Meg Rowley FanGraphs Chat – 8/7/18

Meg Rowley: Hello, and welcome to the chat!

Meg Rowley: After a couple weeks of swapping stuff around this should (*should*) be the normal chat time now, which will avoid us having two chats at the same time.

Mike from Tempe: Is there any chance of getting minor league splits into the Fangraphs stat pages? Only reason I still use BR, and I’d rather stick with FG.

Meg Rowley: I will ask. Also, B-R is great and very deserving of your clicks!

john cale: rougned odor has a 225 wRC+ in the second half. maybe 24 year olds can still figure things out, after all.

Meg Rowley: Sure they can! They’re bright young things full of promise! We’ve also seen Odor be good for a stretch and then just be dreadful before.

Meg Rowley: It isn’t like he doesn’t have value. It’s just that when it doesn’t work it is so, so bad.

John Dink: Meg, I would like to ask you a question about Ichiro Suzuki. Is that okay?

Meg Rowley: If it is a bad question, I just won’t post it. My power over the queue is absolute, after all.

Bork: Which NY player goes down next to hand, foot, and mouth disease? Also like Thor and Happ, my 18 mo old had HFMD. He is available to come out of the pen if needed.

Meg Rowley: Does one acquire immunity to hand, foot, and mouth disease, like you do with chicken pox?

Hick Rahn: Will White Sox fans be thanking me for squeezing another year out of Eloy and Kopech…7 years from now?

Meg Rowley: Fans have both short memories and a tendency to side with front offices over labor, so I’d put your odds at 50/50.

Yoan Moncada: Is my K rate a killer?  Or, can IO possibly turn into Javy Baez?

Meg Rowley: You’re 23! You can do a great many things. The good news is that Moncada’s is capable of being a high K%/high impact guy.

Meg Rowley: In March/April he had an almost 40% K rate and a 140 wRC+.

Meg Rowley: So some of this is going to always be a matter of what he does with the contact he does make. But there is obviously a point at which the balance tips and in this month so far, he’s striking out in almost 50% of his PAs. That’s…. bad.

Bort: The Astros should probably just shift McCullers to the bullpen permanently, right?

Meg Rowley: I have to think it is something they are constantly evaluating. He can be so devastating when he starts. Hitters are just totally bumfuzzled by that curveball. But losing him for long stretches is suboptimal. I don’t think it is a necessity just yet, but it’ll be something they consider.

CompGuy: Question about the Osuna deal.  Society (generally speaking) rips on the Astros for trading for him.  But society did not rip on the Jays nearly as hard for not dropping him.  Had he simply resumed playing for the Jays, there would not be nearly the outrage that currently exists.  Osuna taking the field as an Astro or as a Jay are equivalent outcomes – an accused domestic abuser is employed by a baseball team.  Yet the two generate vastly different reactions.  Thoughts?

Meg Rowley: Well first, I think the Jays did receive scorn for their actions around him. Their messaging was pretty bad. And you’re right, they didn’t just drop him. But they, unlike the Astros, also had him already. And in a trade market that was lousy with relievers, the Astros made the active choice to acquire Osuna, and prioritize his postseason value over this awful thing he was suspended for.

Meg Rowley: Lots of stuff can be bad at once, but I think the opprobrium was reasonably distributed here, and then Astros made it worse by appearing incapable of talking about it without sounding like misleading ghouls.

Danny: Hi Meg! Depressed Padres fan here grasping at straws. Do you think this plan to kickstart the window of contention by moving prospects for MLB talent (like the rumored Archer deal) is smart or dumb? If you were AJ Preller, what would your offseason plans be?

Meg Rowley: They know how close the guys in their system are better than I do, but I don’t hate it when teams that are very close try to get things going a little early. They have the benefit of an insanely deep system, so they can afford a little action.

Meg Rowley: I’ve said it here before, but when you find yourself out ahead of where you thought you would be and you look at your roster and find [insert Very Good Player], it’s so great, because then you have one of those guys!

