FanGraphs 2022 Opening Day Chat - SportsPredictor.net

2:10	Jay Jaffe: HAPPY OPENING DAY! And welcome to FanGraphs’ Opening Day chat

2:11	Jay Jaffe: Thrilled to be here, particularly in light of how bleak things looked regarding the start of the season just a few weeks ago. We’ve all made it through a very tough winter

2:12

Jay Jaffe: We’re gonna be clickety-clacking along this afternoon, starting with the Brewers-Cubs game. In the meantime, I’d like to pass along a quick message from Meg:

earnest tweet alert: It pales in comparison to (gestures at everything) but the last two years have been a pretty stressful time to be in the baseball website biz, so as we celebrate another Opening Day, thanks for sticking with @fangraphs. It has made all the difference 🥰

7 Apr 2022

2:12	Harry Jerry: Just a note to say thanks for all the great content you all provide. Really kept up quality work even through a pandemic and then a lockout. You all are the best and I especially wanna say make Meg Rowley EIC For Life.

2:13	Jay Jaffe: Thank you for following along!

2:13	Wireless Joe Jackson: 38 degrees, windy, and a rain/snow mix in Minneapolis today. Why did they schedule the game there instead of Seattle where there’s a roof?

2:14

Jay Jaffe: Remember, this wasn’t supposed to be Opening Day when the schedules were originally drawn up, this was supposed to be the second week of the season, but the lockout jumbled things. There simply aren’t enough warm-weather or roofed parks to keep everybody from having to deal with the weather, alas

2:15	Guest: Ke’Bryan Hayes. Talk to me about it. I’m a shocked Pirates fan and don’t know what to do with my hands.

2:17	Jay Jaffe: Please keep your hands inside the bullpen cart! I’ll be covering Hayes’ 8/$70M deal for tomorrow, but even based on the ZiPS forecast from Dan, this looks like a slight discount relative to his performance

2:18	Colin: If there can be only one “day” then it is Day 1 at the Masters and not MLB Opening Day, tbf.

2:19	Jay Jaffe: You have wandered into the wrong chat, sir. It is Opening Day, and there is no golf going on here.

2:20	Rob Gurley: What do you think will be the biggest impact of shortened spring training on key pitching statistics? Will all players be affected equally, or are some pitchers more sensitive to shortened spring training because of their particular pitches?

2:21	Jay Jaffe: Based on what we saw in 2020, innings per start will be down early, as will velocities, and injuries will be up. We saw slight rises in BB% and HBP% that year, but it’s less clear that was attributable to the shortened spring training.

2:23	Jay Jaffe: anyway, today’s first matchup pits the Brewers and Cubs and my Roku is already behind by following the Cubs feed, had to switch over to the Brewers feed. Kyle Hendricks vs. NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes

2:25	Jeff: As a Cubs fan, seeing Heyward starting another Opening Day is truly depressing.

2:27	Jay Jaffe: That contract has not paid off, except perhaps for the intangible value of the pep talk during the brief rain delay in Game 7 of the 2016. Knowing what you know, would you rather the Ricketts family kept the money?

2:27	Matt: Over/under 60 wins for my Orioles?

2:29	Dan Szymborski: Hello!

2:29	Dan Szymborski: Sorry, a little late. I forgot I was in VPN and jotcast was suspcious

2:30	Blue-Collar Tweeker: Saw an interview with Acuña today where he said he wont miss Freeman because of basically disrespecting behavior. Think that had anything to do with the Braves not making more of an attempt to keep him around or is this typical stuff that teams deal with?

2:32

Jay Jaffe: I really don’t know, but that would be interesting (and depressing) if it were the case. This tweet from Andy Martino really resonated — it’s very tough to get a handle on matters like this from the outside. And wow does the game need more diversity among its reporters and broadcasters.

It’s not necessary to know anything about the Freeman/Acuna dynamic — which I don’t — to appreciate it as an example of how little we in the white/English speaking/American media and fan base understand about the racial and cultural dynamics that are felt deeply in the game.

7 Apr 2022

2:30	You’re my Wander-Walls: Hey Fangraphs crew! Just wanted to say thank you for all the content you provide. Not able to financially support the site with a membership right now, but hopefully once a few job prospects come through I’ll be able to re-up! Hope other folks do the same 🙂

2:30	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: Can we keep a running poll of best chat monikers? I put a lot of hard work into thinking up these names!

2:30	Guest: Where’s Dan I just wanna talk about the AL East projections

2:30	Dan Szymborski: Dan’s here now! What about them?

2:33	Stott Bryson Stott: AL East winner. 10,000 simulations and they end up tied? Was there a simulation that had the O’s win one?

2:33	Dan Szymborski: Blue Jays won the most

2:33

Pitch_Out: Seems to be a huge disparity between the #s in the positional power rankings that have the Yankees rotation as the best in baseball and Yankees fans’ perception that the FO should have upgraded the rotation. Is this a function of having Gerrit Cole and then a bunch of question marks or of fans having outsized expectations for how the team operates?

2:34

Jay Jaffe: I’d say it’s a little from Column A, and a little from Column B. Cole is at the top of our SP rankings, IIRC, while Taillon and Severino project to pitch well but have missed a lot of time in recent years, which is unsettling from a fan perspective and last year didn’t actually work out very well for the Yankees given the number of risks they took (Kluber included)

2:33	Dan Szymborski: I think I got like three 4-ways.

2:33	Dan Szymborski: Remember, that’s the median projection for everyone

2:33	Dan Szymborski: it’s unlikely that they actually WILL have a favor way tie

2:34	Dan Szymborski: just that they have the same zips over/under

2:34	bosoxforlife: Taylor Rogers for Chris Paddock is an interesting trade. A good reliever, who was injured, for a starter who has not been good since 2019. I will take the Padres side in this deal.

2:34	Dan Szymborski: I think too much is being made of this on social media

2:35	Dan Szymborski: Someone can be a good leader AND have some lapses with rub people the wrong way

2:35	Jay Jaffe: Nuance is often lost in translation

2:37	mike sixel: I love this site. Thank you.

2:37	Dan Szymborski: Thanks you for reading! And all of you for your support!

2:37	FTLT: Calling Freeman wiping eye black off of Acuña’s face a lapse seems very dismissive of Acuña’s problem and in a way that maintains the narrative that Freeman is this all-time great leader

2:37	Dan Szymborski: People are complex

2:38	Vin: Confirmed, Acuna vs Freeman steel cage match

2:38	Dan Szymborski: I DO already have Acuna in WWE2k22

2:38	nat: Would Justin Upton fit as a RH option for the Giants? or is he too washed?

2:39	Jay Jaffe: He might have some use as a platoon option. .222/.320/.503 (122 wRC+) in 175 PA against lefties over the last three years. The problem is that his defense is crap, so I’m not sure that’s the best the Giants can do for the roster spot.

2:39	David Laurila: Greetings, all.

2:39	Dan Szymborski:

2:39	Dan Szymborski: Hey David!

2:39	Jay Jaffe: Hey David!

2:40	Dave: Jim Bowden predicts Juan Soto will be a Yankee within a year. Let’s say he’s right. It’s Opening Day 2023 and Soto is in pinstripes. What did the Nationals get?

2:40	Jay Jaffe: Collectively frog-marched into the Potomac

2:40	Bo’s Two-Strike Approach: I’ve noticed people are dropping the “Jr” a lot this year, from Tatis, Acuna, Guerrero… is it just me

2:40	Dan Szymborski: I will drop it after the first time it’s said

2:40	Dan Szymborski: or in casual conversation

2:41	Fangraph’s Lurker: Todays day drinking brought to you by MLB opening day

2:43	Jay Jaffe: “It was Friday, April 7th, 1933 when beer began flowing from taps in the United States legally for the first time since the Volstead Act, which enforced Prohibition, went into effect in January of 1920.”

2:43	Rhendricks: Thoughts on Hicks being named the 5th starter for the Cardinals? Does he have the arsenal and longevity to be productive there?

2:43	Dan Szymborski: Surprised the hell out of me

2:43	Dan Szymborski: I had assumed the injury had ended any talk of that

2:43	nat: Hendricks’s stuff is slow but nasty

2:43	David Laurila: FWIW: I have the Cubs TV broadcast on my laptop (at least so far). Radio and TV guys are both good for each team.

2:44	Jay Jaffe: Boog’s doing TV for them, right?

2:44	David Laurila: Yes on Boog. Jim Deshaies is talking about curveball spin rate right now.

2:45	14343: Was a classmate of Kyle Hendricks’ at Dartmouth. He’s the pride of Big Green. I find it really interesting that he didn’t have that nasty changeup in college. Developed it from scratch in the minors

2:45	Da Bear: When the year finally comes that no pitcher throws 162 innings, who will write the most thorough obituary?

2:45	Dan Szymborski: Lindbergh

2:45	Jay Jaffe: Posnanski

2:46	Stott Bryson Stott: Is there a chance the next CBA does a salary cap and floor or is that never going to happen unless the sport is falling apart?

2:46	Jay Jaffe: Not. Gonna.

2:46	Jay Jaffe: Happen.

2:46	Dan Szymborski: I mean there’s a CHANCE, but in involves breaking the union

2:47	Jay Jaffe: It’s very clear that the union as it’s currently constructed will never agree to that without the owners radically rethinking free agency and arbitration. Too many obstacles to produce too much change in too short a timeframe.

2:48	Jay Jaffe: you’re better off waiting for hell to freeze over and then Dan and me to do an Olympic pairs-caliber skating routine

2:48	David Laurila: Joined chat a bit late, so not sure if it’s been mentioned, but looks like a bit of a late-arriving crowd at Wrigley. Obviously cold, but Cubs fans are used to cold in April.

2:48	karasz816: It’s so weird to me the union is that against a salary cap. forcing everyteam to have a payroll of 70-80m would make more teams competitive wouldnt it?

2:48	Dan Szymborski: It would reduce salaries overall

2:48	Dan Szymborski: At the numbers being talked about

2:49	Fish: Suzuki debuts next!

2:49	Jay Jaffe: if you tried to cut salaries like that baseball would further lose out on multisport athletes

2:50	Guest: Do I have to keep working? Or can I just sign off early?

2:50	Jay Jaffe: if you’re flying an airplane, please log off the chat and keep your eyes on the instrument panel

2:51	Jay Jaffe: otherwise, knock yourself out

2:51	Dan Szymborski: Even the Pirates we have at like $71 million with benefits

2:51	Dan Szymborski: an $80 million floor would be a tiny bit of moneyh

2:51	Alex M: re: David’s observation – not a ton of excitement on the North Side this year. Tickets can be had for about 8 dollars right now.

2:51	Dan Szymborski: and the owners certainly aren’t pitching a floor without a de facto cap much lower

2:51	Joe: The reason a cap works in football and basketball is that the floor is about 90% of it. No way do cheap teams ever let something like that happen, so what’s the upside for the players?

2:52	Da Bear: Think of the marketing opportunities: “Get your New Era Salary Cap, just $39.99!”

2:53	Randy: Any good baseball references I can sneak into a Shakespeare paper I’m writing for uni?

2:53	Jay Jaffe: 2B or not 2B, that is the question….

2:53	David Laurila: Not suggesting it was a can of corn — it wasn’t — but should Yelich have maybe gotten to that ball?

2:53	karasz816: oh, so it would need to be 90-100 to make a difference

2:53	Dan Szymborski: The players don’t want it at all

2:54	Dan Szymborski: but if they were to listen, I don’t think I’d even listen until it was around 150.

2:54	Guest: CC Sabathia was talking about reduced velo from the pitch clocks on his podcast. Thoughts?

2:54	Jay Jaffe: pitch clocks -> less recovery time between pitches -> fewer max-effort pitches -> average velo falls

2:54	Dan Szymborski: The players are about a billion dollars a year behind the 1994 salary cap proposal

2:55	Troy: What are your thoughts on the Pirates going old school with a stolen base threat at leadoff today?

2:55	Jay Jaffe: Dan Vogelbach is this century’s answer to Maury Wills

2:56	Obnoxious Fantasy Baseball Questions: For your right-handed DH platoon mate, would you rather have Pujols or Upton?

2:56	David Laurila: Fifty years ago, the Cubs lost their opener to the Phillies 4-2 on a ninth-inning, two out, two-run error by their right fielder. Tim McCarver hit the ball that Jose Cardenal couldn’t catch.

2:56	Dan Szymborski: Depend on the team. Upton isn’t really a big split guy so he’s hard to leverage there

2:57	Dan Szymborski: but at least he can sort of play the OF.

2:57	Guest: For the Shakespeare guy: “‘Friends, Atlanteans, countrymen, lend me your ears: I come to bury Frederick Freeman, not to praise him.”

2:57	Anita Bath: I’m abandoning the A’s this year. My NL team is the Padres. Who should my AL team be, the White Sox or the Blue Jays?

