FanGraphs 2021 Opening Day Chat Part II: Even More Chat!

by
April 1, 2021
10:03
Kevin Goldstein: FanGraph After Dark in full effect! Good evening everyone!
10:03
Dodger Fan: I am very excited to watch Lucas Giolito face this Angels lineup.
10:03
Kevin Goldstein: You should be excited to see him face any lineup, no?
10:03
Eric A Longenhagen: Howdy from Phoenix Muni. I’m here to see Chase Silseth and will also be popping in and out of here.
10:04
P: This gap in live games seems like an oversite by MLB on opening day. Couple this with the fact that I couldn’t stream my team from the office and It kinda feels like MLB just can’t get out of it’s own way getting it’s product to the people. I know this is a broken record at this point by man, for a day we are all hyped for, the flaw is just so obvious.
10:04
Kevin Goldstein: I mean, hard to blame MLB for the Nats’ COVID issues.

10:05
Aaron: Opening Day overreaction: Dodgers /Yankees hitting .120 with RISP
10:05
Ben Clemens: Hey from SF; had a quick bit of dog training to do but I’m back.
10:05
Kevin Goldstein: Opening day overreaction: Every reaction
10:05
Eric A Longenhagen: exclusive chat news: Jo Adell took Corbin Martin deep in an Alt Site game a few minutes ago.
10:06
Kevin Goldstein: No EV and launch angle?
10:06
Dodger Fan: Hello Kevin, Ben, and Eric!
10:06
Eric A Longenhagen: no idea
10:06
Kevin Goldstein: Hello Dodger fan, thanks for joining us.
10:07
A big dumb idiot: Youre telling me I shouldn’t preorder a Julian Merryweather replica Rolaids Relief Award?
10:07
Ben Clemens: The reason you shouldn’t do that is unrelated to small samples
10:07
Kevin Goldstein: My god did Merryweather look absolutely nasty today.
10:07
Arthur: Hey Eric, I’m in Tallahassee.  Any area prospects I should be looking to watch (aside from FSU games)?
10:07
Eric A Longenhagen: Sounds like you should have been in to see Jackson Baumeister tonight.
10:07
Dodger Fan: Some hard feelings, Kevin! 🙂
10:07
Kevin Goldstein: I understand. I don’t take it personally.
10:07
Ben Clemens: What games are you watching, Kevin and Eric?
10:08
Ben Clemens: Or, will you be watching, I suppose
10:08
Ben Clemens: I turned on the Angels/Sox game and the first thing I heard was Dexter Fowler’s career fielding percentage in right
10:08
Eric A Longenhagen: i’m watching mostly ASU/UofA
10:08
Eric A Longenhagen: and I have the A’s/Astros on my laptop
10:09
Kevin Goldstein: I have Angels/Sox on ipad, Astros/A’s on second screen.
10:10
Kevin Goldstein: I can switch to Ms so one of us is watching that.
10:10
Guy From Wisconsin: Have teams and scouts recognized the recent increase in prep talent in Wisconsin (e.g. Jarred Kelenic, Gavin Lux, Danny Jansen, etc.)? Hitters Baseball in the greater Milwaukee area has been the top prospect producer in the state for years, but Greg Reinhard Academy (former pro player) in the greater Madison area seems to be doing well too.
10:10
Eric A Longenhagen: Yeah they have that little indoor facility along the highway that just gets all the guys. Max Alba, too.
10:10
Dodger Fan: I can distinctly hear trash can bang sounds in the Oakland crowd.
10:10
Chamaco: Adam Eaton is really batting second in that lineup…
10:10
Kevin Goldstein: Yeah, there’s video of the intros in Oakland and it was a small, but rowdy crowd.
10:11
Ben Clemens: Eaton sure seems to bat second on a lot of teams
10:11
Eric A Longenhagen: The Cardinals scouting director is here to see SIlseth/Holgate, etc.
10:12
Guest: I’m excited for Taylor Trammell getting to hit fifth. I don’t know if it’s going to work for him, but I’m rooting for it to work
10:12
Kevin Goldstein: I really like Trammel as a person, seems to be great, and I love his tools, but I can’t get past the Ks and lack of minor league performance to buy into the hype.
10:14
Guest: Speaking of the M’s, Marco Gonzalez, mister control, with a 5 pitch walk to the first guy he faces. He struggled in his last 2 spring starts, too.
10:15
Kevin Goldstein: And then he perfectly elevated a FB for a K….
10:15
Sam: Super interested in seeing another full season from Moncada and how that whole BABIP thing he had going on settles in
10:15
Kevin Goldstein: Kumar Rocker update: 6 4 0 0 1 8 on 89 pitches against a struggling LSU squad.
10:16
Ben Clemens: I am too; I’m not worried about the downtick in contact quality last year b/c he was dealing with COVID, but I do want to see him get back to attacking earlier in the count
10:16
Dodger Fan: @Ben, how’s Ruby?
10:17
MC07: If Correa can make it through a full season (~150gms), what does his FA contract look like? 10/$250m too high?
10:17
Kevin Goldstein: It’s tough to see him getting 150 games with his track record, but if he does, and he’s good, he’s getting more than 250….
10:17
Ben Clemens: She is doing great. I was a little late b/c we are working on leaving her alone in the apartment (she has separation anxiety unfortunately), and she was here 50 minutes without so much as a peep
10:17
Blue Morpho: Giants twelfth consecutive season opening up on the road wow.
10:17
Guest: KG- Have a Greinke story to add to the legend?
10:17
Kevin Goldstein: I’ve never spoken to him.
10:18
Kevin Goldstein: Greinke is totally into scouting and loves seeing draft guys and in a normal world I would have had a chance to maybe go to a game in Florida with him, but 2020 wasn’t that normal world unfortunately.
10:18
Ben Clemens: Albert Pujols has batted 6th 18 times more often than 2nd in his career
10:18
Alaska Pete: 5-4-3 DP! Kevin, are you saying I can’t conclude he sucks after the first at bat??! He’s a bum!! oh wait, Marco for Cy Young!
10:18
Kevin Goldstein: That’s the Opening Day reaction spirit!
10:18
Dodger Fan: Wow Dusty Baker’s mask
10:19
Kevin Goldstein: Dusty’s mask game is always strong.
10:19
Ben Clemens: Exacly 8 PA in the 2 spot, which feels weird
10:19
George: Give me these elevated changes from Giolito.
10:19
Ben Clemens: Yeah they’re so fun
10:19
Kevin Goldstein: Dusty once also called me a “cool motherf***er” and I have that forever.
10:19
Ben Clemens: Will David Fletcher run a 100% strikeout rate this year? Stay tuned
10:20
Eric A Longenhagen: Ethan Long single plates ASU’s first run. 3-1 Wildcats. Mishandled throw on the infield allows tying run in scoring position, nobody out here yet.
10:20
Kevin Goldstein: Nice play by Longo and Belt on a tough 5-3 play.
10:20
Blessed Adoye: Any thoughts on the Fletcher extension?
10:21
Ben Clemens: Dan is writing it up, I love David Fletcher so much that I can’t be impartial
10:21
ChrisG: Speaking of Rocker – \ Leiter/Rocker best 1-2 college combo since Bauer/Cole?
10:21
Kevin Goldstein: Gotta be….am I missing someone(s), Eric?
10:21
Eric A Longenhagen: I don’t think so
10:21
Kevin Goldstein: Ty France is up: KG breakout pick.
10:21
Eric A Longenhagen: nobody came to mind right away, certainly no better tandem.
10:21
Eric A Longenhagen: 6% walk rate KG, that doesn’t scare you?
10:22
Eric A Longenhagen: xStats from ’19 are insane tho
10:22
Kevin Goldstein: He can HIT
10:22
Alaska Pete: I was just going to ask about your opinion of France. Seems like a huge bat, even if the defense is a work in progress.
10:22
Kevin Goldstein: It’s a bat.
10:23
Ben Clemens: If you guys have a spare 3.5 hours, I think KG and I spent maybe 1.5 minutes of his podcast talking about him
10:23
Eric A Longenhagen: Hancock and Wilcox were good too but not *this* good. Silseth balked in a run, 3-2.
10:23
Ben Clemens: When I was trying to play Cistulli and come up with a Fringe 5, every single sort I did was putting France at the top
10:24
Kevin Goldstein: Thanks for the set up Ben! If you missed it, Ben and I previewed the 2021 season on my podcast that came out today. We talked about every team, so we talked for almost three and a half hours. Listen here! https://blogs.fangraphs.com/chin-music-episode-7-he-had-that-haircut-i…
10:24
Bobby K: Radio said Giolito and Bundy both from Harvard Westlake HS wow
10:24
Kevin Goldstein: Flaherty too.
10:24
Ben Clemens: Fried
10:24
Kevin Goldstein: #RichKidSchool
10:24
Eric A Longenhagen: Bundy is from OK
10:25
Kevin Goldstein: Giolito/Fried/Flaherty
10:25
Trout: TROUT… oh wait foul ball. I’m not in fly ball judging shape obviously.
10:25
Kevin Goldstein: Bundy was part of the Oklahomas HS 1-2 punch with Archie Bradley.
10:25
Ben Clemens: He absolutely obliterated that ball; I also was not in fly ball judging shape
10:26
Eric A Longenhagen: little Sam Ferri single and we’re tied at 3
10:26
Kevin Goldstein: Trout EV on the foul ball: 112
10:27
Kevin Goldstein: Longo oppo! Giants lead 1-0.
10:27
Chamaco: Giolito shortened up his arm atroke
10:27
Ben Clemens: Even shorter? I hadn’t noticed
10:27
Ben Clemens: He’s already cut it down significantly
10:28
Kevin Goldstein: 101/25/358 on the Longo HR
10:28
Kevin Goldstein: Belt just missed back to back.
10:28
Also Ben: Soon he’ll be pitching like a t-rex
10:29
Ben Clemens: The old no-load pitch
10:29
Chamaco: Typo – he had shortened up his arm stroke, and it is pretty clear visually, but from a mechanical perspective, how has it helped him?
10:29
Regreful in Raleigh: What are the odds Stanton, Y. Alvarez, or F. Reyes play the field this year? Because I may or may not have drafted 5 DHs…
10:29
Kevin Goldstein: I mean if you just need one game, you should feel pretty good. If you need more . . . .
10:29
Ben Clemens: Oh, yeah, I got you. If you want to hear Eric talk about this for hours, it’s one of my favorite things to ask him about
10:30
MLB.tv: Question: Does everyone see the same MLB.tv commercials? or are they region specific? I saw a lot of anti pharmaceutical price control commercials and now i’m wondering if baseball fans are the target demographic for that.
10:30
Eric A Longenhagen: Presidente Golden Light
10:31
Mockryan: What is TLR doing with this lineup? Have already discussed this?
10:31
Kevin Goldstein: Does it really matter?
10:31
Jake Mailhot: Hi folks, Jake Mailhot has joined the chat. In time to see Buster Posey launch a rocket into the stands
10:32
Kevin Goldstein: Welcome back Buster Posey! Pull job on a 2-0 meatball, and Giants are up 2-0. Cut job that was middle instead of up.
10:32
Phil White: Velo on that Robert double?
10:32
Kevin Goldstein: 111/15
10:33
Ben Clemens: Steve Stone barely got finished describing why stealing third was a bad idea with two outs (and I think he was right) before he came home on a wild pitch
10:33
Ben Clemens: Dang, lost his chain though
10:33
Kevin Goldstein: 107/26/367 on the Posey HR
10:35
CWess: Can we get definitive confirmation on the pronunciation of Luis Robert’s last name? Is it Ro-Bert or Row-Bear?
10:35
Kevin Goldstein: Robert.
10:35
Phil White: I am now receiving loanDepot ads on mlb.tv. It’s nice to put a face to the name of Marlins Park.
10:35
Ben Clemens: That’s Marlins park to you, buddy
10:35
Eric A Longenhagen: I was told different things by Robert’s uncle and the White Sox (shrug) can’t remember which each of them said. He’s LouBob to me.
10:36
Sweet Lou: Bucs still haven’t lost, Ke Hayes locks in ROY. I’ve got the fever, and its Opening Day!
10:36
Ben Clemens: We need a LouBob BobSteve faceoff this year
10:36
Kevin Goldstein: Enjoy it while you can Sweet Lou!
10:36
Jake Mailhot: Or a LouBob DickMountain matchup.
10:36
Kevin Goldstein:

Pronunciation of @whitesox OF Luis Robert:

loo-EES RAH-burt

First name is like Sojo and Gonzalez

Last name is like Duvall and Frost

3 Jan 2020
10:37
Kevin Goldstein: Kevin Gausman looks REALLY good thru two.
10:37
Chamaco: Would be great to get Eric’s thoughts on Giolito’s mechanics
10:37
Eric A Longenhagen: Lol, the ASU baseball trackman laptop kids are literally talking about how short his stroke is now.
10:40
Morbo: 2 year olds are horrible human beings. Source: my 2 year old was supposed to be asleep over 2.5 hours ago and instead spent the time repeatedly kicking me in the head until I got fed up and left his room. Now he’s opening his door before running back and jumping in his bed. All of which is preventing me from watching baseball in peace for the first time in months
10:40
Ben Clemens: Foolish humans
10:40
Ben Clemens: Having kids, and such
10:41
Nats: Was Giolito not working out with the Nats the Nats fault? or something that he would have figured out in DC anyways? I remember sitting in the cold rain to see his debut and then after that I try to forget his Nats tenure.
10:41
Kevin Goldstein: I think it’s easy cause-effect thinking to blame a team in situations like this, but sometimes it takes a while and sometimes players change, at times dramatically….
10:41
Kevin Goldstein: Good lord, Matt Chapman is a really good 3B.
10:42
Kevin Goldstein: Short hop, spin and throw vs. an 80 runner in Straw.
10:42
Phil White: Was curious of Pujols stats in the 2 spot compared to 6th.
10:43
Ben Clemens: Well, he’s hitting .125/.125/.125 in the 2 spot
10:43
Ben Clemens: …. in 8 pa
10:43
Ben Clemens: It’s kind of remarkable how rarely he’s hit there
10:44
Ben Clemens: I guess TLR has always been a bat-control-dude-second manager
10:44
Kevin Goldstein: I fear people have spent so much time bitching about Pujols’ last few years that they’ve forgotten about how amazing he was.
10:44
Ben Clemens: …. as he has shown with Eaton tonight
10:44
Ben Clemens: People should try being Cardinals fans
10:44
Ben Clemens: It’s easy for us to remember the greatness
10:44
Ben Clemens: Highly recommend it
10:45
Kevin Goldstein: Favorite Cardinal?
10:45
Ben Clemens: Ozzie
10:45
Kevin Goldstein: I’m going Willie McGee
10:45
Eric A Longenhagen: JD Drew
10:45
Phil White: My favorite Cardinal is Jim Edmonds
10:45
Eric A Longenhagen: (just kidding)
10:45
Kevin Goldstein: Eric . . . .
10:45
DanQuaalude: Rick Ankiel!
10:45
Ben Clemens: I’m a lefty and I used to watch along to my Ozzie That’s a Winner tape (vcr’ed on a trip to my uncle’s house in St. Louis) 20 times a day
10:46
Eric A Longenhagen: Placido Polanco
10:46
Ben Clemens: I’m actually into Edmonds as well; of the post-Ozzie era, he’s my favorite I think
10:46
Eric A Longenhagen: Ah I guess Furcal was a Cardinal for a little bit. 80 arm
10:46
Kevin Goldstein: 80 wheels for a bit
10:46
Ben Clemens: Did you hate Rolen, Eric?
10:46
Eric A Longenhagen: no
10:47
Eric A Longenhagen: Here’s the Giolito arm action change: Eric Longenhagen on Twitter: “I’m posting this here for chat. You maybe wanna come chat here: https://t.co/JswbVMCO33 https://t.co/oKVopvNqef” / Twitter
10:48
Eric A Longenhagen: this is also a useful visual

10:47
Ben Clemens: Feel like he was pretty disliked in Philly
10:47
Eric A Longenhagen: The loud, Italian know-nothing radio guys needed something to talk about so it was ROlen being selfish and Abreu being lackadasical
10:48
Ben Clemens: equal opportunity haters
10:48
Ben Clemens: “Imagine your arm walking up a spiral staircase”
10:49
Kevin Goldstein: Anyone want a Rafael Furcal story?
10:49
Eric A Longenhagen: yah
10:49
Phil: Yes on Raffy Furc
10:50
Kevin Goldstein: So the Astros complex in the DR is on land owned by Rafael Furcal. So every month, the Astros write a check to Rafael Furcal for the land lease. Royals too, right next to Astros complex. I guess he owns a ton of land in the DR.
10:50
Charlie: If Correa leaves in FA, do you think Bregman can be avg or better at SS?
10:50
Kevin Goldstein: No, more of a 40-45 SS.
10:51
Kevin Goldstein: Elvis Andrus just took a 2-1 ball and started trotting to first . . . whoops.
10:51
Morbo: One of my favorite baseball memories is watching Albert Pujols absolutely annihilate that pitch from Brad Lidge in the 2005 playoffs
10:51
Kevin Goldstein: Gausman CRUISING
10:51
Scott: I joined late. Have we already covered Giolito’s change to Trout?
10:51
Ben Clemens: Yes, it was preposterous
10:52
Ken Weidner: Eric, as one of the brightest minds on hawk hill, I had a important question for you.. When will the Phillies make the playoffs again?
10:52
Eric A Longenhagen: Put your palm pilot in your fanny pack and gtfo.
10:52
Eric A Longenhagen: I know this is one of maybe three people^
10:52
Eric A Longenhagen: people at my college did not like the profs who did the capstone courses
10:53
Kevin Goldstein: BREAKING: The 2021 MLB Draft will be 20 rounds. This was expected.

MLB has informed MLB’s teams that the 2021 draft will be limited to 20 rounds.