Idea: Due to the relative flat draft value curve, the long lead time between selection and production, and volatility of the playoffs, couldn’t MLB “fix” tanking by doing the draft in order of the standings for non-playoff teams without drastically affecting parity? (ex, best record to not make the playoffs is the first pick, worst record is 20, playoff teams are 21-30)

Meg Rowley: It’s definitely one strategy that has been suggested, and I think an interesting one. I’m reticent to link that sort of change to the draft because [hotish take alert] I’d rather do away with the draft entirely, but within the current system, this is an interesting solution.

CamdenWarehouse: I feel like we just chatted with you?

Meg Rowley: Recently! I promise to stay in my normal Tuesday slot for at least the next few weeks, so that we stay on track.

Tyler: Have you ever gone back to see how good or bad the baseball writers have done on MVP voting?  I will give you a clue it is really bad.  After looking at it I do not think it is fair to use MVP awards as a criteria for enshrinement.

Meg Rowley: I don’t know many people who would disagree with you, at least as an exclusive measure of Hall of Fame worthiness.

Meg Rowley: I’d like to think that both Hall of Fame voters and MVP voters are getting better at both because the BBWAA membership is smarter about stats generally now, though.

Billy Beane: Hi Meg! Do you think my boys now have a chance of catching the Astros and winning the AL West? And do you think Mike Fiers is actually going to make us any better?

Meg Rowley: Not really and yes. Your rotation is Very Shaky. Mike Fiers isn’t amazing at anything (except having a very punable name), but he’s serviceable and provides some important depth.

Bo: If the Nationals fall out of contention in the next couple weeks, what are the odds a waiver deal for Harper actually happens? Less than 10%?

Meg Rowley: I’d say less than 10% but then again, I also didn’t think the Verlander deal would happen.

Meg Rowley: What a terrible feeling that would be for Nats fans.

Meg Rowley: Also Harper just hit a Very Dingery Dinger. Oh boy.

Bread Gardner: Unlike the rest of Yankees Universe, I am *not* panicking. I am merely advocating reactionary, overcompensating changes that would disrupt the team at its weakest and leave us in the least tenable possible position in both the short and long terms.

Meg Rowley: My parents have taught me that delighting in the suffering of others is very bad and I shouldn’t do it, so I will say is, that you guys are likely to be just fine.

Billy Beane: Meg, what did Jason Statham ever do to you? Why can’t you just leave him alone?

Meg Rowley: Look pal, he’s out here coming into *my* ocean, trying to kill me, a marvel of the ancient world, and *he’s* the hero?

Devil Ray Jay Johnson: Who is the best player traded this month?  Did the Mariners tank just for waiver claim priority?

Meg Rowley: If you’re asking if the team with the longest drought in the major four American sports risked playoff position for waiver order, I’d say, look I know you were mostly joking but that felt mean, and I’m still sad about August has gone.

Billy Beane: As an A’s fan, I have noticed that the Mariners of Seattle, Washington are only 5 games behind the Yankees of New York, New York. I have concluded that an A’s-Mariners wild card game, while not likely, would be, as the kids say, “Lit”.

Meg Rowley: I want this very, very badly. Just very badly.

Bo: Max Fried just got hit by a line drive in the top of the 2nd. Snitker uses AL-pitcher-until-a-week-ago Kevin Gausman to pinch hit. Gausman reaches as the first Braves baserunner because baseball.

Meg Rowley: And on a hit by pitch, too. Wild times.

All Cats Are Beautiful : Why did you decide to pursue a career in baseball writing?  Was it the buckets of money thrown at you? The glamorous cocktail parties in the Hamptons?

Meg Rowley: I have yet to watch a baseball game that didn’t have at least one tiny moment in it that I found interesting.

Mountie Votto: Hunter Greene 🙁

Meg Rowley: Never pitch. Just never, ever do it.

John: Was there anything you saw or heard about at SABR Seminar that you think will significantly impact how we evaluate players in the next 10 years?

Meg Rowley: This wasn’t always a clearly stated theme but it seemed apparent that neuroscience is going to matter more and more in the sport.