2:58	Jay Jaffe: both fun choices to bandwagon but I’d go with the Blue Jays, Vlad Jr. and Bichette. Then again, Luis Robert on the other side

2:58	David Laurila: Dan Vogelbach hitting leadoff reminds me that the Red Sox hit high-OBP Dwight Evans first for awhile, but mostly had him in the two-hole with speedy, low-OBP Jerry Remy in front of him.

2:59	Guest: Wade Boggs at lead off should have been more influential.

2:59	Greg Rowley: Never abandon your team! I’ve been a Phillies fan, the losingest franchise in all of sports, all my life. 2008 was the best because of all the misery I went through. Also Cubs fans feel the same.

3:01

Jay Jaffe: As my pal Craig Calcaterra will tell you, there’s more than one way to be a fan. Nothing says you have to put up with that misery a team inflicts upon you, particularly if it’s not trying to win (that doesn’t apply to the Phillies but it does to the A’s, who spurred the bandwagon conversation). https://blogs.fangraphs.com/fangraphs-audio-celebrating-opening-day-wi…

3:00	mike sixel: Ya, you should totally abandon your team if they aren’t trying to win. Among other reasons….

3:00	bosoxforlife: Dwight Evans would be the prototype modern day leadoff man. George Springer is almost a clone of him.

3:00	Dan Szymborski: Brian “System of a” Downing

3:00	Re: Nats: How did all these top prospects make the roster this year? Did GMs around the game simultaneously find religion?

3:04

Jay Jaffe: Good question. the new CBA does have an anti-service-time manipulation safeguard in that a player called up in-season can get the full year of service if he finishes first or second in his league’s Rookie of the Year voting. But also, if you look around, the Tigers, Mariners, and Padres (to name a few with prospects up from day 1) are teams that ARE actually trying to win, and with the expanded playoffs, they’ve got more of a shot at getting there. So the early arrivals could pay off.

3:01	David Laurila: Eight-hole hitter up for Cubs, and no pitcher on deck. Will be interesting to see how BAs and OBPs for eight-hole hitters differs from previous years in NL.

3:01	Kiermaier’s Piercing Green Eyes: You can’t “abandon” laundry. Unless you’re, like, leaving it on the side of the road or something.

3:01	RIP Jerry: speaking of Remy…first full season without him in the Sox booth is gonna be a hard one

3:01	5 Run Homer: Ben Gibbard being a Mariners fan just makes so much sense, even apart from being from the PNW

3:03	Royals are currently undefeated: Merry Wittmas! I can’t wait to open my present.

3:04	Mike: when do you predict conforto will sign with a team?

3:04	Jay Jaffe: I wonder about the condition of his shoulder, which was said to be the reason he hadn’t signed yet.

3:05	Morbo: Re Bat: 1 year of service time for ROY winner and runner up plus bonus draft picks for awards for prospects if they start the year on the Major League roster is a big incentive

3:05	Morbo: But the Pirates didn’t get the memo somehow and are going to loose half a season of Oneil Cruz’s service

3:06	David Laurila: Cubs TV guys mentioned Billy Williams a few minutes ago. He was so, so good. Ten year stretch with Cubs where his average season was a .300 BA with 70 extra-base hits and a 141 OPS+.

3:06	5 Run Homer: Is there a chance that Conforto not being signed has something to do with his vaccination status? I’ve also wondered that about some of the smaller trades; Randal Grichuk and Reese McGuire seemed like the two least likely Blue Jays to be vaxxed

3:06	David Laurila: Yes.

3:06	Dan Szymborski: Considering the Pirates are going to suck, they rather lose four months of Cruz and get six rather than have him up and risk getting five

3:07	Anita Bath: Does the new rule about service time for rookies actually push BACK Oneil Cruz’s callup date? The more they push him back, the less likely he can be ROTY

3:07	Dan Szymborski: It can, though at least the teams are theoretically punished

3:07	Guest: Pirates have legit shot at 3rd place, IMHO. Cubs/Reds both suck, too

3:07	Dan Szymborski: I’ll take the Cubs handily over the Pirates

3:08	Nicky Swish: Did Mike Fiers get black balled from baseball or was he simply just not a good pitcher anymore?

3:09	Jay Jaffe: I think it’s health. Had an elbow sprain or strain and then a late-season setback. He was on rosters in 2020 and ’21 (i.e., post-sign stealing report) so I don’t think he’s been blackballed.

3:09	David Laurila: The Pirates have a good future if their owner decides to start spending money. We might not want to hold our collective breath on that one.

3:10	Jay Jaffe: LOL yeah that’s not going to happen, David

3:10	Jay Jaffe: nothing is going to change there without new ownership

3:11	David Laurila: Per Marc Topkin on Twitter, the Rays have sold out their opener.

3:12	Blue-Color Tweeker: How do you guys feel about the new electronic pitch calling?

3:12

Jay Jaffe: wrote about it yesterday. I think it offers considerable promise as a means of combatting sign stealing (legal and illegal) and improving pace of play, but I do wonder how MLB is going to police the extra transmitters/receivers that eams are provided with. How can they stop a 2nd transmitter being used in the clubhouse? no one has reported that yet https://blogs.fangraphs.com/mlb-signs-on-to-in-game-usage-of-wearable-…

3:12	David Laurila: If there is a fan base that deserves a better owner, I’m not sure which it would be. Tough to be a Pirates fan.

3:12	Jay Jaffe: and just like that the Brewrs broadcast mentions PitchCom and then my feed cuts out.

3:12	Omar Rita Moreno: Nutting needs to sell.

3:13	DyingCubsFansLastRequest: Any MLBTV discount codes floating around out there?

3:13	Dan Szymborski: Do they do that?

3:13	Morbo: And frankly if I was a voter and I thought Oneil Cruz was in the conversation for ROY despite the Pirates obvious attempt at service time manipulation I would give him the benefit of the doubt and put him in the top 2 on my votes. Put your best players on the field

3:13	Dan Szymborski: We’re already in an awkward enough position

3:14	Gerald: Doesn’t K. Hayes have, you know, an MLB dad and hopefully not as in need of the cash? Therefore, why would he take such a deal for the guarantee and not wait a year or two? I just want the young ones to make more, though I’m glad Ramirez finally got his bag.

3:14	Dan Szymborski: ZiPS has it a pretty fair deal

3:14	Dan Szymborski: It’s not like Charlie made a billion dollars

3:15	Jay Jaffe: and I don’t think K Hayes is living in Charlie’s house right now

3:15	Jay Jaffe: My Roku does not seem to understand the meaning of “Watch Live”

3:15	Gerald: Oh is ZiPS thinking he won’t be a star?

3:15	Dan Szymborski: There are questions of his bat

3:15	Dan Szymborski: and he’s got a lot of arb years coming

3:16	Dan Szymborski: But I won’t spoil Jay’s piece! HES RIGHT THERE AND CAN SEE ME

3:16	Guest: TMobile gives a free MLB.TV subscription to their customers. Not a one-time signup deal. It’s every year.

3:17	Morbo: Per Marc Topkin on Twitter, the Rays have sold out their opener. Did they limit it to 15k or tickets?

3:17	David Laurila: Following up on Topkin’s tweet, he said the Rays have announced that it is a sellout. Exactly what that means, I don’t know.

3:17	Dan Szymborski: I was unaware. I’m tmobile!

3:17	Gerald: Funny thing is I went to a Mets game last summer (the one where they went out ahead and then blew the lead gradually) and Charlie was there to watch his son, and he dropped a wad of 100s waiting behind me in line. Not that that matters, just funny when I think of Charlie.

3:17	That guy: Is a cashless concession stand an affront to baseball?

3:17	Jay Jaffe: gotta throw in cash considerations

3:17	Dan Szymborski: I hate having cash

3:17	The Ghost of Bobby Thigpen: @Dan…use the T-Mobile Tuesdays app…that’s where it was offered

3:17	Dan Szymborski: Wait, do I have to use my phone?

3:17	Dan Szymborski: I’d rather pay the money!

3:17	Greg Rowley: For the mlb.tv discount code guy, find someone whose a college student or military member. My wife “bought” mlb.tv for me with a 35% discount! ID.me is the offer I believe. Or sign up with T-Mobile

3:18	Dan Szymborski: I don’t like using those because it encourages companies to not offer those

3:18	Smiling Politely: As a Dodger fan, I feel silly complaining, but how are they not playing on Opening Day?

3:19	Jay Jaffe: Remember, this is not a schedule engineered for Opening Day. This is a 2nd-week schedule that got an emergency field promotion to Opening Day status due to the lockout.

3:18	Dan Szymborski: It’s hard to find cheaper productivity software in third-world countries these days because wealthy people in wealthy countries gamed it

3:18	HappyFunBall: You do not have to use your phone. You just have to pay your phone bill

3:18	The Ghost of Bobby Thigpen: @Dan – To sign up, yes…but then you use your existing MLB.TV login

3:18	Morbo: Dan download the T-Mobile Tuesdays app click the link for MLB tv then signin to your mlbtv account and it’s activated. Works on all devices. It’s a full subscription

3:19	Dan Szymborski: oh shoot, I’ll have to check that out!

3:19	Rutherford Ke’ Hayes: Eric has been conducting an appropriately-hyped hype train on Diego Castillo since his approach/swing changes last year. You all buying him as a league avg 2B after he gets his sealegs in the bigs?

3:19	Dan Szymborski: I’m not rooting for him unless he changes his name slightly. Don’t need another ambiguous name for our player tagger tool!

3:20	Greg Rowley: Do you guys not get a free subscription because of your job?

3:20	Dan Szymborski: MLB doens’t give them out like candy

3:20	Jay Jaffe: I don’t but my wife’s job pays for ours

3:20	Dan Szymborski: or maybe they are and I didn’t ask

3:20	bosoxforlife: Charlie Hayes made over $14 million during his career. It may not be a billion dollars but I don’t think he is going to be worrying about his food and shelter anytime soon.

3:20	Jay Jaffe: no but that doesn’t mean his son has to take a discount.

3:20	Dan Szymborski: Yeah, but like $7 millino after taxes and I bet he spent plenty. It’s certainly not something his grown son is going to give up a reasonable deal for

3:21	Ben: Any idea why the Cubs depth chart currently listing Suzuki with a -1.1 WAR projection for this year?

3:21	Dan Szymborski: Wait, STILL?

3:21	Dan Szymborski: We fixed that I thought!

3:21	Another Ben: Speaking of multisport athletes, why should a kid who’s equally likely to make the pros in baseball and another sport pick baseball with all of the service time manipulation and other salary shenanigans? Could this become a major issue?

3:23

Jay Jaffe: It’s been a major issue for decades, see the declining participation rates of urban Black men. That said, football has higher injury risks and shorter careers. Basketball has far fewer jobs available due to roster sizes. Baseball’s biggest problem with respect to those two is the longer time before getting to the good money.

3:22	Dan Szymborski: The site is loading weird for me

3:22	Say Yeah Kid: Burnes vs Madrigal is like Will Smith vs Chris Rock. He’s being a bully

3:22	Dan Szymborski: I’ve got a GIF for that too!

3:22	Dan Szymborski:

3:23	Christian: They talk about baseball and aren’t Manfred’s puppets, they probably have to pay extra for not writing state sponsored articles.

3:23	criticalfocus: Wait. Dan, you think Charlie Hayes’ tax rate is 50%. Really?

3:24	Recorder: Could Vlad Jr set the home run record with 62 this year?

3:24	Jay Jaffe: The home run record is 73. So no, he’s not going to break that.

3:24	David Laurila: Despite the fact that Miguel Cabrera is there to DH, I suggested on a Tigers pod some weeks back that Detroit should sign Andrew McCutchen. I expect Cutch to have a solid season.

3:24	Dan Szymborski: He spent a big chunk of his career in NY and CA on top of federal tax

3:26	David Laurila: Hendricks has seven Ks already, and I think all but one or two has been on a changeup.

3:26	tz: SPIN article is fantastic – deep on musicians, stoked to see Phillie fanatic and guitar great JD (not T) Brubaker in there. Biggest non-surprise: Steve Earle being a Yankees fan.

3:27	Jay Jaffe: I was actually surprised by Earle. Funniest: Julian Casablancas favorite Met being Miguel Castro, since traded to the Yankees.

3:28	Farhandrew Zaidman: Thanks for sharing that Spin article! I’ll read literally anything Riley Breckinridge writes. Shoutout to his old grindcore band “Puig Destroyer” and their hit song “STOP F&$%ING BUNTING”

3:28	Jay Jaffe: Amen!

3:28	Anita Bath: Miguel Cabrera’s xwOBA has been better than his wOBA every single year

3:28	Dan Szymborski: xwOBA could still use some calibration

3:28	Dan Szymborski: ZiPS errors using a similar method are not year-to-year correlated

3:29	Slew: @Jay – Why is other sports vulturing athletes a problem? Will the end consumer even notice? (The greatness of the athletes is measured against each other, right?)

