Travis Sawchik FanGraphs Chat

Travis Sawchik: Hey, how about that last episode of Homeland … and how about those South Carolina Gamecocks …

Travis Sawchik: OK, let’s chat …

Erik: What player is the fewest adjustments away from being Mike Trout? Could it be Christian Yelich? They seem to have fairly similar skillsets except for Trout’s obvoius advantage in power.

Travis Sawchik: Carlos Correa could put it all together and be an absolute beast at SS …. I don’t think Yelich can ever be a best-player-in-the-game type of talent, but if he could get some batted balls off the ground he could be pretty great.

Pete: Vince Valesquez….what kind, if any, progress do you see him making this year?

Travis Sawchik: While his ERA took a dive in the second half, his underlying skills remained intact. If he can trim his walk rate a little bit, there’s more there

CamdenWarehouse: This is in the running for the worst week of the year. I want real baseball now!

Travis Sawchik: Please enjoy the NCAA Tournament until your party is reached …

Bobby Bob: In a 10tm h2h cat. league with OPS and K’s. I got Eric Thames for $1. What is your prediction of his season? Thanks!

Travis Sawchik: I like it. Eric Thames is going to hit some HRs in Miller Park …. I’m curious to see if he returns with a better approach that will lead to an OBP boost. Either way, he’s worth a $1 bid if not a bit more

John H: Gun to your head, must choose the career of one of these two. Mookie Betts or Kris Bryant?

Travis Sawchik: I’ll take Bryant. I know the power is real, and Betts had some dramatic home/road splits last year …but both are obviously stars

BuccosFan: Let’s say Kang never gets stateside in 2017- how badly are the Pirates hurt?

Travis Sawchik: He’s a star-level talent, so it hurts …. FG projects David Freese as a 1-win player with 500 PAs this season … Kang totaled 6.2 WAR over the last two years, each an incomplete season … Speaking of Freese, he could really use a chat with JD Martinez’s or Justin Tuner’s or Josh Donaldson’s swing coach. He posted a 20 HR/FB% last year but a 3/1 GB/FB ratio

JVizzle: Can you talk about Willy Adames potential as a fantasy prospect in a couple years? What do you see from him?

Travis Sawchik: He’s going to be a nice major league MI/SS … but SS is sooooo deep right now he’s going to really have to hit the upper projections on his potential to be an upper-tier fantasy asset

Jake: Over/under 23 home runs for Aaron Judge?

Travis Sawchik: Over, especially in that park. Judge can mis-hit balls the other way and they’ll go out in RF. Judge seems to have identified the right track, as far as adjustments go, and seems to have made real growth this spring

TimmyAlwaysonTime: Why were you late?

Travis Sawchik: I have a 2-year-old and a home office

Travis Sawchik: Sorry!

John: When you go to a restaurant and ask for a coke and the waiter says “is pepsi ok” do you say “sure”, or shut them down and get a water possible a Mountain Dew

Travis Sawchik: What state am I in when ordering? (Just say no to Mountain Dew, friends)

Joe: Looking to move Bird in a dynasty league with all the hype he has generated….what kind of player should i look to get in return

Travis Sawchik: Interesting time to sell on Bird, and probably not the worst time. I’d be looking for a position player who can start regularly for me or a top 60 SP option

BuccosFan: If you’re Clint Hurdle, how would you use Adam Frazier this year?

Travis Sawchik: I really like Frazier’s swing and approach … I’d start him at second base and move Harrison to a utility role where he excelled in 2014

Too Much Choice: Who would you rather have as your starting SS in 3 years, Gleyber Torres or Dansby Swanson?

Travis Sawchik: Can’t go wrong, really. Torres has more ceiling, …. but I’ll take Swanson since he’s already here and I like what I’ve seen

jknight82: Harvey’s velocity is back up, thank goodness. Think the good news will continue on that front?

Travis Sawchik: That was certainly encouraging news for Harvey/Mets. Harvey was up to 96-97 in his last start … but let’s see him sustain it in.

Brody Chernoff: How long am I grounded?

Travis Sawchik: Can you ground a six-year-old? I don’t think so … unless the MLBPA gets Lindor to break off talks

Bud : How strongly do you believe Ray Searage can work his magic with Drew Hutchison?

Travis Sawchik: I don’t have much belief there. Searage is just one man … and he doesn’t have magic dust

John H: Does Javy Baez ever take another step towards stardom? Or will he always be a defensive phenom with a high K rate and lots of power, but a sketchy OBP?

