Eno Sarris — Baseball Chat 12/7/17

Eno Sarris: namesake intro

Ray Liotta as Shoeless Joe: Rafael Palmeiro. Discuss.

Eno Sarris: Athletes are born with that special kind of crazy that produced this recent news that he wants to try and come back at 53. 6% of the league was active when he retired.

Matty P: isnt the demise of Evan Longoria a bit overblown? Dave alluded to him having minimal trade value at this point. I think hes gotta still have a few good years left

Eno Sarris: Have a hard time believing he’s done being an impact player at 32. The league is hitting for power and his goes away? I bet he hits 30 this year.

Andy: You get a choice of one beer to drink on Christmas day… what are you drinking?

Eno Sarris: Right now? Maui Imperial Coconut Stout.

Vic: How many ABs for Acuna? INs for Reyes in 2018? Are they above avg ABs & INs?

Eno Sarris: I’ll give him 150. I’m guessing you mean IP? Unless you want me to predict how many injuries he has. Gonna go with 80 for Reyes. And yes, both will be above average.

Bobopedia: Do you believe in Travis Shaw? Him or Jake Lamb going forward?

Eno Sarris: Jake Lamb for me, like his batted ball mix.

DC>Marvel: Do you like how ohtani is handling this whole signing fiasco.

Eno Sarris: He gets to do what he wants. I see people questioning his decision to leave money on the table, and questioning his decision to ask every team to talk when he clearly preferred the west coast. But the Cubs and Rangers made it in, so it’s not just west coast. And personally, in my life, it’s been mo money mo problems. Seems like a quiet dude that wants to do things on his own terms, and we’re so used to players being controlled that we have a hard time parsing when one is completely in control. Would you call the Stanton thing a fiasco?

Rohan: Why are the site’s possessive apostrophes backwards?

Eno Sarris: On players? Probably because of the auto linker. The apostrophe comes after some HTML in wordpress.

Jeremy: If you were a pitching coach, who could what types of pitches your staff used, and how often they used each pitch (with no effect on their performance in this hypothetical situation)  what would you choose to minimize the risk of pitcher injury?

Eno Sarris: I would not limit any pitch, but I would encourage pitchers to throw each pitch closer to equally, in order to use different parts of their arm, and also to keep unpredictability high.

Guest: With Rafael Palmeiro’s imminent return to the show, will his presence force some of the other, less attractive CI bats (ie. Matt Adams) to settle for minor league deals?

Keefths: Chances Dodgers land Stanton ?

Keefths: If Dodgers don’t land Stanton who do they go after ?

Tater: Why are teams killing themselves trying to court Stanton, when Palmeiro is there for the taking, chomping at the bit and ready to smashing taters again?

Eno Sarris: This is weird. My stance is: no on Palmeiro, won’t matter. Also: no idea why Giants GM brought up Dodgers. Maybe to minimize the Cards. Maybe the Giants GM actually thought the Dodgers are not interested at all, and wanted to pretend like he ‘wasn’t worried’ about the Cards to send a message to media/Stanton. I’d still put it like 50/40/10 Giants/Cards/Dodgers until we hear that the Dodgers are actually in.

hscer: late Eno and a collaboration..unpure! unpure! ; p

Eno Sarris: Love Eno / Cale. Produced by:

Jstodola: Will teams be reluctant to make a blockbuster trade at winter meetings until Stanton trade finalized?

Eno Sarris: Like three teams maybe.

Frank: From your interactions with players, do you get the sense that peer pressure is a factor in players signing extensions? Like, if the Astros extended Altuve, Springer, and Bregman, would Correa not want to be left out and be more open to signing up long-term?

Eno Sarris: I’ve very rarely talked contracts with players. Takes a long-term relationship. Probably two or three guys have opened up about that to me and there was no mention of peer pressure.

Mister Puppy: Let’s say the Orioles sign Miguel Gonzalez, Chris Tillman, Lance Lynn and Andrew Cashner. What are the chances that rotation (plus Gausman and Bundy) is league-average?

Eno Sarris: 60%? I like Gausman, Bundy and Lynn a fair amount even if they’ll have 4+ ERAs in that park. I guess the latter three are okay depth but man it has the feel of a flotsam and jetsam approach. Maybe it’s just hard to sign pitchers if you’re in a hitter’s park. I remember Bill Petti’s finding that teams in extreme hitters parks have a hard time winning.