Meg Rowley: Also, that player health is a concern that begins much earlier than we tend to think of it as starting. There was a professor from Alabama who talked about the cumulative impact of poor pitching rules for young athletes on their pro careers. MLB already has smart pitching guidelines for kids, but probably needs to do more to educate coaches and parents.

Edgar: If the Nationals end up winning the division, does it say more about their talent or the collapse of the braves/phillies?

Meg Rowley: I think it would say a lot about their talent playing the way we think it should, and that the other teams fell off. With the deficit they have, they’ll need a little of both.

Troutmaggedon: Been seeing lots of reports that Seranthony Dominguez struggles in back to back appearances. IS that something that can be remedied by training? Or is that a sign that he might not work out in the pen.

Meg Rowley: Probably more a function of him throwing this much than anything else. It might be a sign that he could use some lower leverage outings for a bit just to reset.

Sandy Eggo: There seems to be a lot of discrepancies among the FG staff on when the Padres will be contending… you seem on the more optimistic side. What reasons do you see for hope?

Meg Rowley: To be clear, I see them as fringe wild card contenders next year and being really in the mix the year after. Their system is just really, really stacked.

Dave roberts: Any chance at all.i could be fired? I’m hearing internet chatter about my lineup choices.

Meg Rowley: No. Log off, Dave, you’re fine.

2-D: What level of crime is it if my minor league team promotes “craft beer night” and ends up serving Blue Moon?

Meg Rowley: The marketing people should be forced to step on exactly five LEGOs.

FPGivesMeAHeadache: Nats need a sweep or 3-1 vs Braves this week or they’re toast, right?

Meg Rowley: I hesitate to say that for sure, but jeez, is the window for fixing this stuff rapidly closing.

larry: It was just announced that Ellsbury had hip surgery. With all his neverending injuries, do you think he ever plays another game?

Meg Rowley: Maybe. Probably not for New York.

Cam Newton: Something something crossing routes lol what do you know about baseball

Meg Rowley: The cool thing about this joke is that you’re either actually a jerk, or you’re trying demonstrate how much you “get” what female sportswriters deal with, and it is practically impossible to tell the difference.

Meg Rowley: I include this in today’s chat to simply remind folks that all of this stuff is exhausting, even when coming as jokes from otherwise nice guys, and it would be cool if those nice guys would let this bit die.

John: Much is often made of the Dodgers’ depth, but the Cubs lead the National League despite a down year from Rizzo, an injured Bryant, and a disastrous rotation. Does credit go to Epstein for assembling so many above average position players or to Maddon for utilizing them well?

Meg Rowley: Probably some of both, though more to Epstein than Maddon (he’s a touch too galaxy brain for my taste). And you know, to the players for being really good at baseball.

Meg Rowley: Jason Heyward being a real baseball player again is so stinkin’ cool.

TKDC: Will Nick Markakis get a qualifying offer and will he take it if he does? Is this a crazy question to be asking?

Meg Rowley: It really isn’t! I don’t think the odds are super high that he will if only because if he does, I think the odds are extremely high that he takes it.

Pat G: Why do the Wilpons still own the Mets?will it take a complete #BoycottCitifield2020 to get them out?

Meg Rowley: I think it would take something drastic. Baseball had a shot, and didn’t take it. They… They aren’t a good ownership group.

otis: It’s hard to believe that Trout is already 27. I can remember his rookie season like it was yesterday.

Meg Rowley: They grow up so fast, even when they’re baseball gods.

Bo: Do you buy the alternate theory that Pittsburgh acquired Archer to boost their lackluster attendance numbers, full-well knowing they probably still won’t make the playoffs this year?

Meg Rowley: I don’t but honestly? I would never object to a baseball team deciding to give their fans something worth watching even if they know they aren’t playing in October.

Rick: I really don’t want to see Greg Holland pitch again.  Not because I’m a Nats fan concerned about his performance.  But because I don’t want him to mess up that beautiful 7.92 ERA 7.92 K/9 7.92 BB/9 stat line

Meg Rowley: This was brought to my attention yesterday, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

Finding Nimmo: You said you wanted to take away the draft, what is your alternative? Inquiring minds want to know!

