Klaw: In a world of steel-eyed death, there’s Klawchat.

Jonathan: Do you put Reyes in the rotation to start 2017?
Klaw: I assume this means Alex; I don’t, for two reasons. One is that I don’t think I would count on him for 180+ innings in 2017, given his low workloads the last two years. The other is that I don’t think his command is there yet, or his curveball, for him to be more than an inconsistent, sometimes great, sometimes awful starter right now. Long relief would be great to start the year with the goal of moving him to the rotation by June or so.

Jeremy: What do you make of Taijuan Walker’s 2016? Do you have any confidence that will be a top 40 starter next year?
Klaw: I think the probability of him working out as a starter has dropped to below 50% at this point.

Seth: What are the benefits, if any, to a GM not stating their intent to buy or sell in an offseason?
Klaw: None that I know of. Some signaling has value; this does not.

Mets Daddy: Better career: Robert Gsellman or Seth Lugo?
Klaw: I’d bet on Gsellman at this point. Lugo’s high spin rate hasn’t translated into production yet.

Jon: Oh, thank goodness. I was worried I would have to go a whole week without knowing the answer…given his performance in the AFL so far, has your opinion of Tebow changed? 🙂
Klaw: Saw him last night. He doesn’t belong here. It’s a bad joke.

TK: May Even Year Magic rot in hell, never to be seen again.
Klaw: I was getting tired of the woo arguments for the Giants and for Bumgarner. He’s a great pitcher; let’s stop conferring preternatural abilities on him.

Jack: What are that odds that Yadier Alvarez gets called up at some point next season? 7 Ronin came in the mail yesterday. I am looking forward to breaking it out.
Klaw: Great arm, but he made 9 starts in full-season ball this year. I don’t see any chance of that. 7 Ronin is great – hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Colin: How can the USA, and the republican party recover from the toxicity of Donald Trump
Klaw: My hope all year has been that he would lose badly enough that the GOP would lose at least one chamber of commerce, and the resulting upheaval inside the party would force out some of his enablers (like Reince) and restore the more classical conservatives to power. Until the Republicans catch up to 2016 on some basic social issues, we’re not going to have two viable choices for major offices in most of the country. You can’t keep fighting marriage equality, pushing ‘gay conversion therapy,’ or passing these so-called ‘bathroom bills’ (that really forbid local authorities from providing LGBT with protection from discrimination), in a nation that is increasingly more tolerant on social matters but where conservative positions on economic or foreign policies remain popular.

Sam: What is Michael Kopech’s ceiling?
Klaw: I’ll see him Saturday and will have an updated answer then. I can tell you though that he has some plus-plus hair. He’s going for the Syndergaard look.

@OutfieldGrass24: Hey Keith, big thanks for your time as always. Who are a couple of lower level D-backs that are future big leaguers for you. I’m fully prepared for you to respond with “none,” but my blind, very stupid, optimism wins every time.
Klaw: Jasrado Chisholm is the big name from the lower levels; he might have the highest upside of any realistic prospect in the system.

Evan: Klaw, haven’t seen much written about Giants rhp prospect Sam Coonrod. Has had fantastic 2-full season so far. He a dude?
Klaw: Reliever only. Good relief prospect but that’s it.

Jay: With the Jays pulling in insane attendance and TV numbers the last 2 years, can they justify being outbid for Edwin?
Klaw: Yes, because of his age and likely projections for his performance going forward. He may be a poor investment even if he’s still a good player.

Kevin G.: Hi Keith. Big fan of your work. You have been consistently down on Marco Estrada. Have you changed your opinion of him at all, or do you still think his BABIP suppression and relatively low homer rate (for an extreme fly ball guy) is kind of fluky? Interested to hear your analysis. Thanks!
Klaw: Still think it’s very fluky. He’s around a .225 BABIP with the Jays the last two years, something like 70-80 points below league-average and still 30+ points below his own career BABIP.

Steve: Dexter Fowler likely leaves in FA. Hopefully Schwarber is healthy and can play some LF. Would you have Heyward play CF for Cubs and Soler in RF or would you look to move Soler (value has to be pretty low)? Or just hang on to everyone and figure injuries will sort out playing time?
Klaw: Play Soler. Getting him regular PT next year should be a priority; he’s shown flashes of the ability when healthy, especially at the end of this season, although I’ve been disappointed in his reads on defense. Heyward in CF would make sense, but I’m not sure about Schwarber in LF off the knee injury. (Previous to that I thought he’d be capable out there.)

Jeremy: Thoughts on Dylan winning the nobel prize for literature? I’m a fan of Dylan’s and his lyrics can be amazing and thoughtful, but it seems like a warping of the award, and I highly doubt there weren’t qualified authors to pick from.
Klaw: This is my thought as well. I think he is the greatest lyricist in music history, but I don’t think that compares to the output of great novelists or short story writers. Ngugi wa’Thiongo was considered a favorite to win, and both of his novels that I’ve read are spectacular works of fiction.

Stephen: Where does cubs rhp Trevor Clifton factor into the future rotation equation?
Klaw: Mid-rotation starter.

Chad: How does Preller get trust and credibility back? Is firing Dee, and hiring someone to specifically oversee medical records, enough? Also, who would be your pick for the new Padres CEO?
Klaw: That CEO job is a business job, not a President of Baseball Ops job. Preller has to be scrupulously honest in all dealings, even to the point of going overboard in revealing information. That’s the only way to rebuild trust. Also, people have asked about him getting fired post-suspension; that would be incredibly stupid for the Padres, given how late we are in the baseball calendar now. If you were going to fire him, do it rather than suspending him.

Jer: Predictions on any changes to the CBA after the World Series?
Klaw: I think the international FA system (July 2) is a top priority. The draft is high up on the list for teams, who feel like they’re spending more money in the draft on secondary talents. The MLB minimum salary is likely to go up substantially. I think players want to continue to limit required media access before/after games. September roster rules will probably come up. I personally hope the loss of a draft pick to sign a free agent ends this time around.

Mike: Is there anything anyone can do to move the pace of game in the playoffs? Love it, it’s great theater, but throw the ball already?
Klaw: Well, how long did the top of the 9th take in the Giants-Cubs game 4? Every pitching change is about three minutes of dead time, if not four. That would be my main target; it sucked a lot of drama out of an incredible finish.

Hugo Z: How much credence do you give to studies that indicate line-up protection is a myth?
Klaw: It is definitely a myth, at least as it is understood to mean that a hitter becomes more productive with a better hitter behind him. I’ve said here before I think it’s a myth in MLB, but in an environment like college or HS, where you might see a gap between a team’s best hitter and the guy behind him larger than anything we’ll see in MLB, it may very well exist.

Matt: Can we turn 2016 off, and then turn it back on again? Maybe that will fix it.
Klaw: We should roll back the BIOS to the last clean install.

Keith Too: been a serious issue, but over the last few months of the season it seems that Staumont might have finally bought in that the rose goes in front. IWhat are your thoughts?
Klaw: Saw him Tuesday. Same guy as before – good delivery, great pure stuff, 40 command tops. Let him start as long as you can, because the pure upside is enormous, maybe even #1, but it’s hard to see how he ever gets there when there is no physical or mechanical obstacle to him commanding the fastball.

