Dan Szymborski: Marvel

1:24	Comment From mtsw Ever considered a standing desk? Good way to burn some extra calories/improve posture once you’re used to it. Also standing makes you feel like you’re the captain on a submarine or something instead of a desk slug.

1:24	Dan Szymborski: Meh. I want my exercise to be my exercise and my work to be my work

1:24	Comment From L. Scott Favorite cereals?

1:24	Dan Szymborski: Honey Bunches of Oats

1:24	Comment From laxtonto When does your cat take over the world?

1:25	Dan Szymborski: That cat is now 16 and a half, so I think he does not have enough time for world domination.

1:25	Comment From ButterToast Let’s say you have an aquaclarinet and you’re playing it to keep the sharks away, but you are also bleeding. Do you drop the clarinet and just swim for it, or continue to play the aquaclarinet?

1:25	Dan Szymborski: I can buy a new clarinet, so I get out of there

1:26	Comment From mtsw Civil War generals: most overrated and underrated?

1:26	Dan Szymborski: Overrated, Sherman

1:26	Dan Szymborski: Underrated, Thomas

1:26	Comment From laxtonto Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4.

1:26	Dan Szymborski: OK, hold on

1:30	Dan Szymborski: Sorry, had to figure out which book was closests

1:30	Dan Szymborski: closest

1:31	Dan Szymborski: HELMER. Yes, he has just gone.

1:31	Comment From laxtonto Stretch your left arm out as far as you can, What can you touch?

1:31	Dan Szymborski: A spindle of about 30 blu-rays that contain backups.

1:31	Comment From The Big Dipper Did Courtney Love kill Cobain?

1:31	Dan Szymborski: No

1:31	Comment From laxtonto What is the last thing you watched on TV?

1:31	Dan Szymborski: Game of Thrones

1:31	Comment From Compton Is it ok for a grown man to cry the first time that he watches The Land Before Time?

1:32	Dan Szymborski: Yes

1:32	Comment From laxtonto If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?

1:32	Dan Szymborski: Bar Harbor

1:32	Comment From Uther Lightbringer Well met.

1:32	Dan Szymborski: Sorry, but Paladin has trouble with Grim Patron decks.

1:32	Comment From The Big Dipper Does the spinning top fall over at the end of Inception?

1:33	Dan Szymborski: Wouldn’t matter as it stiill wouldn’t have told us if he was awake

1:33	Comment From mtsw If DiCaprio isn’t insane the fact that his name is an anagram for the name of the guy he’s looking for is a pretty cosmic coincidence.

1:33	Comment From Joe No Wyld Stallyns in your Hall of Fame? Their music led to world peace, if I recall my future history correctly.

1:33	Dan Szymborski: Problem is they haven’t done that yet and history may have changed since the last time they changed history

1:33	Dan Szymborski: And that just leaves what I’ve seen and it’s only an Arget cover so far

1:33	Comment From oliver i cant be the only one that doesnt get all the Arrested Development Love…. right?

1:34	Dan Szymborski: You are a bad person.

1:34	Comment From Dr. Oz Whats the best way to lower blood pressure?

1:34	Dan Szymborski: Don’t listen to my mom

1:35	Dan Szymborski: Seriously, my sister was in the hospital with back surgery, her blood pressure in the bed was 110/70, which is her normal blood pressure

1:35	Dan Szymborski: And then mom started nagging her about something she had to do when she got out of the hospital and it shot up to 130/92. And when mom stopped talking, it went back down

1:35	Comment From Jenna Haze Is Dahmer your favorite serial killer of all time?

1:35	Dan Szymborski: Bundy

1:35	Comment From laxtonto At what age do you consider a person to be old?

1:36	Dan Szymborski: Whatever my age is at the time plus 20

1:36	Comment From Jenna Haze Best guess: how much actual bell-to-bell wrestling time do you think WWE includes on a typical 3-hour PPV?

1:36	Dan Szymborski: 75 minutes

1:36	Comment From Reginald Denton III Most anticipated movie of the summer?

1:36	Dan Szymborski: Am not anticipating – I don’t generally follow current movies

1:36	Comment From The Big Dipper Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

1:36	Dan Szymborski: I do not understand this question.

1:36	Dan Szymborski: For those asking baseball questions, THIS IS THE LIGHTNING ROUND OF OFF-TOPIC QUESTIONS THAT WE DO TO KEEP THE MAIN CHAT ON-TOPIC

1:37	Comment From The Big Dipper Are you wearing a watch and if so what kind?

1:37	Dan Szymborski: I am not.

1:37	Comment From oliver how do you think Colbert will do on the Late Show?

1:37	Dan Szymborski: I think he’ll just be OK. I’m not sure the format is as good for his strengths

1:38	Comment From Compton JoJo or Natasha Bedingfield?