Meg Rowley: Players being able to negotiate with 30 teams required to competitively pay for their services.

Anon: Why weren’t the Yankees or Cubs criticized as harshly as the Astros?

Meg Rowley: They were?

Meg Rowley: I think if you’re perceiving a difference it is likely due to the nature of what we’ve heard about Osuna’s offense and the fact that MLB saw fit to suspend him for 75 games.

Meg Rowley: We don’t know the specifics, but we do know that MLB isn’t exactly in the habit of suspending really good players for that long without compelling evidence.

Sam: How significant would drop in value (or not) would it be if Angels committed to Ohtani in the outfield full time with his pitching reserved for sparse relief appearances he would handle by taking the mound from the outfield? Or is all his value tied to starting pitching. Love your work.

Meg Rowley: This is a much murkier question than it was a while ago. It still seems likely to me (not based on any special inside info, mind you) that Ohtani will need surgery on his elbow, but I think he’s more special as a pitcher than hitter. I think it would need to be clear that he is still compromised post-surgery before they contemplated it.

Shipping Up to Boston: What were the highlights of SaberSeminar weekend?

Meg Rowley: All of the presentations underscored how many smart people have decided to dedicate their brilliance to baseball, which is very cool.

Meg Rowley: I hadn’t been before, but I was told that there were more women there than ever before, and many of them were quite young, which I found very encouraging.

Meg Rowley: Mostly, I love industry events like that because I get to see friends and co-workers who I like a lot, but live far away from.

CompGuy: Had the Jays put Osuna back on the mound in their uniform, which seemed like a foregone conclusion based on the fact that they didn’t cut him, I would have also characterized that as an active choice.  It wouldn’t have happened by accident.  The team has agency.  They, too, would have been prioritizing on-field value.  And they too took advantage of a weak RP market to trade him.  My point is that every criticism of the Astros can be made of the Jays (outside of their inability to “talk about it without sounding like misleading ghouls”).

Meg Rowley: I mean, they’re both bad things, though I don’t think saying they took advantage of a weak market is accurate. I think I think that the Astros thing is a worse thing, especially given how we now have to watch him pitch in the postseason. Your mileage may vary.

Derek: Is Jon Gray just regressing towards peripherals now, or did something magical happen while he was in the minors?

Meg Rowley: I’d think the time away helped if only because what was happening was so damn weird and when you’re dealing with that, you have to feel just lousy, but I think it is mostly the universe making sense again.

JeDi: Which SP might the M’s target in August?

Meg Rowley: Are any of them being given away for free?

James: Would any noncontending team ever put in a waiver claim just to spite a rival? Couldn’t Baltimore stop a potential Harper deal just by claiming him and forcing Washington to take him back?

Meg Rowley: I suppose you could but you also have to have relationships with other clubs on a going-forward basis, so I doubt a GM would do it.

Brian CashGod: Can the Yankees and A’s / Mariners agree that whoever wins the wildcard game gets to borrow the loser’s players for the ALDS? I will happily volunteer Judge, Gary, Sevy etc.

Meg Rowley: I think this would be a delightful thing to have happen in the playoffs for all teams, especially because it would allow some really, really good players on really, really bad teams a spot in the postseason.

Brian CashGod: So now I’m gonna need a PhD in math and an MD to intern in a front office??

Meg Rowley: You won’t need a PhD, or an MD. You will need applied math and programming skills in all likelihood.

The Other Matt: Who is one player that their defensive metrics don’t seem to align with your thought of their play on the field ?. Either positive or negative.

Meg Rowley: Hmm this is a really good question. This is a bit of a cheap way of answering it (though I will think about it) but I think my answer this year is probably Machado?

Meg Rowley: He wasn’t amazing at short, but I don’t think he was that bad, either.

Jacoby Ellsbury: I’m trying so hard 🙁

Meg Rowley: Aww buddy, aren’t we all?

HappyFunBall: HOU should make McCullers an “opener”. Pitch him once through the order every 3 days or so. Maybe even build a tandem with Peacock or McHugh.

Meg Rowley: You say this, and it isn’t necessarily a bad idea, but we really want to put the analytical might of that organization into another strategy? We’re good with that?

