Dan Szymborski FanGraphs Chat – 6/9/14

Dan Szymborski: started, let’s get this party

Dan Szymborski: First, our usual completely random-for-a-baseball-chat-but-Szymborski-appropriate business, the Electoral Brawllege matchup for the week.

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Comment From Dr. Met
Checking to see if that get-answered-otron device I bought online works today!

Comment From Guest
Any concerns over Kimbrel?

Dan Szymborski: Not really. His FIP is stil what, 1 or so? Some kind of regression is inevitable of course, performances of the level of Kimbrel the last couple years are incredibly hard for anybody to maintain long-term.

Dan Szymborski: Kimbrel was bound to come off his peak performance, like Gagne was (though Gagne’s end was worse than average)

Comment From Guest
where do I pick up the party?

Dan Szymborski: The party’s been impounded at Herr Selig’s Park-ünd-Tow, where it can be picked up for $340.

Comment From American League Hustle
After watching his antics over the weekend, I’m no longer a fan of Manny Machado. What were your thoughts on his behaviour?

Dan Szymborski: Kinda childish for sure, though he’s a pretty young guy and it’s not like 21-year-olds are famed for their wizened decision-making.

Comment From Daniel
Who would you take in a footrace between Ellsbury and Gardner? ZIPS has Ellsbury at 10 more steals, but I think BG might be faster in a vacuum. I’m also an unabashed Gardner fan. Who is your favorite non-super star to watch?

Dan Szymborski: I think Gardner is faster.

Dan Szymborski: Buehrle generally (he’s have a superstar type season, but he’s not actually a superstar). I like watching pitchers that stick to Johnny Sain’s old mantra of work fast, throw strikes, change speeds

Comment From Rob
Good are the Mariners, playoffs will they see?

Dan Szymborski: I think they’r esitll 500ish, but that of course puts this in the WC hunt. Wouldn’t give great odds.

Comment From David
5 inches and 110 pounds? I’m sorry, but it’s Grover “Don’t Call Me Pete” Alexander in a walkover!

Dan Szymborski: True story, Cleveland didn’t want to be called by his real first name (Stephen) because he felt Grover had more gravitas. That would be the opposite today.

Comment From sox fan
many boston writers keep saying theres no easy fix for this team. I think that’s dishonest. The team needs OF help but the front office doesn’t seem inclined to take on 1) money 2) trading any prospects. Thos two reluctances seem to be driving a condemning of the rest of the team. thoughts ?

Dan Szymborski: Yeah, but just because there are fixes doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily easy. I think of an easy fix as one that doesn’t involve a hard choice.

Comment From Guest
Sad to watch the Rangers becoming irrelevant.

Dan Szymborski: with their disabled list, they should rename the park Rangers Ballpark in Gallipoli.

Dan Szymborski: Too soon?

Dan Szymborski: (I dont’ recognize the Globe Life name, Globe Life didn’t pay me anything)

Comment From dave
Who’s on first for Rangers?

Dan Szymborski: Not the pronoun who, but a player with the unlikely name of who, is on first.

Dan Szymborski: Seriously, the Rangers have a real problem. At this point, they just want someone to stand at first base, not even caring if he’s a good option

Dan Szymborski: probably going to end with them calling up Rosales or something

Dan Szymborski: There’s Adduci of course, but he’s not quite ready

Comment From Tony G.
When it came to Johan Santana, the Orioles were fully prepared to roll with a 6-man rotation. Will they keep with this train of thought using Gausman (a much better option in my books)?

Dan Szymborski: I’m not a fan of 6-man rotations, I’ve yet to see any evidence of an actual benefit other than getting to postpone a decision for a team that can’t decide who’s out when nobody’s particularly horrific

Dan Szymborski: The O’s bullpen has essentially had 3 arms this year that they can really rely arm, so it’s not like one of them in relief wouldn’t be useful

Comment From Kyle
Grover vs MVB reminds me a lot of The Mountain vs The Viper in GoT. Except really shitty and with minimal head crushing.