1:38	Dan Szymborski: I couldn’t tell you any song that they did

1:38	Comment From Johnny5Alive what do you have against pot smoking socialists?

1:38	Dan Szymborski: Nothing against pot smoking

1:38	Comment From Curtis Comic Book Store Guy or Mr. Burns?

1:38	Dan Szymborski: CBG

1:38	Comment From Melons Would you rather play the role of Conan O’Brien or Conan the Barbarian?

1:38	Dan Szymborski: Conan O’Brien. Conan would take a lot of working out

1:38	Comment From Curtis what was the last non-sports book you read?

1:39	Dan Szymborski: The book I quoted from that was closest to me, Foru Great Plays by Ibsen

1:39	Dan Szymborski: It took me a few minutes becuase I got a tape measure to see if the ibsen was closer to me than the Norwich Byzantine books

1:39	Comment From mtsw Was vanilla WoW better than the game it became after several expansions? I feel that way but admit it may be rose-tinted glasses.

1:39	Dan Szymborski: It’s a little dumbed down, but it’s still good

1:39	Comment From Uther Lightbringer F-22 or f-35?

1:39	Dan Szymborski: Not a military plane guy

1:40	Comment From JJJJShabado I’m what would be considered a professional. My lunches out usually consist of Burger King, KFC, or Dairy Queen. Should I be doing better for lunch?

1:40	Dan Szymborski: Yes

1:40	Comment From Dave+in+London XCom2 — worth the money?

1:40	Dan Szymborski: It’s not even out!

1:40	Comment From jocephus i converted to a standing station about a month ago and it’s great!

1:40	Comment From john shaken or stirred?

1:40	Dan Szymborski: Stirred, but I’m not a martini guy

1:40	Comment From Ikura FAvorite mobile games?

1:40	Dan Szymborski: Catan

1:40	Comment From Mijo So is GOT just fan fiction at this point?

1:40	Dan Szymborski: Eh

1:40	Comment From The Big Dipper What is your take on the Mattress Girl?

1:40	Dan Szymborski: Counterproductive

1:40	Comment From laxtonto When do you get a new kitten?

1:41	Dan Szymborski: Don’t have a policy

1:41	Comment From ButterToast Figures that the only Mariners question you elect to answer is the existential clarinet one.

1:41	Comment From mtsw Are there any American cities with a pleasant climate, good economy and cheap housing? Market for “places to live” seems frustratingly efficient in terms of tradeoffs.

1:41	Dan Szymborski: Probably not, it’s like asking for the cheap/fast/good and demanding all 3

1:41	Comment From john what is your favorite condiment? least favorite?

1:41	Dan Szymborski: horseradish, ketchup

1:41	Comment From ButterToast “on all calcareous marine organisms, ocean acidification is due to”

1:41	Dan Szymborski: uh, increased acids?

1:41	Comment From MSW Who would win in a fight, Lemmy or God?

1:41	Dan Szymborski: God has jurisdiction

1:41	Comment From hscer Hey, that’s a play!!

1:42	Dan Szymborski: but it’s in a book

1:42	Comment From hscer Although plays are mostly published in book form these days.

1:42	Comment From pete if you could ban one stat from baseball broadcasts, which would it be?

1:42	Dan Szymborski: saves. it’s worse than wins

1:42	Comment From Randy+Savage Vacation spot you haven’t been to but really want to go to?

1:42	Dan Szymborski: New Zealand

1:42	Comment From laxtonto NBA Finals or Stanley Cup finals?

1:42	Dan Szymborski: NBA

1:42	Comment From laxtonto I have never seen arrested development, breaking bad, dexter, or game of thrones.. Is that really such a bad thing?

1:42	Dan Szymborski: Yes

1:42	Comment From RotoLando What is your favorite Kinks album? Mine is Muswell Hillbillies

1:42	Dan Szymborski: Arthur

1:42	Comment From The Oriole Bird Would Alan Turing have continued to do awesome things if his life hadn’t come to a tragic, early end?

1:43	Dan Szymborski: Nah, intellectuals peak early

1:43	Comment From RotoLando Most quotable Schwarzenegger?

1:44	Dan Szymborski: see you at the party richter. I still say that when I airblast someone off a cliff in tf2

1:44	Comment From laxtonto No love for Ed Fish? Or Gasey? Or Gein?

1:44	Dan Szymborski: You mean albert?

1:44	Comment From L. Scott If these questions never stop coming into the queue, will this chat ever end?

1:44	Dan Szymborski: I usually stop when I get to top of queue

1:44	Comment From Uther Lightbringer Do you prefer faster deck or more controlly ones?

1:44	Dan Szymborski: Control

1:45	Comment From oliver ive tried to get arrested dev but just cant. whats so great about it? does it pick up after season 1?

1:45	Dan Szymborski: You’re a bad man

1:45	Comment From Compton If you could have your cat take on the personality of anyone in the world, who would you choose?