Travis Sawchik: Seems like with that approach, that violent swing, there are always going to be holes … but he can still be a very valuable player given the glove and power

Kosch: AJ Hinch mentioned that Musgrove was making big league club. Devinski will start the season in the ‘pen, but who is the odd man out? Fiers? Morton? 6 man rotation? I assume Keuchel, McCullers, McHugh are all safe.

Travis Sawchik: I would think Morton is safe, too.

CarrotJuice: Gimme your hottest take on Kolten Wong’s comments!

Travis Sawchik: Frustrated people shouldn’t speak (especially to the media)

Mr. Nor’easter: It seems like Alex Woods is going to get an early shot at the rotation. What do expect for innings and stats for him?

Travis Sawchik: I believe Roberts said yesterday he will open in the rotation. I’m not sure he’ll finish in the rotation. Dodgers have insane depth. He’s a mid-rotation arm for many clubs … I’ll say he goes 150 IP, 16% K-BB%, 1.6 WAR

Bautista: Any thoughts on the Odor extension? A lot of people say he left some money on the table, but personally I would have probably non tendered him this offseason.

Travis Sawchik: I know YOU would have, but he – like all these pre-arb signees – probably leaves money on the table. A lot of money. How much will depend on if his approach improves

JRuby: So, can we in the “Aaron Judge believer” camp officially claim you as one of our own?

Travis Sawchik: Yes!

dagoodguys: better career Swanson or Moncada?

Travis Sawchik: Moncada

ryan: what do you think of this pace of play change: per plate appearance, a pitcher gets 2 free throws to 1b. after that, each throw to 1b counts as a ball to the batter.

Travis Sawchik: I’d start with keeping batters in the box and also consider a pitch clock before that

Joey Bats: What do you expect out of Brandon Finnegan this season? He was really good in the 2nd half last season. Could he be a sneaky breakout candidate?

Travis Sawchik: Yeah, I like Finnegan. I traded for him in a dynasty league. He’s got above avg. whiff rates on his changeup and slider …and gets whiffs on his fastball … Will the command take a step forward?

Pitchers: Jon Gray or Joe Ross in a QS league? I think Gray is more talented but is the talent gap enough to offset the ballpark gap?

Travis Sawchik: If any skill-set is going to work at Coors, it’s Gray’s plus fastball velo and slider.

Travis Sawchik: So I’d take Gray. He’s the superior talent and half his starts will be on the road often in favorable NL West parks

Jay: Do the Indians have to get a Lindor extension done pre-arb before his agent tells him to just wait and test free agency? At 28, he’s gonna get a 200 million deal on an open market and the Indians cant go above 100 on him Im sure

Travis Sawchik: Brody says it’s being discussed so it’s possible, but I always thought it would be a tough sign for club. Every day the Indians wait, Lindor becomes more likely to test FA. He’s a guy who could/should have been a candidate for the Longoria treatment, signing a long-term deal before taking a major league at-bat. I’d go over $100 million to get three years of his FA right now

Juice is Loose: Smyly and Paxton increase in velocity. What’s in the water in the great northwest?

Travis Sawchik: Not sure. But I like both of those guys for 2017

Pineapple Phil: Which teams do you diverge most from the projections on?

Travis Sawchik: Phillies will be better than 72 wins, closer to .500. They are the only sub-.500 club we’re projecting with a top-15 rotation in the game

Tim Tebow’s Thunder Thighs: Sawchat is the straight man to Enochat’s free spirit. In a good way. But it could use its own Bork or Nick Markakis.

Travis Sawchik: Give it time, we’re still in the early chapters here …

Uppercut: Fun article on the uppercut swing. Any new adopters to watch?

Travis Sawchik: One of the fun things to watch early this year will be to see what players have made changes, and if a significant number have … I wish Yelich would be among those

CamdenWarehouse: Cleveland should be talking to Baltimore about waiting too long to lock up their star player.

Travis Sawchik: Indeed. Locking-up Lindor to a pre-arb deal would be my No. 1 focus in Cleveland

Seth Lugo: Any belief in me as a Starter? Can I get 15-20 starts and will they be decent?

Travis Sawchik: You might get that chance!

Reginald Denton III: Are you on the James Paxton bandwagon? Do you like him better than Porcello, Felix, Happ, Roark, and McCullers?

Travis Sawchik: I am, and I do

Zock Jr.: Also, Sawchat had its own Nick Markakis for a while there at the beginning…

Travis Sawchik: It did, but I’d like to see something develop organically

Pope : Looking at the starting pitcher WAR rankings. Something to be said that the top 8 rotations are probably the 8 best teams in baseball?

