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Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 6/23/17
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Jeff Sullivan
9:05
Hello friends
Welcome to Friday baseball chat
Jack
9:06
Freddie Freeman at 3B can't work, right?
Jeff Sullivan
9:06
Sure it can. Maybe not super well, but the Braves' 3B alternatives right now suck. Adams is better than all of them, so, might as well give this a try
9:07
Not going to be permanent. I imagine, longest-case scenario, Freeman plays third through the end of this year, and then Adams or someone goes away in the winter. But I like this more than I don't
Bob
9:07
Expectations for rodon when he returns? What's his career ceiling? Thx!
Jeff Sullivan
9:07
I don't see any reason yet to change away from my ceiling comp of Francisco Liriano. Rodon isn't that good yet, but it's within his reach
AC
9:08
Aside from J.D., who are the Tigers most likely to move when they inevitably decide to sell?
Jeff Sullivan
9:09
Guys like Avila and the two Wilsons would be dangled as helpful role players
Yes
9:09
Is Cody Bellinger real?
Jeff Sullivan
9:10
He's real in that the computer simulation in which we exist is real, and so so are all of the things being simulated
Camp
9:10
Let's call a spade a spade - Joe Maddon is overrated. Anyone could've managed that loaded Cubs team last year and they were lucky to win after he was badly out managed by Francona in the World Series. His lineups are stupid, not "creative", and his in-game managing is mediocre at best. Why is this guy so highly regarded?
Jeff Sullivan
9:10
Players love playing for him
That's the whole thing
9:11
I mean, he's accessible, and different, and he makes for a good story and everything, but at the end of the day, his responsibility is to be a leader. He has an established track record of fostering a strong and united club environment, and that's irreplaceable
Bob
9:11
Archer or carmar's career? Who's ends up better?
Jeff Sullivan
9:12
CarMar? We're doing CarMar?
9:13
Like them both, and Martinez has the advantage of being considerably younger. Archer has the advantage of being better right now. Forced to pick, I guess I'd have to worry about Archer's sky-high slider right. Might make him that much more likely to break down
Jack
9:15
Any thoughts on Jacob Faria? Pretty darn impressive start to his big-league career
Jeff Sullivan
9:16
Hey, look, another young Rays starting pitcher with a high rising four-seam fastball!
He's been tough to hit against advanced competition. Doesn't have much in the way of a platoon split. Will be held back for now by come-and-go command, so he's not exactly a workhorse, but there's a lot to like here already
LegallyEagle
9:17
Since the Tigers have such terrible pitch framing, is there any educated guess as to how much Verlander would improve if he were traded to a team like the Dodgers?
Jeff Sullivan
9:18
Verlander got decent catching support even just last year. McCann rated as a better receiver then. And Verlander was terrific. Which is not to suggest that everything he has going on in 2017 is the fault of his own backstops
9:19
Checking some numbers real quick...
9:22
According to what I can find at Baseball Prospectus, it's not framing that's dragging Verlander down. He's been received somewhere in the vicinity of average this season
He'd be better, of course, as a Dodger, just because of the support, but a guy like Verlander isn't someone who needs a good catcher in order to succeed
It would be more striking to, say, put Dallas Keuchel on the Tigers and then see what happens
Batflips for BB
9:23
If we are to believe that two-way players are possible (a big if), what particular positions do you think would be the most conducive to being part-time pitchers? Catchers, because they spend the most time thinking about pitching of any position?
Jeff Sullivan
9:23
I would've believed that at one point, but then I watched Miguel Olivo every day and I realized that catchers sometimes don't seem to know shit about shit
9:24
Inclined to think shortstops, just because they're the best athletes, and they tend to have the best arms
CamdenWarehouse
9:25
Very unimportant question for you as a writer: I've heard you use, more than once each, cyclical and prideful rather than cyclic and proud.  Is there a reason to go with the word with more letters?
Jeff Sullivan
9:25
The answer is usually that I'm just a poor and untrained writer trying to write fast
But every so often the longer word does have a way of sounding better within a specific sentence's construct. It's always important to keep in mind how a sentence sounds within the head of a reader
Dan
9:26
Who are the mid-level SP available at the deadline? Everyone talks about Quintana or Archer, but what if the Cubs don't want to give up Eloy. Is Vargas mid-level? I don't think...I don't think he's very good.
Jeff Sullivan
9:26
He's not very good, and besides that, now it doesn't look like the Royals are going to want to sell anyway
9:28
Cubs could, in theory, go back to the Richard or Cahill wells. Jaime Garcia's not terrible.
Ross
9:29
Why are the Rockies getting so much more attention than the Diamondbacks? Don't get me wrong, the Rockies should be getting lots of attention, but the DBacks are tied with them in the standings and their success might be even more surprising than Colorado's. The Rockies were a popular dark horse pick coming into the season. Everyone thought Arizona was a mess whose best-case scenario was .500ish.
Jeff Sullivan
9:29
Are they? Do we even know that to be true?
I know, at least on FG, the Rockies have gotten a good amount of coverage lately, but just off the top of my head, as far as the Diamondbacks go, we've had content on Goldschmidt, and the baserunning, and Godley, and Bradley, and Ray...
9:30
Plenty of material to go around. Plenty of time left to write
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