Comment From Travis
Van Buren, obviously. There’s even a gang named after him.

Comment From Justin
I have to assume the guys picking Van Buren are all under 5’8″, and take this sort of thing personally.

Comment From Alex
What happens with Nick Franklin? Does he get moved by August?

Dan Szymborski: My guess is they’re underwhelmed by July offers and end up moving him in the offseason

Comment From Guest
How high of a ceiling does Freddie Freeman have? He seems like a legit hitter. But is he slightly overrated? Still a bit of a hacker.

Dan Szymborski: He’s probably slightly overrated – I don’t think he has any big superstar potential

Dan Szymborski: He’ll star for most of his twenties, but I don’t think he’s ever going to be a Take with Top 5 Pick type.

Dan Szymborski: Here’s one place I think the ZiPS top comp of Hrbek is pretty good

Comment From Rob
Felix strikes out 15 and gets a ND. Wins are pretty meaningless, but how does Felix not walk into the clubhouse and just scream at everyone else on that team?

Dan Szymborski: The dude had a 13-12 Cy Young season and has one 15-win season. If he was going to snap and murder his teammates for lack of support, I imagine it would have already happened.

Comment From sox fan
I want an OF. What does it take to get Denorfia ?

Dan Szymborski: Can’t imagine it takes more than a B- prospect. Denorfia had that really good season a couple of years ago, but I think given his age, he’s still more of a good 4th outfielder type

Comment From AL Pitching Coach
Collin McHugh has been quite the breakout pitcher this season, but lately seems to be displaying some warning signs. He seems to hit 100 pitches by the 5-6 inning mark, and got roughed up by the lowly Twins this weekend. Should we expect him to regress going forward?

Dan Szymborski: I suspect he’ll eventually settle in to a successful mid-rotation starter, over the long haul. his stuff is varied enough and with enough command to survive his lack of explosiveness, but I don’t expect him to be around a 3.00 ERA regularly

Comment From Brad
4 journalists who have credibility in breaking news all reported Polanco would be called up on Friday, and soon afterwards Pirates mgmt quashes it. Any thoughts on what happened? Do you think agent leaked it to put pressure on mgmt in negotiations for long term contract or to get him called up b4 the super 2 nonsense? Thanks.

Dan Szymborski: It’s always hard to tell with these things – front offices and representation both play the selective leaks game.

Comment From Minnesota Fats
The Twins went out and signed Morales, which I never saw coming. Does that mean they fancy themselves contenders? Also, when can we expect Alex Meyer to grace a major league mound?

Dan Szymborski: It’s not a ton of money and it does help their offense, combined with a few other returns, to at least keep them on the cursory of the wild card race for a bit. They’re not losing a prospect so it’s kind of a “hey, let’s see what happens” play.

Dan Szymborski: Though I think the Twins fall short, simply because their rotation is undependable.

Comment From Ben
Cuddyer heading to the DL? Haven’t seen anything definitive…

Dan Szymborski: I’m not sure the Rockies are even sure, without going into specifics, I’ve gotten the impression that Cuddyer and the Rockies have differing opinions on the shoulder.

Comment From Guest
Game of Thrones fan? What happens next week?

Dan Szymborski: I am, but since I read the books as they came out, what happens next week strikes me as fairly clear.

Dan Szymborski: Thus, predictions would likely be spoilers.

Dan Szymborski: Though GoT does tinker with timelines a bit.

Comment From Travis
Jason Heyward’s not even 25 yet and he’s on pace for his third 4.6+ WAR season. Is he underrated because his hitting hasn’t quite been what people were expecting?

Dan Szymborski: Probably – he’s never really had that breakout and his rookie season was still his best offensively

Comment From Farting for Science
Re Machado: I thought hitting Norris in the head was worse than the silly bat throw.

Comment From Guest
Thoughts on Morales, is he better to hold on to in a dynasty through the off season and hope he gets into a hitter friendly park?

Dan Szymborski: If your dynasty league is deep enough to carry a league-average DH type, hold. If not, don’t.