baseballamerica.com/stories/2021-m…

2 Apr 2021
10:53
Ben Clemens: Steve Stone breaking out a description of how BABIP can let you know whether someone is due for regression
10:53
Ben Clemens: The White Sox broadcast is just great
10:53
Ben Clemens: And Benetti trolled him afterwards, too
10:53
dag.nah.bit: Does KG ever sleep?
10:53
Kevin Goldstein: I’m a late nite person out of habit.
10:54
Morbo: If anyone ever builds a time machine I’m using it to take statcast equipment back to that game because I want to know how hard he hit that ball
10:54
Ben Clemens: My favorite part of that is a story I read in Sports Illustrated (those were the days). Something made a clanking sound on the Astros flight back to StL that night
10:54
Ben Clemens: And one of the players told Lidge it was Pujols’s ball coming down
10:54
CWess: Is the 20-round draft going to be the new norm with the contracted minor league systems?
10:54
Kevin Goldstein: I would bet with next CBA it will be 20-30.
10:55
Wow: More impressive: striking out Ohtani and Trout to start a game or striking Astudillo and Arraez in extras?
10:55
Ben Clemens: He struck Fletcher out too!!!
10:55
Kevin Goldstein: That was as unhittable as I’ve ever seen Hader, and he often looks unhittable.
10:56
Ben Clemens: It was one game, but I keep feeling better about my +Kolten Wong -Keston Hiura take
10:56
Ben Clemens: Brewers game was a ton of fun
10:56
BunkMcNultys: Wait.  I logged on during my lunch break (west coast) and saw KG chatting.  Now I’m logging on after dinner.  Still KG in the mix? (btw. a new Chin Music listener — good stuff)
10:57
Kevin Goldstein: It’s Opening Day what the hell else am I going to do? You realize I love baseball, right? Also, thanks for listening!
10:57
Ben Clemens: Jeez Giolito is rolling
10:57
BunkMcNultys: Who sleeps less? Kevin Goldstein or Ben Lindbergh?
10:57
Kevin Goldstein: I sleep! Just more of a 1-9/2-10 type of person.
10:57
CWess: It’s probably confirmation bias, but the inclusion of the strike zone outline on every broadcast now makes me feel even more that home-plate umpires need to go sooner than later (re: Stassi strikeout)
10:58
Ben Clemens: The zone isn’t always right, which is annoying
10:58
Also Ben: Hader was up a few ticks too, right?
10:58
Kevin Goldstein: Touched 100.
10:59
DanQuaalude: KG, how optimistic are you that the new CBA will get done without any games being missed?
10:59
Kevin Goldstein: 50/50.
11:00
Ben Clemens: How confident would you have to be that Hader would be a stud starter to try to convert him?
11:00
Ben Clemens: THere’s no level at this point, right?
11:01
Kevin Goldstein: NO POINT. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. See Bard, Daniel.
11:01
Ben Clemens: YOAN MONCADA BABIP GOD
11:01
Dodger Fan: I can’t figure out how to pirate the WhiteSox-Angels game right now…how has Giolito looked? It seems like he’s hanging a lot of changeups.
11:02
Ben Clemens: Nah he looks amazing
11:02
Ben Clemens: Batters can’t see the ball at all, they’re taking the wrong ones and swinging at the wrong ones
11:03
Chris W.: Marco walked a second batter. He’s almost at last year’s total
11:03
Kevin Goldstein: Lefty-masher Wilmer Flores doubles into the corner and the Giants are up 3-0 and threatening for more. Marco just doesn’t have an in-zone weapon.
11:04
Jake Mailhot: He thrives on the edges and his command just hasn’t been there today
11:04
Ben Clemens: I understand that most righties’ platoon splits are mostly sample size and you shouldn’t read too much into them
11:04
Justin: Any chance Kikuchi breaks out in 2021?
11:04
Ben Clemens: I also believe wholeheartedly that Wilmer Flores is one of the best hitters in baseball vL
11:04
Jake Mailhot: Kikuchi is my favorite breakout pick
11:05
Jake Mailhot: The velocity is real and the new cutter he debuted last year is nasty
11:05
Kevin Goldstein: Astros have something going Top 4 in OAK. Altuve walk and Brantley double to make it 2nd and 3rd to start the frame.
11:05
Oddball Herrera: Is this the worst starter opening day ERA ever? It certainly feels like it. Not a lot of good showings today, some horrendous
11:05
Ben Clemens: This is not a question for me, because I’m on my second beer of the night
11:05
Ben Clemens: But it definitely feels that way
11:05
Ben Clemens: and everyone looked bad, too
11:06
Ben Clemens: It’s not like there were a bunch of hard luck seeing eye singles
11:06
Kevin Goldstein: Bregman RBI groundout, 1-0 HOU
11:06
Jake Mailhot: Mariners broadcast showing wRC+ on the overlay with a short explanation
11:06
Jake Mailhot: That’s new
11:07
Dodger Fan: ESPN showed OPS+ as a default today
11:07
Ben Clemens: That’s really cool
11:07
BunkMcNultys: I can recommend the Ben Clemens / Kevin Goldstein conversation on Chin Music re: Kicuchi’s velo vs. control and how it may impact his breakout (this is not a fangraphs bot account)
11:07
Eric A Longenhagen: Donta Williams just spanked one deep to right field here w/ 2 outs, runner on 2B. Twisting catch in RF ends the inning. Devils 5 Wildcats 4 Middle 6th
11:08
Wow: Second? teetotaler
11:08
Kevin Goldstein: I’m about to freshen a cocktail, myself….
11:08
Bobby K: Best starting pitcher performance today Glasnow yes?
11:08
Kevin Goldstein: Seems that way, no?
11:08
Ben Clemens: Yes, and please ignore the Chin Music section about the Rays
11:09
Ben Clemens: We were insanely complimentary of Glasnow, you’ll just have to trust me
11:09
Eric A Longenhagen: Anyone see that video of Glasnow talking about how he holds his fastball because he had carpel tunnel in high school? Pretty cool
11:09
Eric A Longenhagen: also 80 hair
11:09
Ben Clemens: Alcantara looked good too, though
11:09
Kevin Goldstein: Great catch by Chad Pinder on a drive by Tucker, saves a run….
11:09
Ben Clemens: How many swinging strikes do you think is David Fletcher’s one-game max
11:10
Ben Clemens: Gonna go look this up really quickly
11:10
Dodger Fan: Correa plunked, Oakland crowd going nuts
11:11
Jake Mailhot: Really love the small rivalry the A’s and Astros have developed over the last few years. They really don’t like each other.
11:12
Kevin Goldstein: They really don’t.
11:12
Ben Clemens: Fletcher had 5 swinging strikes against the immortal trio of Darwinzon Hernandez, Ryan Brasier, and Brandon Workman in 2019
11:12
Kevin Goldstein: Giolito v. Trout for you channel flippers….
11:12
BunkMcNultys: If we assume there are 25 X 30 MLB players, and 80 means 3 SDs above the mean, that means we have 11 guys with 80 hair.  We’ve got Glasnow on the list.  Who are the other 10?
11:12
Ben Clemens: Put Rendon on there, I’d say
11:12
Kevin Goldstein: Tatis
11:13
Ben Clemens: I haven’t always loved the curls, but they’re great at the moment
11:13
Ben Clemens: Harrison Bader?
11:13
Jake Mailhot: Ben Gamel
11:13
CWess: Trout isn’t getting a heater in the zone this whole AB after the 96 he pulled foul his first AB
11:13
dag.nah.bit: This is fun. Can we do this every day? Lol
11:13
Kevin Goldstein: Every day? No. We got content to create. Do it more? Absolutely.
11:13
Kevin Goldstein: Trout walks.
11:14
Ben Clemens: We did some watchalongs last year, we’ll probably do some again
11:14
Nate: Brandon Crawford has 80-grade hair.
11:14
Ben Clemens: on twitch
11:14
Jake Mailhot: Crawford is too wet to be 80 grade
11:14
Ben Clemens: I’m giving Crawford like a 35
11:14
Ben Clemens: The wetness is off-putting
11:14
Dodger Fan: Corey Seager for the 80 hair.
11:15
Jake Mailhot: Corey Seager’s brother breaks up Gausman’s perfect night
11:15
dag.nah.bit: Gregory Soto’s hair today?
11:15
Kevin Goldstein: OUTSTANDING. Unlike his performance.
11:15
Wow: With the way Giolitto (tonight) and others (Devin Williams comes to mind) can change the shape of their change ups pitch to pitch, is there really any use to categorizing them as the same pitch when one breaks 2 inches glove side and the next 5 inches arm side? Do you as a scout categoize them separately?
11:15
Ben Clemens: This is an old question that I went back up to
11:15
Ben Clemens: B/c I forgot to answer it
11:15
Ben Clemens: Yeah it’s tricky
11:16
Ben Clemens: check this out
11:16
Ben Clemens:

@tangotiger Here’s another, Lucas Giolito. One clue is the SSW (red), which seems to spread out in two opposite directions, one leading to armside shift, other leading to upward shift. There are probably others who also do this. It’s not so hard to find them with graphs like these.
21 Mar 2021
11:16
Justin Versear: KG, any specific insights on the A’s-Stros rivalry?
11:16
Kevin Goldstein: Nothing you don’t know. Frequent battles in the standings. Tough road series for both teams. The Laureano/Cintron stuff, etc.
11:16
Ben Clemens: the green dots are the location of the pitches. the blue dots are the magnus movement, red dots SSW movement
11:17
Ben Clemens: the blue and red components add to the green
11:17
Ben Clemens: Alan Nathan is a great Twitter follow, incidentally
11:17
Ben Clemens: And Lucas Giolito is a witch, as you can clearly see from the graph
11:18
Kevin Goldstein: Giolito has gotten a little loose command wise. Two walks. Ramped up a couple pitches here and there.
11:18
Wow: Ben, thanks for answering, but I asked that when I was two beers in and now I have no idea what you’re talking about.
11:18
Ben Clemens: In good company
11:18
Chamaco: Not sure what is more incredible – that Giolito can do that, or guys can hit him
11:18
Ben Clemens: Right? Major league hitters are so good
11:19
Dodger Fan: Except for Austin Hedges /s
11:19
Ben Clemens: I’ve written a lot of articles about Jeff Mathis and Austin Hedges
11:19
Ben Clemens: Thank god for them
11:19
Eric A Longenhagen: 80 hair: Yuli, Harper, Galvis, Keynan Middleton, Dustin May (sorry, Parks), Glasnow, Bichette, Tatis…idk that’s a good list
11:20
Ben Clemens: Yuli?? I dunno man
11:20
Kevin Goldstein: Players I still like, despite the fact that I shouldn’t: 1. Austin Hedges.
11:20
Eric A Longenhagen: Middleton’s dreads having the Mariners blue and green in there is super sick
11:20
Kevin Goldstein: Yuli is 80 hair.
11:20
Hair: Why are you guys ignoring my Sean Manaea hair comment
11:20
Kevin Goldstein: Giolito has become mortal.
11:20
Hair: If May is an 80 so is Synnderggard.
11:20
Ben Clemens: Hard disagree
11:20
Eric A Longenhagen: also strong
11:21
Ben Clemens: Syndergaard’s doesn’t work as well as May’s
11:21
Ben Clemens: I think May’s whole Waluigi vibe makes the hair better
11:21
Kevin Goldstein: oh crap, I thought Pujols got that.
11:21
Ben Clemens: deGrom did a good job switching from long to short, while we’re on long hair
11:22
Morbo: Jeff Mathis had shockingly good statcast numbers last year. .393 wOBACON
11:22
Ben Clemens: Self promotion time?
11:22
Ben Clemens: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/jeff-mathis-cant-catch-a-break/
11:22
Ben Clemens: Self promotion time
11:22
Kevin Goldstein: #ItsAlwaysSelfPromotionTime
11:22
CWess: deGrom is so much better looking with short hair
11:23
Ben Clemens: Mookie Betts and Jeff Mathis had (a very few) similar batted ball metrics last year
11:23
Oddball Herrera: All these hair styles are but pale attempts to eclipse vintage Mariners Randy Johnson
11:23
Kevin Goldstein: Oscar Gamble is the GOAT
11:23
Dodger Fan: deGrom also throws harder with shorter hair. Analysis!
11:23
Nate: Can we take a minute to admire NOBs that have to curve around the jersey to fit in? Yaz’s jersey giving me Saltalamacchia vibes.
11:23
Eric A Longenhagen: I met a bunch of the people at Majestic who used to put those on there before Nike took over. Lotta nice older ladies.
11:24
Ben Clemens: STRANGE-GORDON looks good on a jersey
11:24
Chaz: Ball’s not dead
11:24
Eric A Longenhagen: Yeah it was really flying today, I thought.
11:24
Kevin Goldstein: Crow-Armstrong
11:24
Ben Clemens: ROGERS-CROMARTIE
11:24
Ben Clemens: I dunno, maybe he played in high school and his high school had … yeah okay fine
11:25
Duhawks: Us there any new analysis on if the Statcast proprietary metrics are any good? I recall upon them being created they weren’t any better than regular old wOBA but people used them anyway
11:25
Ben Clemens: If you mean xwOBA and that kinda thing, they’re more descriptive than predictive
11:25
Eric A Longenhagen: First and third for Arizona’s Daniel Susac of the many catching Susacs. 0 out, still 5-4 Sun Devils here
11:25
baseballenjoyer: Martin Maldonado spends more time on his hair than anyone in the league only to be disrespected in this chat
11:25
Kevin Goldstein: I guarantee you I am Martin Maldonado’s biggest fan.
11:26
Morbo: I hate that I’m about to say this but Bryce Harper has pretty solid hair
11:26
Eric A Longenhagen: a pretty blockable wild pitch scores the runner from third, tied at 5
11:26
Eric A Longenhagen: Harper is the David Lee Roth of baseball
11:26
Eric A Longenhagen: OH YEAH
11:26
Ben Clemens: The Angels have a low-key great defensive infield
11:26
BunkMcNultys: if you only had one predictive metric (and couldn’t see anything else about a player’s profile other than hair), it would be…
11:26
Ben Clemens: Barrel rate? It’s kinda cheating, it tells you a few things
11:27
Chris: Slater hit a ball with a 99 mph exit velo and a 29 degree angle 346 feet for a homer. So much for a dejuiced ball
11:27
Kevin Goldstein: Ball is flying period in SEA tonight.
11:27
Duhawks: As a member of multiple Brewers Blog communities, I can guarantee you, KG, you are not Martin Maldonado’s biggest fan.
11:27
Kevin Goldstein: I’ll take the bet.
11:28
George: You’d rather have barrel% than xwoba which accounts for that as well as K% and BB%? It’s not perfect predictively but it’s sure better than barrel%
11:28
Eric A Longenhagen: Susac hit a really hard grounder to short, throw forced the 1B off the bag, ball came loose when he tried to apply tag. first and third 0 out again for Arizona’s best hitter draft prospect for this year, Ryan Holgate.
11:28
Ben Clemens: Muuuuuuch rather have barrel rate
11:28
Ben Clemens: not even close
11:28
Kevin Goldstein: Pinder with another run-saving catch.
11:29
Ben Clemens: like, it does a good job of saying what a hitter *should* have done
11:29
Ben Clemens: but if you hit a bunch of flares to shallow OF
11:29
Ben Clemens: well, those have like a 1.000 xBA
11:29
Ben Clemens: But they’re not particularly replicable
11:29
Ben Clemens: Adam Eaton top 2-hole hitter
11:29
Morbo: I’d rather have the underlying data that goes into barrel rate
11:29
Kevin Goldstein: Hah.
11:30
Ben Clemens: I mean haha okay sure
11:30
Morbo: As and 80s child I’m old enough to know who David Lee Roth is and that he was part of Van Halen but not old enough to understand if that is a good or a bad thing
11:30
Kevin Goldstein: And now, the best song ABOUT Van Halen ever:

11:30
Phil White: I’ve really missed watching a grounder up the middle turn into a base hit
11:30
Kevin Goldstein: Embrace change.
11:31
Duhawks: Interesting (barrel over xwoba). I just got annoyed how they put a predictive name on it and all the sudden everyone used it as a predictive stat. Still do. “He had a .330 xwOBA last year, he is due for a breakout”
11:31
Ben Clemens: I think they should have called it dwOBA
11:31
Ben Clemens: deserved
11:33
Dodger Fan: Former always-somehow-in-Boston man Mitch Moreland now batting
11:33
Ben Clemens: Gonna be weird turning on a Sox game and not seeing him
11:34
Ben Clemens: If you’re still interested in my rapidly-spiraling xwOBA discussion, here’s a good thread by xwOBA creator Tom Tango on why it isn’t the best predictive metric:
11:34
Ben Clemens:

In the thread yesterday, the min 100 batted balls was only in season 1. Adding the condition of at least 100 batted balls in both seasons, the shape remains largely the same, except all the correlations go up.

#Statcast
For each batter-season, I took their 5% hardest hit balls, and correlated the average exit velocity of these batted balls to the next season wOBAcon. Then I took their 10% hardest hit balls. And so on, and so on.

Best metric would use batters 40-50% hardest hit balls.

9 Mar 2021
11:34
Phil White: Cameras in Seattle have best concessions cam, prove me wrong
11:34
dag.nah.bit: How do you guys think Kiner-Falefa fared today? How do you see him working out at SS? Same with Suarez? Why aren’t more teams, other than the Dodgers/A’s/Rays, doing similar things with superb athletes of moving them around and developing them into playing as many positions as possible?
11:34
Ben Clemens: He didn’t deserve the error he was charged
11:35
Ben Clemens: Lowe should have had it
11:35
Ben Clemens: On the other hand, I’m not a huge fan of having him lead off
11:35
Eric A Longenhagen: Couple of balls have been just out of the reach of Sun Devil defenders (including a triple past a diving CF) and all of a sudden U of A has opened this one up, big. 9-to-5
11:36
Kevin Goldstein: As Max Stassi takes Giolito deep to cut the White Sox lead to 3-2, I just want to say that he’s among the nicest dudes I ever dealt with.
11:36
Dodger Fan: Mathematically, it’s probably someone in this chat’s birthday.  Happy birthday, fellow baseball fan!
11:37
Barrels: Barrels are great but BBs and Ks are such a large part of the game (and an increasing part of the game). Flares/burners get overrated predictively, so I can understand if you’re looking at xwoba in a small sample, but over a large enough sample you should be able to differentiate the guys who get lucky with them vs the guys who actually have flare-hitting as a skill
11:37
Ben Clemens: Yeah over a sufficeintly large sample, just gimme wOBA
11:37
Ben Clemens: at that point, why do you want the x?
11:37
Kevin Goldstein: Greinke at 5 2 0 0 0 4 on 75 pitches. He’s been quite something.
11:38
Ben Clemens: I’d like to see a Greinke start this year where he sells out to hit every number on the gun
11:38
Phil White: Giants broadcasters arguing maple bats are better than corked bats, quintessential SF broadcast banter that I love
11:38
Ben Clemens: That whole maple bat thing during peak Bonds was quite funny
11:38
Ben Clemens: As a kid I wanted a maple bat
11:38
Ben Clemens: And I wasn’t even playing baseball anymore
11:41
dag.nah.bit: Speaking about Chin Music… What if the White Sox players let TLR choose their Walk-Up songs for a day? What shall we expect?
11:41
Dodger Fan: Nice catch by Elvis Andrus, who is depressingly no longer a Ranger.
11:42
Jake Mailhot: It’s really weird. And even more weird that he’s in an A’s uniform
11:42
Dodger Fan: David Fletcher has struck out again.  What the f*** is happening.
11:42
Ben Clemens: It’s wild
11:42
Ben Clemens: With the contract signed, maybe he’s a power hitter now
11:42
Kevin Goldstein: Money has gone to his head.
11:42
CWess: Well Fletcher refused to swing at 3-1 down the middle so…
11:43
Ben Clemens: Well that’s just classic Fletcher
11:43
Ben Clemens: Take take take softball swing
11:44
Ben Clemens: Fletcher is up to 3 swinging strikes tonight, tied for the second-highest of his career
11:44
Ben Clemens: I don’t think he’s topping 5, though
11:45
Kevin Goldstein: two on, one out and Bassit is done in OAK. Petit coming in.
11:45
Dodger Fan: Correa booing time
11:45
depressed orioles fan: Love to see Gausman dominating and Bundy holding his own on opening day. Love to see it. Love it. Love it. I’m loving it. I
11:45
Guest: Bumgarner got touched up again but his velocity was reportedly back up. Interested?
11:45
Kevin Goldstein: Not especially, no.
11:46
Ben Clemens: I have to say this for the White Sox: they have a lot of very talented players
11:46
Ben Clemens: Leury Garcia doesn’t even start in left in my OOTP team of all 59/100 or lower players
11:46
Ben Clemens: Guys, depth matters
11:47
buttsoup barnes: Watching Bumgarner complain about the umpire after nearly every pitch today = 😃
11:48
Ben Clemens: So TLR said that ‘It’s a big loss, but you do hvae to continue to play the season’
11:48
Ben Clemens: in regards to Eloy
11:48
Ben Clemens: Do they think he’s WAYYYYYYYY better than he is?
11:48
Ben Clemens: Like, players get hurt, it’s not THAT weird
11:49
CWess: Well he’s not wrong…they do have to continue playing the season
11:49
Nate: “RIP Eloy” was trending on Twitter and the White Sox had a weird “we play for Eloy” tweet. It’s a bit odd.
11:49
Ben Clemens: that jersey in the dugout!
11:49
depressed orioles fan: he died ben