Ken: What’s wrong with Stephen Strasburg? Why can’t he stay healthy?

Meg Rowley: I don’t think it is anything especially different than pitching is hard on your body.

Matty C: Which non-Cleveland AL Central team wins the division next?

Meg Rowley: I’m inclined to say the Twins. That White Sox rebuild is looking pretty murky at the moment.

TB: Which teams have the biggest upside/downside in the offseason?

Meg Rowley: Pretty excited to see what the Phillies do, and how San Diego thinks about where they are in their competitive cycle. Pretty bummed about the Mets (evergreen sentiment). We’re probably going to see the Mariners rebuild start in earnest. I will continue to forget the Marlins are real.

stever20: I love folks talking Cubs rotation like they’re disastrous- they have a 3.79 ERA which is 8th.  You say that’s defense.  Well, the Cubs starters have the 4th highest ground ball percentage, so they know how to play to that strength….

Meg Rowley: (hold please, looking up a thing)

Meg Rowley: Ah yes, as I thought. So 3.79 (which is what B-Ref has) is, I believe, their team ERA. Their starting ERA is 4.12 and their FIP is 4.71, making them good for 24th in the league. Yes they generate ground balls, but this hasn’t been a great rotation, defense or no.

Finding Nimmo: Do you follow any sports besides baseball?

Meg Rowley: I am a Seahawks season ticket holder and feel not great about it. Just very implicated and gross.

Woodrow the Impaler: In a dystopian world where robot umpires are calling the shots, what sort of robot would you prefer? A C-3PO type or something along the lines of the Terminator? I think I’d go with a smart alecky type like Ruby from the Jetsons.

Meg Rowley: I don’t need C-3PO’s takes on bat flipping. That seems potentially not good. What if we made the ump BB-8. Think how hard it would be to boo BB-8! What, are you a monster?

Vlad Jr: What are the chances of getting called up to the show this season?

Meg Rowley: I think, unfortunately, not great but for September.

Woad Raider: Have you watched Jon Gray pitch recently? If you haven’t you need to start watching.

Meg Rowley: I have been a fan, and continue to be one, especially now that I feel less worried about how his weird-ass year must have been making him feel.

Derek: Why aren’t there more publicly owned sports teams? The Packers are the only one to my knowledge and they’re… Pretty freaking good. Like all the time. I really don’t know what the mechanics would be for a team to go from privately owned to publicly owned, but it seems like it would solve a lot of the “owners are terrible people and/or terrible at running a professional sports team” problems.

Meg Rowley: What mechanism would the league deploy to make that happen? I don’t necessarily disagree that it would be cool, but how do we do it? Also, if they are operating in the same system, I wonder how different it would be. I don’t think the Packers are necessarily that much better on labor stuff just because the ownership structure is different. Now if the players own them…

Finding Nimmo: Aren’t you worried that your draft alternative (essentially free agency) would really crush the smaller market teams who couldn’t pay as much? Smaller market=less cash=less exciting prospects=less attendance=less profit=vicious cycle.

Meg Rowley: Maybe we should make sure owners can afford to own teams, though.

Confused English Baseball Fan: Why do teams rush to get trades done before the July deadline, when most of the players in the league then clear waivers and can be traded in August anyway? Why doesn’t the league just have a hard August deadline for all trades and stop the faff?

Meg Rowley: I mean, for teams contending, you want the player (without the complication of waivers) as soon as possible to help you win baseball games. But I think if the non-waiver deadline were in August, that would be fine. I still think you’d see activity earlier though.

Timmy: Would you consider yourself more of an analyst or a commentator when it comes to baseball writing?

Meg Rowley: I like to think I do some of both. I described my writing, when on the Media Panel at sabersem, as whimsy supported by rigor. I hope that’s true.

Guest: Is it just me or should players absolutely not be eligible for trade while serving a suspension, whether PED or DV?

Meg Rowley: I don’t necessarily mind them being available for trade. I do think it tells us a lot of gross stuff about what we care about that Osuna is postseason eligible and Cano isn’t.