Comment From benj
Ventura leaves Sale in too long: Walks three and gives up grand slam. What is wrong with Robin Ventura?

Dan Szymborski: Ventura has long had a pattern of erring on the side of leaving Sale in

Comment From Guest
Where has the power gone for Jayson Werth?

Dan Szymborski: He’ll probably hit for more, but he *is* 35. People too quickly assumed that last year represented some kind of permanent renaissance

Comment From Tom Jones
As far as Dan Szymborski’s concerned, the top 3 teams in the American League right now are….?

Dan Szymborski: Oakland, Detroit, nobody. Then Toronto/Angels tied at 4th.

Comment From JK
Are the Astros better served selling high on McHugh or Keuchel and possibly getting another top prospect or are they actually long term rotation guys?

Dan Szymborski: I dont’ think they would get top prospects for either, honestly. I think it makes more sense to hang onto them for now.

Comment From Christian
Which AL Wild Card contender do you like the most?

Dan Szymborski: Angels

Comment From TKDC
What’s worse, throwing the bat or thinking anyone would be stupid enough to believe it was an accident?

Dan Szymborski: Probably the latter. I can understand in the heat of the moment, doing something assholish and irresponsible. But don’t assume I’m a frigging idiot

Comment From Rob
If Paxton and Walker get healthy and back into the Mariners rotation, will they be an upgrade over Ramirez and Young?

Dan Szymborski: Bill Paxton may be an upgrade on Ramirez. While either are better than Young, the Mariners have been extremely fortunately with Young this year

Comment From Justin
Dodgers, start of season: “man, I wish we could get rid of one of these extra outfielders for a second baseman.” Dodgers, now: “man, I wish we could get rid of one of these extra 2B for a centerfielder.”

Comment From Guest
How is Uehara this good at this age? As a RP, he’s been better than prime Mo both ERA- and FIP- wise

Dan Szymborski: Pitchers are weird

Comment From Darth Heyman
What’s up with Mike Trout’s slump? Oh.

Dan Szymborski: Well, it *is* his lowest OPS+ of his full years!

Dan Szymborski: A horrific 161. Clearly broken.

Comment From Ubaldo Jimenez
I refuse to be bound by Johnny Sain’s advice.

Comment From Guest
% that Felix gets another Cy Young this yr?

Dan Szymborski: 15%? Nobody’s really moved beyond the pack

Comment From JK
How close to the playoffs in July must the Astros be for them to not be sellers?

Dan Szymborski: It’s fun, but I don’t think that they should deviate from thinking long-term, even if they’re still looking like it’s on the edge of possibility

Dan Szymborski: Let’s not forget, the Astros have been showing some impressive fight, but they’re still *11th* in a wild card race in which 2 get to have a 1-game de facto playin.

Comment From Ace
What’s up with Jean Segura’s splits?

Dan Szymborski: The conditions in which you should worry about 2 months lefty/righty splits are 1. Never.

Comment From Max
Scale of 1-10, how imperative is it that the Blue Jays upgrade the rotation by the deadline? Bullpen?

Dan Szymborski: 8, 5.

Comment From snid
Drop either or both: Tommy Hunter and Joba(of the 83 mph)

Dan Szymborski: The Hutt occasionally gets batters out. Can’t say that for Touchdown Tommy.

Comment From quinceleather
Maddon has a reputation for being a smart manager, but Balfour needs to go. How come it takes so darn long to makes these “obvious” changes. Gibson is on the other end of the spectrum from Maddon, but its the same decision.

Dan Szymborski: This is quite frightening, but I think the Orioles may have…actually…been…right. I feel like Homer Simpson at the end of Bart’s Comet.

Comment From Phil
Need a 3B, Darvish for Wright seem about right in a vacuum?

Dan Szymborski: If you really need it and can afford to lose Darvish, might as well, though I’d cry making that trade.

Comment From Cubbies 4 Eva
For our amusement, Kris Bryant should start artificially making AA hitting harder on himself, like, say, by hitting left handed.

Dan Szymborski: Like house rules when civilization becomes too easy?