3:33

Jay Jaffe: Seems to me that baseball’s decline from its peak popularity and its losing ground to other spots in the public sphere has something to do with losing out on some of those multitalented athletes. Will the average middle-aged white male fan notice? Probably not, but fans of color will notice. Ask Black Americans where baseball sits for them given the diminishing representation within the game (to say nothing of MLB’s failures when it comes to representation within the dugouts and front offices)

3:29	hypnotoad: I guess relegation/promotion has to wait until the next CBA.

3:29	Jay Jaffe: it would never work because you could never make the economics of a Triple-A stadium work for a major league team and vice versa

3:29	Dan Szymborski: Yeah, I’d love relegation, but it’s too tricky to pull off with the existing structure

3:30	Dan Szymborski: The most you could do is have a first division/second division within MLB

3:30	Dan Szymborski: and even that isn’t happening

3:30	Morbo: I’d love relegation, but it’s too tricky to pull off with the existing structure

3:30	Morbo: I was trying to follow that up with

3:30	Farhandrew Zaidman: Any player-centric podcasts you’d recommend? Shoutout to the Chris Rose Rotation, Toeing the Slab, The Compound, Holding Kourt, etc.

3:30	David Laurila: FanGraphs Audio does a decent amount of players interviews. Today’s episode has one.

3:31	Luke: Deshaies drops my favorite new baseballism – Hendricks’ changeup is like ‘’throwing a styrofoam cup up there’’

3:31	Morbo: So what I’m hearing is but it all to the ground

3:31	Morbo: But that’s what I get for chatting on my phone

3:32	Guest: Which young relief pitcher (under 25 YO) are you guys most excited to see this year?

3:32	Dan Szymborski: Clase

3:32	Dan Szymborski: then Graterol

3:32	Dan Szymborski: BUT STARTER!

3:32	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: First run of the year? WOOOO!!!!

3:32	Joe: I think relegation works as a concept, and in places where it has always been a thing isn’t as devastating, but it would kill baseball in certain cities if we had it here.

3:33	The Ghost of Bobby Thigpen: How much do the Lynn, Crochet and Moncada injuries hurt their chances at the AL Central crown?

3:33	Dan Szymborski: I like how New Era says “OK, it’s Opening Day, let’s advertise the good hats, not the crappy ones.”

3:34	Morbo: Yeah, I’m pretending that I don’t know that information re: Hicks starting

3:34	Dan Szymborski: But I’m pretending you [email protected]

3:34	Dan Szymborski:

3:34	Farhandrew Zaidman: Graterol is apparently trying out a Kenley-esque cutter this year. Feels like he needs a change-up or curveball instead of more hard stuff though….

3:35	Morbo: Over under on Pujols reaching 700 hr this year?

3:35	Jay Jaffe: If Pujols gets enough chances to hit 21 HR this year, then something has gone very, very wrong in St. Louis.

3:35	Dan Szymborski: Burnes’ second walk last year wasn’t until May 19th.

3:35	Jeremy: Joe is right, it’s one thing to have relegation if you’ve always had relegation. But is there any major pro sports league anywhere in the world that added relegation/promotion long after getting popular and established?

3:35	Dan Szymborski: None

3:35	Dan Szymborski: It won’t happen

3:36	Dan Szymborski: The only way you could even theoretically make it happen is if you start another baseball league and PROMOTE 15 teams to it

3:36	Dan Szymborski: and ht’s like a billion to one shot

3:37	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: What the heck is relegation?

3:37	Dan Szymborski: The Orioles get demoted to Triple-A and the Triple-A winner gets promoted to MLB

3:37	5 Run Homer: One of my favourite early-season things in baseball is the ugly brown ivy at Wrigley. That’s April baseball, babey

3:38	Jay Jaffe: I don’t give a damn about my team’s relegation You’re living in the past, it’s a new generation. A team can do what it wants to do and that’s what the Orioles are gonna do…

3:38	Jay Jaffe: (apologies to Joan Jett)

3:38	Dan Szymborski: You could kidnap the families of 23 team owners and STILL not get the votes for promotion/relegation

3:39	Doug Lampert: Relegation in MLB would require that they’d never developed the minor league development contract.

3:39	Another Ben: Not from the projections, but who would you guys like to win the WS?

3:39	Dan Szymborski: Orioles

3:39	Appa Yip Yip: It’s funny imagining Joey Votto getting called up from the AAA Reds to the Louisville Bats though

3:40	Dan Szymborski: I gotta admit I don’t dig yellow cleats with this uniform

3:40	RTJ: RE: Favorite parts of early April baseball: The overreactions to the first 5% of the season

3:40	Gashouse Gorilla: Some of these extensions, if priced right for the team, and without no-trade provisions, seem as much as about creating a valuable contract for later sale as they do locking up a promising talent to help the team.

3:40	Jay Jaffe: Teams love cost certainty, and surplus value. Below-market extensions make some players very desirable targets for trades.

3:41	Dan Szymborski: Don’t forget – teams have to have a payroll at least150% of their local revenue sharing poll for the burden of proof of fund misuse to be shifted to MLBPA

3:41	Dan Szymborski: it was 125% last CBA

3:42	Frank Thomas the Tank Engine: Do you ever get gently reminded to use graphs in your articles? This is Fangraphs after all.

3:42	Dan Szymborski: It’s FangRaphs

3:42	David Laurila: Can’t help but wonder how good this year’s Brewers team would be if there were more impact bats. Pair the Harvey’s Wallbangers-era offense with this pitching staff and you have an all-time-great team.

3:43	Dan Szymborski:

3:44	Didace: Relegation is a bad idea even if it was workable. Look at European soccer – With rare exceptions, it’s the same few clubs that are any good in all of the leagues.

3:44	David Laurila: As an Everton fan, I don’t want to even think about the R word right now.

3:45	Frank Thomas the Tank Engine: Setting aside sentimentality, where would you place the next two expansion teams?

3:45	Dan Szymborski: Are we setting aside legal plausibility?

3:45	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: I’m not sure how thrilled I am about the choice of Cubs-Brewers to kick off the opener. This chat is mostly talking about everything else… presumably because the game is kinda boring.

3:45	Jay Jaffe: The schedule was not tailored for this to be Opening Day because of the lockout, and furthermore the Yankees-Red Sox 1 PM game — which coincidentally happened to be marquee caliber — was rained out

3:45	Dan Szymborski: I’d put a team in NC and another team in NY

3:45	Anita Bath: PORTLAND & MONTREAL

3:45	Gerald: Re: Black Americans, I love baseball, but I really only think it starts in ’47 for me. Also, I think people deeply underrate Jackie Robinson’s actual career, especially as a hitter. He was a deserving HOF in ten seasons even if he wasn’t the barrier breaker. That’s ex

3:45	David Laurila: Jackie was definitely better than a lot of people realize.

3:46	Frank Thomas the Tank Engine: No, current rules apply, so no third New York area team

3:46	Dan Szymborski: then Montreal and NC

3:47	Dan Szymborski: Robinson’s status as breaking the color line kinda causes people to forget the baseball stuff

3:47	Dan Szymborski: I actually think that MLB should make more of an effort to also cover the REST of the guys who broke the color barrier.

3:48	Dan Szymborski: it’s a shame that relatively few people known Larry Doby and much fewer know Hank Thompson or Willard Brown

3:48	Dan Szymborski: But they all endured the same horrors as Robinson did

3:48	Jay Jaffe: amen

3:49	Guest: Why does MLB schedule baseball games in MIN in April?

3:49	Jay Jaffe: because it can’t be avoided. you can’t place a team at that much of a disadvantage and again, there just aren’t enough warm-weather or climate-controlled venues to avoid cold weather games in April

3:49	Dan Szymborski: This is going to come out the wrong way I’m sure, but there’s a tendency on some baseball fans to act like Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and then everything became fine.

3:49	Gerald: Fully agreed on all the rest of the pioneers. Not that he was precisely the same time, but I am considering, if we have a second son, naming him Elston.

3:49	Farhandrew Zaidman: Hot take: the strike zone is a three-dimensional box, not a two-dimensional plane. A curveball that clips the bottom of the zone and bounces before being caught is ABSOLUTELY a strike. /rant

3:49	Gerald: No, Dan, you’re right. Very “MLK fixed everything” vibe.

3:50	David Laurila: I was talking to a front-office type earlier today, and season-length came up. I can see value in starting around this time of year — not in late March — and going back to the old 154-game schedule.

3:50	Ron: Should MLB make the season less than 162 games?

3:50	Dan Szymborski: I think it results in a real oversimplification of baseball’s color line being broken

3:50	Morbo: Huh Joe Torre is in St Louis for opening day

3:51	Jay Jaffe: This is me going out on a limb but he’s probably not playing 3B for the Cardinals this year.

3:50	Dan Szymborski: You can look at polls in the 90s and still see “overrated” players being a bunch of black players and “underrated” players being shitty short white dudes

3:51

Morbo: Roy Campanella is also super underrated. If you look at his caught stealing rates and massive difference between the number of players who tried to steal against him vs other contemporary catchers. It’s just crazy. Plus he hit super well and started playing in the negro national League at 15(that is not a typo)

3:51	Gerald: You should see (except not really) the comments under the MLBTradeRumors post on Sabathia’s new job with the league. Yikes.

3:51	Dan Szymborski: Pass! lol

3:51	Jay Jaffe: Suzuki’s first major league hit is a single off Corbin Burnes, nice work

3:52	RTJ: more people should also know that Boston was the last team to integrate

3:52	David Laurila: Isn’t that common knowledge? It’s been brought up countless times over the years.

3:52	Tim: What’s the best fangraphs username you’ve ever encountered?

3:52	Dan Szymborski: hmmmm

3:52	Dan Szymborski: there’s a great one that’s on the tip of my tongue

3:52	Doug Lampert: Hey, those short white dudes are all “gritty”. (Didn’t someone say that based on observation, gritty requires at least 2 out of short, white, and always has dirt on his uniform by the end of the day).

3:54	Dan Szymborski: I think Red Sox being last to integrate is known among serious baseball fan, but I doubt most other people know

3:54	Joe: Dan where are these polls?

3:54	Dan Szymborski: The 2000s SI poll would be a good place to search, IIRC. It has been awhile

3:54	Dan Szymborski: Also, something like 6% of major leaguers picked Babe Ruth as the greatest living player

3:55	727: I moved to Columbus, OH 2 years ago and I’m a diehard Rays fan from 11 years in TB. How long until I must switch allegiances and become a Guardians fan?

3:55	Jay Jaffe: Check with Columbus’ own Craig Calcaterra.

3:56	David Laurila: I don’t know about best FanGraphs usernames, but a Red Sox message board has a longtime member who goes by ToeKneeArmAss.

3:56	Nick: Jay, Pujols hit 17 HRs last year, and the Dodgers still did okay; I don’t think 21 HRs is out of the question even if St. Louis plans to compete.

3:57	Jay Jaffe: Five of those came with the Angels, and I don’t think he’s repeating a 6% home run rate. Even that would require 350 PA to get to 21.

3:56	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: I thought the oxford definition of “gritty” was Dustin Pedroia?

3:57	Dan Szymborski: I’m thinking more the Scott Podsedniks

3:57	Fixing Baseball: I would like more show boating. Give me big bat flips. Shit talking between players. I want more drama and storyline.

3:57	Dan Szymborski: I’m down for that

3:57	Jay Jaffe: Nico Hoerner with the season’s first dinger

3:57	Dan Szymborski: That was…not a good pitch.

3:58	Jay Jaffe: 87 mph down the middle

3:58	tz: KeBryan Hayes extension > Oneil Cruz demotion (hate service time manipulation, but Cruz in AAA way less egregious than Bryant, etc.)

3:58	Dan Szymborski: I agree. There’s at least a plausible explanation for Cruz

3:58	Dan Szymborski: We’ll see if he ends up with 171 days of service time

3:58	ATG6: Seth Beer starting at DH for Arizona on National Beer Day sounds about right…. Not sure why hit-only prospects get ranked so low, hitting seems to be the main point of baseball….

3:59	Jay Jaffe: The guy suffered a season-ending injury the first time he played the field in a major league game.

3:58	Vin: Alright, who had Nico Hoerner in the first home run of the season pool?

3:58	ATG6: Everyone who had Hoerner in the “first HR of the season” pool is jumping up and down right now. Except no one had Hoerner in the “first HR of the season” pool.

3:58	Dan Szymborski: Because hit-only prospects have to REALLY hit

3:59	David Laurila: “I’m Not Saying” is arguably Nico’s best song.

3:59	Dan Szymborski: One could call Vladi one

3:59	Anita Bath: Oakland’s own Nico Hoerner!

4:01	David Laurila: Almost switch-over time and I’m on the fence as to whether I’ll watch early innings of Guardians-Royals or Cards-Pirates. Nice problem to have.

