JotCast | Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 8/19/16

Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 8/19/16

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Geoff

10:27

Does Brad Miller have a future as a corner infielder? He's looked brutal at SS, but his power this year seems to be real. (Also, bad platoon splits...)

Jeff Sullivan

10:28

Can't really see him at third since his arm chased him away from short. He can handle first but he's a better athlete than that. Gotta figure he moves around

2-D

10:28

Does Terry Collins deserve to be fired?

Jeff Sullivan

10:28

Not for anything we know publicly

The Mets have been devastated by injuries and horrible offensive timing. Don't think that's on Collins

Tony

10:28

Should the Mariners try and see if Edgar can fix Gomez?

Jeff Sullivan

10:28

Probably can't fix him in a month and a half

Erik

10:29

Should the Phillies have pulled an A-Rod on Ryan Howard? Should the Yankees have treated A-Rod like the Phillies did with Howard? Or did both organizations act correctly?

Jeff Sullivan

10:31

There have been, let's say, different urgencies. The Yankees have always been trying to win. As Howard has cratered, so have the Phillies, and they never really came up with a superior 1B option. I get why Howard has stuck around. I probably would've cut him at some point myself, but some other young 1B hasn't been knocking down the door

10:31

If Kershaw makes it back this season, can we expect the full-strength version of him?

Jeff Sullivan

10:31

I'd caution against that, just because he's probably lost some of his stamina

Jimmy

10:31

What would you say to the Reds fans who already want to throw the towel in on Cody Reed?

Jeff Sullivan

10:31

Kudos to you guys for remaining passionate in spite of the circumstances

Kimball

10:33

Manfred mentioned the possibility of banning shifting a while ago, and most people gave him the benefit of the doubt that he'd realize the evidence doesn't support it, but now he's brought it up again. Is there any good explanation?

Jeff Sullivan

10:33

I haven't bothered to read the latest round of quotes but I still don't see it. It doesn't make good sense. Offensive levels now are fine, and if Manfred is afraid that the home runs will go away, well, there's already some kind of agreement to raise the bottom of the strike zone. Just do that and everything will be fine

greg

10:34

Do you think there's any chance Heyward becomes a part-time or late-inning player during the playoffs?

Jeff Sullivan

10:34

I could see them maybe sitting him against lefties

Barnard

10:35

Is there any rule stopping a team from giving an extension to a Rule 5 Draft pick? Seems like a team could extend a guy for just the right amount to make him unfavorable to his former team, then pass him through waivers and outright him

Jeff Sullivan

10:36

That's a good question. Like, if you immediately sign a Rule 5 guy for two years and $2 million or whatever, maybe that's enough of a deterrent

Interesting!

Dae-Ho Lee

10:36

So, uh... Dae-Ho Lee kinda sucks.

Jeff Sullivan

10:36

Everyone deserves a chance to adjust back to adjustments made, but yes, of late he's had no answer for offspeed stuff

Dae-Ho Lee

10:37

Is the thin rotation what keeps the Mariners out of the playoffs?

Jeff Sullivan

10:37

Or, in turn, the pressure that puts on an unreliable bullpen

Ryan Feierabend

10:38

Hi Jeff, is there a reason Felix's dip in release point doesn't get talked about much? It sure seems to correlate with his struggles. Intentional mechanical adjustment, or sign of something worse?

Jeff Sullivan

10:39

It has been somewhat pronounced: http://www.brooksbaseball.net/velo.php?player=433587&b_hand=-1&gFilt=regular&pFilt=FA|SI|FC|CU|SL|CS|KN|CH|FS|SB&time=year&minmax=ci&var=z0&s_type=16&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=08/19/2016

Especially with the secondary stuff. His arm has dropped some and I wonder if that's made it a little easier to tell his pitches apart

10:40

Now, the changeup is still good. And last year the curveball was really good. This year it is not! There are tweaks to be made, absolutely

Erik

10:41

How can the organization that drafted Mike Trout be so bad at acquiring and developing prospects? Could Trout have been even better if drafted by the Cardinals or Giants?

Jeff Sullivan

10:41

While I know what you're getting at, realistically I can't see how Mike Trout could be any better than he is

10:42

The Angels have been hurt pretty bad by pitcher injuries. Richards, Heaney, Tropeano, Skaggs -- that's most of a pretty solid big-league rotation, to mix with Shoemaker. On the position-player side, things have been bleak, but they did succeed with Calhoun, so that's something. Cron has shown progress

HUNGRY

10:43

Manfred has casually mentioned limiting the number of pitching changes and now limiting the number of defensive shifts. Whats next? Limiting the number of home runs by a team in game like slow pitch softball?

Jeff Sullivan

10:43

There probably is something to be done about pitching changes. Nothing extreme. I don't think there's anything worth doing about shifts

Kimball

10:43

Are you really driving across the country with Cameron?

Jeff Sullivan

10:43

Sort of. I'll meet him in Kansas City -- he'll drive there himself.

10:44

But we have been friends for like a decade, and I don't even have any real work guilt to speak of since I'm taking time off work to travel with my boss

El Jefe

10:44

Is Gary Sanchez one of the top 10 catchers in baseball right now? HYYYYPE

Jeff Sullivan

10:44

Fun fact: he even looks like a pretty good pitch-framer!

the yankee ginger

10:45

after watching sanchez and judge play - are they playing above where you think they will play going forward? on par?

Jeff Sullivan

10:45

Each of them has a four-digit OPS. They are not superstars.