Jack C.: How does one get into the sports representation business (i.e. agent/advisor)? What can an advisor do with high school and NCAA athletes that an agent can’t do? There seems to be such a grey area when it comes to answers (no surprising due to many NCAA rules and regulations).
Klaw: They’re all lawyers, I think, so that’s the first step. An advisor is an agent who isn’t formally getting paid; once the player signs his first contract, he pays a commission to the advisor, who then becomes an agent. So it’s all semantics and vocabulary there.

Frankie: Did the Mets make the right choice when the traded Dickie to the Jays? Syndergaard or Sanchez?
Klaw: They made the right choice; I had Sanchez rated higher at the time, and perhaps Sanchez would have developed faster in the Mets’ system, but given what we know the Mets did well to take Thor, who I thought was going to win the NL Cy this year for most of the season.

Tim: My wife is pregnant and we are considering the Dr. Sears alternative vaccine schedule. Not sure if you are familiar with it, but the child gets all vaccines, just on a slightly delayed schedule. Our primary reason for doing this is so we can isolate each vaccine in case of some kind of allergic reaction. Are you familiar with Dr. Sears alternate schedule and if so, how do you feel about it?
Klaw: I am familiar with it. It’s total bullshit and he’s a quack. If your child (congratulations, by the way) has an egg allergy, then one vaccine won’t be any better than four. Otherwise there is no reason to use this pseudoscientific ‘alternative’ schedule.

Tim: Cody Reed, Amir Garrett or Robert Stephenson for 5th spot in Reds rotation? Any of them bullpen bound in your opinion?
Klaw: All have starter potential and bullpen floor. Reed seems the most likely to start to me. Stephenson has the highest upside.

Nick: What is Gleyber Torres’ power ceiling? 20-25 Hr’s a year at his peak or is that too high?
Klaw: I’d buy that.

Chris: Two-part question: Is Chase Utley a Hall of Famer? Will Chase Utley get into the Hall of Fame?
Klaw: He is, and I think he will after several years on the ballot. Would have helped if he’d won one of the MVPs he deserved rather than, say, his DP partner winning.

J: Given that 5 (Woodfork, Bell, Montgomery, Minniti, Rizzo) of Arizona’s public targets are or were in their FO at one point, is it fair to say they feel regret about going so far outside of the org last time? Do you think being internal candidates right now helps Bell/Minniti?
Klaw: From what I’ve heard, that list of public is not accurate. I don’t believe Bell is getting an interview, for example, although he’s really highly regarded around MLB.

Erik: Could Clint Frazier hypothetically play CF?
Klaw: No shot.

Eddy: Juan Soto — what type of ceiling does he have? What type of numbers can he post at his peak?
Klaw: He’s 17; I wouldn’t even pretend to project numbers on that. I think he has at least above-average regular upside, a corner guy with power and it appears some OBP potential too.

Jordan: How important is the AFL for a prospect like Dustin Peterson
Klaw: It’s not important; it’s useful, or valuable, but not important in any way.

Air: Thoughts on the new Fox TV show “Pitch” ?
Klaw: Have not watched.

ck: My wife is really into board games, but me, not so much. Part of the problem is that I get very bored waiting for my turn to come back around (as my wife won’t see this, I might mention that her lack of speed in moving is part of the problem). Do you ever have this issue, and if so, how do you get around it?
Klaw: Yes. Gotta pick games that don’t have that feature. Co-op games like Pandemic might be more your speed.

Adam: If I am planning on spatchcocking my turkey for Thanksgiving, should I brine it also, or does the fast cooking time of a spatchcocked turkey make brining redundant?
Klaw: I didn’t brine last year, I just “dry-brined,” which means salting it a little ahead of time to dry out the skin and allow some salt to work its way into the meat via osmosis. Check Serious Eats for more on that.

Joel: Tyler O’Neill, what’s the ceiling there in your opinion?
Klaw: Average regular in RF.

Jaime: Does the surplus of Dodger left-handed hitting prospects (Bellinger, Verdugo, Calhoun, Rios) combined w their big league left-handedness, be a concern?
Klaw: No. I don’t think you can ever have too much of a valuable asset type.

Cory: Why should my Twins take Hunter Greene #1 in the draft, over Wright/Faedo or a position player
Klaw: I’m not sure they should do that, as good as Greene is. There’s certainly risk there, HS pitcher risk as well as questions about how good the breaking ball is going to be down the road.

MikeM: Did you get to see James Kaprielian pitch last night? His velocity was reportedly back to where it was before his injury. After the lost year of development do you think he can still be a mid rotation starter?
Klaw: Yep. I think he can be more than a mid-rotation starter. He looked ridiculous last night.

Greg: Are there any Atlanta prospects going under the radar that you are higher on than most?
Klaw: Is Ronald Acuna still under the radar? I think he might be too well-known for that, but I think he’s a star.

Kevin: Which TV show would you have loved to have a cameo on?
Klaw: I kept telling Schur I was ready for a Parks & Rec cameo as “Corpse #2” but he told me it wasn’t that kind of show.

Tom: At some point doesn’t Bochy have to give one of those FIVE relievers a shot at two batters?
Klaw: Will Smith in particular. Or my son Derek, who shouldn’t have started the inning if there was even a chance in Bochy’s mind that Lopez would face Rizzo.

Dusty: Thinking of going to see the AFL for the first time this year. I know you have several posts on where to eat in the area and we will make good use of those. I was wondering if you had any good advice on actually going to the games.
Klaw: Nothing to advise really – they’re not well attended at all, so just show up and enjoy.

Ryan: Is it more of an insult to yours and all the scouts at the AFL’s intelligence that Tebow is on the field with baseball players that have a *real* future?
Klaw: I think it’s the biggest insult to the player who didn’t get that roster spot, or whoever’s losing playing time to this stunt.

Paul: Hey Keith, Just to say that the Giants- Cubs was GREAT! I enjoyed it very much even as a Giants fan. No managers mistakes, just players playing at their best, close plays all the time. You just can’t beat it
Klaw: I agree and I think the criticism of Bochy for pulling Moore was totally off base. His one mistake was letting Romo face a LHB (after some reshuffling), which is a real tactical error. But otherwise it ain’t his fault none of his relievers could hit a spot.

JJ: Lost year for Blake Swihart. Is he still a catcher in 2017, or do the Red Sox move forward with their conversion to the outfield? If it’s the latter, then he must be trade bait, right? I don’t see him overtaking any of the Benintendi-Bradley-Betts trio.
Klaw: He needs to catch. He’s more than capable.

Brett: Doesn’t it feel like Atlanta is afraid to hire from the outside? This Snitker hire just feels weird when there’s a guy like Black out there wanting the job.
Klaw: I was disappointed with the lack of imagination in the candidate pool. These were pretty standard names.

Max: Thoughts on Tanner Houck? How high could he realistically go next June?
Klaw: Potential top five pick … but I think he’s likely a reliever in the long run and doubt I’ll rank him that high.