4:01	Dan Szymborski: I mean yeah, Beer had a .909 OPS last year…in a moderate hitters’ park in a >.800 OPS league

4:02	Iso Joe: I’m officially on the “Madrigal hits the second HR of the season” pool

4:02	Twins Fan: Thoughts on Paddack/Pagano for Rogers/Rooker? Twins still making trades on opening day!

4:02	Dan Szymborski: It’s weird timing, but I like the Twins side

4:03	Perplexed: Wishing everyone a very happy Opening Day. Cheers to those who made us baseball fans! My fandom lineage comes from my maternal grandmother. Who only approved of one relief pitcher her entire life. His name was Mo. Cheers to Grandma June!

4:03	David Laurila: Twins made a good deal. Padres made a better deal.

4:03	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: Gotta see the hawt new 3B that KC is rolling out, no?

4:04	DyingCubsFansLastRequest: Hoerner’s first HR since 2019….’best shape of his career’

4:04	Jay Jaffe: at least for a couple innings, i’m going to flip to CLE-KC to see Witt and the debut of the Guardians

4:04	Dan Szymborski: Roman: The Official Marginally Effective Hair Grower of Major League Baseball

4:05	ATG6: It’s all in the launch angle….

4:05	Joe: Are we positive Burnes is an elite pitcher (this is not related to giving up a homer to Nico Hoerner, but also is it)?

4:05	Dan Szymborski: I’m fairly confident

4:05	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: Speaking about Roman from personal experience Dan?

4:05	David Laurila: Taylor Rodgers is good, and Brent Rooker is going to hit. That said, deal made sense for both teams.

4:06	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: Rowdy Tellez is still an 80 grade baseball name

4:06	MM: Thoughts on the lineup the Mets are running out tonight? Davis at DH, McNeill in LF, Cano at 2B and Dom Smith/Nimmo on the bench? Am I missing a Nimmo injury?

4:06	Jay Jaffe: there is always a Nimmo injury

4:06	Jay Jaffe: neck stiffness, this time

4:06	Dan Szymborski: yup

4:07	Jay Jaffe: he has one season of at least 100 games, in parts of 6 seasons

4:07	David Laurila: I don’t expect the Cubs to be good, but baseball is better when they are.

4:07	Dan Szymborski: they’re assuming he’s unavailable unless he’s really confident about his neck

4:07	Eel Ffilc: Dan, that was a perfect time for the first “It’s April” answer of the season

4:07	Dan Szymborski: I try to be marginally more helpful in group chat

4:07	Jay Jaffe: Are you confident in Nimmo’s Neck Yes (3.8% \| 3 votes) No (32.4% \| 25 votes) Neck? (63.6% \| 49 votes) Total Votes: 77

4:07	Dan Szymborski: Jay, Kat asked over the weekend first how you were doing and second to make sure you had not shaved the mustache.

4:08	Jay Jaffe: Aww, doing fine here, mustache still intact!

4:09	Mike Sixel: No one taking a flyer on Buxton as MVP bummed me out, very briefly.

4:09	Jay Jaffe: I was interviewed for the Donnie Baseball documentary on MLB Network but alas, this is not me. My footage seems to have been left on the cutting room floor.

4:09	PSA: The Royals-Guardians game is free to watch on MLB.tv today. Watch Witt’s debut.

4:09	Dan Szymborski: Because of FG weekend, she can name more baseball writers than baseball plaeyrs

4:09	Ben Clemens: Hey everyone, how’s it going?

4:09	Dan Szymborski: Binyamin!

4:10	Jay Jaffe: By God, that’s Ben Clemens’ music!

4:10	Ben Clemens: Just in time for Greinke time

4:10	Dan Szymborski: I kinda want to make the whole FanGraphs staff in WWE2K22

4:10	Luke Hooper: Hello baseball fans!

4:11	David Laurila: MLB.TV kept showing me ads when Cubs-Brewers started up again, and then it froze. Needed to reboot. Baseball gods telling me its time to switch to Guardians-Royals.

4:11	Wireless Joe Jackson: If Ben is here, the Paddack/Rogers trade article must already be in editing?

4:11	Dan Szymborski: lol

4:11	David Laurila: Myles Straw leads off with single for Guardians.

4:11	Guest: Do you guys have “walk-up” music you play when you enter the chat?

4:12	Dan Szymborski: I’ve had this used as bumper music a few times

4:12	Dan Szymborski:

4:12	Vin: A king of the ring tournament of the Fangraphs staff would have made for excellent lockout content, Dan

4:12	Jay Jaffe: No but I threw out a first pitch in El Paso to Devo’s “Uncontrollable Urge”

4:12	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: Greinke is so fun.

4:12	Ben Clemens: Would have been a lot less fun if he threw that one away but man I’m excited to see him as an opening day starter again

4:12	Jay Jaffe: he’s still dreamy

4:13	Guest: This camera is very shaky.

4:13	Ben Clemens: Blair Guardian Project vibes

4:13	David Laurila: Have said it a number of times for a number of years, but Jose Ramirez might be the most underrated player in the game.

4:13	Another Ben: Jay I’m sure you’ve answered this before but Greinke get in the hall?

4:14	Jay Jaffe: Yeah, i think he’s there

4:14	Frank Thomas the Tank Engine: Over/under on Greinke’s Hall speech? 4.5 minutes?

4:14	Ben Clemens: “Thank you.”

4:15	Paul: 7 pitches, 7 strikes, 3 outs for Grienke

4:15	Dan Szymborski: I’ll vote for him

4:15	Dan Szymborski: I assume you too Jay?

4:15	Kaleb: Dan, what would Ben Clemens’ finisher be in 2k22?

4:15	Jay Jaffe: I’d love to see him get to 3,000 strikeouts but he’s already right around the JAWS standard, and like Joey Votto, has provided enough good stories that writers are going to trip over themselves voting for him. He’s already earned mine.

4:15	Morbo: Im about to watch the Cardinals Pirates game with my 3 year old. It’s the first time he’s really actually paying attention to baseball! I’m so excited!

4:15	Jay Jaffe: Bobby Witt Merrifield Junior Griffey

4:16	Dan Szymborski: Would have to think about that. I already have a texture map for Jay.

4:16	Jay Jaffe: wtf

4:16	Ben Clemens: omg that’s terrifying

4:16	Dan Szymborski: WWE2K!

4:16	Ben Clemens: Oh yeah… Ramirez is great at defense too

4:17	Dan Szymborski: You have to wrap the faces around the skulls. Here’s Matt Olson.

4:17	Dan Szymborski:

4:17	ImAHomer: Going to three Rays games next week. Any suggestions on things to do in Tamp/St Pete during the day?

4:17	David Laurila: The Salvador Dali Museum is nearby, and really good. The surrealism is well-known; Dali’s technical skills are unreal.

4:17

Heath Bell Crunch: Cleveland’s announcer reminds me of mid 90s announcer Vince McMahon. Just a super annoying overly dramatic high pitch every time there is a ball put in play, the same way McMahon would call a pin attempt after a 1st minute armbar on Saturday Night Main Event as if Warrior just gave Hogan a Gorilla Press at Wrestlemania.

4:17	5 Run Homer: god it looks miserable in Kansas City today

4:17	jay (not that one): for fellow canadians in chat, I want to express my solidarity in seeing the same Kelsey’s Roadhouse commercial 6 times in a row making me wishing for the mlbtv highlight rock riff

4:17	Farhandrew Zaidman: If a team uses replay to decipher catcher signals, and then uses a runner on 2B to relay those signs to the batter, is that cheating?

4:17	Jay Jaffe: Yes. Explicitly so

4:18	Ben Clemens: PitchCom in the Brewers game is awesome

4:18	Ben Clemens: Hope every team starts using it soon

4:18	David Laurila: Witt to Kwan. Rookie to rookie.

4:18	Ben Clemens: Cubs batters kept stepping out to slow Burnes down

4:18	Dan Szymborski: I need a good Ben picture! lol

4:19	Ben Clemens: b/c he was just…. getting his pitches and then throwing them

4:19

Mo Vaughn’s Cup: If a catcher were to intentionally release an audible fart just before a crucial pitch was delivered, and it clearly distracted the hitter, do you think it would be worthy of an article? Perhaps an analysis of the umpire’s pre and post-fart k zone to see if his ball/k calling was retaliatory?

4:19	Guest: Bieber gets it and throws it. Love that.

4:19	Dan Szymborski: I don’t have frying pan hands, just hot dog fingers

4:19	Dan Szymborski: (this might be confusing if you’re not on CLE/KC)

4:19	Frank Thomas the Tank Engine: Burrito knuckles

4:20	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: This Aaron Ashbey guy has a wicked looking breaker

4:20	Ben Clemens: He’s realllllly good

4:20	Ben Clemens: I’m sad they’re not using him as a starter

4:20	Mo Vaughn’s Cup: Also – my 3-month old just threw up on me while watching the pirates-cards game

4:20	Ben Clemens: Probably protesting the Oneil Cruz decision

4:21	David Laurila: Delayed start to Cards-Pirates, which is handy if you’re looking to avoid opening-day overload.

4:21	Guest: What is the record for most future Hall of Famers being active at the same time?

4:22	Jay Jaffe: There were 69 in 1925 and ’26, including Negro Leagues players. 43 in 1982 is the high since the Negro Leagues ceased, if I’m reading my spreadsheet correctly.

4:21	Dan Szymborski: Showing the Pirates rotation to a baby is grounds for calling social services

4:21	Dan Szymborski: I can’t say the number of players

4:21	Dan Szymborski: But in a few years in the 30s, some 25% of hitter PAs were future Hall of Famers

4:21	Vin: Suzuki is showing a really good eye

4:22	Dan Szymborski: err NEARLY 25%

4:22	Dan Szymborski: This is a few years old

4:22	Dan Szymborski:

4:22	Frank Thomas the Tank Engine: What is the record for most Hall of Famers in the same game (non All-Star games)?

4:22	Guest: Is Bieber sitting at 90 instead of 92-93?

4:22	Dan Szymborski: Every game Frankie Frisch was in

4:22	Ben Clemens: Bieber is averaging 91.1 so far

4:23	David Laurila: Looks like weather isn’t the reason for Card-Pirates not starting yet, but rather an overlong opening-day ceremony.

4:23	Ben Clemens: I wouldn’t be worried; lots of pitchers are a little slower when they are the road pitcher in the first

4:23	Fangraph’s Lurker: That picture of jay looks like a wall in someone’s house that randomly shouts hall of fame facts

4:24	Jay Jaffe: “The last time there were 40 future Hall of Famers active was 1993!”

4:24	5 Run Homer: that’s a 10 on the “that can’t happen” scale

4:24	Ben Clemens: That was quite bad

4:24	Morbo: “That picture of jay looks like a wall in someone’s house that randomly shouts hall of fame facts” is this a feature that I somehow missed including when I bought my house?

4:24	Ben Clemens: I’m skipping away to watch the start of Pirates Cards but wooooooof

4:25	Dan: 6% of major leaguers thought babe Ruth was still alive?

4:25	Jay Jaffe: Morbo, you have to pay royalties

4:25	Dan Szymborski: We were making fun of it on usenet for like a month

4:25	Dan Szymborski: the babe ruth part

4:25	Guest: Awesome info re the active HOFers; I really didn’t expect you to have an answer so readily available.

4:25	Jay Jaffe: what did I miss that ppl are woofing about?

4:25	Ben Clemens: The Brewers let a pop up fall on the infield between three defenders.

4:25	David Laurila: Ben Clemens stepping in — greetings Ben — is a good time for me to step out and do some writing. Cheers, all.

4:25	Ben Clemens: Talk to you later, David

4:25	Ben Clemens: Happy Opening Day!

4:25	Dan Szymborski: Cya David!

4:26	Meg Rowley: Hi everyone, hope you’re all warmer than the folks in Chicago and KC look to be right now.

4:26	Dan Szymborski: Hey Meg!

4:26	Jay Jaffe: Hey Meg!

4:27	Morbo: Where do I mail the check?

4:27	Morbo: Sorry your Mariners got rained out today

4:27	Meg Rowley: And it’s sunny and 70 in Seattle!

4:27	Guest: Which team benefits most from the temporary expanded rosters–i.e., has enough pitching depth to make the ability to carry a couple extra pitchers useful?

4:28	Dan Szymborski: Probably the Rays because they have a Play-Doh kitchen set that allows them to pump out B+ relievers

4:28	Rosenthal says hello: Meg, the herder of superstar writers…welcome!

4:28	Guest: Why is Greinke holding his left underarm/shoulder area?

4:28	Dan Szymborski: If it’s windy, it might fly away

4:28	Eel Ffilc: I’m just noticing this, how long have umpires been wearing FTX ads on their jackets?

4:28	Meg Rowley: They definitely had them last year.