Dan Szymborski: Or the Final Fantasy I white mage challenge? (Which I have done)

Comment From Mookie Betts
I am the easy answer to every Red Sox question.

Dan Szymborski: “Who should the REd Sox give the Orioles for free?”

Dan Szymborski: Concur.

Comment From David
I think the O’s should get crazy and make a tandem starter combo out of Santana and Gausman. Just tell Santana to go all out for 4 innings and give it up to the youngster to blow it past some slowed down bats!

Dan Szymborski: Meh. Tandem starters require everything going as planned really.

Dan Szymborski: It’s like owning a Camry and an Accord and only needing 1 car but since you cant’ decide, simply driving them to work on alternate days while paying the insurance on both

Comment From Aaron
Are you a believer in the Blue Jays?

Dan Szymborski: Mildly – would like them to have made a rotation upgrade in the offseason

Dan Szymborski: But the offense has been clicking and the AL East is mediocre

Comment From snid
Clevelands arms aren’t long enough to reach his opponent if they are gut-to-gut….

Comment From Gabe
You’re the GM of, say, the Tigers or Red Sox. Your team is good, but not great, and has a sinkhole at 3B. What would you give up for David Wright?

Dan Szymborski: I wouldn’t.

Dan Szymborski: And one of those teams has already made a change to address 3B

Dan Szymborski: But to bring in a 9 figure 3B showing signs of decline at 31 and *6 more year* on the contract? Pass.

Dan Szymborski: If I’m picking up Wright’s contract free and clear at this point, I want the Mets giving *me* something.

Comment From Natstown
Tanner Roark now has a 2.34 ERA in 131 IP. is he for real? Does he have the inside track to NL ROY this season?

Dan Szymborski: He’s not this good, but he should be solid for awhile – not a huge ceiling either.

Dan Szymborski: Does he still qualify for ROY?

Dan Szymborski: Well, he didn’t debut until August last year and there’s no way he got 50 innings or 45 days before September 1st, so he must

Comment From Joe
What’s your opinion on Anthony Rizzo. Having a pretty strong season, Joey Votto lite a fair comp?

Dan Szymborski: Not unreasonable given his OBP goodness this year

Comment From Ryan
Morales is a Twin because …?

Dan Szymborski: they signed him to a contract, in which the Minnesota Twins offer Morales consideration in return for his services.

Dan Szymborski: I talked about this over on ESPN.com

Comment From greg
Is Anthony Rizzo the best 1B in the NL?

Dan Szymborski: GOing *forward* too aggrssive for me. Would probably still put Votto, Goldschmidt, Freeman above, if you forced me at gunpoint

Dan Szymborski: Which is a really odd use of a gun

Comment From 1ST Place Jays
Whats wrong with Choo? SHould we be worried?

Dan Szymborski: He’s in a slump. Dont’ panic.

Comment From John Stamos
What do you think of Eugenio Suarez’ seeming power breakout (including the minors)?

Dan Szymborski: Homer breakouts tend to stick, I think he’s looking very Alex Gonzalezy right now, and I’m talking about the year when you actually wanted Sea Bass, not the year the Tigers actually did.

Comment From 1ST Place Jays
Is Jesse Chavez for real now?

Dan Szymborski: He’s still at that level where he’s Oakland-real, in that he won’t be real yet anywhere else

Dan Szymborski: I think a home park with a sewage issue may be the newest park efficiency

Dan Szymborski: Notice that the A’s lost Griffin and Parker when they *weren’t* playing in an environment with the pitcher protecting ability of human feces.

Comment From Josef
Any chance the Royals come to their senses and trade for a 3B if they’re still in the fake wildcard race in a few weeks?

Dan Szymborski: They may actually be active this July.

Comment From GSon
I looked up “selective leaks game”, and Milton Bradley doesn’t sell it.. no one does. Can you tell us where you can buy that game?..

Comment From Rags
Wizened means “wrinkled” not “wise.”

Comment From Asking for a Friend
How disappointed should Pirates fans be that Polanco isn’t up yet?