Carnegie library: Sorry if I’ve got this mixed up but, Otero signed for 2.5m/2yrs..and he’s projected for about 0.5 WAR in ’18…seems like he should be getting more than 2.5m?

Eno Sarris: Yes. It’s weird he got left off the playoff roster, but he had what looks like a top-ten sinker in baseball last year.

Moonlight Graham: How will fantasy baseball handle Ohtani as a player?  Do you have to draft him both as a hitter or player, or can you only play him in one spot per day?  If he counts as only drafting one player and is an above average (not superstar) player in each, does he automatically become the most valuable player in fantasy baseball?

Eno Sarris: What I’ve seen is that you can draft him as one player but you have to decide where to play him. So you’d probably get 25 starts and 200 plate appearances or so. Doubt he moves the needle on offense much.

Wes: I need you to settle an argument. If a major league pitcher has to have two fingers on his throwing hand cut off and still wants to be productive, which two does he pick? It has to be the index and ring fingers, right?

Eno Sarris: I think you’d be a breaking ball/fastball guy and cut the ring and pinky off.

Silly Beane: eno eno phoe pheno me my mo meno.  Eno!

Nihilist Moonlight Graham: Because of my sacrifice fly, it’s as if I never existed as a pro ballplayer.  The rest of my life was spent toiling in the purgatory of practicing medicine (and now I toil in real purgatory).  Buy hats for the wife, dream of baseball.

Nihilist Eno: Everyone pay attention to Shohei Otani. He makes the GMs dance for him when we all know in the end, he will always pick the team with the best weather. Nothing matters. Drink Beer, Watch Baseball.

Eno Sarris: not bad.

hscer: Palmeiro just wants 1 PA to reset his HOF clock. it won’t matter

Eno Sarris: That’s what I thought. But I hadn’t checked his eligibility issues.

Babe Lincoln: Should the Mets make a move for Longoria?  Their window is only for a couple more years, most of his salary can be paid from the insurance checks for Wright’s salary (Sad!), and his salaries escalate in 2019 and substantially reduce any surplus value in the deal.  Gsellman + mid-tier prospect seems like enough, no?

Eno Sarris: Probably not enough.

Bagel: I was listening to local radio on the way home yesterday, and Jeff Luhnow commented on/referenced your article about how well teams do keeping their players healthy!

Eno Sarris: Oh man did he wreck it? One team was pretty mad.

Jon: Over/under on Justin Smoak putting up 2.0 WAR in 2018?

Eno Sarris: Under. I like that his growth came from better plate discipline but we had SOOOO many plate appearances before.

Greggy H: Give me your best guess on Buxton’s line.  Also, your beer work is tremendous, thank you sir.

Eno Sarris: .250/.300/.400 with excellent defense.

Joey: Does a happ for matz trade make sense for both the cubs and mets? If not do you see those two teams as being a potential trade match?

Eno Sarris: They haven’t done it before and the MO for the Cubs in the offseason is mostly: find pitching that costs only money and lesser prospects.

The Laser Show: What player are you most hoping to interview in 2018 and why?

Eno Sarris: I’d really like to talk to Ohtani but going through interpreter really sucks the life out of a conversation. I’m hoping Stanton gets traded to SF because we’ve never linked up.

uru: Do the Twins have to go for it? Last year for Dozier, Mauer, Escobar and three rebuilding teams in the Central. Do you see them trading one of their three SS prospects for pitching help if they can’t land Darvish, Cobb, or Lynn? Or what?

Eno Sarris: They definitely have to buy. Maybe they can convince a free agent pitcher or three to come. That staff needs help.

Mike: What is Aaron Nola’s ceiling next year?

Eno Sarris: Ace.

Mark Shapiro: Should I trade Donaldson? Help me out here.

Eno Sarris: They’re actually still projected into the wild card race. I say hold, trade in season if you’re not in it.

Craig in CHI: What up, Eno?  Let assume Ohtani doesn’t go to the cubs, what happens?  Schwarber for Archer?  I get this weird feeling that Theo views him as untouchable? #VerifyEno

Eno Sarris: If a young major league player leaves Chicago for a pitcher, it’s gotta be Schwarber because of the fit, even if he lost a million pounds or whatever.