4:28	Luke Hooper: Portland checking in, 70 and sunny!

4:29	Mo Vaughn’s Cup: if you went back in time and introduced Dan vogelbach to a manager from the 90’s they would quit their job when you told them he was an opening day leadoff hitter

4:29	Ben Clemens: I love that he almost beat out a single too

4:29	Dan Szymborski: Umpire ads should all be companies chosen to make fun of umpires, like eyeglass companies

4:30	Guest: On Statcast, Vogelbach is the leader in the PIT-STL game for “Top Distances” at 6′

4:30	Farhandrew Zaidman: What’s the all time best heckle you have ever heard? Either to an umpire or player.

4:30	Dan Szymborski: OH GOD BIEBER IS BLURRY AND NOTHING ELSE IS

4:30	Ben Clemens: Yessss I’ve been waiting for this question

4:30	Ben Clemens: Tie between “Hey Benintendi, I had that haircut in third grade!”

4:30	Ben Clemens: and “Hey Benintendi, your skillset won’t be valued in arbitration!”

4:31	Meg Rowley: lol who do you go to games with?

4:31	Ben Clemens: That was an unnamed Yankees fan out in the left field bleachers in whichever year there was a Yankees/Sox ALDS

4:31	Vin: Is someone using the center field cam in KC as a napkin?

4:31	Jay Jaffe: if you rub vaseline on the camera lens it makes them look like the early 1980s Royals

4:31	Ben Clemens: This camera is baffling to me

4:32	Ben Clemens: It’s rained in Kansas City before, presumably

4:32	Kiermaier’s Piercing Green Eyes: Imagine not playing baseball in a dome. 🤡🤡🤡

4:33	Luke Hooper: Kinda looks like Bieber has shortened his arm even more

4:33	Meg Rowley: I once yelled at a home plate ump to ask for help on check swing calls – when the first base ump said a guy didn’t check his swing when he clearly did, I yelled “be a better helper!”

4:34	Jay Jaffe: LOL

4:34	Ben Clemens: First pinch hitter of the year: Mike Brosseau, in the number nine spot, to face a lefty

4:34	Ben Clemens: What universal DH?

4:34	Meg Rowley: I was sitting with a team employee friend who was not amused, though come on, that could have been so much worse

4:35	Jason: No question, but just happy that baseball is back! And we get to chat about it with all of you

4:35	Farhandrew Zaidman: I was at the Barry Bonds syringe game at Dodger Stadium. Does that count as a heckle?

4:35	KimByung Slice: For Jay, the only writer I think with children, have you taken your daughter to a MLB game and managed to stay the whole time? I’d like to take my sons but they can’t sit still for three innings before asking to leave, let alone nine

4:36	Jay Jaffe: Yes, we’ve gone the distance at least once, at a Yankees game last year. Also a couple times at Sunday Brooklyn Cyclones games so she could stay and run the bases afterwards.

4:35	Dan Szymborski:

4:36	Don: Wasn’t Tyrone Taylor the first pinch hitter?

4:36	Ben Clemens: Oh dangit he was

4:36	Ben Clemens: I missed that one flipping around the games

4:36	Ben Clemens: Boooo to my fact

4:36	Eel Ffilc: The wind is blowing water from the outfield fountains into the camera

4:37	DDD: For those of you complaining about the KC cameras, it’s 46 degrees with drizzling rain and 55mph wind gusts from the NW.

4:37	Jay Jaffe: Quick, let’s induct Zack Greinke into the Hall of Fame before he gets swept up in a tornado

4:37	Jason: Couldn’t they just….turn them off for a bit?

4:37	Morbo: My out of left field prediction for the year is Tyler O’Neill wins the NL MVP

4:37	Ben Clemens: Excellent left field joke, Mr. The Annihilator

4:37	Guest: How else would we know they’re Royal if they don’t have majestic fountains going?

4:37	Gerald: Jay, Dan, whomever has access to such stats, any way to check on players who chose to go by a different name during their careers and see who was the best after name changes? Mike/Giancarlo, Raul Jr/Adalberto, BJ/Melvin Jr. etc.

4:38	Dan Szymborski: Hmm, I don’t have anything database with something for that

4:38	RTJ: I’m no meteorologist but 55 mph winds is a lot!!

4:38	Jay Jaffe: me neither but it’s probably Stanton given the MVP award

4:38	Ben Clemens: Tyler O’Neill just hit a ball through Hoy Park, jeez

4:38	Dan Szymborski: THE WIND IS BLOWING HARDER THAN A JERED WEAVER FASTBALL

4:38	Meg Rowley: Seems indeed like a lot of wind

4:38	Jay Jaffe: almost harder than a Greinke fastball

4:39	Dan Szymborski: So is that guy Roman or just advertising Roman?

4:39	Guest: So the new CBA allows for advertisements on uniforms, correct? Have we seen any of those yet?

4:39	Jay Jaffe: the helmet decals won’t be coming until the postseason, uniform patches next year

4:40	Jay Jaffe: Just saw something about this, but I suspect the fact that the CBA took so long to hammer out had plenty to do with that

4:40	RTJ: will a 55 mph wind gust stop a grienke eephus pitch before it reaches home?

4:40	Farhandrew Zaidman: Why in the actual hell don’t we have pre-tacked balls yet?!?

4:40	Dan Szymborski: It would involve MLB planning wisely and being transparent

4:40	Morbo: “Tyler O’Neill just hit a ball through Hoy Park, jeez” thats what I’m saying. If he keeps his plate discipline from the end of last year he’s just going to be like a howitzer at the plate

4:40	Luke Hooper: greinke rocking the armpit hand warming technique. A true vet

4:41	Ben Clemens: I know I say that the Pirates should figure out what they have in Hoy Park and Diego Castillo and mention that they’re similar players… but subbing them out for each other in the first inning isn’t great

4:41	Dan Szymborski: I’m watching to see if he smells his hands

4:41	Jay Jaffe: Ke’Bryan Hayes is leaving the game. I don’t believe it. They were checking out his left hand. 7 Apr 2022 what did i miss?

4:41	Ben Clemens: It’s Hayes, not Park

4:41	Mo Vaughn’s Cup: ….and hayes leaves the game with a hand injury

4:41	Meg Rowley: Re: pre-tacked balls, the ones they used in Fall League did feel obviously different – I think the player reaction to them was mixed, though guys seemed to like the ball in the Olympics.

4:41	Guest: He injured his wrist trying to catch the Carlson popup

4:42	Morbo: Ke’Bryan dove on a weird wind driven pop-up and landed on his hand

4:42	Heath Bell Crunch: Fausto Carmona was really good til he changed his name.

4:42	Dan Szymborski: Fauxsto!

4:42	Farhandrew Zaidman: Are the Olympics balls also Rawlings? If not, there’s your answer why MLB isn’t using them…

4:42	Guest: Have you ever heard of big leaguers popping into these chats?

4:43	Meg Rowley: Not sure, but I think the Fall League balls were.

4:43	Dan Szymborski: A player would have to be crazy!

4:43	Ben Clemens: First Pujols at-bat in St. Louis, he is a little teary-eyed which seems like a tough way to hit

4:43	20longyears: Three up three down at bat, three Cards on and a run surrendered + injury to extended star before the pitcher records an out… my Bucs are back, baby

4:44	Dan Szymborski: It might prevent the Pirates from winning the division!~

4:44	Luke Hooper: Nice armpit breakdown on the Royals broadcast, “one of the warmest places to put your fingers”

4:44	Fangraph’s Lurker: If Pablo Sandavol can get caught liking girls’ photos on Instagram during a game, I’m sure that’s got to be a mlb player here right now

4:45	ShakeNBakey: Brewers and Cubs now tied

4:45	Dan Szymborski: I can’t see Shaq now without thinking of his gas money discussion

4:45	Mike Sixel: I hate players getting hurt. Sucks.

4:45	Steven Sousa: I don’t like the projections

4:46	Jay Jaffe: ok folks, i’m going to hand the ball off to the bullpen here. Great to chat with FG readers and colleagues. Enjoy the rest of your Opening Day!

4:46	Dan Szymborski: cya Jay!

4:46	Meg Rowley: Especially when the guy getting hurt is one of the team’s most exciting players who we were hoping to see back to full strength at the plate 🙁

4:46	Steven Sousa: And I’m spelling my name wrong to stay incognito. You’ll never guess who I am

4:47	Morbo: I feel like Grienke could pull off jumping into this chat between innings without any of us knowing

4:47	Dan Szymborski: The souzaphone is a tuba that was assigned to minor league camp.

4:47	Meg Rowley: (it was a goofy tweet, but the guy didn’t make the roster and probably wasn’t having a great week – we’re aren’t always gracious in those moments)

4:47	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: Greinke could be a ghost writer for Fangraphs

4:47	Alcides Escobar’s Mom: So nice my son is still playing major league ball isn’t it, Dan? Celebrating opening day with a nice bowl of chili….without beans per your recommendation.

4:47	Ben Clemens: No one has ever seen me and Greinke in the same place at the same time

4:47	Dan Szymborski: Did you make the chili?

4:48	Big Joe Mufferaw: Is it just me, or is the yankees pitching massively underrated? #1 in Rotation and BP projection WAR. Yet on MLBxm and mlb network, all I hear is how their pitching isnt good enough (AND their D is greatly improved)

4:48	Morbo: “Mike Sixel:I hate players getting hurt. Sucks.” Only solution is to force all players to become cyborgs. And I for one welcome our new cyborg overlords.

4:48	Meg Rowley: Not sure what their specific complaint is but a lotttt of that rotation projection is Cole

4:48	Dan Szymborski: This was supposed to be baseball in 2020.

4:48	Ben Clemens: The complaint is “Meg have you seen the Yankees pitching? I know they all suck, I heard it on drive time radio, Jameson Taillon isn’t a winner”

4:49	Ben Clemens: It’s more nuanced by that but…. like, not a ton

4:49	Alcides Escobar’s Mom: from one of your many recipes you ‘ve given out on your delicious Fangraphs chats..

4:49	Dan Szymborski: Did you enjoy it?

4:49	Meg Rowley: Yeah, that tracks.

4:49	Steven Sousa: Thanks for understanding, Meg.

4:49	Ben Clemens: Having a bunch of pretty okay pitchers behind Gerrit Cole is good even if they aren’t Proven Winning Yankees ™

4:49	Testing if Grienke is here: Chipotle has very reasonable priced guacamole

4:49	Meg Rowley: Agreed there for sure

4:49	Meg Rowley: That was about Yankees pitching

4:49	Ben Clemens: ooh Meg I ambushed you with the timing of releasing that one

4:50	Meg Rowley: don’t have a considered view on Chipotle guac

4:50	Frank Thomas the Tank Engine: I’m Victor Caratini, and I’m using the pitchcom to comment

4:50	Ben Clemens: but just so you guys know: I’m not actually Greinke, which is how I managed not to respond to that

4:50	tz: Dan, if Chili Davis were still active, and the Reds wanted him to be their everyday DH, would you object? Or would he have to change his name to “Bean Meat N Cinammon Stew Davis”???

4:50	JK: Even with the massive advancement of statistical analysis and analytics, how much do you think big leaguers benefit/suffer from looking the part/not looking the part?

4:50	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: what’s with the big strike zones today?

4:51	Ryan: This has next to nothing to do with opening day, but is there any way to export the data from the roster resource offseason tracker

4:51	Dan Szymborski: If I’m not mistaken, ther’es an export .xls button for subscribers

4:51	Ben Clemens: Jim Edmonds just described Albert Pujols as “one of the best right-handed hitters on the planet” and I hope he means like, overall

4:51	Ben Clemens: not currently

4:51	Luke Hooper: Ha! Love the Super Baseball 2020 shoutout, Dan

4:52	Jason: There is an export button. Just checked

4:52	Guest: Someone please make a clever sentence from this: which, with, win, Witt, Whit

4:53	Morbo: Super Baseball 2020 clearly occured in the non-covid timeline

4:53	Guest: In which Witt wins with whit.

4:53

Meg Rowley: I think the place looking the part still impacts players most is before they’re big leaguers – I think we have a better understanding of athleticism, and a better understanding of how guys can change their bodies, but there are still guys who get dismissed out of hand because of some aspect of their physicality.

4:53	Appa Yip Yip: Wow are you guys talking about paying extra for guac when Zack Greinke is on the mound. The disrespect. You can’t let the burrito place win. Zack doesn’t.

4:53	tz: What’s wrong with “best first baseman in NL history” for a Pujols description?

4:54	Ben Clemens: Depends on how you feel about some guys who moonlighted at first late in their careers, but yeah, I think I can see it

4:54	Heath Bell Crunch: Watch What Whit Watches With Witt When We Win!

4:54	Dan Szymborski: You can get a sandwhit at kauffman.