With us tonight & always.
2 Apr 2021
11:50
Ben Clemens: With us, literally physically, b/c he was doing rehab and stayed at the park afterwards
11:50
Jake Mailhot: Yeah, that’s weird
11:51
Sam: I think I heard that was an April fools prank on Jimenez. Although that doesn’t make a ton of sense haha
11:51
Ben Clemens: Okay I’m happy with this explanation
11:51
Ben Clemens: Still a little weird but less so
11:51
Morbo: maybe Eloy just really ties the room together
11:51
Kevin Goldstein: Yordan two-run double, 3-0 Astros. He’s still scary.
11:51
Ben Clemens: Love it
11:51
Ben Clemens: He’s my breakout pick for the year
11:51
Ben Clemens: b/c I don’t like picking breakout players, i like picking ones who are already great who people forgot about
11:52
CWess: I wish we had FG chats for games at least once a week. I realize that’s an unreasonable ask for all of you as writers of the terrific content, but this is the most fun I have all year until playoff chats
11:52
Kevin Goldstein: Duly Noted. We should do it more.
11:52
Duhawks: Probably knew what was coming…
11:52
Ben Clemens: Lolllllll
11:53
Kevin Goldstein: Sigh.
11:53
Ben Clemens: the strikethrough was very well done
11:53
Duhawks: I was thinking the Jersey thing was weird. Then I remembered that Braun wore Yelich’s jersey after he got hurt. Literally wore it under his own jersey. Baseball players are weird.
11:53
Ben Clemens: Ryan Braun does seem quite weird
11:53
Kevin Goldstein: So many are weird.
11:53
CWess: Speaking of Brewers jerseys…those jerseys today were 80-grade
11:54
Ben Clemens: The ball with the wheat seams
11:54
Ben Clemens: wonderful
11:54
Justin: Braun wore it because he wanted Yelich’s magic to rub off on him…
11:54
Ben Clemens: Restrained myself from a variety of jokes about Braun and controlled substances here
11:54
Ben Clemens: You’re welcome, everyone
11:55
Nate: What’s the highest strike percentage you’ve seen a starter throw in 6 innings?
11:55
Kevin Goldstein: I wish I could remember who, because he wasn’t a big draft guy, but there was a college starter who throw 100 strikes in a game last year, like 118 pitches or something.
11:55
Morbo: Speaking of break out candidates: Edwin Rios murders baseballs, when he hits them. If he strikes out at anything like his 21% rate last year vs his +35% rate in 2018 and 2019 he is a very scary hitter.
11:55
Ben Clemens: KG take from yday: Rios would start at third for double-digit teams
11:55
Kevin Goldstein: Rios would be an every day player for most teams.
11:55
Kevin Goldstein: ta da!
11:56
Duhawks: TLR in post season bullpening form
11:56
Eric A Longenhagen: Back from instructing at the Billy Joel Driving School.
11:56
Ben Clemens: This is a really small thing, but when you pull up a game on Gameday now, the name of the tab is ‘Free Live (game)’
11:56
Ben Clemens: So I have ‘Free Live White Sox at Angels’ as a tab
11:56
Ben Clemens: and like, guys, we don’t need the adjectives
11:57
Dodger Fan: Trout another walk – drink
11:57
Ben Clemens: I am, coincidentally, opening another beer, an Anderson Valley amber
11:57
Also Ben: Must be SEO so MLB beats out all the other people searching for free White Sox at angels
11:57
Ben Clemens: <3
11:58
Ben Clemens: Rendon is great
11:58
Ben Clemens: apropos of nothing, I just love watching him hit
11:58
Ben Clemens: Is there a player who projects more cool?
11:58
baseballenjoyer: Since he’s on screen rn, KG, is there an heir apparent to Strom?
11:59
Kevin Goldstein: Bill Murphy is wonderful.
11:59
Dodger Fan: Fernando Tatis Jr.
11:59
Ben Clemens: Fair
11:59
Ben Clemens: Different kind of cool
11:59
Kevin Goldstein: In the Rendon school of cool, I’d put up Brantley.
12:00
Ben Clemens: Solid one
12:00
Ben Clemens: I really like the laid back hitters
12:00
Kevin Goldstein: Me too.
12:00
Kevin Goldstein: slow the game down.
12:01
Phil White: Is Mike Trout a laid back hitter
12:01
Ben Clemens: I don’t think so. He looks more like he’s building up power to me
12:02
Dodger Fan: Hey hey it’s still Thursday here! Why is the chat trying to manipulate my sense of time?
12:02
Kevin Goldstein: Chat time is EST. Them’s the rules.
12:02
Morbo: Favorite current player to watch hit? Mine is Juan Soto and its not even close
12:02
Ben Clemens: Soto is a lot of fun
12:02
Ben Clemens: I’d put him, Harper, and Rendon on my list
12:02
Ben Clemens: Harper’s swing is gorgeous
12:02
Phil White: Prime Robby Cano is some of my favorite hitting, not sure if it’s laid back
12:02
Kevin Goldstein: Yes, Laid back. With his mind on his money and his money on his mind.
12:02
Dodger Fan: Mine is Cody Bellinger and I am not at all biased.
12:04
Duhawks: Favorite current payer to watch field a routine ground ball to third. Mine is Kyle Seager and it isn’t even close.
12:04
Ben Clemens: This is a much more specific question
12:05
Jake Mailhot: Chapman, because he makes everything look routine
12:05
Ben Clemens: I saw Matt Chapman getting some fungoes hit to him when I showed up early to a Mets game once, and it was awesome
12:05
Kevin Goldstein: Yeah, Chapman, easy.
12:05
BunkMcNultys: Machado a close second to Chapman
12:06
Ben Clemens: Machado has a ‘fine whatever I’ll field this’ vibe that I love
12:06
Eric A Longenhagen: Very lucky to have seen Rolen thru Chappy/Machado/Arenado and now Hayes
12:06
Kevin Goldstein: Enoli coming in to pitch the 7th for Houston. It’s upper 90s, it’s a killer slider, and the command will be determined by the roll of a dice.
12:06
Ben Clemens: Worst baseball player doing routine thing: Dexter Fowler’s routine catch
12:06
Ben Clemens: Terrifies me
12:06
Kevin Goldstein: I wrote about Fowler catching!
12:06
Ben Clemens: It’s like he wants you, the viewer, to feel afraid
12:07
Kevin Goldstein: Videos and everything! https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-dexter-fowler-deal-isnt-really-about-d…
12:08
Ben Clemens: I’m watching this video even though I know it will upset me
12:08
Ben Clemens: Thanks a lot, KG
12:08
Alex Cora: 2021 = Altuve comeback season?
12:08
Kevin Goldstein: It’s only one game, but he’s looked REALLY good tonight.
12:08
Kevin Goldstein: Upset you. Imagine working for the team he’s on when he’s doing that.
12:09
CWess: Nick Madrigal = Ichiro…who says no?
12:09
Ben Clemens: I do
12:09
Kevin Goldstein: I do. Strongly. While laughing maniacally.
12:09
CWS: Why didn’t the white sox challenge that play?
12:09
Ben Clemens: Wonderful question
12:09
BunkMcNultys: Nick Madrigal = Ichiro, who says yes?
12:09
Kevin Goldstein: Neither Ben nor I.
12:10
Ben Clemens: Ichiro is probably not a good comp for anyone at all
12:10
Kevin Goldstein: He’s on the no-comp rule.
12:10
Ben Clemens: Like, there aren’t a lot of Ichiros
12:11
Ben Clemens: I’m pushing Madrigal = Fletcher
12:11
Ben Clemens: As my official comp of the year
12:11
anna: was ichiro really the type of guy that could have hit 30 hrs “if he wanted” or was that just tv analyst gibberish?
12:11
Kevin Goldstein: 30 is a bit much, but he had some real raw.
12:12
Baseball Eating: what grade would ichiro’s arm/speed/hit tool’s get?
12:12
Phil White: Let’s hear your 1-5 person no-comp rule list.
12:12
Kevin Goldstein: Ichiro, Bo Jackson, Nolan Ryan, Alex Rodriguez, Greg Maddux.
12:12
Ben Clemens: I just put this here so KG and Eric would answer it
12:12
Kevin Goldstein: arm 80 run 70+ hit 80 (prime Ichiro)
12:13
Ben Clemens: Ichiro’s arm is just so dumb
12:13
Ben Clemens: It was excessive
12:13
Ben Clemens: No one needs an outfield arm like that
12:13
CWess: I’m just saying: striking out under 10% of the time with a .350+ BABIP seems like a quality Ichiro recipe to me (nvm the defensive aspect)
12:13
Kevin Goldstein: Ichiro hit balls hard. Nick Madrigal does not hit balls hard. It’s a massive difference.
12:13
Kevin Goldstein: Enoli starts off the 7th giving up a double after a dropped foul pop followed by a walk.
12:14
Ben Clemens: I actually have Andrelton Simmons on my no-comp list
12:14
Kevin Goldstein: There will be another 80 SS, no?
12:14
Ben Clemens: He doesn’t play defense like other great shortstops, though
12:14
Ben Clemens: He’s so much more arm and awareness, to me
12:15
Ben Clemens: I dunno, maybe I’ve just watched too many Simmons highlights
12:15
Ben Clemens: But I think of most 80 shortstops as really acrobatic types, and he’s more of a mobile cannon
12:16
CWS: Heuer is like as far from Giolitos arm action as one can be. It’s impressive the sling hes got going.