Proswagonist: I came for the lewds.

Slapshot: Please rate these players for dynasty purposes: my ludes, Eno ludes, Ohtani ludes.

Proswagonist: Worse than alone / Exiled.
Worse than exiled / Dead.
Worse than dead / Forgotten.
—Kakie Bryan

Eno Sarris: RIP Kakie.

Richie: How long would you guesstimate is takes a new GM to get acquainted with the farm system? Wondering if AA has had enough time to digest everything, or if Braves fans should expect a quiet week at the winter meetings (at least in regards to potential trades).

Eno Sarris: I think they brought him in to make the right trades and win now, given what he did with the Blue Jays. I bet he makes moves.

Tim Tebow’s Thunder Thighs: Do you think anybody is working on a grip to create a pitch with similar spin/rotation to a screwball but without the unnatural arm motion?  People can throw curveballs and sliders without twisting their arms, so why not a screwy?

Eno Sarris: I think it’s just a circle change. Are pitchers/coaches working on new pitches now that tracking systems are affordable and everywhere? Yes! Not sure what it’ll be. Probably not the Critter.

Wes: The only reason SD is in the running for Ohtani is because AJ Preller stapled a $100 bill between every page of the team’s presentation.

Eno Sarris: Love how Adrian Gonzalez went over there like two years ago and just dropped off a few duffle bags of free swag.

stever20: Just fyi, Dwight Gooden is also 53 years old, born in 1964.  The last guy to play that was born in 1964- Kenny Rogers- in 2008.

CamdenWarehouse: Jerry D’s trade counter for the off season is already at 4.  How high do you think it will get before the first spring training game?

Eno Sarris: 12

zippy: What do you think about the Twins’ use of $2M of their international spending money?

Eno Sarris: Once they were out of Ohtani race, I like it.

They’re saying Boooooo-oone: Better bet for a rebound season: Cueto or J. Zimmermann?

Eno Sarris: Cueto 100%

Tim Tebow’s Thunder Thighs: I made a black bean/corn/red cabbage/cumin salad thing the other day with my empenadas.  I bet that would go great on top of some pork on a toasted baguette.

Eno Sarris: Yes. yes it would.

They’re saying Boooooo-oone: Do you think Brian Eno knows who you are? Even just that a person named Eno Sarris exists?

Eno Sarris: No, probably not, but I tweet at his PR person sometimes

Sonny: How much does the Palmeiro news hurt Hosmer’s contract demands?

Eno Sarris: belly laugh

Capt’n Canada: What approach should Cashman take this offseason? (Since he doesn’t have much to do). Does that put him in the drivers seat in negotiations, because he doesn’t ‘HAVE’ to do anything?

Eno Sarris: Catch a falling pitcher I guess. It’s a good place to be.

Sonny: In Laurila’s piece today Wilson mentions the team forcing Pint to use a two pitch mix to improve the change. Seems like a lot of teams do this to young SP, is it the best path?

Eno Sarris: I think changeups improve over time, but I don’t think I’d eliminate any pitches to do so. I’d just encourage the use of the changeup, via kangaroo court fines or whatever.

Matt: Eno, how’s it going?  ottoneu question for you, in my FGPoints league, should I keep a $5 Davies and $4 Folty?  Rotation currently has $40 Scherzer, $25 Greinke, $19 Cole, $18 C-Mart $15 Robbie Ray and $14 Garrett Richards.  You the man, thanks!

Eno Sarris: Going with no on those guys.

Bort: Odds that Jurickson Profar gets traded at the winter meetings?

Eno Sarris: Fairly high. Have a piece mostly written out in my head.

Capt’n Canada: Matt Kemp was the #1 pick in the Franchise draft in 2012! Let that sink in! Has our perception of how to evaluate players changed or did we just really miss the mark?

Eno Sarris: I think his bad defensive metrics were hard to believe in given how athletic he looked. Still a good hitter.

Dave: Steamer projects Dahl at 65/19/72/.284/.335/13 in 522 PAs. Do you bet over/under on the PAs? The projection generally?

Eno Sarris: Like the projection, no idea on the PAs. I tend to avoid calling a player injury riddled for as long as I can.

Sean: Just took an analytics class taught by one of the founders of Neifi.  He was huge on Mikolas, said he would be one of the best value free agent signings.  Is there anywhere to find any statcast type numbers on him from Japan?