JR: Whoever ends up winning the world series will be breaking a championship drought of 20+ years (Toronto in 1993 the most recent champion). #fuckyeahbaseball
Klaw: Yep, this is exactly the type of postseason outcome I root for. Let’s give some long-suffering fan base a championship. Cubs-Cleveland would be incredible no matter who wins.

Steve: Taking my 8 year old to games 1-2 of NLCS. He has some social anxiety in big crowds. He is fine during the game, but gets nervous while leaving. I know it will be nuts at Wrigley. With the exception of leaving early, would you advise just hanging back and let the crowd filter out? We will be staying downtown and taking the train/cab/uber.
Klaw: I’d hang back till after. The mad rush postgame for the subway would be intimidating. Worse because so many people will be drunk.

Chris: I know that Matt Moore is post-TJ and at 120 pitches, but he had retired 9 straight and struck out two of three in 8th. Lose and go home. Why not keep him in with the worst bullpen in the playoffs?
Klaw: Well, that’s a bit of recency bias. There’s really no evidence that a pitcher who’s done what he did is therefore more likely to continue to pitch above his abilities. There is evidence, however, that pitchers pitch worse the fourth time through a lineup (he was at 28 batters, so would have faced Bryant-Rizzo-Zobrist for the fourth time), and that they pitch worse when fatigued, of which 120 pitches is a weak proxy.

darren stains: Hey Keith. Do you have any opinions regarding the Harvard Extension School? I’m 33 trying to finish my bachelors. I’m going the online route and HES is a little cheaper than many of the “reputable” online programs. I’ve seen mixed reviews about HES. Waste of money? Quality education? No idea?
Klaw: I have very limited experience with it, but my understanding is that it’s more like high-quality adult education than like the classes you’d take as an undergraduate. I don’t know anything about its accreditation for your purposes, though.

J.O.: Is there a chance Heyward has been hurt all season and that is causing his hitting problems/mechanics issues?
Klaw: Sure. I think it’s ultimately mechanical, though.

JAred: Why is Espinosa still starting when they have Turner?
Klaw: I have no idea. Then again, I was pilloried for suggesting Turner should have been up to start the year, at least when Espinosa had that one good month.

Brett: Keith, I’m a Braves fan mad about their late hot streak. If one of their late wins turned into a loss, they’d be picking second next year instead of fifth. Am I insane?
Klaw: Not at all. Costs them a higher pick and probably $2.5-3 million in pool money under the current system.

Brian: Aren’t the people shaming Trump’s alleged sexual harassment victims for not coming out earlier more or less enabling him? The reason they didn’t was because they were afraid of negative consequences and not being believed.
Klaw: Yes. And they’re engaging in what they have previously accused HRC of doing to the women who accused Bill of harassment or assault. (Which is also not OK.)

ck: Do you foresee baseball modifying the rules regarding reviews to avoid these stupid reversals when a sliding runner leaves a bag by a half-inch for a millisecond, or will it devolve to “these pampered players need to learn how to slide like the old-timers did” with no change made?
Klaw: I haven’t heard anything from within the industry about it, which wasn’t true of the transfer rule debacle, so I doubt there’s a change – but I wrote the other day why I hope there will be a change because the status quo is a step backwards and may lead to more injuries on slides.

Nick: Could Blake Rutherford stay in CF?
Klaw: No shot.

John: To the guy thinking about the Sears quackery, the first time your kid drops a pacifier on the ground, picks it up, and pops it back into their mouth they will be exposed to more pathogens than any appointment on the typical vaccination schedule.
Klaw: Exactly. I believe I’ve told the story before of my daughter, as a baby, licking the play gym floor. That’s more pathogens than she got in all vaccines combined. The same is true of one tablespoon of soil – there’s something like a million organisms in it of hundreds of species. So people who listen to Sears are falling for junk science.

Hugo Z: For a mid-payroll team, do you like the Mets model of supplementing young starters with one or two relatively inexpensive veterans, and saving your big money spending for position players?
Klaw: Yes, very much. Of course, i don’t think they should be a mid-payroll team…

Jared: I am a HS baseball coach and like you look out for my pitchers. Last year, we were up 1-0 in the 5th inning in the Regional Final when I pulled him because he had thrown 85 pitches. We ended up losing 2-1 and I heard it from parents and others that I wasn’t looking out for the team. This kid probably will play Division 3, but has an outside shot at a D2 scholarship. What are your thoughts on what I should have told these parents?
Klaw: That your goal is developing these kids as players and people, and that your job is to be the adult in the room and take the long view even if it’s to the detriment of the team in one particular game.

Andy: Bounce back for Kolten Wong in ’17?
Klaw: I’ll put it this way: I never thought he’d be more than an average regular, but I think he’s much better than what we saw this year.

Andy: Do you have any additional insight into the Epinoza/Pomeranz re-trade. Was it actually a, we’ll give the prospect back if you give us the pitcher? If it was, why didn’t the Red Sox take them up on it?
Klaw: I think that was it, and the Red Sox must have decided a fragile Pomeranz was still worth more to them this year and next than the long-term value of Espinoza.

Geregg: What is Anderson Espinoza’s floor?
Klaw: Floor would be a high-value reliever, one of these 2 WAR, 12 K per 9 type of guys.

Preston: Do you have a recommendation for a quick (5-15 minutes) board/card game, preferably fairly easy to learn? Ideally for 5 or 6 people, though I could work with fewer.
Klaw: The card games Love Letter, Coup, and 3 Wishes all fit what you’re looking for and play 3-4, but not more. Ticket to Ride takes almost no time to learn, plays up to 5, but takes more time than that to play. Carcassonne plays up to 5 or 6, takes a little more time to learn because of the scoring of farms, but has no setup time and can play in a half hour or so once you know the rules.

Ryan V.: Really enjoyed your review of The Lobster. Even more, I enjoyed the quiz that identifies which of three animals you could be in that world. My day was brightened immeasurably when I learned that I should be a water bear…
Klaw: I’m still thinking about the movie a lot, which is a good sign. I didn’t buy some of the plot contrivances in the second half, but the dystopian details were both clever and I thought perfectly satirized some of our modern obsessions with relationships and ‘matching.’

Tim: Any other names moving up your list for ’17 that could unseat Kendall or Greene? Seems like those guys are almost sure bets to go top 2 or 3.
Klaw: Those are the clear top 2 for me. Wright is right up there. Adell has the tool set to make a big run up the board, but he’s not going to face great competition in the spring and I think some teams will consider him too risky for a pick that high.

Troy: Is Luke Weaver a reliable starter in the bigs someday?
Klaw: I don’t think he has the breaking ball for that.

Logan: Between Muller and Wentz, who has the high ceiling, and who is the safest?
Klaw: Wentz on both for me.

Jay: I found it ridiculous that the Rangers and their fans equated Odor punching Bautista to the Bat Flip homer as their signature moment. The irony was too sweet that he blew the final play.
Klaw: I don’t love celebrating a punch in that manner anyway. Go watch MMA if that’s your style.