Nick : Will the Athletics ever come back down to earth? Asking for a Mariners friend…

Meg Rowley: I mean, they aren’t this good. The A’s have a shaky rotation that I don’t have a ton of confidence in. But, as with the Mariners earlier this year, these are banked wins.

Dub: So you’re the one person watching the game on facebook. Thanks for the Harper update

Meg Rowley: This game isn’t on Facebook?

Sir Nerdlington: Javy Baez is wonderful for all reasons baseball.  But he’s an offensive outlier this year to such an extreme it’s hard to bet on him.  Right?  In the modern era (min 1000 abs), only a couple of hitters with a similar or worse career bb% have a triple digit wrc+.  Yuleiski and Ryon Healy have the hightest wrc+ while walking <4% of the time.  <shudder>

Meg Rowley: He’s one of those guys who, when things go wrong they can be quite bad because you don’t have other parts of the profile that can compensate. It’s why he makes me nervous, even as I really, really enjoy watching him.

Ken: I understand the outrage for DV cases and can support throwing the book at people who are guilty of DV, because there is no place for DV of any kind in our society.  However, I’m concerned that we as a society are passing judgment as soon as the accusation comes out, rather than waiting for the truth or the investigation results to come out. Right or wrong, this is causing people to dig their feet in the ground preventing the necessary changes to stop DC once and for all.

Meg Rowley: People wanting teams to be accountable for these choices isn’t what is preventing us from stopping DV, and given that he just came back from a 75-game suspension, I think it is disingenuous to say we didn’t wait for “the investigation results” to come out.

Alvin the Chipmunk Davis: Do the Mariners make the playoffs if they stop batting Dee Gordon and his 303 OBP leadoff?

Meg Rowley: I don’t think Gordon or his spot in the lineup are why they are out at the moment, but the offense’s overall performance has been very, very bad, which is why. Also, you have a Jean Segura. Why not bat Jean Segura leadoff?

Aaron Judge: Couldn’t I just bat one handed while my left wrist heals?

Meg Rowley: No, but if anyone *could*….

Jordan: So exactly what do people expect to happen with Osuna? He served his suspension and then turned into a pumpkin? It seems like everyone wants him to be suspended permanently, he was always going to pitch again

Meg Rowley: Again (again!), the change to policy I have proposed is to make them postseason ineligible in the season in which they serve the suspension, much like the league does with PEDs. Again (again!), I am not an advocate of zero tolerance policies because they incentivize victims not report abuse.

Meg Rowley: If the court system isn’t going to make abusers unavailable, and the league’s best option is suspensions, ok. But we need the league to make sure that these awful moments in peoples’ lives can’t be treated like opportunities.

Meg Rowley: The Astros front office is full of very smart folks who have been trained to take advantage of just these sorts of moments. We need someone else to say, “Nope, this one is off the table, if only for this season.”

Ben: Thoughts on the Clint Frazier/Michael Kay spiff? Kay basically criticized Frazier, on his radio show, for being concussed and not coming back to MLB already. He quickly added that he was being facetious, said so on Twitter.

Meg Rowley: I don’t find traumatic brain injuries funny myself.

Mike: Do actual Mariners fans get grumpy about the Jays fans swamping the stadium once a year? Marco Gonzales said a thing, but it seems like Seattle’s front office actually encourages this to an extent.

Meg Rowley: I think it is a combo of some genuinely unpleasant behavior, and the unfortunate fact that the Jays have won a bunch of these games lately. I think if they were winning more, it would feel more fun. It’s never nice to have a rude guest in your house.

Brian CashGod: Technically some teams have been publicly owned, in that they were subsidiaries of public companies. The braves and blue jays I think?

Meg Rowley: That’s isn’t quite what we mean.

HappyFunBall: Juan Soto update: With men on 2/3, 1 out the Braves just IBBed Soto, hitting in front of Rendon and Harper.  That’s … it’s amazing.

Meg Rowley: Every year, there are a couple of players who break out and make you realize how fun baseball is, and he is one of them.