Eno Sarris: Yeah been talking with one of them about this. They had him as the fourth best starter in NPB, which is sort of amazing. You can go to http://1point02.jp/ to find FG type stats, but no on TM stats unless you know someone at TrackMan.

RotoLando: What’s the most annoying thing your kids liked to watch on an endless loop when they were little?

Eno Sarris: They are little, but it was worse when they were littler and liked Cailhou for a while.

SparkyMcguffy: is Michael Chavis legit? You’ve mentioned your extreme like for him recently. IF so, where does he play for the RS in the future?

Eno Sarris: Very loud bat. I like his aggressive approach even though he may not be a super star I think he’ll hit for power and won’t see his K% sky rocket in bigs. Statistically might look like Moustakas? I think he’s ready for bigs, might play first for Sox, or go somewhere in a trade.

That 80s Guy: cut off index and ring finger? I don’t think this person has held a baseball before.

Eno Sarris: TBF it’s very hard to cut two fingers and do a lot of good. Most people are either index or middle finger dominant, maybe you could pick one of those and then let the pinky go.

Gub Gub: I’d like to send out this public request to anyone with the last name Pix.   Please name your son Richard, and do whatever it takes to get him into professional sports.  Thank you.

Capt’n Canada: Assuming the yankees enter the season and reset the luxury tax. Do their chances of signing Harper jump above 50% next off-season?

toki: What happens in New York for the 2018 FA class if Frazier forces his way up and rakes, while Hicks and Judge continue to build on their 2017 performances?  Would they even think about targeting Harper in that scenario?

Eno Sarris: I do think they’ll spend big next offseason if they reset the tax. Even if the OFers play well, they could sign Harper and trade a young cost controlled OF for a similar P.

tb.25: To earlier – there is a history of the dodgers bidding purely to drive up the price for the giants. Could the giants publicly acknowledging the dodgers be their attempt to suck the dodgers further into this? Could drive them to offer more than they’re comfortable with, or force them to back down instead of offering more.

Eno Sarris: It was a fascinating thing for Bobby Evans to say on the radio.

Craig in CHI: Ozzie Albies.  I don’t have a comment, I just know that reading his name makes you smile. 🙂  #VerifyEno

Eno Sarris: It does. Watch him play.

Egg Boy, Boat: Is it weird that what I’m afraid of is some random stranger breaking a raw egg across my forehead and christening me Egg Boy, like I’m some kind of boat

Eno Sarris: …

Eno Sarris:

Eno Sarris: WE’RE SAILING AT THE EDGES OF TIME

Sonny: MLB’s newest ownership group seems woefully underfunded to own a team with a paid off, brand new stadium and a modest payroll. WTF Manfred!?!

Eno Sarris: But they had to get Jeets a team.

Bagel: Nope! Luhnow just claimed the team had a great medical staff and were in the top 3 overall, as shown by an article written last week.

Eno Sarris: Love the piece if it loves you, hate it if hates you. What sucks is the data we get.

Lil Damien: Can keep 4, forever. Already sold on Mookie, Votto, and G. Sanchez. Torn over 4th: Albies, Sano, Schoop, Moncada, Inciarte, or take the early draft pick?

Eno Sarris: Albies upside for me. No steals in ball right now.

Sonny: Thoughts on Oakland stadium news?

Eno Sarris: Maybe one of my least favorite sagas to follow, and yet that park is one my least favorite parks. Wake me up in 2023.

Chapstick Free Since ‘93: If you had to have a 1-week stay in one stadium where you couldn’t leave and you had to eat the food sold there, where would you stay? You can’t sleep in the clubhouse either. You have to stay on the field at night.

Eno Sarris: Damn AT&T so cold. Even SD pretty cold. Most of the good beer parks in cold weather spots. What about Baltimore? It’s one of the warmest parks in general, decent beer and food, nice park.

Leggings my eggo: Miggy is “stronger than ever.” The internet says so

Eno Sarris: How’s the back tho

Sonny: How often do prospects of Vlad Jr, Acuna pedigree not work out (excluding health/legal troubles)?

Eno Sarris: Numbers say 40% of the time on a top ten hitter prospects. Seems weird, but if you think about it, you can find top ten hitters that didn’t work out.