Jeff: Are there any Rule 5 guys that could end up with regular roles in 2017? How early do teams start planning for this?
Klaw: The rosters won’t be set until around November 20th, and the safest answer to your first question is “no,” because I think we’ve had maybe zero or one in each of the last five years of drafts.

Darth Vader Ginsburg: Have a best mac and cheese recipe?
Klaw: I do, right here on the dish.

Stephen: Has the apparent mechanical change (his stance looks different since his recall from the minors) from Puig rebuilt his value in your estimation? Or are you still noticing that he is not turning on inside fastballs?
Klaw: It was never a mechanical issue.

Scott: What are you thoughts on Eloy Jimenez? 19 y/o. but seems he advanced well this year. Seen him live?
Klaw: Couple of times. Superstar.

Anonymous: What did you do after you graduated Harvard? What advice would you give to a senior that is not really sure what to do immediately after?
Klaw: Worked in consulting, got an MBA, worked at some startups, never liked any of it.

Erskine: Have you heard of the new deckbuilding/dungeon-crawling game Clank! that released today? Interested in your thoughts on this new style of game.
Klaw: No, but I’ll check it out.

Brian Woytek: Should I go see Opeth on Saturday or watch the NLCS?
Klaw: Go see Opeth. You can always record the game and watch it later. I had to watch the 9th inning of Cubs-Giants afterwards because I was at a game here.

Anthony: Would you try to move Gallo and Profar for a SP? What value to each of them have given the struggles of both?
Klaw: Profar struggled? He missed two years and came back to be a useful bench piece. Your standards are too high.

Tim (KC): Hey Keith… do you have any book recs for baseball analytics?
Klaw: Yes. I’m writing one.

Tim: I always reflect your science-based approach to issues. Do you have any thoughts or reading recommendation on chiropractic care, particularly pediatric chiro or “subluxation”?
Klaw: Any chiropractic claims beyond dealing with musculoskeletal injuries or pain are pseudoscience.

Bryan: What is going on with DJ Stewart? Seems to do better vs higher competition
Klaw: Bench guy, maybe. Bad body, poor approach, no position.

Josephina: Thoughts on cutting out sugar from your diet when it makes everything taste so good?
Klaw: I’ve never cut it out completely so I wouldn’t know what to advise, especially if you have a medical reason to avoid it. Maybe just try to use more of the other things that satisfy us, like acid or umami?

Alex: Ty Black.. Anything more than a 5th starter option for the Giants?
Klaw: I think he’s a reliever, but I’d accept fifth starter as an answer too.

Deniro: Thought the concern with vaccines were chemicals and heavy metals in vaccines?
Klaw: The concern with vaccines is that a lot of people don’t understand basic science and refuse to accept overwhelming evidence that vaccines are safe.

Tim (KC): Is it a mistake that teams are not letting some of their top end prospects play this postseason? (Thinking Urias, Moncada, Swihart, Giolito)
Klaw: I don’t think it’s a mistake – Moncada isn’t ready to contribute, for example. Urias would be the exception, as he can help at least in a long relief role.

Randy: I know you are high on Junior Fernandez. Looks like he had a nice year. Ceiling?
Klaw: High-end starter.

Josephina: How rare is Rich Hill? Majors to independent ball to starting the biggest game of the year for the Dodgers?
Klaw: Incredibly so and I think it’s fantastic. Probably helped that he had pitched in the majors before, but still, most guys in his situation would be done.

Buddy: I think the whole situation with Buck waiting for a save situation is a perfect example of how in sports managers would rather lose conventionally than win unconventionally, which is of course twisted. The most underrated aspect of the analytics movement is that more people are starting to realize the flaw in that thinking, which may lead to actual change on the field; given the number of people criticizing the conventional failure by Buck, it seems more likely another manager will feel confident making the right move in the future, even if it fails
Klaw: Yes, it’s the “no one ever got fired for buying from IBM” mentality. If you buy from the new vendor, and it doesn’t work out, you will be second-guessed to death by people saying “why didn’t you just buy from IBM?” If Buck used Britton, extended the game, and then lost when someone else blew the save situation, he would have been criticized for using his closer “too soon,” by writers and fans who can’t see that using Britton allowed the save situation to happen. Of course, failing to use Britton at all created a new set of questions, so I don’t think Buck escaped it entirely, but he definitely hewed too closely to a conservative idea of reliever usage.

Klaw: That’s all for this week – thank you as always for your questions and for reading.

My Boston/Cleveland and Texas/Toronto ALDS previews are now up for Insiders.

Klaw: If I could buy my reasoning, I’d pay to lose. Klawchat.

Dave: Mariano Rivera pitched 3 innings in game 7 in 2003. I’m just sayin’.
Klaw: That idea, stretching out a normally one-inning reliever for nine outs, is so anathema to managers today I would be floored if anybody tried it. (Dave’s referring to the ALCS.) Maddon would be the only guy I could see doing that, since Chapman’s definitely capable of going more than three outs and is a free agent anyway so who cares.

Frank: Do you think what was referred to as “Catcher’s ERA” 10-20 years ago was an imperfect precursor to what we have more recently come to understand as the ways catchers impact results?
Klaw: It just had too much noise in it to be useful. But framing had to appear in there somewhere, right? If framing is real, it would mean pitchers’ ERAs by catcher would differ, and the problem with C-ERA is that the real effects were obscured by randomness.

Lyle: Given the current state of the Mariners COFs, it seems likely that Tyler O’Neill could be up as soon as the All-Star Break. Is there any reason to think that he could (or even should) break camp with the team, though? Muddle through in RF with some combo of Gamel/Smith/Heredia until then?
Klaw: No reason. I think he’d struggle with contact out of the gate anyway. He’s a solid prospect, but not a superstar.

MK: Mike Schur wrote a great piece on Mike Trout yesterday. Do you ever just shake your head at the people that are watching some Mantle/Griffey/Mays hybrid monster and not consider him to be the MVP? The guys career WAR is already higher than several hall of famers and hes only 25…Its a shame that i dont have the luxury to watch him more frequently.
Klaw: I work in an industry with a very mixed group of people – referring to the writers here – including a large subset of folks who just don’t want to change their thinking. Voting for Trout would invalidate years of believing it was one way, when it’s the other way.

Josh: Where does Bumgarner rank for you in the hypothetical “Pitcher (past and present) I would want starting for my team in a win or go home game.” ? Who would you place above him?
Klaw: Quite a few guys. I don’t think he’s any different in October than he is April-September. He’s great all the time, but he doesn’t have any special ability to pitch well in the postseason.

Tom V.: Thoughts on Ausmus being brought back for another year?
Klaw: A clear mistake. His misuse of young pitchers has been horrifying to watch. He’s just not good at the visible aspects of his job, and it’s hard to see how he can be so good at the invisible aspects that we could ignore the time he had Daniel Norris throw 50+ pitches in an inning.

Kevin W: What do you say to climate change deniers that sat stupid shit like it’s just weather? Any go to sites you use?
Klaw: You’re fighting way uphill with those twits. You could point out that if they don’t understand the difference between climate and weather, then they certainly shouldn’t be commenting on climate change.