Dan Szymborski: Very

Comment From Mike
Josh Tomlin. Legit? Too legit to quit? Both? His numbers don’t seem too flukish, and his velocity increase may correlate with better K potential going forward.

Dan Szymborski: OH GOD 2011 QUESTIONS ARE POPPING UP AGAIN THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS BREAKING DOWN

Dan Szymborski: It’s not like his velocity has increased *that* much. Color me skeptical.

Dan Szymborski: Not sure what skeptical is in a crayola box, maybe a combination of periwinkle and gray blue

Comment From Gila Monster
By fWAR, Troy Tulowitzki has been worth 4.6 WAR so far. His previous best was 5.9 WAR in 2010. Will he break it and reach 6.0 WAR by the end of the month?

Dan Szymborski: Not going to predict 1.4 in 3 weeks, as good as he’s been.

Comment From agog
Should Tampa blow it up and sell now/this offseason, or can they hold on and go for one final run with Price next year?

Dan Szymborski: They’re sellers right now.

Dan Szymborski: They do need a mini retool – their farm system hasn’t been as productive from the draft lately, which is hurting their assembly line that they’ve relied on

Dan Szymborski: Bassman, that’s too bordering on spoilers.

Comment From Manny
What do you mean by “top comp of Hrbek”? Is there a section of comparisons?

Dan Szymborski: In the team-by-team rundown, FG usually posts the top comp for each player

Comment From Guest
Machado bat really did slip.. he was about 45 degrees left of target

Dan Szymborski: Not a chance.

Dan Szymborski: FOr an accidental slip, his instant reaction was all wrong.

Dan Szymborski: If you don’t mean to slip it, your first reaction at launching a bat into the infield woudl be HOLY SHIT DUDE OMG THAT SLIPPED

Dan Szymborski: now, if he meant to hit abad with the bat instead of donaldson, well, that’s not exactly all that heartwarming a story

Dan Szymborski: About as effective as the “I actually meant to shoot Jackie!” defense that Oswald never got to try in court.

Comment From tylersnotes
Neverminding the NL East 3 way tie, what current 1st place team is most likely to miss the playoffs completely? The tigers have been looking terrible but the Giants can’t really be this good right?

Dan Szymborski: Braves

Dan Szymborski: Giants don’t have to be this good, they have a 10 game lead

Comment From Jackson
World Cup? watch? cheer for? etc?

Dan Szymborski: No.

Comment From Concerned in the Lou
Also, would Mike Matheny pass the Turing Test?

Comment From Joe
Rizzo has a 2.1 WAR to Abreu’s 1.5, is younger, and on a much more team friendly contract. Why the Abreu hype and nothing on Rizzo?

Dan Szymborski: It’s just that Abreu’s a better story. If the Cubs offered me Rizzo for Abreu, I take that trade in an instant.

Comment From Machacho!
Looks like we have a new “Manny being Manny”

Dan Szymborski: It’s great, we don’t even have to change our old headlines!

Comment From SMC
Astros’ 2015 playoff odds: o/u 15%?

Dan Szymborski: Probably still under, but they’re closer to competitive than the naysayers think

Comment From Your TV
200 channels. Nothin but cats.

Comment From D.A.
Brad Peacock, buyer or seller?

Dan Szymborski: As always, depends on the prices.

Comment From JK
You need one hit to win a ball game, who do you choose: Bartolo Colon or 83 year old Willie Mays?

Dan Szymborski: Colon. 83 is quite old. Even the Phillies don’t have any

Comment From inquiring mind
Camrys and Accords are dependable. Santana and Gausman is more like a Taurus and a kit car

Comment From My Name
Is Starling Marte broken?

Dan Szymborski: Too soon to say that

Comment From Mike
Will ANY team EVER look back at a 7-10 year contract and not eventually regret it?

Dan Szymborski: Longoria

Dan Szymborski: Pujols first contract

Comment From Vliet
Paxton has been move to the 60 day DL. Is his season over?