4:55	Morbo: Prediction: Bill DeWitt Jr already has more world series rings than Bobby Witt Jr will acquire in his career

4:55	Dan Szymborski: You didn’t say win. Witt can easily buy some

4:55	mp: Clint Frazier PH double! I hope he can put it together a bit with the Cubs this year

4:55	5 Run Homer: Greatest 1B in NL history depends on what position you think of for Stan Musial, I think

4:56	Dan Szymborski: I think of Musial as an OF

4:56	Ben Clemens: Hank Aaron played 2000 innings of first too

4:56	Ben Clemens: I think of them both as outfielders

4:56	Frank Thomas the Tank Engine: Never get a sandwhit (or sandwich) at Kauffman. The only good food is ice cream.

4:57	Ben Clemens: Turns out, it’s good to have a Gold Glove shortstop at second

4:58	Ben Clemens: Nicky Lopez is good

4:58	Ben Clemens: I saw Nicky Lopez hit a home run in Fall League and I’ve been bought in ever since

4:58	Ben Clemens: Uh…. the homers never came, but he’s still great

4:59	Johnny5Alive: the padres-twins trade kill anyone else’s teams? I owned Robert Suarez in all my leagues 🙁

4:59	Luke Hooper: Suarez could still be in the mix. Especially if Bob Melvin wants to use his new lefty in more unique ways.

4:59	Ryan: I am $25 poorer and now have all of the excel spreadsheets I could ever want.

4:59	Meg Rowley: The site thanks you!

4:59	Brian: how big of a failure is opening day without ANY national coverage?

4:59	Meg Rowley: Not a significant one?

5:00	Farhandrew Zaidman: What percentage of active major leaguers do you think primarily played SS growing up? Related, do you think there’s more of an appetite for massive SS (a la Tatis and Seager) than say 20 years ago?

5:00	Dan Szymborski: a LOT

5:00	Dan Szymborski: hell, kevin mitchell and danny tartabull made it in the minors

5:00	Luke Hooper: Opening day and the Masters overlapping is not ideal for either sport

5:00	Heath Bell Crunch: Margot’s extension mean Kiermaier done in TB?

5:00	tz: Nicky Lopez made the Fangraphs top 30 WAR list for 2021 with just 2 HR. Next lowest within the top 30….Starling Marte with 12 HR.

5:00	Meg Rowley: Red Sox/Yankees was going to be on MLB Network but there was a weather postponement

5:00	Dan Szymborski: I already though double K was done soon

5:01	Meg Rowley: Six weeks ago, I thought we’d be in a lockout still so this is gravy

5:02	Ben Clemens: The Brewers should stop hitting Willson Contreras

5:02	Ben Clemens: Not that they were trying to, but every time a batter gets hit we have to talk about old school baseball and all that crap

5:03	Meg Rowley: and Caratini has to play traffic cop for a bunch of guys he doesn’t know yet lol

5:04	Guest: if 3-2 is a full boat, can we start calling 3-0 a dream boat?

5:04	Dan Szymborski: I’d be in favor

5:04	5 Run Homer: oh what the hell I didn’t know Caratini was in Milwaukee

5:04	Ben Clemens: as of yesterday haha

5:05	Ben Clemens: He’s their Pedro Severino replacement

5:05	Dan Szymborski:

5:05	Vin: Hey guys, something just Happ-ened in the Cubs game

5:05	Dan Szymborski: oit

5:05	Dan Szymborski: it’s called a Happenstance

5:06	RTJ: OK Fine I’ll bite. What is “the Masters”?

5:06	Luke Hooper: Big golf tournament and it starts today. Tiger Woods is back also, so it’s sucking up a lot of media attention.

5:06	Ryan: Does anyone buy Severino’s story about why he popped hot?

5:06	Dan Szymborski: He should get a refund

5:06	Pre/Post Name: Albert Belle is probably the guy who had the best career post name change. (I know I am a half hour behind)

5:07	Doug Lampert: Just got back from a work thing, and the Live Scoreboard still thinks Cubs-Brewers is in the 5th (where it was before my work thing) and that it’s the only game going. My wife’s e-mail from half an hour an hour ago says Wainwright got 3 up 3 down in the Cards opener.

5:07	Meg Rowley: Shall alert the relevant parties

5:07	5 Run Homer: Ian Happ is #1 on my list of “guys who always look amazing when I’m watching”

5:08	Yeah Well Hiura Towel: Okay Fine I’ll bite. What is “the Mariners”?

5:08	Ben Clemens: Don’t agree with the substance of the question, but I like the username

5:08	Luke Hooper: Somehow the camera in Kansas City is getting worse

5:09	Morbo: I just noticed that the knob on Goldschmidt’s bat is thicc like 2+ inches

5:09	Ben Clemens: Very weird bat

5:10	Logan: What is the percent chance that Clint Frazier is like Samson and he lost his powers when the Yankees forced him to shave?

5:10	Dan Szymborski: OK gang, I’m going to head out – had a long drive this morning (and yesterday)

5:10	Ben Clemens: Tyler O’Neill: Strong

5:10	Ben Clemens: Cya later, Dan

5:10	baseballisback: Just want to thank the FanGraphs team for making me a more successful fantasy player and making my life that much more enjoyable!

5:10	Meg Rowley: Logan: higher than 0%

5:11	Meg Rowley: It’s… pretty weird and not great that the Yankees still insist on enforcing their hair policy

5:11	Luke Hooper: It’s very weird

5:11	Ben Clemens: I hate doing the ‘what are announcers saying??’ thing but the Cards guys are talking about how O’Neill needs to stop pulling the ball so much

5:11	Ben Clemens: he just pulled a three-run homer

5:12	Meg Rowley: lol that he seemed to hit pretty hard!

5:12	Ben Clemens: It’s now sunny in KC?

5:12	Ben Clemens: Boy, things change quickly

5:13	Morbo: “It’s… pretty weird and not great that the Yankees still insist on enforcing their hair policy” Also potentially illegal since people could have a beard for religious reasons

5:14	Meg Rowley: Imagine they wouldn’t press the point if that were pointed to as the reason, but it’s bad even when religion isn’t involved!

5:14	Morbo: Meg can you tell Jerry Dipoto thanks for sending us O’Neill

5:14	Meg Rowley: We aren’t acquainted

5:14	Ben Clemens: That trade worked out well for everyone

5:14	Ben Clemens: The Mariners have gotten a lot of good innings out of Gonzales

5:15	Meg Rowley: That was… not a great play from Patrick Wisdom

5:15	Guest: re:bat knob. They call that bat a hockey puck knob. Votto will be using one too.

5:15	Farhandrew Zaidman: Are there any studies on the effect of custom bat handles?(Ex: Mookie has an axe handle, I’m pretty sure someone else went custom this offseason).

5:17	Morbo: Kolten Wong also uses an ax handle bat so

5:17	Meg Rowley: lol it is so windy in KC, my goodness

5:18	Duke of Barrel: The experimental helmet cam of a unicycle rider that is the KC CF camera is a complete failure

5:19	Meg Rowley: The poor camera operator is doing their best but

5:19	Ben Clemens: Yeah that is too much wind!

5:20	Finnegan’s Seam-shifted Wake: Bryant had an axe bat at one point as well: “”I love the Axe Bat,” Anthony Iapoce said. “It aligns your knuckles. Forces your knuckles to be aligned and creates the right angle of the barrel above the head.””

5:20	Meg Rowley: Tell us the truth, do you sell Axe Bats?

5:20	Doug Lampert: I can’t imagine how you’d study the effect of custom bat handles, convince 20 MLB players to swap from standard to ax on alternating years for 4 years or something?

5:20	Jacques Pederson: Derrick Goold wrote a nice piece on Goldschmitt’s new bat. But I think the axe handle was more for ergonomics while the puck is for weight distribution.

5:21	Eel Ffilc: Do you game times get longer as the season progresses?

5:21	Meg Rowley: My instinct would be to say they’re longerish at the start when starters aren’t as stretched out, then dip, then go up slightly at the end, though probably less dramatically now that rosters only expand to 28?

5:22	Lou Gehrig: Best 1B ever? Hold my beer.

5:22	Ben Clemens: Best NL first baseman

5:23	Luke Hooper: finally someone struggled with the wind

5:24	Wireless Joe Jackson: A mid inning pitching change and two mound visits in the same half inning. Painful.

5:24	Ben Clemens: I watch a lot of NL Central games. Molina and Contreras are two of the worst offenders of the “he’s just going out there to talk”

5:25	Eel Ffilc: They gave Dozier a double, should that be a double?

5:25	Luke Hooper: I just can’t imagine how that’s not an error.

5:26	Finnegan’s Seam-shifted Wake: Doesn’t help that the Cubs also aren’t planning on using the pitchcom devices (to start at least)

5:26	Ben Clemens: I don’t exactly understand their stated reasoning, that their pitchers were getting crossed up too much

5:26	Ben Clemens: Doesn’t it literally say the name of the pitch in your ear?

5:26	Ben Clemens: That is confusing!

5:27	Logan: Maybe the Pirates should send Newman down to work on his defense, a shame they don’t have another SS

5:27	Luke Hooper: And they said they need more practice. Like they just left the practice portion of the calendar.

5:29	Duke of Barrel: Maybe it whispers it in a super seductive way, and when it called for a “knuckler” or a “slider”, it kept throwing them off their game.

5:29	Doug Lampert: Has Newman missed more than one play yet?

5:29	Meg Rowley: Maybe they don’t like the Siri voice they picked

5:30	Finnegan’s Seam-shifted Wake: Maybe they were using code words

5:30	Ben Clemens: I don’t think so, but the spirit of the comment is something I agree with so I’m going with it

5:30	Morbo: Maybe Wilson Contreras is just a button masher and clicks like 4 buttons?

5:30	Ben Clemens: I would love that if it was a video game controller and he was trying to do combos

5:31	Vin: Ben I think that’s how you call for a slurve

5:32	SJ: Jon Daniels was doing a radio interview today and said that each team records their own audio outputs for the device. Maybe the Cubs just hated the voice of the intern who got roped into doing it.

5:32	Duke of Barrel: Conteras kept entering the konami code

5:32	Morbo: How does it work with darvish and his 18 pitches?

5:32	Meg Rowley: You can do custom stuff

5:33	Duke of Barrel: how does fingers work with darvish’s 18 pitches?

5:34	Doug Lampert: Live scoreboard has now updated to show the cubs at 3-3 in the 7th, MLB has it 4-5 in the eighth. So better, but not fixed yet.

5:34	Meg Rowley: Yeah, David’s looking at it

5:36	Morbo: There are 120 permutations of 5 objects

5:37	Meg Rowley: They probably tilt it toward his most common ones and then would use signals for the rest

5:37	5 Run Homer: I never realized how small David Robertson is

5:37	Meg Rowley: Not a tall guy!

5:37	Fish: David should only be working on closing this game

5:37	Ben Clemens: He’s a proficient multi-tasker

5:37	Rich Minford: Just signed up today. Enjoying the banter and all other perks on Fangraphs. Well worth escaping the fan club morons for $25.

5:38	Farhandrew Zaidman: (For the math nerds) 5! = 120

5:38	Ben Clemens: I don’t think that’s how they actually call Darvish, but I mean, I think PitchCom could come up with something

5:39	Meg Rowley: Remember when the broadcast booth spent half the World Series confusing Amed and Eddie Rosario?

5:40	Don: Random comment.Brandon Belt seems to be one of the most underrated players. He’s had a fine career but seems to catch a lot of flak.

5:40	Luke Hooper: He certainly has looked like one of the best hitters in the game the last couple years, but it’s not a massive sample of being at that level thanks to some untimely injuries.

5:41	Luke Hooper: the humidor in SF could help even more

5:42	RTJ: Cubs become leaders in the clubhouse (is that a Masters joke?)

5:43	Ben Clemens: To the guest who was worried about Bieber’s velo

5:43	Ben Clemens: I’m more worried now

5:43	Ben Clemens: particularly now that he’s out

5:43	Ben Clemens: Only going 4 2/3 is kinda scary?

5:44	Ben Clemens: I missed the at-bat preceding the one where he was removed

5:44	Ben Clemens: But the early pitch data doesn’t look great

5:44	Eel Ffilc: He was at a 70ish pitch limit

5:44	Ben Clemens: That explains that!

5:44	Luke Hooper: His slider looked great though.

5:44	Ben Clemens: STill worried about the velo but it’s cold there so I’ll give him a pass

5:44	Ben Clemens: Yeah the slider looked sharp

5:44	Ben Clemens: And Luke, I agree, I think he’s even more direct now

5:45	Ben Clemens: I would not be worried by his results, but always worth keeping an eye on velo early in the season

5:46	Random: How low was the velo today? Isn’t his velo always low?

5:46	Ben Clemens: He averaged 90.6, down 2.2mph from last year

5:46	Greg: Guesses on the next time the cubs have the best record in baseball?

5:47	Meg Rowley: Best record? At least five?