ML: With the Falvey announcement made official on Monday, do you expect a complete overhaul of the scouting staff?
Klaw: My guess is player development gets overhauled, not amateur scouting. They also have no real dedicated pro scouting staff and I can only assume they establish one.

Carty: There’s been a lot of cooling on the idea of Eduardo Rodriguez becoming a 1/2 (which was the buzz for a while). What do you ultimately see for him going forward?
Klaw: I still think he gets there. He’s young, talented, a bit raw, raced through the minors and lost a lot of reps to injury (including pitching when he probably shouldn’t have). I’m very optimistic on him long-term.

Marty: No sketch comedy in the TV Book. What would you add if you could? Mr. Show for me all the way.
Klaw: The Muppet Show.

Dan: Am I stupid for being excited for the Wold Baseball Classic?
Klaw: Not at all. I enjoy parts of it. But I also don’t care if the U.S. wins; I’d kind of prefer that we don’t (hasn’t been a problem in the past!) because I think its purpose is more to grow the game globally than to promote it here. That said, stacking Team Israel or Italy with a bunch of Americans is silly. It’s not going to get the media coverage in the represented country if it’s not predominantly made up of players from there.

Frank: I believe you said a few weeks ago that you would not consider Happ for the Cy. Why not? Also, does Aaron Sanchez warrant a mention in the discussion?
Klaw: I wouldn’t consider Happ because he hasn’t been good enough.

Matt: Keith, I know this question deals with a lot of speculation, but if Atlanta can add a couple of starting pitchers either via FA or trade, is it plausible to think a winning record could happen next season? Thanks for answering.
Klaw: It does not seem plausible to me.

Santos: In a previous chat, you mentioned you take Escitalopram for anxiety/depression (and that it makes a significant difference), was that prescribed by a general practitioner? Did you bring up Escitalopram or did the doctor? I’d like to approach this subject with a medical professional but I don’t know where to start.
Klaw: Prescribed first by a GP. I’ve seen psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, and other GPs since then and had scripts from each of them. I went in and discussed symptoms, and then the GP chose this drug and gave me a small xanax prescription because my anxiety was so bad I was having trouble sleeping. (This was shortly after my one huge panic attack in 2012, while driving on Staten Island … insert joke here.)

Archie: One thing that stands out about Bumgarner is how he is one of the most fierce competitors in our galaxy. As a scout, do you pay attention to the willingness of a kid to compete and the desire to win, or is that something that is hard to detect and shows up when the competition gets consistently better at the pro level?
Klaw: Nearly all MLB players are incredibly fierce competitors. It’s nonsense to say that Bumgarner is somehow different in that regard. If you’re not competitive, you don’t get this far without otherworldly talent, and most MLBers don’t quite have that latter thing.

Andrew: Read your Cleveland / Boston write-up. Couldn’t help but notice that the Red Sox were always referred to as the “Red Sox” and the Indians were always referred to as “Cleveland”. Thank you for doing that.
Klaw: Not an accident. I have not actually used Cleveland’s team nickname in my own writing in probably nine years. My editors have been very good about helping with that.

ML: The Twins are now on the clock! Everyone knows the Twins have had a difficult time developing pitchers. Do you have any idea what Twins fans should expect upcoming drafts to look like?
Klaw: No, not really. I can guess they’ll use the same Trackman/statcast-style data that other front offices have begun to use, including Cleveland’s. But I think until Falvey has more people in place below him I’m really just throwing ideas out there without any sound basis for them.

Tom: Last night an awful hitter was intentionally walked so the Giants could face the opposing pitcher instead. Remind me why the DH is bad again?
Klaw: You didn’t enjoy that bit of strategery?

James: Not sure how to word this. How do you feel about the Arizona management shake up? Your article probably did not alert the ownership of the problem unless they were hiding in a hole somewhere. However it was a very public way of outing bad decision making. I expect you feel bad for the guys but they made their choice of how to run the organization.
Klaw: It’s never personal; it was a legitimately newsworthy subject, that an MLB franchise was being run by people who were incapable of handling some fundamental aspects of their job, to the point that other MLB execs were commenting to me on how abysmal the situation was. They’re in a hole now that it will take them some time and creativity to get out of, from one of the game’s worst farm systems – I can’t see a top 100 prospect there anywhere – to a payroll that is nearly half committed to a good starter and a DH on a National League club. As for feeling bad, I’ve said before, I didn’t make any of those mistakes; I just organized them.

Harold: Do you like the Renteria choice by the White Sox?
Klaw: I wished he’d gotten more of a chance in his first gig, although obviously they went for the upgrade. But he also had some things he could have done better the first time around that he’ll have to improve now with this second chance. Everyone likes him as a person and a communicator, but on-field tactics, including stuff like defensive positioning and integrating the better info that comes from analytics, will be the key for him to be better the second time around.

Frank: Doesn’t the MVP question vis-a-vis Trout have to include a definition of what MVP means? Is Trout the best player alive? Yes. Did he have such a large impact on his team? Well, they still finished 2nd last in their division, so how much value could he have added? Was he valuable to MLB as a whole? Somewhat, although he would be more so in New York or Chicago, but should geography play into that? To me, an MVP has to be on a team that had a somewhat successful season, because then he provided value by lifting the team to a level it otherwise would not have achieved.
Klaw: He added a ton of value; they would have been unwatchable without him, probably the second-worst team in baseball, near 100 losses. Just because you don’t think there’s value in losing 88 games instead of 98 doesn’t mean that there isn’t.

John (Raleigh): Do you think it is possible for MiLB players to ever obtain collective bargaining rights? Separate or MLBPA offshoot. I know there are structural barriers to such a union, but my blood boils at the wage suppression tactics of MLB and it’s owners.
Klaw: Better question for someone who knows a little about labor law.

CB: Why do HOF voters say that they are waiting for the HoF to make a decision about steroid users? Clearly, they already have. When Pete Rose gambled, he was quickly banned for life by the HoF. Now, with steroids, no ban has been announced or even hinted at. De facto, the HoF has made clear that (1) Steroids are not as problematic as gambling, and (2) Steroids are not a disqualifier.
Klaw: And given Manfred’s comments on Ortiz, it’s pretty fucking clear that Bonds and Clemens belong in. We will forgive what we want to forgive.

Mark: When is the ’17 draft rankings coming?
Klaw: Soon, but I have other content I have to finish first (the NLDS stuff today) as well as some work on the book.

Mark: Do you have a budget at ESPN, as in if you want to hire someone do you have that freedom?
Klaw: No, and I’m not sure I want the responsibility of being a full-time manager on top of everything else I have to do.

Steve: “Hey let’s not give Trout the MVP award he deserves because Arte Moreno signed Pujols and Josh Hamilton! Makes sense! Mookie gets MVP for his crucial role in developing David Ortiz and acquiring Porcello and Price!”
Klaw: Exactly. The whole thing is stupid – it is a fabricated, selective definition of “value” that supports a preconceived notion.