CamdenWarehouse: Heh – the second most searched for player at FG right now is Palmeiro

tommy lasagna, sr.: “every christmas i get exactly what i wanted.  after i buy it for myself” – dads everywhere

DTH: if you were a GM, how strongly would you be considering adding Henry Owens? and would you do so only if you were rebuilding/on the cusp, or would you sign him as a playoff team as well?

Eno Sarris: I’m interested. Not as interested as I was a few years ago, I guess. It should be a rebuilding team that can give him a shot and try some new things with him.

Wes: Are the winter meetings just a bunch of guys standing around chatting in a hotel conference room or do they set up booths like a trade show and go around the room making eachother offers?

Eno Sarris: They are literally in their hotel suites hanging out. They send people down to spread information / disinformation and have writers up once a day to not answer questions. There’s a trade show, but it’s for products. Then there are a lot of job seekers coming for interviews. It’s fun to drink in the lobby at night and see former players and meet up with people you know, I’ll always enjoy that. But there’s a lot that’s super weird about the meetings.

Sean: Is Carlos Gonzalez really a huge upgrade over Piscotty/Grichuk?

Eno Sarris: For the A’s? as a signing? No, but the latter two cost a prospect as opposed to just money.

tommy lasagna, sr.: why is a segway a thing when we already have skateboards?

Eno Sarris: Moving that one leg is super hard.

ThatsNotMyMonster: What up, Eno!? Can you squint and see a path to the playoffs for any of these teams? Rays, Brewers, A’s, Mets

Eno Sarris: The A’s find pitching among their large quantity of MLB ready arms, the Rays find a pen in the same manner, The Brewers sign or trade for a starting pitcher and Nelson comes back in season, the Mets’ pitchers are healthy.

Jakob: Which right-handex outfielder do the A’s add this winter – someone exciting like Ozuna, someone interesting like Piscotty, someone terrifying like A. Garcia, or someone boring like A. Jackson?

Eno Sarris: I think the first is a bad idea in terms of long term building, the second might happen, the third BETTER NOT HAPPEN, and the fourth could happen on top of all the rest and wouldn’t move the needle much. Also, they have Smolinski, Pinder, Nunez… why they need a righty OF? I think that’s old news.

Dave: What’s your gut feeling about Matt Olson?  Potential franchise player, platoon guy that got hot, somewhere in between?

Eno Sarris: Maybe a Belt type: steady production that never gets as much love as it should because of one perceived flaw (BA in his case).

Gub Gub: I don’t know if you remember, but in a chat last year, I mentioned that my wife bought a vintage door for a bunch of money,  a decision I had no input on, but had to accept.  Well,  finally last weekend, I reframed a doorway to accomodate this treasure, and she comes home and immediately says, “It looks weird up there. I don’t like it.”    F-in A

Eno Sarris: MAWIAGE

A cat: Could OAK be looking at contraction with another failed stadium quest and the revenue sharing tap about to be turned off? MLB owners would make more money with expansion fees than the team’s relocation.

Eno Sarris: Doubt this. I think contraction is of the table.

E: Best ‘new to you’ beer you’ve had recently?

Eno Sarris: Scratch was great at Great American Beer Festival — very different kind of beers — and Oxbow just got to California and I love their tart saisons.

CamdenWarehouse: Speaking of the Franchise draft, does Carson ever throw it back in the faces of the guys who mocked him for taking Trout?

Eno Sarris: Carson is never like this. He’s made some great picks over the years, too, with the Fringe Fivers too.

Sterling Malory Chris Archer: With bullpenning now a thing, I wondering how relevant Wins or Quality Starts are in a fantasy perspective. Is there a better stat to use or do you prefer one or the other?

Eno Sarris: QS might be a little better, but what are we to do about wins going away except alter our strategy?

E: About to have Mexican food for lunch and wings for dinner. Wish me luck!

Eno Sarris: Zyrtec at the ready.

Schlorf Lives: How much do MLB teams spend on their entire minor league system? Ballpark number.

Eno Sarris: I’ve read that giving them all a living wage would cost 4-6 million per organization, so less that that if you’re talking about salary.

Matt: Do you ever try
to converse in haiku form?
It is very hard

Eno Sarris: Always forget the rules and spend too much time with my fingers to get it off quickly.