12:16
Ben Clemens: I’m looking forward to seeing Bummer pitch
12:16
Ben Clemens: quite underrated
12:16
Kevin Goldstein: QUITE
12:16
Ben Clemens: I think it’s b/c of his name
12:17
Phil White: Is Rickey Henderson an honorary mention to the no-comp list, or will he be replicated again
12:17
Kevin Goldstein: No, he will not. Probably my favorite player of all time.
12:17
CWess: I’m not actually advocating for Madrigal being Ichiro, but I think he’s sneaky good because I think there are really elite bat-to-ball skills there in a way that will allow him to be a very successful MLB hitter despite his obvious flaws
12:17
Kevin Goldstein: I mean, he has a chance to be Luis Arraez.
12:18
Eric A Longenhagen: way better defender tho
12:18
Nate: Which reliever name is more unfortunate: Aaron Bummer or Grant Balfour?
12:18
Nate: Or Scott Blewett
12:18
Kevin Goldstein: Important to note, that I’m the low guy on Nick Madrigal.
12:18
Ben Clemens: Blewett, I guess?
12:19
CWess: I just think he’s a terrific baseball player (excuse my completely non-fangraphs speak) and that counts for something on rare occasions
12:20
Kevin Goldstein: I think he’s only maybe kinda good. Has to hit .315 to have positive value due to the lack of walks and power.
12:20
Ben Clemens: I think he’ll be a solid regular
12:20
Ben Clemens: But I think a lot of it will be defense
12:20
Ben Clemens: Not a bad outcome, but also not a unicorn like Ichiro
12:20
Guest: Madrigal just made the catch in the second deck at the Oak Coliseum. Anybody see that?
12:20
Sam: I’m like 85% sure a guy wearing a black Athletics “Madrigal” jersey just caught a foul ball
12:21
Jared T: Anybody see Madrigal make that catch in the second deck just now at Oak Coliseum?
12:21
Ben Clemens: I’m willing to say you guys all saw correctly
12:21
Kevin Goldstein: Enoli is wild. first and second, one out in the 7th still and 22 pitches in. Joe Smith, who chose to sit out 2020 is warming.
12:21
Ben Clemens: Yikes, not what you want to hear
12:22
Ben Clemens: Benetti just dropped an ‘it’s like Wayne’s World’
12:22
Ben Clemens: effortless
12:22
CWess: Madrigal reached the big leagues doing exactly what he did in college, despite the doubts that he could continue to do what he has always done against professional pitching, and then did it again against MLB pitching. Call me crazy, but I’m sold on him being a .315 hitter every year
12:22
Kevin Goldstein: He hit .340 last year and somehow still only had a 112 wRC+….
12:22
Ben Clemens: He’s the Rendon of announcers
12:24
Phil White: Can you imagine blowing a bubble right as you decide to run down the first base line for a walk when you know it was a strike, that is skill baby
12:24
Kevin Goldstein: Good lord Jose Iglesias. What a shortstop.
12:25
Ben Clemens: jeeeeeez
12:25
Duhawks: So Bummer is “quite underrated” so: Williams/Hader or Bummer/Hendricks?
12:25
Ben Clemens: Oh, jeez
12:25
Eric A Longenhagen: okay my game’s over so I’m gonna split. Thanks for hanging out. Mets list will publish tomorrow!
12:26
Ben Clemens: Cya Eric
12:26
Kevin Goldstein: bye Mr. Longenhagen.
12:26
Ben Clemens: I think I lean Hader/Williams but I think most people would pick that side without thinking?
12:26
Kevin Goldstein: Paredes finds the zone, whiffs a pair, and it’s HOU 3 OAK 1 after seven.
12:26
Ben Clemens: too many ‘think’s in that sentence, sorry
12:26
Kevin Goldstein: I think I lean towards the MIL pair as well.
12:27
Nate: Gausman got 41 strikes on 52 fastballs. His stuff was very good tonight
12:27
baseballenjoyer: Enoli with the holler. Man he’s fun
12:27
Jake Mailhot: One of the concerns people had about Gausman was whether his velo bump in 2020 was an artifact of the short season. He averaged 93.6 tonight and ramped it up to 96. The Mariners lineup did him a bunch of favors, but still good to see from him.
12:27
Jared T: speaking of quality shortstop play… What’s the answer in Cincy?>
12:27
Kevin Goldstein: Enoli is wonderful. Few humans love baseball more than Enoli.
12:27
Ben Clemens: I don’t hate what they’re doing, tbh
12:27
Kevin Goldstein: Cincy?
12:27
Ben Clemens: Contingent on screwing up the offseason so badly that you have no shortstop
12:27
Ben Clemens: yeah
12:27
Kevin Goldstein: I hate it.
12:27
Ben Clemens: Like given the predicament they’ve put themselves in
12:28
Ben Clemens: I’d play Suarez there too
12:28
Ben Clemens: Now, why’d they put themselves in that pickle? Sincerely no idea
12:28
buttsoup barnes: How many games into the season before LaRussa rants about the 3 batter minimum in a postgame chat
12:28
Kevin Goldstein: I mean, he’d be right. It’s a dumb as hell rule.
12:28
Ben Clemens: But what else are they gonna do?
12:28
Ben Clemens: I guess have India play short?
12:28
Kevin Goldstein: It’s a pickle.
12:29
Nate: With Eric leaving, I thought I’d mention: I just finished “Future Value” and it was one of the coolest, most informative, and educational book on baseball I’ve ever read. If you haven’t read it, go get a copy.
12:29
Kevin Goldstein: Just wanted to promote it
12:29
Ben Clemens: I’d rather go Moose/Suarez/India than Suarez/Framer/Moose
12:29
Ben Clemens: Wonderful book, agreed
12:30
Jared T: Senzel played on the left side of the infield right?
12:31
Ben Clemens: Yeah, though I don’t know if he’s a passable shortstop
12:31
Kevin Goldstein: Michael Brantley, who has been hitting lasers all night, goes deep.
12:31
Ben Clemens: And he’s also their best center fielder
12:31
Ben Clemens: Professional hitter, says every announcer in uniso
12:32
Kevin Goldstein: I would say it after every hit in a previous life.
12:32
Kevin Goldstein: 108/19/376 on the Brantley HR
12:33
Ben Clemens: Ohtani is huge, every time he steps into the box I’m reminded of that
12:33
mike: lefty on lefty HR >>> righty on righty HR…I don’t know why I feel that way but I do
12:33
Ben Clemens: I completely agree
12:33
Ben Clemens: It’s something about the natural lefty motion
12:34
Kevin Goldstein: Alex Bregman follows up Brantley with a HR of his own. Absolute bomb. Stood and watched for a bit as well. specs should be impressive.
12:34
Kevin Goldstein: 106/31/418 for Bregman
12:34
Ben Clemens: Remember when Bregman did the bat carry thing, and then Soto did it better immediately?
12:34
Morbo: i was just thinking the same thing Ben
12:34
Kevin Goldstein: All too well
12:34
Ben Clemens: Lefty swings are just pretty
12:34
buttsoup barnes: Ichiro doesn’t make an error there.
12:35
Ben Clemens: Bregman is a lot of fun, I like the heel role he plays quite a bit
12:36
Ben Clemens: Also yeah he’s just awesome
12:37
Ben Clemens: I don’t really feel comfortable judging catchers’ blocking skills, but that looked awful by Grandal
12:37
baseballenjoyer: Bregman is like a youth pastor trying to play the heel
12:37
Kevin Goldstein: Trout doing Trout things and Sox/Angels are tied at 3.
12:38
John Jaso Jingle Heimer Schmidt: I went to the University of Nebraska with Aaron Bummer. I can assure you, he doesn’t like the jokes about his last name.
12:38
Ben Clemens: That’s cool, and also I didn’t need to hear that story to know that
12:38
Ben Clemens: If your name’s Bummer, you’ve definitely heard it enough
12:38
Kevin Goldstein: Not the debut that Adam Kolarek had in mind.
12:39
Bobby K: ESPN cites Fangraphs pct chance to win AL West nice!
12:39
Ben Clemens: Awesome
12:39
Jared T: What occupation, other than MLB reliever, is a good fit for the name J.B. Wendelken? Board game maker?
12:39
Ben Clemens: Hand-sewn tie maker
12:39
baseballenjoyer: Chocolatier
12:39
Jake Mailhot: Bespoke carpenter
12:39
Phil White: J.B. Wendelken is a cobbler
12:40
Ben Clemens: Versatile name as it turns out
12:40
Phil White: initials “J.B.” get you into the artisan class pretty easily
12:40
JPinPhilly: Tobacconist
12:41
Kevin Goldstein: I get being excited when somebody plunks an Astros as a base emotional response, but I don’t understand it when that Astro is Yordan, who didn’t become an Astro until 2019.
12:41
Ben Clemens: I just don’t think they’re thinking it through that much
12:41
Kevin Goldstein: Rooting for laundry….
12:41
Ben Clemens: Yordan is clearly not a part of it, but yeah
12:41
Ben Clemens: He’s an Astro so
12:42
Phil White: If you perceive it like an intentional walk, it makes strategic sense
12:42
Ben Clemens: Upton looks washed so far tonight
12:42
Ben Clemens: And I say that knowing he broke up the no hitter
12:43
BJ Upton: Let me tell you about washed