James: To the 9% nationally who say you are voting for Gary Johnson – he doesn’t know who the leader of North Korea is or what is happening in Syria. Vote for someone with a chance to win.
Klaw: Or, take a look at the man’s actual platform, such as his plans for taxation, regulation, or dealing with climate change. Then if you still think he’s the right person for you, vote for him. But at least understand the man’s views, because in terms of economic and environmental policies he’s a lot closer to Trump’s platform than Clinton’s.

Bobby: Is there any grouping of words you hate more than “I know its a small sample size BUT…”? Shouldn’t everybody know by now that a SSS by definition is not indicative of a significant change?
Klaw: It’s not proof of a significant change – if the sample is too small we can’t tell if the change is significant or not. Over the years I’ve started to ignore more of these questions. I got at least a half-dozen on Sandy Fucking Leon this summer. Really?

J.P.: Per Nick Cafardo – “Bryan Minniti, Mike Bell, Ray Montgomery, Peter Woodfork and Kim Ng all in the running for D’Backs GM job” – who would you pick?
Klaw: Those are legitimately good names, and I know four of them well and one of them a little bit. I’m not going to go any farther than that until they make a hire.

Andy: Ubaldo Jimenez has been in the top 10 in his league in walks every year in the last 9. He also has been known to just lose a ball like in a wild pitch or HBP. Please explain to people that IBB Encarnacion is a bad idea.
Klaw: And the guy on deck, Jose Bautista, is good for 100 walks every full season. It was a terrible idea.

addoeh: Charleston, SC good choice for Top Chef? With so many good food towns, I would have preferred a road trip through the South, like last year in California.
Klaw: Yes, it’s a great food town, but I have to think they’ll branch out a little given the number of episodes.

Mark: Would you rather have Buddy Reed or Bryan Reynolds in your system?
Klaw: I rated Reynolds about forty spots higher on draft day and I wouldn’t change that at all. Reed can’t hit.

Harrisburg Hal: Do you have a go-to carrot soup recipe? I have a newfound affinity for it. I’ve tried about 4 different recipes with each being really different. Latest one was the ginger carrot soup from Boma at WDW.
Klaw: The one in Hugh Acheson’s The Broad Fork.

Alex: What is your opinion of starting rotations having RHP and LHP? Does it matter? Do you think the braves need to add a LH starter?
Klaw: I think it matters more in the postseason than the regular season.

Tom: Kris Bryant had a 7.7 WAR. The Cubs finished 17.5 games in first place. Obviously, the Cubs didn’t need Bryant to finish in first place. (I tried to make this sound as dumb as possible)
Klaw: Yep. When you create artificial rules around what constitutes value, you end up with these paradoxes.

Cody: I’ve always argued this with people from the devil’s advocate standpoint, but would love to hear your opinion. I constantly hear fans across baseball complain about how their ownership is “cheap” and doesn’t want to spend the money necessary to win. I’ve heard for years as a Pirates fan, and from other fanbases. I’ve always been skeptical of those kinds of statements because in reality, none of these people truly know what the books look like. I happen to think that for some of these owners, their teams are not the profit centers people paint them to be and are more doing it because it’s cool and as a way of civic pride. Where do you stand on this? Do you think that teams are actually not making the margins people imagine or the other way around?
Klaw: I think most teams are swimming in cash, but it’s their right to turn a profit. I don’t like when owners cry poverty and ask for government handouts, but I haven’t criticized any owners for choosing to take home profits rather than spending it on the payroll. (I would criticize owners for spending too little on scouts’ salaries, or not paying interns, or for the joke wages all teams pay minor leaguers, though. Those are drops in the bucket.)

Charlie: Thoughts on Cody Bellinger? Would you comp him to say, a Brandon Belt?
Klaw: I don’t like comps, but I will say on Bellinger that his year in 2016 was unexpected and kind of remarkable: He cut his strikeouts without losing all his power. That’s a huge adjustment for any kid, especially one on the young side, and I think players who make adjustments like that at young ages are marked for stardom.

JJ: How many ABs for a hitter against a specific pitcher before it’s no longer SSS, and actually significant?
Klaw: There is no such number. Just ignore them. Players change and by the time you got the hundred or more ABs you might need they wouldn’t be the same players anymore.

Joe: Could Trey Mancini have an impact for the Orioles next year? He looked okay in the few at bats he had this year.
Klaw: Don’t see it. Bench guy for me.

Ryan: Say tomorrow that baseball loses their anti-trust exemption… would there really be any negative setback for the sport?
Klaw: No but you would see some large structural changes. Probably first would be Oakland and/or Tampa Bay ownership looking at moving. I think – could be wrong on this – that territorial rights would go away in such a scenario so the A’s could just move to San Jose.

Bryan: (1/2) Klaw, long time reader. Was hoping you might have some helpful resources you can direct me to, just to cope with a situation that has recently thrown our whole family for a loop. Long story short: my wife (mid-30’s) recently revealed that she was abused as a child, by her sister’s husband (currently mid-40’s). No one knew it, not even me. She held it in for nearly 25 years. Of course, the man denies it and her sister has chosen to stay with him. We have very good reason to believe he is physically abusive (she has called the police on him before). As a result of all this, her sister has basically been isolated from the rest of our family, as her decision to stay with him is being seen as a tacit approval of his behavior. But I think the true reason she stays is because she is afraid of him, and for good reason. I feel like there is nothing we can do to this man, practically speaking.
Klaw: Part one… stay with me …

Bryan: (2/2) And part of me feels bad for shunning my sister in-law, knowing she is in a bad situation. But what else are we to do? We are seeking counseling, but other than that I can’t see of any other way to proceed, other than keeping our distance from her (we have children too, FWIW).
Klaw: I would suggest you contact RAINN, or perhaps call the national sexual assault hotline 800-656-4673, to ask for advice. I would shun your sister-in-law too if she can’t accept that her husband is abusive and won’t try to leave the marriage. I hope your wife is getting help through therapy; abuse survivors are at high risk for PTSD too.

John: Thoughts on Taylor Trammell and Mickey Moniak? Do they seem pretty similar to you in terms of value and/or potential?
Klaw: Totally different. Moniak’s a polished kid who can already hit quite a bit but doesn’t have a huge ceiling because he probably won’t get past 50-55 power. Trammell is less polished – not crude by any means – but has more upside as a power/speed type with more athleticism. IIRC he was a pretty high-contact guy in HS, though, so don’t classify him as just one another Georgia prep tools goof.

Ben: The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa is one of my favorite novels, but one of only a few Italian novels I’ve read. Any suggestions for similar writers/novels?
Klaw: I liked the two books I read by Alessandro Piperno – Persecution and the Worst Intentions.

JC: Looking forward, but if Heyward was a FA this year & signed an identical contract to what he has remaining, would you be OK with it?
Klaw: It would be excessive; he probably wouldn’t get that on the open market.

Joe: Could you ask your wife to update her blog (linked at the top). Her writing is good, but it hasn’t been updated in three years.
Klaw: Will do. Can’t promise anything though. She’s had a rough year.