Dan Szymborski: I’m not bullish on his chances to get back this season. Last I heard on Paxton was last week that his shoulder was hurting again

Dan Szymborski: The M’s are *really* quiet on the injury front at times

Comment From the Average Sports Fan
ROY is a total crock. Trout won even though he had 100PA the previous year. To be a rookie it should be the year you debut at MLB level. If you get 2ab in a September call up, sucks to be you.

Dan Szymborski: Yeah, but then most of the great rookies won’t be eligible

Comment From inquiring mind
real world: Craig and Peralta for Andrus?

Dan Szymborski: Not with the contracts coming with

Comment From Guest
Santana is out for the year.

Dan Szymborski: We were talking about 6-man with Gausman isntead of Santana

Comment From BABIP
Intuitively, it feels like Billy Hamilton should cause opposing defenses to commit more errors, as they rush to have a chance to throw him out. I don’t know if I’m right or not on that, but if that was the case, is there a way to quantify the value he’s adding?

Dan Szymborski: I haven’t found this as actually relevant in the major league level.

Dan Szymborski: Faster players *reach* on error more, but evidence that they’re causing more errors rather than simply being faster, is quite limited

Dan Szymborski: Always be careful at applying lower level baseball things to MLB

Dan Szymborski: Similar is the “pitcher distraction” value of base stealing

Dan Szymborski: When what limited work we’ve done with the topic suggests that hitters are the ones hitting slightly worse in at-bats with pickoff or SB attempst

Dan Szymborski: Hell, Junior Gilliam’s probably most known for laying off a lot of hittable pitches because of Maury Wills

Comment From die hard
again, how are you chosing these questions? are you looking for lob pitch softball questions? chavez has been relevant for over a month….we’ve seen he’s at a mixed league level of ownership…his recent outings have proven he is not for real but a serviceable SP
Comment From 1ST Place Jays
Is Jesse Chavez for real now?

Dan Szymborski: With the amount of questions I get, I’m just trying to keep my head above water. It’s like asking a drowning man what stroke he’s trying to do

Comment From die hard
if youre wondering why i am wasting the time its because FG simply offers one of the most elite mediums….dont ruin these chats

Dan Szymborski: I have always been equally as terrible, with some room for natural variation.

Comment From Sadwick
Just because Oakland has mutants crawling out of their sewer doesn’t mean it will work that way anywhere else.

Comment From C
What current MLB player would you compare Polanco to? Just saw Trout somewhere else, little too far there.

Dan Szymborski: Not current, but Lloyd Moseby maybe?

Dan Szymborski: Of course, Moseby didn’t become the player he could have in an alternate universe, but he was another dude who wasn’t small and was fast, though Polanco’s faster.

Comment From Adrian
Drop a 3B, Freese, Dominguez or Gillespie?

Dan Szymborski: Send Mr. Freese to Arkham Waiver Wire.

Comment From Joey Chestnut
Best hotdogs in the majors?

Dan Szymborski: Milwaukee if brats are allowed.

Dan Szymborski: Worst is Cincinnati.

Dan Szymborski: OH GOD THE CINCINNATI CHILI

Dan Szymborski: And to call that gray dog penis hot dog a coney should have the ghost of Nathan Handwerker haunting the Skyline CEO.

Comment From the Average Sports Fan
If you are Phillie fan is total and complete fiasco the best possible scenario for the rest of this season? Anything else seems to keep Amaro employed.

Dan Szymborski: Yes. The best thing for the Phillies is for 2014 to be a horrific unmitigated disaster.

Comment From 8nthatk
How good of a story is Kazmir?! Great fun watching him pitch right now…

Dan Szymborski: Great story! Skeptical on his dependability, but happy.

Dan Szymborski: I wish Sizemore was working out better, even though that technically would hurt the O’s.

Comment From Aaron (UK)
Tanner Roark had 53.2 IP last year which makes him rookie ineligible, just.

Dan Szymborski: Oh, duh, I was mentally doing pre-september IP too. Big duh, since I’ve answered this question properly a million times

Comment From Jack Glasscocks Cup
. . . skepticism would have to be some shade of yellow to account for the caution.