Geebs: Perhaps you can explain why people keep saying that the Braves punishment was so harsh? Actually kind of seems like a slap on the wrist to me.

Eno Sarris: Because every team is doing it, and the Red Sox got caught for most of the same things and got all the same punishment… except nobody was banned for life. The precedent was there to free the players, sure. The Coppy ban was new.

toki: Antonio Alfonseca would be the best pitcher to lose 2 fingers ever.

Eno Sarris: “I’ll just lose the two pinkies”

Nelson: Am I the only person left in the continent not to have bought any CBS?

Eno Sarris: You and me!

Moltar: In a league I’m in on Fantrax, there’s only one ohtani, but you have to choose where he is rostered, whether it’s at SP, P, OF or Util. It’s a weekly roster league, so you’ll have to suss out whether or not Ohtani is starting before trying to plug him in to an offensive position, and for that reason I highly doubt he’ll ever get many stats outside of pitching.

Eno Sarris: That’s what LABR decided to do.

Matt: Yo Eno, why are you cutting fingers off? Did they ow you moneys o somethings?

billy: cut off 2 fingers and still be good…3 fingers Brown HOFer

Waisting Time: There has never been another time in history like this, and there will never be one in the future. You just missed 8 seconds of unique time reading this.

botchatheny: are there new pitches to be discovered or have we reached the limitations of what our puny human hands can do to a ball made of rubber, hide and yarn?

Eno Sarris: there are only a few quadrants that aren’t used very often by pitches: we don’t throw rising two-seamers (plus fade and ride), and there aren’t a lot of true screwballs (curve type drop and chagneup fade), and I’ve never heard of a cut riseball… but in the case of those riding fastballs, I think there might be a physics reason we don’t have those. You have to convert all of the spin into ride to get that kind of ride, and that means being behind the ball and having a fairly straight fastball.

Eno Sarris: produced by brian eno

Schlorf Lives: Can you find me the next big thing in fantasy? I don’t own Trout.

Eno Sarris: Acuna probably the closest. But fantasy seems to be different now than it was then.

Eno Sarris: Now some rumors that the Dodgers are in. Maybe 50/30/20 Dodgers/Giants/Cards if that’s true.

The Ghost of Wade Boggs: If I had to stay in a park, I’d probably pick Toronto . . . They have that hotel that’s right there . . .

Eno Sarris: I think he said you have to sleep on the field, but a dome is a good idea. Really bad beer though, and food only okay.

Ohtani Kitaen: This chat needs more hypothetical dismemberment questions.

bombsquad rabbi: Re: Ohtani – While money can’t buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery.

Babe Lincoln: Who are some top 10 hitters that didn’t work out?

Eno Sarris: Jeremy Hermida, Andy Marte, Rocco Baldelli, Brandon Wood, Corey Patterson?

Wishing you were here: As a Giants fan I dream of landing Otani and Stanton but fear the idea of being let down by both and trading for a broken down Cutch

Eno Sarris: Probably good to prepare yourself for the worst.

Mason: What was Alcides Escobars wOBA for the 2017 season?

Eno Sarris: .256 without looking

Hoskins BandWagon: 2018 Steamer Projections

Mike Moustakas 2.6 WAR
Eric Hosmer 2.7 WAR
Zack Cosart 2.8 WAR

and Zack is projected to regress the most out of the 3, thoughts?

Eno Sarris: I’ve been a fan of signing Cozart. Especially if it’s like 3/30, love love that.

Simeone: How does a pitcher generally change walk rates (get better)? Is it moreso a changed arm slot, better feel for pitch?

Eno Sarris: I’ve seen moving on the rubber make a big impact. Some just aim closer to the middle of the plate and let their stuff go. Some find it in the slot.

Eno Sarris: TYLER CHATWOOD TO THE CUBS!

Eno Sarris: I really like Chatwood. I think they could make some changes to his arsenal and he might actually pitch to something like his away ERA (3.4)

Rollie’s Mustache: What’s the deal with Joe Musgrove? He throws the kitchen sink and IMO should be at worst a #4/5. What’s holding him back in your opinion?

Eno Sarris: He was a lot better with better velo, might just be that. He claimed to me that he was throwing harder even as a starter after a mechanical adjustment, so he’s one to watch.