JL: Having a good friend over for the weekend and want to make them a really nice dinner. I’ve drastically improved my cooking the past few years but said friend is vegetarian where the staple of most of my tried and true dishes are meat-based. Anything you’d recommend for a vegetarian based meal? Thanks!
Klaw: If dairy is OK, that’s what I would probably think of as the center of the meal – a souffle, a baked pasta dish, a frittata (egg and cheese). And lots of vegetables; that’s how I’m trying to cook now anyway, vegetables first, protein second.

Darryl: Will Senzel be the full time 3B at some point next season?
Klaw: Maybe by August? That’s not a crazy thought, given how fast Schwarber, Conforto, Bregman, and Benintendi all got there. He’s not quite as high-ceiling as those guys but I think he’s in their class as a hitter.

Andrew: If writers aren’t going to put Trout on the top of their MVP ballots because he’s not on a playoff team, by that logic shouldn’t they leave him off altogether? I mean, if they aren’t going to vote him #1, why would they vote him #2 ahead of Donaldson?
Klaw: To quote a certain gerbil, they don’t have the balls.

Jim: Hi Keith, do you like the 1 game Wild Card? I feel as if a three game series would be better and more fair. 1 game just seems so un baseball, even though I do love the instant drama.
Klaw: I prefer that to a three-game series where other teams are off for a week … and if you want three games, why not five? or seven? We’re going to have to accept some unfairness in any playoff system. Let’s at least get the fun aspect of instant elimination and all of us on twitter talking about the same game.

Frank: “I have better things to do.” Dumbest answer to an exit interview ever, a true indication he wasn’t qualified for the job or both?
Klaw: I’ll go with both. The man was simply overmatched by the requirements of the job. He had no relevant experience, had been out of the team side for 14 years, and was not forward-thinking in the least. But at least the Dbacks managed to employ a bunch of his – er, his wife’s – clients, so he’s still going to get paid by them!

Ryan: I know you hate this topic, but Tim Tebow is going to the AFL… on a scale of ‘vastly overmatched’ to ‘why is this dude even here?!’ how will he do?
Klaw: We know why he’s there, but I expect him to be vastly overmatched.

JJ: So, if the Diamondbacks are in that big a hole (and I agree with that assessment), should they actively try to deal Goldschmidt this off-season to speed up the rebuilding? He’s already 29 years old, but I could definitely see an AL team like the Red Sox or Yankees being very interested in him as a 1B/DH, and they would have the minor leaguers to deal.
Klaw: That would be the smartest strategy for speeding up a rebuild, but I would imagine ownership objecting to the team trading its best and I think most popular player.

Nick: With Moniak having limited power potential, who would you have chosen #1 in the draft Rutherford or Moniak? They seem to be similar players with Rutherford having a higher power ceiling.
Klaw: I think I ended up with Moniak one slot above Rutherford on my rankings, but I liked both guys a ton and either would have been a good choice. I thought both were top five talents in the class.

Scooter: The “I have better things to do” comment was taken massively out of context… everyone go read the transcript or watch the video please
Klaw: I did. And it wasn’t. He was relieved that the job was over, and said he had better things to do.

Mike: Re: Shunning – I think you want to shun because it seems like she’s protecting an abuser, but not because she can’t accept that he’s an abuser or won’t leave the marriage. At some point, she may need help getting out of that relationship. And the original poster and OP’s wife may want to be available to support that.
Klaw: I agree with that; I think the shunning is self-protection, too. The victim likely wants no contact with her abuser, and since Bryan has mentioned having kids, they shouldn’t want those kids anywhere near the abuser either. But to your point, we all have an obligation to help someone escape an abusive relationship if we are asked.

Anonymous: Highly recommend John O’Hara “Stories”that just came out. Fitzgerald & John O’Hara are up there on my favorite authors, can you suggest anyone stylistically like them?
Klaw: Thanks, I do love Appointment in Samarra. Some Graham Greene novels (not the Catholic ones) remind me of those two. Hangover Square is a bit in that vein, but darker. No one can really touch FSF for prose style in my view, though.

Henry: Keith, if you were named the MLB commissioner today, what are the first two or three things you would do to improve the game/system?
Klaw: The whole july 2 free agent system is broken and needs an overhaul. I’d sever free agency from the draft, at least so that you don’t lose a pick by signing a free agent. I’d pay minor leaguers a reasonable wage in exchange for an agreement not to sue. I’d resolve the Oakland stadium situation any way possible – probably by relocation, but whatever it is, they need a new home. And I think Manfred is already doing this, but I’d try to normalize MLB’s relations with Cuban baseball as the US normalizes relations with the Cuban government, so we can smooth the flow of players from Cuba to MLB and perhaps allow US players to go play there as well.

Alex: Manfred said he was open to changing the September call up rule. Can this happen for next season and what do you think is a reasonable fix to the current situation?
Klaw: Limiting the number of active players for any specific game would be a good start. The goal should be to make September baseball look like July baseball, not to constrain it to the point where it becomes a problem for, say, a 15-inning game.

JR: Is TJ Riveria an everyday MLB player? If you were the Mets, would you pencil him in as your everyday 2B next year, or look to upgrade (i.e., re-sign Walker?)
Klaw: No, barely a bench option. I might try to re-sign Walker for a year, because I’m not sure about Cecchini’s bat being good enough for 2b right now (and his throwing problems got worse this year, to the point where I don’t think he’s a shortstop).

Levi: If no Goldschmidt trade, perhaps Pollock?
Klaw: It would make sense. I also think Drury could start for someone, but not Arizona if Goldy is still there. They have pieces. They just need a different mind in charge. It’s just not that bad a roster.

Lucas: have you ever been to an “after hours” event at Magic Kingdom, i.e. Christmas party or Halloween Party. Im taking my 11 year old and 8 year old in November and wondering if it worth the extra $$
Klaw: I haven’t, because they’re expensive and being a cast member doesn’t get me any special privileges for those parties.

Andrew: Why did Eppler deal Santiago for Nolasco/Meyer? If I recall correctly, Santiago’s a free agent next year and they could’ve easily had gotten a comp pick out of him which has to have higher value than Alex Meyer at this point.
Klaw: They must believe that Meyer has untapped potential, although I think he’s far more likely to end up a reliever given his age and lack of progress.

Nick: If the gap between Moniak and Rutherford is so close, why were they drafted 17 spots away from each other? All signability concerns?
Klaw: All signability concerns. Rutherford was seen as a tough sign because he would have been sophomore-eligible out of college (2018 draft).

Nick: In regards to the Magic Kingdom question it is very much worth it.
Klaw: There you go. Thanks for the help.

Klaw: That’s all for this week – I have more writing to do and some errands that have to happen before my daughter gets home from school. Thank you all as always for your questions and for reading.

My annual look at players I got wrong is up for Insiders. You can also preorder my upcoming book, Smart Baseball, on amazon.

Klaw: I’m sorry, but I’m just thinking of the right words to say. Klawchat.