1:45	Dan Szymborski: someone quiet

1:45	Comment From Phillies113 Sausage or bacon?

1:45	Dan Szymborski: sausage

1:45	Comment From Jorge Solarium Fact or Fact: John Oliver is the best thing on tv right now, and it’s not close.

1:45	Dan Szymborski: fact

1:45	Comment From Uther Lightbringer Your opinion on Stannis?

1:45	Dan Szymborski: for this, i don’t want to spoil things for peopele

1:45	Comment From Compton “Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like? ” Just want to take a moment and reflect on the fact that a human typed that sentence.

1:46	Comment From Randy+Savage Beer – no hops or all the hops?

1:46	Dan Szymborski: I like hoppy

1:46	Comment From STiVo Support the use of the Gadsden flag as the symbol of today’s economic libertarian movement? (Seems a bit ridiculous to me.)

1:46	Dan Szymborski: I’m not one of the goofy fringe libertarians. I’m actually well socialized

1:46	Dan Szymborski: I have no bitcoin.

1:46	Comment From Compton Was Shakespeare one person or a collection of many?

1:46	Dan Szymborski: One person

1:46	Comment From Melons Who would win in a fight? You as Conan O’Brien or you as Conan the Barbarian?

1:46	Dan Szymborski: Me as conan, a prop sword may not cut wlel, but it at least hurts

1:46	Comment From RotoLando Do I sound like an asshole if I say “cinema” in place of “the movies”?

1:46	Dan Szymborski: Yes

1:46	Comment From RotoLando Favorite Mister: Salty, Bojangles, Mister, Other (please specify)?

1:46	Dan Szymborski: Mister Mister of course

1:47	Comment From Compton Where Brooklyn at?

1:47	Dan Szymborski: Umm, New YOrk?

1:47	Comment From Kindergarden Is it a tumor?

1:48	Dan Szymborski: It could have been a tumor. He couldn’t have been sure, even if it was unlikely

1:48	Comment From laxtonto Study: Cat Parasite Tied To Schizophrenia, Mental Illnesses in Humans …. “Two new studies have now linked the T. gondii parasite to increased rates of mental illness in cat owners who may have had increased exposure to parasitic infection.” Thoughts? Comments?

1:48	Dan Szymborski: I was just as weird before I had a cat

1:48	Comment From Vandy Grad My wife and I–both Vandy grads–are expecting a boy in a few months. My wife laughed when I proposed the name Dansby. Dump her?

1:48	Dan Szymborski: Depends what the last name is

1:48	Comment From laxtonto Can your cat take on the personality and characteristics of Darth Vader instead?

1:48	Dan Szymborski: Most cats have that personality

1:48	Comment From Randy+Savage Are you opposed to turkey burgers?

1:48	Dan Szymborski: No, stupid people have to eat too.

1:48	Comment From Wutang action RPG vs turn based RPG

1:48	Dan Szymborski: turn based

1:48	Comment From MSW Is Stevie Wonder really blind?

1:48	Dan Szymborski: Yes

1:48	Comment From Andrew With regards to libertarians/bitcoin, you just summed up my roommate

1:49	Comment From Uther Lightbringer Coke or Pepsi?

1:49	Dan Szymborski: Coke

1:49	Comment From oliver whod you rather work for? oliver queen tony stark or bruce wayne?

1:49	Dan Szymborski: Bruce Wayne – he wouldn’t make me work nights

1:49	Comment From The Big Dipper When was Natlie Portman in her prime?

1:49	Dan Szymborski: 5 years ago?

1:49	Comment From Joe I want a pork taco. You want a pork taco?

1:49	Dan Szymborski: Sure

1:49	Dan Szymborski: CAUGHT UP

1:49	Dan Szymborski: Once again, the Lightning Round Queue has been Conquered.

1:49	Comment From laxtonto Did you play the warhammer turnbase RPG computer game that came out recently.. surprisingly better than I expected

1:49	Dan Szymborski: haven’t, probably will.

1:49	Dan Szymborski: ROUND OVER

1:50	Dan Szymborski: Thanks for joining me everybody. As my usual reminder, you can read my work at ESPN.com, attend chats and view projections at FanGraphs, and follow me at DSzymborski on Twitter, ZimSmash on Twitch.

1:50	Comment From Wutang Can I become your stalker fan?

1:51	Dan Szymborski: I would suggest a more ambitious person to stalk. Stalking Dan Szymborski suggests you’ve given up on being a real stalker.

BAL	CHW	LAA
BOS	CLE	OAK
NYY	DET	SEA
TBR	KCR	TEX
TOR	MIN	HOU

ATL	CHC*	ARI
MIA	CIN	COL
WSN	MIL	LAD
NYM*	PIT	SDP*
PHI	STL	SFG

Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat – 6/8/15