The Old Buccaneer: Why do people assume Stanton and Ohtani are holding up moves being made when those two decisions only impact a handful of teams?

Eno Sarris: I don’t get it either.

Hoskins BandWagon: Comparing Jason Heyward to Chase Headley sounds insane right, they look completely different, but when you look at the numbers…

262/344/412 Slash line
10.4 BB%     17.6 K%     .150 ISO  .333 wOBA     108 wRC+
30.2 WAR 1103 Games 4502 PA

264/343/402 Slash Line
10.0 BB%     22.4 K%     .138 ISO     328 wOBA     108 wRC+
29.1 WAR 1409 Games 5701 PA

Eno Sarris: Now that is weird.

Sliding Scale: Sean was referring to the Cards trade rumors for Cargo

Eno Sarris: Oh like they’d sign Cargo and trade Piscotty? That seems… lateral.

Geebs: shouldn’t the 4% failure rate be knocked down a bit with the newer training, rest ect…?

Eno Sarris: Maybe! Problem is you have to give a prospect like six years before you can call him a bust, so You can’t really update this research that quickly.

Mike Stanton: How is Acuna only getting 150 AB’s if he’s gonna be up around mid-June?

Eno Sarris: He will? We know this? I was basically saying, most likely September, some likelihood of April, some of June… Dude’s young and they have an OF and aren’t necessarily contenders right now. You can move that number, but I’m not sure I’d move it much past 250 or 300.

BeerForYou: I just got a case of Founders CBS and have been storing a case of KBS from last year. I will give you one of each next time you’re in Toronto. You just have to answer this annoying question: Which two guys do I NOT keep from this list in standard 2h2 cat league with OPS: Harper, Goldschmidt, Trea Turner, Rendon, Machado, Correa, Hoskins, Springer, Buxton

Eno Sarris: Hah sucker for free beer. What the hell. Uh…. I guess I let Rendon and Buxton go? Hoskins right there too.

Slack Filson: Petriello on MLB likens the two sides of Ohtani to Severino the pitcher and Joc Pederson the hitter.  Do you consider this the “mean projection” or toward the lower end?  Any idea?

Eno Sarris: I looked at his plate discipline and he’s like Pederson except he has the plate discipline of Chris Davis. Piece coming soon.

Slack Filson: From a statistical point of view, Eno, is there anything to the prejudice of height (plane on fastball, etc) associated with short pitcher, particularly starting pitchers.  Sam Moll is 5’10” and Dipoto is looking to return him to his role as a starter.  Thoughts?

Eno Sarris: I tried to relate height to pitching stats and found nothing. once you prove you can pitch in the bigs, I’m not sure it matters how tall you are. it might matter to a scout, because you’re talking projectability. But does it matter once you have Marcus Stroman in hand? I don’t think so.

The Old Buccaneer: Better Christmas movie, Die Hard or Gremlins?

Eno Sarris: Die Hard. 13% think it’s a Christmas movie? Wut. 100% a Christmas movie.

Eno Sarris: Then again we often do a Predator or Alien marathon on Christmas too.

Wes: “spend too much time with my fingers to get it off quickly.”

Eno Sarris: TWSS

Slack Filson: Advice on finding work with major league franchises as a data miner/analyst:  Develop skills in R,  have skills in SQL (and/or noSQL), have strong familiarity with the trends in modern SABRE community, get to know people on teams?  Blog your ideas?  Other thoughts?

Eno Sarris: Both ideas. And try to maybe scrape some non traditional data to answer the weirdest question you can come up with.

LPFan: Bullpenning only works in playoffs. It will not work during regular season of 162 games so wins, etc should still remain relevant for fantasy baseball.

Eno Sarris: Yes but pulling starters earlier and throwing some relievers 80-100 innings could be sustainable, and we’re seeing wins get more scarce every year, so it is relevant for fantasy that the game is changing.

Jebby: does 12 percent (evil twin, omnipollo, etc.) distribute to stores near you? If so, thoughts?

Eno Sarris: Yes! I really like some ominpollo’s, ET I only see dark beers so I don’t really try.

Slack Filson: When MLB franchises identify the characteristics of a fastball, say, that make it hard to hit, and they reduce this to an aggregate value they have a way of separating one pitcher from another for a single pitch and identifying value.  Do they do this for all pitches and assemble an aggregate pitcher score?  Have you tried to do the same?