Meg Rowley: If anyone missed Jeff’s piece yesterday, I highly recommend it: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/juan-soto-looks-like-the-best-teenage-…

Meg Rowley: You can read it after this when you want to keep avoiding work 🙂

Ken: So in other words, if we don’t believe what you believe, we are wrong or are being disingenuous? no wonder why this country is so divisive these days.

Meg Rowley: Ken, he served a 75-game suspension. His court case is still active, yes, but MLB saw fit to treat this with a great deal of seriousness. We can draw some conclusions from this. I simply ask that fact be acknowledged.

Bread Gardner: Who would win an arm wrestling contest?  Judge, Stanton, or some other dark horse?

Meg Rowley: Stanton, though I wonder how Joey Gallo would do.

Meg’s brother: Should the Mariners harvest Chris Rowley from the scrap heap?

Meg Rowley: Mariners please give me a reason to by a jersey with my name on it, even though Chris Rowley and I are not, as far as I know, related.

Morton Salt Girl: PED suspensions are imposed after the player has tested positive for using a substance that (in theory) impacts the outcome of a game.  Suspensions for off-the-field behavior could very-well involve actions that turn out to be not-illegal and aren’t undertaking for the purpose of cheating at the sport.  The idea that a sports governing body will take cheating in the sport itself more seriously than actions which the courts would intervene in shouldn’t be this hard for someone as smart as to grasp.

Meg Rowley: They decided to be moral leaders by proactively adopting a DV and sexual assault policy. Asking them to do a good job of it isn’t unreasonable.

Meg Rowley: And as a woman, I gotta say, this stuff makes me pretty angry and dampens my enthusiasm for baseball. There is an impact on the league, not to mention the awful impact on victims.

Moelicious: Why are the Mets using Jose Reyes?

Meg Rowley: Truly one of life’s great mysteries.

Davy: At what point do we start talking about the fact that Scherzer and DeGrom are have been leading the NL in WAR all year? I would love to see one of them take home the MVP.

Meg Rowley: I want deGrom to be the NL MVP so badly. I think about it at least twice a day.

john cale: which AL and NL franchises have the bleakest future outlooks after his season? i’d say the mariners and the reds

Meg Rowley: Hey there now, the Orioles and Marlins exist!

J-co: The difference between the Astros and Jays morally on Osuna is that the Jays options were to pay Osuna and play him or to pay Osuna and not pay him.  The Astros had the option to both not pay and nor play Osuna.  Those are very different ethically.

Meg Rowley: This is well put.

lOsing Season: except for the Mariners (which would be quite the story), what realistic WS matchup is most appealing to you this year?

Meg Rowley: Well, I liked that Astros team a lot but now I’m mad at them (which, man, you guys blew it, you’d convinced a Mariners fan!). So I will say Cleveland, because I love Jose Ramirez and Lindor, and am now less afraid of their bullpen and… ummm… Brewers or Diamondbacks? Yeah! Cleveland vs. the Brewers or the Diamondbacks. I guess those two aren’t so realistic, so Dodgers, but I’d prefer a different thing.

john cale: definitely forgot about the orioles…

Meg Rowley: In your defense, that might be a good act of self-care.

CapnZippers: So I wanted to see how insane DeGrom’s win stat was. Fun fact of the day, of all starting pitchers in the last 10 years, Jake DeGrom and Noah Syndergaard are 2nd and 3rd lowest Wins/WAR. The lowest? Cliff Lee

Meg Rowley: Baseball is amazing and so, so damn mean. We know Wins are dumb, but they matter a lot to players. Just very, very mean.

Moelicious: With Dave Cameron gone who is the Fangraphs expert on financial planning?

Meg Rowley: Please talk to a real financial planner!

James: Who catches for the Angels next year? Any chance Angels swing a deal for someone like Sanchez for a change of scenery (guy got blasted for not running hard when he had a torn groin)?

Meg Rowley: I don’t think the Yankees are going to trade Gary Sanchez.

Meg Rowley: Ok, I have to get going. Thanks for hanging out, and for dealing with our wonky schedule the last few weeks.

Meg Rowley: I’m sorry for what I didn’t get to, and hope you all have a good day!