Travis Sawchik: I haven’t studied this, but you would think there should often be a strong correlation between SP strength and regular season performance, right?

drafttonightwoot: Cespedes or McCutchen? (OBP league) Thanks for your help!

Travis Sawchik: Cespedes

Steve: How much WAR can a good pitch-framing catcher add to a team?

Travis Sawchik: The best can add up to 3 wins, according to the metrics out there. I believe it

Dusty: Strasburg going to stay healthy this year? O/U 30 starts?

Travis Sawchik: Probably not, but he’ll be really good for 180 innings and under appreciated

Anthony: Could Julio Urias be a top-5 SP within the next couple of years? I mean, the kid is like 13 years old…barring injury, could he be top 5 for 10’ish years?

Travis Sawchik: A decade is a long time, but he seems to have as good a shot as any young arm in the game to be really, really good for some time

Bork’s Unborn Son: do you like that each baseball team has a unique stadium or would you rather uniform dimensions?

Travis Sawchik: Oh, I 100 percent am in favor of the variety … though I think there should perhaps be some more dimension standards. Yankee II has an absurdly short RF wall

El Guapo: Is Markakis worth rostering in a 12 team league?

Travis Sawchik: Throwing every one a bone here …

Keefths: Do you see Daniel Norris taking a step forward this year?
What is his upside ?

Travis Sawchik: There’s definitely upside there and that upside is a No. 2, I think

Tommy: Carson Kelly, Kolten Wong, and Luke Weaver. Enough for Jose Quintana?

Travis Sawchik: No. Let’s start with Reyes, his torn ligament and all

LT: Why are people still talking about Bryce Harper and a $400m contract? Did they miss 2012-214 and 2016?

Travis Sawchik: I do have some concerns about Harper’s durability …but I think his 2012-13 seasons are arguments in his favor, not against

Travis Sawchik: He was what, 19 and 20?

Evil Goatee Travis: Is Correa, C. Seager, Lindor, Turner, Story and Boegarts better than Rodriguez, Jeter, Garciaparra, and the tier two of Renterria and Vizquel?

Travis Sawchik: It has the potential to be, yeah … Will it be? If you include all shortstops of this era versus that era, yes. And it won’t be close

Sonny: Tyler Glasnow pitches per inning update: 20.5

Travis Sawchik: But those Ks …. He’s such a wild card, maybe the biggest wild card among hopeful contenders in 2017

Moelicious: Who leads MLB in HR in 2017?

Travis Sawchik: Stanton

Big Joey: Please rank these SPs: Tanaka, C Martinez, G Cole, Hamels

Travis Sawchik: Martinez, Tanaka, Cole, Hamels

bosoxforlife: When are baseball people going to realize that Stephen Wright can get major league hitters out on a regular basis, Eduardo Rodriquez is fine and that the Red Sox rotation doesn’t need Pomeranz?

Travis Sawchik: I want to see more of Pomeranz, made some big strides last year (in SD, anyways) and was still missing bats in Boston

PF: Why are very few people/projections recognizing the blue Jays rotation for the formidable force that it is?

Travis Sawchik: It does seem like the projections are down on the Jays. I like the group.

Travis Sawchik: It will finish in the top 8-12 range, imo

YKnotDisco?!: Is Caillou a part of your daily life? If so, I feel your pain.

Travis Sawchik: Ha. No, but Daniel Tiger, Blippi, among other favorites …

Red: When does De Leon arrive and what kind of K/9 success do you expect him to have?

Travis Sawchik: This summer and I think he’ll be an 8k/9 guy. Love that deal for the Rays. His high-rpm fastball and changeup fit perfectly into organizational philosophy

Anthony: Last round flier, who you got: Bellinger, Brinson, Meadows, Rosario or Jimenez?

Travis Sawchik: Rosario … but I Bellinger is right there

Bert Campaneris: Question 1): _________ is the Edgar Renteria of this NEW ERA shortstop crop (Lindor, Seager, Correa, etc): A) Addison Russell B) Raul Mondesi C) Trea Turner D) Xander Bogaerts E) Dansby Swanson F) Orlando Arcia G) JP Crawford. Question 2) If the answer isn’t (B), then is Mondesí closer to Rey Ordoñez? Thanks for chatting with us. I am enjoyed a recent podcast you did with Cistulli not too long ago.