Eno Sarris: I’m working towards this but find cutters and sliders very difficult to study and nail down.

Snarfle: This is my art. It is sparkles on mud. The room is lined with speakers, so from all sides, you hear the chant “sparkles on mud.” It’s basically the best art.

Eno Sarris: This is a Brian Eno joke, yes? It’s a good one.

They’re saying Boooooo-oone: Why are there not more submarine pitchers? Are the mechanics difficult to master? More prone to injury? Pitches generally easier to hit?

Eno Sarris: Very high platoon split means they’re usually a reliever.

Snarfle: Here’s a weirdness that I bet you could get some pitchers on board with: You have one pitcher who you don’t mind having in the lineup–Ohtani, McKay, Bum, etc. Then you have another who can play a passable left field and who throws with the other hand. You play both of them, and they swap positions to get the platoon advantage for every AB! It’s not what pitchers are used to, but it doesn’t feel as disruptive as something like three innings every three days.

Eno Sarris: I was thinking that Ohtani as a reliever would be awesome. Imagine him striking out the side in the 7th and walking it off in the 9th.

Firpo Marberry: When you were living in Jamaica did you listen to Peter Tosh? If so, can you look at your Crystal Ball and tell me your 2018 expectation for Tyler Glasnow – will he ever make it as a starter, would he be more effective as a reliever, or none of the above? He is one the more frustrating players to follow.

Eno Sarris: Love Tosh.

Eno Sarris: Glasnow? I’d love to have a share at the bottom of my fantasy roster, but yeah, depending on him and wanting him to be a star for your major league team has to be frustrating.

Rollie’s Mustache: Speaking of the bad Rogers Centre beer, have you tried any good Toronto-area beers lately? I’m a fan of the Collective Arts pale ales (in Hamilton).

Eno Sarris: Love Collective Arts and Bellwoods and Bench

Wes: If you had one arm but where Billy Hamilton fast, do you play first or the outfield? Have to put him somewhere on the field.

Eno Sarris: oh man we’re finding all of the dismemberment questions. CF? run over to left or second to get the ball in?

IndyMets: Francoeur was a top 10 prospect.  Did he work out?

Eno Sarris: ‘did he work out’ is also part of the question. He was a major leaguer! I think he would be defined as a bust.

Sterling Malory Chris Archer: Felix Pie

The Old Buccaneer: Say you had small thumbs, would removing a bigger toe and replacing your dominant thumb with it help you to have a better pitching career?

Eno Sarris: Not with thumbs but with fingers maybe. Though nobody has longer toes than fingers so you’d have to go cadaver.

Snarfle: I’m going to pretend you learned that Chatwood news from Tyler texting you personally.

Eno Sarris: He was a little wary of me but then jumped into spin rate talk real quickly, but we not buds like that haha.

Magic 8 Ball: Are the rumors true that Friedman has Music for Airports playing in the Dodgers’ suite?

Eno Sarris: that poop puts me to sleep

The Old Buccaneer: Have you ever had a chance to talk with Ray Searage? Are there any coaches you’d really like to talk to that you haven’t?

Eno Sarris: Haven’t talked to a lot because they’re usually really busy before the game. I got Righetti a few times and he yelled at me a little but it was AWESOME and I think we loved every minute of it.

Slack Filson: Why are there so few effective knuckleballers?

Eno Sarris: I think it’s usually something you turn to when nothing else is working. and it’s tough to not telegraph a pitch or have multiple mechanics for knuckle/rest of pitches.

E: You should ask Zack Greinke or maybe Trevor Bauer which finger(s) they would lose if they had to

Eno Sarris: LOL this is SO MUCH a spring training piece.

BK: Andruw Jones should be a first ballot Hall of Famer but won’t be

Eno Sarris: This is a thing I could maybe get behind with more study but feels right in my heart.

Xolo: Chatwood to the Cubs for 3/40

Eno Sarris: I need to go write this up! toodles, thanks for hanging out!

Jd: On the subject of careers, I have 4 interviews at the winter meetings and I’m currently spoiling myself – any advice on preparation

Eno Sarris: think of yourself like writing a piece. what’s your thesis, what’s your evidence. what’s your hook? and then? relax as much as possible.

Eno Sarris: later people!