Comment From Machete
Does Machado get a suspension? Wasn’t ejected.

Dan Szymborski: I’m guessing 5.

Dan Szymborski: To go along with a theme on Twitter. Player watches an interview on TV with a bodybuilder that uses steroids? 20 games. Player gives a suitcase nuke to Al-Qaeda operatives? 12 games.

Comment From B-to-the-mother-fn-ob
Does Chris Tillman stop being bad?

Dan Szymborski: I’m deifnitely worried – his command looks off and his velocity is down

Comment From Alex
Does Tyler Moore ever become something?

Dan Szymborski: At this point, he is what he is.

Comment From BassmanUW
Also, the popular media narrative in Chicago is that the Cubs are terrible/the Ricketts are idiots, while the narrative on the White Sox is that they are trying to win. Of course, that narrative ignores the fact that the Cubs can do this type of rebuild and still bring in well over 2 million fans a year, and once they’re good they’ll be back over 3 million almost immediately. If the White Sox were on pace to win 68 games in a season they’d struggle to draw 10,000 fans per game, and they don’t come back just because a team is competitive early in the season, as we saw a couple of years back.

Dan Szymborski: That’s because popular media narratives tend to be terrible.

Comment From Shawn
On August 1st David Price is wearing a …jersey?

Dan Szymborski: Well, yeah, when he’s playing games.

Comment From Landon
Should the Jays look to extend Bautista and Encarnacion? Or just ride out the remaining cheap 2-3 years?

Dan Szymborski: I’d ride it out – they’ve already got the best years of their career. Extending them means top dollar for years that won’t be.

Comment From kevinthecomic
I love how people complain about something they are getting for free. What is it my grandfather used to say, “don’t look a gift-horse in the mouth”?

Dan Szymborski: Seems to need updating. When was the last time someone gave you a horse?

Comment From Dan
Shark to _____ for _______.

Dan Szymborski: ___Discovery Channel____ for ____Shark Week___

Comment From Guest
How about a Polanco Des Jennings comp?

Dan Szymborski: I think he’ll be better than Jennings though

Comment From Sadwick
I’m guessing coloring something skeptical would make it translucent, or at least a little clearer.

Dan Szymborski: That would be a way for Crayola to shave pennies. A Clear crayon.

Dan Szymborski: Crayola should release a Make Children Cry special edition. Various white and off-white crayons, a couple clear ones, and the rest nearly identical shades of brown.

Dan Szymborski: Wanna draw a smiling sun with sunglasses? It’s BROWN now.

Comment From Alex
My current 1st baseman is Yonder Alonso. With that in my mind, would you do a McCann for Hosmer swamp in a keeper league?

Dan Szymborski: I don’t know what to make of Hosmer anymore, but if you have good catcher depth, Alonso’s going to always kill you

Dan Szymborski: OK, that sentence is poorly constructed, but I think you know what I mean

Comment From jim k.
Who do you like at 3b ROS, Plouffe, Freese, Holt,or Chris Johnson

Dan Szymborski: Uggh.

Dan Szymborski: That’s like asking about my favorite broccoli-based dish.

Dan Szymborski: Plouffe though is the easy pick for me.

Dan Szymborski: And on that note, time to deaprt for another week.

Comment From BassmanUW
Agreed on the popular media narratives being terrible. I used to think this was because the beat writers had to write something about the team they were following every day of the season… but the best bloggers do that, and don’t fall for these silly narratives. I’m just curious as to what the culprit is, and why, for example, the Chicago Tribune or Sun Times haven’t been trying to pry Brett Taylor away from his own blog to write for them.

Dan Szymborski: As usual, you can find me doing various stuff at ESPN.com, chats and projections at FanGraphs, DSzymborski on Twitter, Steam, etc.

Comment From Sadwick
Those crayons sound like what video game designers were using for years in fps games. “Give me something gritty and realistic.” “Ok, BROWN EVERYTHING.”

Comment From Max
What is your favorite baseball game and why is it MVP 2005?

Dan Szymborski: MLB The Show passed that in recent years.