12:44
Kevin Goldstein: When you walk Yuli Gurriel, you know you’re having location issues.
12:45
BJ Horseman: Let *me* tell you about washed
12:45
Jake Mailhot: Matt Wisler, the man who only throws sliders, walks his first batter of 2021 on five straight sliders
12:45
Kevin Goldstein: That’s actually a pretty great AB by Upton.
12:46
Ben Clemens: Yeah I feel like I have to take back what I said about him
12:46
Ben Clemens: He did get gifted a ball, but still
12:47
John Jaso Jingle Heimer Schmidt: Bummer’s outing has been quite a….. poor and unfortunate performance.
12:49
Duhawks: No swings and misses from the underrated reliever. I am now basing my personal evaluation of him on one outing.
12:49
Ben Clemens: Yeah a real downer of an outing there
12:50
Bobby K: should moncada have let the ball go foul…maybe? Tough play there
12:50
Ben Clemens: I don’t think so
12:50
Kevin Goldstein: Nice to get the ESPN coverage. Before we finish, a quick reminder that we’re currently having a membership drive, so head on over to fangraphs.com and become a member if you haven’t already done so. It means more content, it means more chats, it means we get to keep doing whatever the hell it is we do.
12:50
Kevin Goldstein: Ty France RBI single!
12:50
Ben Clemens: Vive Ty France
12:51
Jake Mailhot: Mariner bats start to come alive against the Giants bullpen
12:51
graham: je suis Ty
12:52
John Jaso Jingle Heimer Schmidt: Wisler with ∞ ERA
12:53
Jake Mailhot: Just two fastballs in 14 pitches
12:53
John Jaso Jingle Heimer Schmidt: I think we can let that Wisler debut…. slide.
12:53
Ben Clemens: Yeah, to echo Kevin, it really means a lot to us when people subscribe. It helps us keep doing the nonsense you like, as well as the actually useful stuff you also like
12:54
Kevin Goldstein: Crap, nobody told me about the useful stuff…
12:54
Phil White: Very happy to be a member. Nerd question: is there any SQL-query-able baseball databases out there? Does fangraphs have a public facing one?
12:54
Ben Clemens: Might I recommend this:
12:54
Ben Clemens: http://billpetti.github.io/baseballr/
12:54
Ben Clemens: Ours is not public-facing, but Bill has some useful tools to scrape Statcast and create your own
12:54
alex: I already subscribe but if I pay more can I get rid of these pop-ups ads that obscure half the screen?
12:54
Ben Clemens: You most certainly can with an ad-free membership
12:55
neuroccountant: In a tie game in the bottom of the 8th, what’s the marginal value to the home team of going up by two runs instead of just by one run?
12:55
Ben Clemens: Check out this sweet tool
12:55
Ben Clemens: https://www.fangraphs.com/tools/wpa-inquirer
12:55
Phil White: Thank you, love to see something R friendly
12:55
Kevin Goldstein: I will add that SO MANY teams have really embraced R.
12:55
Phil White: ad-free membership–totally worth it
12:55
JPinPhilly: I got the ad free membership and it’s worth it. I also just bought a mug.
12:55
Also Ben: BaseballR is great, and so is https://github.com/jldbc/pybaseball
12:56
Ben Clemens: I feel inferior for not knowing R
12:56
Guest: “check out this sweet tool” sounds like something artisan JB Wendelken wouldnsayy
12:56
Jake Mailhot: Learning R is on my list of things to do with all that free time I have
12:56
Kevin Goldstein: I pretty much got through “hello world” in R. I do have  a 40 SQL tool.
12:57
Jake Mailhot: I know Python pretty well already so jumping to R shouldn’t be too hard, right?
12:57
Ben Clemens: I’m like 45 SQL, 40 Python
12:57
Ben Clemens: that’s the theory I think
12:57
neuroccountant: Thank Ben! If only I could figure out how to use the sweet tool!
12:57
Ben Clemens: Basically you put in the state of the game
12:57
Ben Clemens: in each
12:57
Ben Clemens: and it will show you the team’s chance of winning
12:58
Kevin Goldstein: oooooh. Altuve takes his time on a ground ball to set his throw (remember last year’s issues) and Chad Pinder beats the delayed throw. Mini A’s rally going.
12:58
Ben Clemens: There are a few specific things you need to know — run differential is from the home team’s perspective, as is win%
12:58
Kevin Goldstein: Halos are TIED FOR THE BEST RECORD IN BASEBALL.
12:59
Kevin Goldstein: Ben should note that Fowler finished the game by catching one at his chest.
12:59
Ben Clemens: Tied starting the bottom of the 8th: 60.7% WP for the home team. Up 1: 86.9%. Up 2: 94%
12:59
Ben Clemens: So the first run is way more important
12:59
Raisel Iglesias’ Parents: We’re so terrified when I see Fowler catch the final out of my son’s save like that
12:59
Phil White: Fowler just did a catch straight from that video y’all posted
12:59
Kevin Goldstein: Wait, M’s have them juiced?
12:59
Ben Clemens: NIghtmarish
1:00
Jake Mailhot: Yep, Mariners are threatening to tie with no outs in the eighth
1:00
Ben Clemens: Have to switch to youtube tv; thanks, blackouts
1:00
Kevin Goldstein: I have turned the ipad to Seattle…..
1:00
Kevin Goldstein: Evan White chasing a backfoot slider is VERY Evan White.
1:01
Jake Mailhot: Evan White swings three times trying to tie the game. Comes up empty
1:01
Andrew: Kevin, do you still have access to a fancy MLB.tv account without blackouts?
1:01
Kevin Goldstein: Maybe…..
1:02
Dodger Fan: lol Jarlin Garcia pitching high leverage innings
1:02
Ben Clemens: I tried to say that Jarlin Garcia was an interseting reliever yday
1:02
Ben Clemens: But I couldn’t sell it
1:02
Kevin Goldstein: What matters is that you tried.
1:03
Phil White: Merryweather owns all the interesting reliever stock after today
1:03
Ben Clemens: Alex Reyes looked good
1:04
Ben Clemens: But yeah, I guess he’s probably too good of a prospect/name to be ‘interesting’
1:04
Phil White: Dolis too, loved watching him
1:05
Ben Clemens: Really good at-bat by Trammell here
1:05
Jake Mailhot: Taylor Trammel putting together a fantastic AB
1:05
Kevin Goldstein: Was about to type the same. Really impressive.
1:05
Jake Mailhot: RBI walk
1:05
Kevin Goldstein: Impressive zone awareness.
1:05
Jake Mailhot: Really nicely done. Laid off a bunch of sliders away and fouled off everything close
1:06
Dylan Higgins: BBeaut
1:06
Kevin Goldstein: Hi Dylan!
1:06
steve: any chance of doing a twitch stream like this in the future instead of chat? want to hear the voices
1:07
Kevin Goldstein: Well . . . Dylan is our Twitch mastermind so . . . maybe?
1:07
Ben Clemens: We did a few of them last year — mainly to test out whether we could talk for that long
1:07
Kevin Goldstein: I’d be up for it.
1:07
Ben Clemens: I think it’ll definitely happen again, frequency and timing tbd
1:07
Kevin Goldstein: Ben and I have both proven we can talk for a long time.
1:07
Dylan Higgins: Stay tuned on that, have plans to discuss it internally next week. But yes, people seemed to enjoy it, so we could do more!
1:07
Ben Clemens: Dylan it’s public now
1:08
Duhawks: Was planning on going to bed, but this Mariners rally + this chat is too good
1:08
Kevin Goldstein: Well, at least the game is.
1:08
Jake Mailhot: Dylan Moore slaps the first pitch from Rogers into the right field corner. Mariners down by one
1:08
Kevin Goldstein: I believe I called Dylan Moore “sneaky good” on the podcast when I said the Mariners might be pretty good.
1:09
Ben Clemens: Do you think it’d be frustrating to make the majors, as Tyler Rogers, and have your brother just be better than you at the same thing?
1:09
Jake Mailhot: He IS sneaky good. Really like his batted ball data
1:09
Kevin Goldstein: I think it would be weird.
1:10
Jake Mailhot: What’s weird is that they throw with opposite hands but both are sidearmers.
1:10
Dylan Higgins: Jason Martinez plans to regularly do the Roster Resource show on Twitch on Wednesday evenings, and line it up with games when possible, and more guests could mean a similar vibe too etc
1:10
Graham: Seager, Rogers and Crawford siblings represented tonight
1:10
Kevin Goldstein: I can’t believe Reymin Guduan is in the big leagues.
1:11
Kevin Goldstein: And based on the first two hitters it might not be for long.
1:11
Jake Mailhot: Ooof, really poor error in Seattle and the Mariners have the lead
1:11
Kevin Goldstein: DEFENSIVE FUNDIES
1:11
Ben Clemens: ‘and everybody’s starting to run’
1:11
Ben Clemens: love the Giants broadcast
1:12
Duhawks: Watching this disaster on the Giants broadcast is something.
1:13
Ben Clemens: the brutal part is that aside from McGee, these are the GOOD bullpen arms
1:13
Kevin Goldstein:

La Russa said they received word from their video review team to challenge the call on Nick Madrigal being thrown out stealing second to end the seventh, but by the time the message had been relayed, their 20-second window had expired. Window was reduced this year from 30 seconds
2 Apr 2021
1:14
Kevin Goldstein: Single, walk, walk to start the inning for Guduan. This is what he does.
1:14
Chris: Can montero save it!!
1:14
Kevin Goldstein: We don’t know! We will find out together!
1:14
Kevin Goldstein: Chris is very excitable. Big fan of the exclamation mark.
1:15
Ben Clemens: To TLR’s credit, he was honest about it
1:15
Ben Clemens: Not to CWS’s credit, uh, that seems bad
1:16
Jake Mailhot: 6 runs on 3 hits and one error for the Mariners in the eighth. Not great for the Giants bullpen.
1:17
Kevin Goldstein: Montero to the ninth, one run lead, Slater/Yaz/Solano due.
1:17
Kevin Goldstein: Astros pulling away. Looks like Guduan is going to wear the ninth regardless.
1:18
Ben Clemens: Kevin, would you call it a professional at bat after Brantley walks on four pitches?
1:18
Kevin Goldstein: Depends on where they are.
1:18
Kevin Goldstein: Like four borderline? I might.
1:18
Ben Clemens: Oh, these four from Guduan
1:18
Ben Clemens: One close, three ehhhhhhhh not so much
1:19
Danny: Who had the worst Opening Day – Reds, Cubs, Twins, White Sox or (probably) Giants?
1:19
Ben Clemens: Twins unless Donaldson is okay
1:19
Jake Mailhot: Twins probably
1:21
Jake Mailhot: Montero can’t save it!!
1:21
Dodger Fan: ALEX DICKERSON
1:21
Ben Clemens: How was that a home run?
1:21
Kevin Goldstein: WOW. Alex Dickerson is really good vs. RHP and shows it there. Makes Indiana proud.
1:21
Kevin Goldstein: Ben: 106/19/408
1:21
Ben Clemens: I didn’t think it got up enough
1:22
Ben Clemens: Yeah 19, he pounded that thing to hit it that far
1:22
Ben Clemens: It just kept carrying
1:22
steve: was that a bad pitch?
1:22
Kevin Goldstein: Yes, and three straight CH was a bit weird.
1:23
Ben Clemens: How valuable is a truly plus 1B like White?
1:23
steve: kevin were you covering indiana during his draft year?
1:23
Kevin Goldstein: It was 2011, I was still in media career No. 1
1:23
Kevin Goldstein: re: White, he still has to hit.
1:24
Ben Clemens: Well yeah, that appears to be a problem
1:24
Ben Clemens: He’s just a really impressive defender. 1B defense can’t be THAT valuable but I do feel like we don’t do a good job (on the public side) quantifying it
1:24
Jake Mailhot: Yeah, Crawford probably doesn’t win his Gold Glove at SS if White isn’t picking his throws
1:26
Guest: One more reason to love the SF tv crew: it’s rarely incessant, “I think you’re right, Bob” back-and-forth. Feels like watching with good friends!
1:26
Ben Clemens: Yeah they’re solid
1:26
Jake Mailhot: But he’s gotta prove he can turn that raw batted ball data into consistent contact
1:26
Kevin Goldstein: Opening Day is fun when we’re getting excited about Giants/Mariners
1:26
Justin Choi: is this where the cool kids hang out?
1:26
Ben Clemens: Now that you’re here, maybe
1:26
Kevin Goldstein: and just maybe.
1:27
Phil White: The only person I hear about re: 1B defense is Keith Hernandez. Are there any other seminal examples?
1:27
Ben Clemens: He’s the one I always think of as well
1:27
Ben Clemens: Um… I mean Eric Hosmer, but that’s kind of a joke about how hard it is to quantify
1:28
Kevin Goldstein: Doug Mientkiewicz
1:28
John Jaso Jingle Heimer Schmidt: Brandon Belt is pretty elite at 1B defense
1:28
Ben Clemens: Belt is good, for sure
1:28
Ben Clemens: Goldschmidt is reputed to be excellent, I have a hard time seeing it with my eyes though
1:29
Duhawks: Baseball is so awesome. I got my second vaccine 2 weeks ago, taking my 71 year old, fully vaccinated father to the game on Sunday. Today got me even more excited. Thanks all!
1:29
Kevin Goldstein: Mattingly was pretty fantastic
1:29
Ben Clemens: Amazing, and congratulations
1:29
Kevin Goldstein: Fantastic. I got shot No. 1 yesterday (Wednesday) and I couldn’t be happier to have a sore right arm.
1:29
Craig: Was Olerud a plus defender or am I imagining that
1:29
Kevin Goldstein: Oh yeah, he was good.
1:30
The other Chris: Olson (OAK)?
1:30
Ben Clemens: Okay maybe there are more than I think!
1:30
Kevin Goldstein: Jake McGee is too old for a mohawk.
1:30
Ian: I came across this late and can’t imagine a better way to wind down today’s slate. Thanks for doing this!
1:30
Kevin Goldstein: Thanks for coming!
1:31
David (formerly Sonoma State): I just realized this chat is still going from this morning and I’m shocked to see KG still here
1:31
Kevin Goldstein: What the hell else would I be doing?
1:31
Ben Clemens: I feel less good about McGee after seeing his haircut
1:32
Andy: Did the Dodgers fix McGee or did Coors field break him and he was always this?
1:32
Danny: I’ll still never understand why McGee was used so little last postseason.
1:32
Jake Mailhot: Is it funny that the Giants have a pitcher in their bullpen who throws almost exclusively sliders and another that throws only fastballs
1:33
Ben Clemens: I feel like they were worried he was tiring, I don’t have any other good explanations
1:33
Kevin Goldstein: What are you looking for, Ty?
1:33
Jake Mailhot: Haha, I said that out loud too
1:34
Dodger Fan: KG, I opened today by saying I still had some hard feelings re: HOU. I still do, but you’re freakin amazing for doing this almost all day.
1:34
Kevin Goldstein: That’s fine, you can have them. I do too.
1:34
Ben Clemens: official FG breakout pick Ty France was not up there swinging
1:35
Jake Mailhot: And we go to extras in Seattle
1:35
Kevin Goldstein: This is when I tell people that I like the runner on second rule.
1:35
Jake Mailhot: I thought I’d hate it, but it was fine once the games got underway
1:35
Ben Clemens: pointless trivia question
1:35
Ben Clemens: Do you know who the first regular season big league runner on second was?
1:36
Ben Clemens: One person already got it
1:36
Jake Mailhot: It was an Astro wasn’t it?
1:36
Ben Clemens: AL
1:36
Ben Clemens: Two people now
1:36
Ben Clemens: Okay, we have enough now
1:36
Jake Mailhot: I was wrong.
1:36
Ben Clemens: Shohei Ohtani
1:36
Ben Clemens: Who promptly ran himself into an out
1:37
Ben Clemens: I remember b/c I’d been writing about the strategy of it
1:37
Kevin Goldstein: Astros win 8-1. Ninth straight Opening Day win which tells me they never lost on Opening Day during my eight years there.
1:37
Ben Clemens: and then yeah, no strategy, no one bunted
1:37
Ben Clemens: I’m still sad about that
1:38
Ben Clemens: speaking of good first base defense, Matt Olson threw Ohtani out in that game
1:38
Ben Clemens: lol Longoria with a fake double celebration
1:39
The other Chris: even with shifts, no one bunts
1:39
Kevin Goldstein: Bunting is really hard against mid to upper 90s FBs and mid-80s sliders.
1:39
John Jaso Jingle Heimer Schmidt: With the runner starting at second, why wouldn’t you just intentionally walk the first batter… give you a DP option right away?
1:39
Ben Clemens: more reasonable in the bottom
1:40
Ben Clemens: in the top, you have an okay chance at tying if they only score one, so don’t get yourself into extra trouble
1:40
Dodger Fan: I thought we were anti-bunt here
1:40
Ben Clemens: I’m extremely pro-bunt when it makes sense
1:40
Ben Clemens: It’s just, it almost never makes sense
1:40
Kevin Goldstein: I’m extremely pro bunt when it makes sense, but I think those times are VERY rare
1:40
Ben Clemens: jinx
1:41
DFABES: it’s like getting a knight instead of a queen in chess when you make it across the board
1:41
Ben Clemens: Love this example
1:41
Ben Clemens: if it makes sense there, what a sweet artisanal play. It’s one J.B. Wendelken would construct for you
1:41
Ben Clemens: But it usually just doesn’t
1:41
Dodger Fan: 30-grade hair on the pitcher
1:42
Phil White: J.B. Wendelken, artisan and amateur chess champion of the village.
1:42
Jake Mailhot: J.B. Wendelken only plays timed chess.
1:43
Phil White: Wilmer, mash lefties please
1:44
Jake Mailhot: Wilmer did not mash lefties
1:44
Ben Clemens: We jinxed him with all the talk about it earlier
1:44
Ben Clemens: Longoria didn’t even budge
1:44
Kevin Goldstein: A run on a wild pitch here would be oh so very Giants/Mariners
1:45
Jake Mailhot: Fantastic catch by Mitch Haniger to get out of the inning
1:45
Kevin Goldstein: I gave up on this one in the fifth. Fun game now.
1:46
Ben Clemens: Oh right, Mitch Haniger is a plus defender
1:46
Ben Clemens: I haven’t seen him play in so long
1:47
Jake Mailhot: He was so fun to watch in 2018
1:47
Pumpsie Green: If there was one position you could upgrade on this Mariner roster, outside of pitching, what position would that be?
1:47
Jake Mailhot: Second base
1:48
Jake Mailhot: Shed Long doesn’t look like the answer and Dylan Moore would be best used as a super utility player
1:49
Dodger Fan: What about catcher?
1:49
Jake Mailhot: Torrens is fine and Cal Raleigh is on his way up
1:50
Arthur: Bunt makes sense here?
1:50
Kevin Goldstein: I’m a big Cal Raleigh fan.
1:50
Ben Clemens: Here is a troll-ish article I wrote about it
1:50
Ben Clemens: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/should-mike-trout-bunt-if-jeff-mathis-bats…
1:50
Ben Clemens: The title should tell you how much I was trolling
1:51
Phil White: Trammel putting up some good at-bats this game
1:51
Jake Mailhot: His eye at the plate has always been a skill. The power was new this spring and it’ll be interesting to see if he can carry it over in April.
1:51
Ben Clemens: It took me a second to realize that Cal Raleigh wasn’t a UC school I’d never heard of
1:52
DFABES: what if the player in question bunts successfully at a high rate for his career? does that move the needle?
1:52
Kevin Goldstein: Florida State. Realy liked him in the draft and he’s improved defensively.
1:52
Ben Clemens: For me it would
1:52
Ben Clemens: This woo-ing woman is the WORST btw
1:53
Kevin Goldstein: She hasn’t been able to go to a M’s game in over a year! Cut her some slack.
1:54
Phil White: When Kelenic comes up, who loses their OF job?
1:54
Jake Mailhot: Depends on how Trammell fairs this month.
1:54
Ben Clemens: Here’s a good reason not to auto-walk the first batter, btw
1:55
Ian: The worst. I just got the “can you please turn it down” from upstairs and it was all the woo-er. She really carries.
1:55
Kevin Goldstein: No ability to land the slider, but year, keep calling for sliders.
1:55
Jake Mailhot: Happy baseball!
1:55
Kevin Goldstein: Wow!
1:56
Kevin Goldstein: Thanks for spending the day with us everyone. I’m OUT.
1:56
Ben Clemens: a true walk off
1:56
Ben Clemens: gnight everyone
1:56
Dodger Fan: YAY THE GIANTS LOSE THIS IS WHAT I LIVE FOR
1:56
Ben Clemens: Dodgers and Giants tied
1:56
Jake Mailhot: Thanks for chatting all! Goodnight!
1:56
Ben Clemens: Thanks for hanging out, everyone





 

Meg is the managing editor of FanGraphs and the co-host of Effectively Wild. Prior to joining FanGraphs, her work appeared at Baseball Prospectus, Lookout Landing, and Just A Bit Outside. You can follow her on twitter @megrowler.

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