5:47	Guest: Don’t worry Brewers fans; everyone always says the games count for more in September, so I assume a loss in April to a division rival can’t come back to bite you.

5:47	Meg Rowley: It’s literally both Opening Day and one game.

5:47	Ben Clemens: Tomorrow is a good guess

5:47	Ben Clemens: for next time

5:47	Meg Rowley: hardy har har

5:48	Farhandrew Zaidman: Brandon Belt’s career numbers are legitimately dragged down by his awful splits against Kershaw. Like, truly heinous.

5:48	Luke Hooper: 4 / 62 with 30 Ks

5:48	Luke Hooper: but 1 double!

5:49	Ben Clemens: Jim Edmonds’s theory: He hated having a good spring

5:49	Ben Clemens: If you have a bad spring but feel good about yourself, you can build on that momentum

5:49	Ben Clemens: If you have a good spring, where are you gonna go?

5:49	Meg Rowley: Is this booth… always like this?

5:49	Ben Clemens: I like Edmonds in small doses, I think that Pujols coming back has brought out some of his worse impulses though

5:49	Meg Rowley: Yeah, I could see how that would be true

5:50	Luke Hooper: Witt is up and Triston McKenzie is in

5:50	Luke Hooper: and there is trash on the field

5:51	Reds Fan: Will I ever get to follow baseball when Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina are not active?

5:51	Ben Clemens: I wouldn’t be shocked if Wainwright came back for ’23, but if you can stick it out one more year, Molina has already announced that he’s retiring

5:51	Jacques Pederson: Jim Edmonds should be in the hall of fame and all player hall of famers should be banned from commentating

5:51	Meg Rowley: Sometimes they’re good! I like Blowers on the M’s broadcast… they just need to be willing to meet the game where it is now.

5:52	Ben Clemens: Blowers is good. The Mets guys are great (with a huge assist from Gary Cohen steering them)

5:52	Ben Clemens: David Cone is great!

5:52	Meg Rowley: Being a baseball player is such a weird job, and I appreciate hearing about how it hits you as a human, but also, don’t be a crank

5:52	Meg Rowley: Agreed re: the Mets guys

5:52	5 Run Homer: I thought McKenzie was a starter??

5:52	Luke Hooper: I believe they don’t need a 5th starter for a while, so he’s getting some work.

5:53	John: Jim Deshaies is great

5:54	Rich Minford: The Giants booth is the best. Lot’s of dry humor and silence.

5:54	Ben Clemens: In my opinion, a lot of baseball booths are great

5:54	Meg Rowley: Yeah, the bad ones stand out

5:54	Ben Clemens: I try to listen to everyone, and things are pretty good overall

5:55	Meg Rowley: There are a lot reasons I’m not a professional baseball player, but an inability to do my job after fouling a baseball off my body is near the top.

5:55	Luke Hooper: it always misses the shin guard

5:56	Amed Rosieodonnel: My casual baseball fan mom thought the Red Sox catcher was Saul Tallamachia, and their OF wan Ben Intndi. No names on jerseys at home, so she just went by what they were called by me.

5:56	Meg Rowley: Would simply be dust if my instep had just suffered like Benintendi’s did

5:56	Ben Clemens: Ben Intendi, you mean

5:56	Ben Clemens: Yeah if I stub my toe I can’t do anything athletic for a half hour

5:57	Meg Rowley: Or when they lay out in the outfield for a ball? Forget it, I’d be a ghost.

5:59	Guest: Shouldn’t the Mets just play Marte in center?

6:00	Ben Clemens: I… it’s weird

6:00	Ben Clemens: I get that they’re gonna try Nimmo there but Mark Canha over Marte is quite confusing

6:00	Ben Clemens: Marte has been hurt, so I understand wanting to keep him healthy

6:01	Ben Clemens: Maybe they’re just not going to play him there until he tells them he’s 100%

6:01	Luke Hooper: canha is playing center for them?

6:01	Ben Clemens: Today he is, Nimmo was a late scratch

6:01	Ben Clemens: Neck injury + lefty, I think

6:01	Guest: I mean even over Nimmo, every year the talk was they needed a true centerfielder.

6:02	Ben Clemens: When they signed Marte I thought he’d play center, for sure

6:02	RTJ: Why is it that the Padres have Abrams up but he’s just going to platoon with Kim even with FTJ hurt?

6:03	Luke Hooper: yea he’s still at worst an average center fielder

6:03	Luke Hooper: Yea the Abrams thing is quite weird. Especially with his injury last year. He needs to be playing every day.

6:04	Farhandrew Zaidman: Does Cody Bellinger have negative trade value right now? I don’t see the Dodgers dealing him anytime soon but…could they even? lol

6:05	Ben Clemens: It has to be close to zero, sadly

6:05	Ben Clemens: Could rebound, obviously

6:05	Ben Clemens: But it would be pretty crazy to try a trade for a hitter who has looked so bad recently and is making what he’s making

6:06	Random: Fantasy noob who needs clarification on why RP in the bench spots is bad strategy? Especially in APP, HLD and SVs leagues? Can I not swap out elite 7th, 8th inning guys day to day to compile end of season statlines similar to the league’s best SPs?

6:06	Luke Hooper: If holds are counted then these guys are super valuable. But they need to be in your lineup because in general, you don’t know when they are throwing, unlike starters.

6:07	John: I’d imagine the dodgers are one of very few teams who would’ve tendered bellinger a contract this past offseason. Hope he bounces back but 16mil is a lot to bet on that.

6:08	Meg Rowley: (hey all, have to dip out for a little bit but will be back shortly)

6:09

Logan: Re: fouling a ball off yourself, this is why I can’t imagine wanting to be an umpire. At some point in every game, the crowd hates you. If you’re behind the plate, you’re somewhat likely to take a ricocheted pitch off a body part at some point. And at best, you make about half the major league minimum

6:09	Ben Clemens: I was a college slow pitch softball umpire and I didn’t like how much I got yelled at

6:09	Ben Clemens: I can only imagine what it’s like for actual umpires

6:09	Luke Hooper: even the second base ump just took a ball off the knee

6:10	Luke Hooper: I umped little league for years. Hilariously intense coaches and parents.

6:10	Amaginations: I am surprised Bellinger was tendered. He not only needed to bounce back, but then you have to bet he does it twice. If he doubles his output, and becomes league average bat this year, then what? You paying him $20M in 23 for that?

6:10	Ben Clemens: So, that’s a good point

6:10	Ben Clemens: The counterpoint would be, if he’s terrible again thsi year, they’re definitely going to non-tender him

6:10	Ben Clemens: and he was a 7-win player three years ago

6:10	Ben Clemens: and they have money

6:11	Ben Clemens: so why not see if he bounces back?

6:11	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: Sources: Pirates’ Ke’Bryan Hayes left the game with cramping in his left thumb/forearm, “Very minor,” one source said. 7 Apr 2022

6:11	Ben Clemens: Thank goodness

6:11	Luke Hooper: what a great update!

6:12	Smiling Politely: Orel Hershiser is an ex-player/multiple AS who bridges the “old” and “new” aspects well (and has a genuine rapport with the also-excellent Joe Davis)

6:12	Ben Clemens: Another good one

6:12	Ben Clemens: and like you said, Joe Davis brings out the best in him I think

6:12	Ben Clemens: Davis is great

6:13	NashvilleSounds: Maybe Hayes had to sign a cartoonishly big check along with his contract and his hand just got tired?

6:13	Ben Clemens: Do you think you need a cartoonishly big signature on those novelty checks?

6:13	Ben Clemens: Someone should investigate this

6:15	Morbo: “Do you think you need a cartoonishly big signature on those novelty checks?” I fell like cartoonishly small is better

6:16	Farhandrew Zaidman: I umped from age 14-16 and I still shudder when I think of the abuse that parents hurled at me. About their 8 year olds.

6:16	John Smoltz: There’s something to be said about color guys constantly complaining about shifts, celebrations, hitting the ball the other way, and playing the game the right way though. Baseball was much more compelling in the 90s.

6:16	Ben Clemens: And people wonder whether we have major leaguers in the chat

6:17	Guest: Given Bellinger’s struggles, are you concerned about the Dodgers’ outfield depth? What OFer might we see traded at the deadline if they decide they need help?

6:18	Luke Hooper: KC broadcast not really picking up the mic on God Bless America.

6:18	Ben Clemens: I guess I am a little bit? I don’t think they’re overly concerned, given that they traded Pollock, so maybe they thikn they can just soak up whatever they need by moving Lux and Taylor if necessary

6:19	Logan: Need to go walk my dog, which of the 4 teams playing right now has the best radio team?

6:19	Ben Clemens: FG radio crowdsource says Guardians

6:19	Ben Clemens: Here’s a link if you feel like perusing them

6:19	Ben Clemens: Not a project we do frequently, but I like updating it every so often

6:20	JJ: Anybody else here remember Colby Rasmus’ dad constantly showing up on various forums?

6:21	Ben Clemens: He forced a trade away from St. Louis more or less!

6:21	Ben Clemens: Rasmus’s dad was a real character

6:22	Ben Clemens: Every time I watch McKenzie pitch I’m worried about him

6:22	Ben Clemens: I just don’t understand how his body holds up to the strain

6:22	Ben Clemens: You don’t see a lot of Paul Sporer body types in the major leagues

6:23	Luke Hooper: That’s how I feel watching Chet Holmgren play basketball

6:23	Ben Clemens: Ah yes, the classic Mike Matheny ill-advised sac bunt

6:23	Ben Clemens: Royals fans, I feel you on this one

6:24	Morbo: My understanding was that TLR wanted Rasmus gone. Either way trading Colby Rasmus for a world series championship has to be one of the greatest trades of the 21st century

6:24	Ben Clemens: He did… in large part b/c of Rasmus’s dad I’ve heard

6:25	Kevin Ray: Just checking back into baseball after the offseason. Is TLR still a manager?

6:26	Arthur Himmel: Watching the Royals broadcast and they basically just had the exchange of “Why bunt? You might say. Well the hitters suck and McKenzie is good.”

6:26	Ben Clemens: Haha yes I’m listening to that too

6:26	Ben Clemens: Seems… I would not do that, but who am I to judge?

6:27	Ben Clemens: Dozier REALLY wanted to give that out away

6:27	JJ: McKenzie reminds me how I felt watching Yordano Ventura.

6:27	Ben Clemens: Very similar ‘his arm is going to fly off’ vibes

6:28	Guest: Why the heck is this a travel day for Dodgers? Weird scheduling.

6:28	Ben Clemens: It’s a side effect of redoing the schedule on the fly

6:28	Ben Clemens: Definitely very strange though

6:28	Ben Clemens: It’s a really light opening day

6:29	Zwak: How would you grade Air Bud’s tools during his prime?

6:29	Luke Hooper: Yea it’s a bummer. Having everybody play on opening day is a blast

6:29	Luke Hooper: 80 grade bite strength

6:30	Morbo: Airbud hit tool 20. Analysis: he has no thumbs and can’t hold a bat

6:30	Ben Clemens: 80 run, 70 field, 40 power, somehow 60 hit, 80 fetch, 80 good boy

6:30	Ben Clemens: true five tool player

6:30	Ben Clemens: Meg, have you watched Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch?

6:30	Ben Clemens: he makes a surprising amount of contact

6:31	Ben Clemens: He has the bat in his mouth like a stick

6:31	Random: Is there anyone left on planet earth who hasn’t seen Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch?

6:32	Luke Hooper: Is it a dog movie or a baseball movie

6:32	JJ: Air Bud’s dewclaw could get him some mad RPM though

6:33	Guest: It is a Christmas movie.

6:33	Morbo: I feel like a tail bat would have been more fun

6:34	Ben Clemens: Realistically, if you could teach a dog to pinch run, they would be uncatchable

6:34	Ben Clemens: But… you can’t

6:34	Ben Clemens: that’s the one part of the movie I buy, that he’d be a demon on the basepaths

6:34	Morbo: Imagine the bat flips from his tail when you tell him he’s a good boy

6:34	Ben Clemens: And as I mentioned, he has an 80 good boy tool, so that would be often

6:34	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: Never seen a single airbud movie

6:34	Ben Clemens: I mean…. you can get the idea

6:34	Ben Clemens: the dog is good at sports

6:35	Luke Hooper: I feel like you could train them to run the bases

6:35	Luke Hooper: They can run obstacle courses, and be bat boys. Why not steal second.

6:36	Ben Clemens: The first baseman could just give them a head scratch

6:36	Ben Clemens: and then subtly tag them out

6:36	Ben Clemens: It would never work

6:37	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: we have the Ohtani rule, why not an Airbud rule? No head scratches for dogs

6:37	Didace: My dogs do competition retrieving. I have no doubt they would be the best base runners in history.