Travis Sawchik: Thanks! I don’t think that’s a terrible comp, and it’s more evidence of the incredible talent and depth at the position right now

El Guapo: I was serious about my Markakis question 🙁

Travis Sawchik: Oh!

Travis Sawchik: I’m so sorry. Embarrassing for us both … Are we including Ks?

JVizzle: Justin Upton or Gregory Polanco for this year only in fantasy?

Travis Sawchik: Upton. Shoulder issues are a worry with Polanco

Travis Sawchik: Pomeranz, Wright, Rodriguez …. So concern about Red Sox depth is a little over-stated. Rodriguez was pretty good in the second half

Travis Sawchik: Sorry for the delay. Diaper change required (no not mine)

Reginald Denton III: Will JP Crawford make an appearance this season? What do you see him doing?

Travis Sawchik: Yeah, I think he will be up … He’ll show a quality glove, middling bat

Arizona Dreaming: Thoughts on Taijuan Walker this year?

Travis Sawchik: Worth a flier, but that’s a tough environment. Good news is Arizona defense should be improved

Evil Goatee Travis: If you were a GM, would you be more inclined to let talent walk or overpay for late stages of a career? I ask specifically because I question the Yadier Molina extension talks…

Travis Sawchik: What kind of market am I in? I’d be OK with Molina extension because the D still plays

Joe: You buying Liriano’s spring / end to last season. With health, a shot for 18 wins on that team?

Travis Sawchik: I think he’s going to be better in the AL which hasn’t seen him in a while ….but the NL caught on and realized no pitcher throws fewer balls out of the zone and relies more upon out-of-zone chase

bosoxforlife: I know it’s ST but the Yankees are winning every day. Is there any reason for a Red Sox fan to panic?

Travis Sawchik: Not this season (I think), check back in two years

JC at the Bat: 3 minute diaper change? – nice skills

Travis Sawchik: NASCAR tire-crew like

JVizzle: I think Aaron Nola could break out big time this year. What other mid-tier starters do you see in this ilk? (Other than Paxton)

Travis Sawchik: I think Shoemaker is going to be very good. Top 10 in BB% and Whiff% last season. Real chance with splitter usage

Sean: If Polanco ends up starting the season on the DL, does Meadows get his at bats?

Travis Sawchik: I don’t think they would start his clock that early … but he’s close

CamdenWarehouse: Where do I campaign for a weekly Carson chat?

Travis Sawchik: Right here!

Moelicious: Any love for my boy Joe Ross?

Travis Sawchik: Can we get him a third pitch? Then there would be a lot more

Larry Williams: Do you think Joey Bats has a strong bounce back season?

Travis Sawchik: I don’t think Bautista is going to have a better year, at least offensively …exit velo was still there last year

bosoxforlife: Nola scares me. He appears to throw from the dreaded “reverse W” position and has already experienced some problems. Any thoughts?

Travis Sawchik: Health is the concern but the sinker and curveball are plus pitches and his command is there

Travis Sawchik: I think Nola’s curveball is tops in MLB in horizontal movement

Jeremy: How do you take your coffee?

Travis Sawchik: Iced Americano is preferred spring and summer choice …very light cream. It upsets me when baristas turn it to a taupe-like color

Sam: Did your kid go through sleep regression? My 16 month old now wakes up 4-5 times a night and is never pleased to see me (his Dad) coming to to rock him.

Travis Sawchik: Fortunately there has been no sleep regression… That’s rough!

Rudy L: I’m relying on the Dodgers’ starters (Maeda, Hill, Wood) other than Kershaw. Will that work? McCarthy also available.

Travis Sawchik: I like all three for fantasy …and they are a big reason Dodgers are best team in NL heading into the season

Will: My Nats have 3 guys looking to bounceback: Zimmerman, Harper and Wieters,

Travis Sawchik: Harper will, I believe

Larry Williams: As a Pittsburgh guy…What do you think we see out of Gerrit this season?

Travis Sawchik: I think he’ll be closer to 2015 levels so long as he’s healthy

Paul: I’m a Braves fan who was pretty optimistic about this being a fun season where 75-80 wins was doable… until the depth chart series started running. Man, outside of 1B, we are a long, long way away it seems. Even our Lord & Savior Dansby barely gets us projected to be in the top 15 at that position. What’s a best case, plausible scenario for how we could be contenders by next year?

Travis Sawchik: Braves some holes to fill, no doubt. But be excited about this young collection of pitching …some of these guys will hit

Travis Sawchik: Alright folks, thanks for chatting with me! I vow to return next week, same place/time.