6:37	Luke Hooper: meanwhile, the royals are back to bunting

6:37	Ben Clemens: OKay, there’s baseball on

6:38	Ben Clemens: this is a lot of bunting

6:38	Farhandrew Zaidman: Over/under 0.5 pitchers not named Shohei Ohtani who utilizes the Ohtani Rule this year?

6:38	JJ: I mean, we’re still in Covid protocol. No head scratching of your opponent

6:38	Ben Clemens: I don’t know who it will be, but Greinke? Bumgarner? Lorenzen?

6:38	Ben Clemens: It’ll happen

6:39	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: How the heck is McKenzie so successful with a 92-93mph fastball?

6:39	Ben Clemens: It’s deceptive

6:40	Ben Clemens: Kinda sneaky rise, plays off of his other pitches well

6:40	Ben Clemens: And I think his delivery adds to it

6:40	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: *nvm, just saw that breaking ball

6:40	Ben Clemens: haha and yes that

6:41	Luke Hooper: that was ripped

6:41	Ben Clemens: I’ll tell you this, though; 85 high center cut is not great

6:41	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: wow! That pitch was at eye level

6:42	RTJ: now that was a classic Fangraphs Chat Jinx on McKenzie

6:42	Ben Clemens: I called out Corbin Burnes’s great control before the game today and he walked the first hitter he faced

6:42	Ben Clemens: I’m on fire right now

6:43	JJ: Bobby Witt Jr should be Robert Witt the second, if he’s going to be a Royal.

6:43	Ben Clemens: The discussion of this bunt is going to be about how good it was, but uh

6:43	Luke Hooper: where were you when Bobby Witt Jr scored his first major league run?

6:44	Sgt. Pepper: What’s the difference between ZiPS and ZiPS DC?

6:44	Ben Clemens: DC uses Roster Resource playing time

6:45	Thomas: ZiPS gets representation in the Senate, ZiPS, DC does not

6:46	Airbad: Has McKenzie always thrown low 90s?

6:46	Luke Hooper: this is about where he always is.

6:47	Ryne Sandwich: How much leash will Jeremy Peña get before Leon is called up?

6:47	Ben Clemens: A lot is my guess

6:47	Ben Clemens: Unless Leon is just destroying the minors and forces his way up

6:48	Meg Rowley: (Hi I am returned, sorry, sorry, sorry)

6:49	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: Who is this Leon of which ye speak?

6:49	Luke Hooper: Barlow staying in for the 6 out save

6:50	Ben Clemens: Tired: knowing players

6:50	Ben Clemens: Wired: Saying that a player is good b/c Terry Francona saw enough to start him

6:50	Joel: What if Kelenic turns out to be a Benintendi comp. Is that disappointing or fine?

6:51	Ben Clemens: I’d say disappointing

6:51	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: HOLY leg kick Kwan!

6:51	Meg Rowley: That did not look comfortable for Salvy

6:52	Thomas: Benintendi himself ended up being a bit disappointing, no?

6:52	Ben Clemens: Yeah, exactly

6:52	Ben Clemens: If he turns into what we thought Benintendi would be, that’s pretty good

6:52	Ben Clemens: but he has tailed off after a good first few years

6:53	Luke Hooper: alright both the rooks got hits!

6:53	Meg Rowley: Prepared to be very hyped about Kwan

6:53	Ben Clemens: Yeah, I’m very excited for Kwan

6:54	Six Ten: Rex Hudler is very much in midseason form

6:55	Meg Rowley: The mid flight adjustment to that breaking ball the pitch before the fastball he hit was neat

6:56	criticalfocus: Kind of wild how many moves the Twins made, and Joe Ryan is their opening day starter.

6:56	Ben Clemens: Joe Ryan is good!

6:56	Meg Rowley: Joe Ryan is good!

6:56	Ben Clemens: but he’s not their best pitcher, I don’t think

6:57	Ben Clemens: Look, Tylor Megill is starting for a team with Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, and Carlos Carrasco

6:57	Meg Rowley: baseball baseballs

6:58	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: Myles Straw doesn’t exactly strike fear in my heart if I’m KC here.

6:59	John: I had missed home fans booing every close ball their team throws

6:59	Ben Clemens: Yeah, Cleveland’s lineup is, ah, not complete

7:00	Bork: Bad. You’re allowed to say bad.

7:00	Ben Clemens: It has some good players

7:00	Ben Clemens: It has several very good players

7:00	Meg Rowley: some parts of it are good

7:00	Meg Rowley: but that goodness is vulnerable

7:00	Six Ten: Thats a great iffy called third strike to end it, perfect, no notes.

7:01	Royals are undefeated after one game: Just saying.

7:01	Ben Clemens: Cubs and Royals

7:01	Ben Clemens: There’s your 2022 World Series

7:01	PB&Js: The KwanBaseMachine can’t be stopped. That + the Ramirez signing + the name change have things looking up!

7:01	Meg Rowley: Just an FYI that we’re going to wrap up when this Pittsburgh/St. Louis game wraps

7:02	Fangraph’s Lurker: over or under 3 years into his contract that the Guardians trade Ramirez?

7:02	Ben Clemens: as in, I think they won’t trade him

7:02	Ben Clemens: you don’t extend the guy and then trade him, at least I don’ think

7:03	Guest: Angels batting Matt Duffy cleanup, another .500 season

7:04	Ben Clemens: You guys are pretty confident that a journeyman is going to have the first .500 season in MLB history

7:03	Meg Rowley: A .500 season would be a step up

7:04	JJ: Anyone watching the STL game. MLB has Genesis Cabrera throwing a 93.9MPH changeup then a 93.9MPH 4-seamer?

7:04	Ben Clemens: It’s not wrong

7:04	Guest: Ramirez kinda lines up timewise with their pipeline right? So by end of his deal, prospects would start being contributing players in Majors? Whats the point in getting rid of him

7:04	Meg Rowley: Generally in favor of keeping one of the better players in baseball.

7:05	Meg Rowley: But yeah, they have prospects coming. They’ll always be constrained by the payroll, not the dev.

7:05	JJ: Thanks Ben, wish he would throw strikes. Opening day adrenaline I hope

7:05	Ben Clemens: That and the velo drop are both worrisome

7:06	Ben Clemens: It’s very strange to see the changeup not really down but the fastball way down

7:06	Jordan: Everyone has prospects coming, righ?

7:06	Meg Rowley: Definitely not

7:06	Gerald: They going to extend Judge, re-sign after season, or let him go?

7:06	Meg Rowley: I’ll say re-sign after the season

7:07	Jordan: You must also know the winning powerball numbers 4 years from now

7:07	Ben Clemens: 13, 15, 21, 25, and your powerball, 53

7:07	Meg Rowley: They have young players, but not every system is good and most aren’t as good at dev as Cleveland

7:08	Kvn: The White Sox def do not have prospects coming up.

7:08	Jordan: you’re 1 number short ben

7:08	Meg Rowley: But for a good reason! A lot of good ones graduated and are playing well for the big league club.

7:08	Jordan: their record recently does not backup your claims and neither does their world series drought

7:09	Meg Rowley: As I said, the spending (or lack thereof) holds them back pretty meaningfully.

7:10	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: Woah! Bryan Reynolds has at least a 60 grade mustache!

7:10	Ben Clemens: we’re just handing out plus mustache grades now, huh?

7:10	Meg Rowley: He could be on Chips

7:10	Luke Hooper: come on, that’s a good stache

7:11	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: That’s a legit stache

7:11	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: Nearly Mario level

7:11	Eel Ffilc: That’s highway patrol quality

7:11	Ben Clemens: it’s good, but can it stand the test of time?

7:11	Ben Clemens: I mean, fine, it’s good

7:12	Farhandrew Zaidman: The current MLB player with the most 60+ grade tools is….?

7:12	Luke Hooper: Isn’t this kind of Bryan reynolds??

7:12	Ben Clemens: he has several sets worth, though, so it’s kinda unfair

7:12	Luke Hooper: that’s a good point.

7:13	Ben Clemens: I don’t know how many 6’s Reynolds has

7:13	Ben Clemens: I don’t think he has anything worse than a 5 though

7:13	Farhandrew Zaidman: Ohtani is cheating, dude! Good answer though.

7:14	Kvn: The Current MLB player with the most 30 grade tools?

7:14	Meg Rowley: Probably a catcher?

7:15	Meg Rowley: can imagine a 30 runner and a close to 30 bat

7:16	Vin: Not a current player but a recent one, Chris Carter basically had power and nothing else

7:16	Meg Rowley: But a good receiver who pitchers like throwing to… maybe Stephen Vogt?

7:16	Meg Rowley: Oh look at you, Tommy!

7:17	Matt: Meg, are these Baseball Zen “commericals” on MLB.tv a concession to you talking about the highlights guitar riff on Effectively Wild?

7:17	Meg Rowley: I don’t know if I’ve seen that one yet?

7:17	RTJ: i’m starting to think the Pirates might be in trouble this season

7:17	Luke Hooper: Seth Beer is sitting at 35 hit, 20 speed, 20 field on THE BOARD

7:18	Guest: Astros batting their best hitter 6th

7:18	Ben Clemens: Gonna be honest; that’s strange

7:19	Luke Hooper: I thought Correa being gone would change that, but him still being 6 is nutty.

7:19	Meg Rowley: The ump reviews being announced is great

7:21	Joel: Agree, umps being mic’d up shouldn’t be waaaay better….but it is?

7:21	Meg Rowley: It’s great for the folks in the ballpark who don’t have the benefit of a booth, and even for folks at home on more obscure calls.

7:22	Guest: Is there a legit 20 field guy playing now?

7:22	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: Yordan Alvarez is batting 6th?

7:22	Ben Clemens: I mean, he’s probably their best hitter

7:22	Ben Clemens: But Tucker is batting 6th

7:22	Ben Clemens: which is not good

7:22	Luke Hooper: Fletcher’s changeup is gnarly!

7:22	Eno Sarris’ Sandwhich Induced Nightmares: Yeah, I know. Ppl just keep forgetting Alvarez flat out rakes

7:23	Ben Clemens: Every time I submit an article about Alvarez it overuses ‘underrated’

7:23	Meg Rowley: which, he won ROY! wild!

7:23	Ben Clemens: People don’t rate good-hit DH’s well enough I don’t think

7:24	Farhandrew Zaidman: Time machine me please back to that Josh Fields for Yordan trade.

7:24	Farhandrew Zaidman: There’s no guarantee Yordan turns into Yordan on the Dodgers, but WOOF can you imagine?

7:24	Ben Clemens: ‘oh!’ on a soft liner to left field

7:25	Meg Rowley: Meg: we’ll be done chatting when this game ends Cardinals: lol

7:25	Ben Clemens: he is DYING to see this first home run

7:25	Guest: Alvarez feels like he has a Vladdy level season in him, so numbers last year seem even a little underwhelming

7:26	Ben Clemens: Yeah, I thikn some of it is that he hits a “quiet” 140 wRC+

7:26	Meg Rowley: If folks are looking for something to watch as they wait for the later games to start, Arkansas/Florida is the bottom of the 5th.

7:29	Luke Hooper: Even Edmonds reacting to that play was crazy.

7:29	MKS: “Soft” liner for Pujols at 106.1 mph… 🙂

7:29	Ben Clemens: Oh wow looked way softer off the bat

7:29	5 Run Homer: Why on Earth are the Cardinals trying to make Jordan Hicks a starter? Of all the relievers to try that with, he seems like one of the worst options

7:30	Ben Clemens: He was a starter in the minors, but I’m kind of skeptical that it will work

7:30	5 Run Homer: Reminds me of that weird year when the Reds tried Chapman in the rotation

7:30	Ben Clemens: Yeah…. similar!

7:31	Ben Clemens: I think it is probably a bad idea with Hicks, but they’re pretty good at pitching development so I guess we’ll see

7:31	Luke Hooper: I feel like a more consistent and predictable workload could benefit someone like him with arm injuries

7:32	Ben Clemens: That makes sense

7:32	Ben Clemens: I’m just curious what his pitch mix looks like when he throws 97 instead of 102

7:32	Guest: FYI: Seiya Suzuki is not in the Auction Calculator

7:32	Ben Clemens: There are a lot of Seiya-related oddities that should clear up when his first major league stats are in the books as of tomorrow

7:33	Ben Clemens: I’m mostly certain this will disappear

7:33	Ben Clemens: If it does not, we will alert the proper authorities

7:34	Luke Hooper: hmmm no more baseball

7:34	Meg Rowley: There’s college baseball!

7:34	Meg Rowley: But there won’t be a chat for that.

7:34	Meg Rowley: Thanks so much for hanging out, everyone!

7:34	RTJ: Thanks all for hanging out on opening day!

7:34	5 Run Homer: what am I supposed to do until 6 o’clock now

7:34	Meg Rowley: and happy Opening Day!

7:34	Luke Hooper: Later everyone! May all of your teams win

7:35	Ben Clemens: Goodbye, 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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