Lark11: I’m curious about your view (if I recall correctly) that A.J. Preller shouldn’t be fired for the player medical records machinations. Wasn’t that pure fraud/intentional misrepresentation? Coming on the heels of Preller’s previous misdeed, isn’t this an important data point? Doesn’t it call into question the integrity of the entire organization?
Klaw: I think you’re assuming we know all the details of the transgression. I certainly don’t.

Chris Matthews: Who’s your favorite foreign leader?
Klaw: President Don Vincente Ribiera.

Nelson: If news came out the next day that Fernandez was drunk and driving the boat, would/should the memorials have been any different?
Klaw: I was afraid that this might actually happen. His death isn’t any less of a tragedy for it. We might choose not to honor him in the same way, but I would hate to see anyone argue that we shouldn’t mourn his death.

Omar Little: Is Verlander or Kluber the frontrunner for CY young right now? JV has the better numbers overall, but not by much. I know Sale is up there too. It won’t be Porcello will it? Thanks KLAW for all you do!
Klaw: I think Verlander’s got a solid narrative behind him – we thought he was done as an elite starter, now he’s probably top 3 in the league – although I am not sure I’d put him over Sale or Kluber.

Jake: If we are going to focus on the SSS of Tebow yesterday, how about we discuss the 5 outs in 6 at bats against players ten years younger?
Klaw: How about we ignore him like the washed-up quarterback he is?

Daniel, Texas: Why is Ian Desmond having such a poor second half? Is Carlos Gomez the better player for CF going forward in 2017?
Klaw: Desmond’s first half was the outlier. (I’ve noticed the trolls telling me I was wrong to criticize that signing have disappeared, too.) I prefer Gomez’s raw ability and potential for plus defense, but isn’t banking on him a huge bet on a tiny sample?

Brian Gunn: Hi Klaw. In today’s ESPN piece you write that the Cubs “position their fielders as well as any team in baseball.” Yet they also shift less often than any team in baseball. Does Sean Ahmed (their defensive metrics guru) know something normally progressive teams like the Astros and Pirates don’t? And if so, do you think there will be a move AWAY from shifts in upcoming seasons?
Klaw: It’s a coding issue – BIS doesn’t mark anything as a shift if it doesn’t involve an infielder moving to the opposite side of second base. (I’m 99% sure that’s correct.) Soif you move your shortstop so that he’s essentially behind second base, that’s not marked as a “shift,” but it looks like a shift to me – it’s extreme positioning, at least. So no, I don’t think you’ll see a move away from shifts, but you will absolutely see a rise in fine-tuning positioning per batter or per batter-pitcher combo and away from ‘dumb’ shifts where you just run the third baseman out into short right field for any pull-hitting LHB.

JT: Why and how are such terrible sites being cited during this campaign? Florida’s state GOP just tweeted a tinfoil hat site (infowars), as a for instance.
Klaw: Because people choose what they want to believe first and find links to confirm those beliefs second. Drop in on any so-called debate between vaccine denialists and, well, rational human beings, and you’ll see the former hit you with a stream of links from garbage sites that promote junk science over real research.

JR, CT: Hi Keith, would you give the Mets any chance against the Cubs with their rotation in the shape it is now. I imagine best case is the lefty power bats get/stay hot and they can slug their way to some ugly wins?
Klaw: I would never give any team in a playoff series less than 45% odds to win it.

Jeff: A question some friends and I have been thinking about – can you name a player off the top of your head, whose reputation as a “great” player has been damaged by the advent of sabermetrics? I feel like Pete Rose would be one such player. Christ, the guy was named All Century and some delusional people still argue that he is the best hitter/player who ever lived.
Klaw: Andre Dawson. Tony Perez. I guess Jim Rice, although no one ever considered him a great player until he became the Luddites’ cause celebre. Jack Morris, perhaps.

Lance: What is the ideal Wild Card game roster construction?
Klaw: Carry 5-6 relievers and stack the bench with PH options (and maybe a Terence Gore if you have one).

Jason: What were your thoughts of Jonathan Villar coming through the minors? Did you think he had this much power?
Klaw: Nope. When he was traded to Houston I wrote that I didn’t foresee more than fringe-average power. Granted that was five or six years ago, but still, he’s got more than that.

kg: If you were a GM, would you prefer to play a youngster with a low ceiling or sign a veteran that you might be able to flip at the trade deadline for better prospects? Assuming that your team isn’t expected to make the playoffs this year. I would think the veteran with hopes to acquire prospects might be a better option since most teams can afford to fit a veteran’s contract into their budget anyway.
Klaw: Depends on what that “low ceiling” is. An average everyday player who makes $500K a year is an extremely valuable commodity, even if there’s zero chance he’s ever better than that.

Nick: What’s your take on Alex Jackson? Do you still think he can become a middle-of-the-order bat with the right coaching and adjustments? Does he have to get out of the Seattle org?
Klaw: I would not give up on him entirely given his youth, but every report I got this year was negative.

Owen: Regarding Terriers (from your review of TV: The Book), it might be the greatest single-season show in history. You should absolutely try to squeeze it in this winter.
Klaw: It’s on the list I’ve created for myself, although the odds are good I won’t get through much this winter because we never seem to have that much time between when my daughter falls asleep and when we have to do the same.

Mike: Thoughts on Spencer Kieboom’s promotion?
Klaw: Great defender, pitchers love working with him, long shot to do much with the bat. The Ramos injury is just brutal for them.

NeedsMoneyToLive: I couldn’t tweet my support since I work for an MLB club, but worse than the “new GM mold” is the insistence on requiring lengthy unpaid internships in order to be considered for a job in MLB. I know you’ve supported eliminating them before but the spotlight really needs to go on this awful practice.
Klaw: Totally agree. I think everyone in MLB knows there’s a problem, but the status quo is working for individual owners so they don’t want to be the ones to change it.

Jason: How long until a team announces that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no pitcher will go through the lineup more than 3 times?
Klaw: Why announce it? Just do it. Let other teams figure it out. Plus this way you avoid media questions when those circumstances do occur.

Nick: Cesar Hernandez as a 4.2 fWAR and 3.4 bWAR. Is he really an above-average regular moving forward or are we just seeing a random spike in the defensive metrics?
Klaw: I’ve spoken to a lot of analysts while working on my book, and one thing that’s come up often is skepticism of large one-year spikes in defensive metrics like this one. If a player is +15 like CH is this year, without any history of it, you can say with some certainty that he’s been an above-average defender, but should doubt that he’s been THAT good a defender. MLB clubs have much more precise data to work with and they implied that they get fewer of these outliers.

Jason: Are advanced scouting tools inevitably skewed toward run prevention (e.g., batted ball days leading to defensive positioning)? If not, what types of things can you envision that would help offense?
Klaw: That’s what’s happening right now with analytics, but I think the new data streams will end up influencing all parts of the game. Defensive positioning is just the low-hanging fruit.

Nick: Who’s more likely to put it all together moving forward: Eric Hosmer or Yasiel Puig?
Klaw: Still think there’s something more to be extracted from Hosmer’s bat. Might need a different organization & hitting philosophy.

Marcus: Hi Keith. Thanks for the weekly chats. The Giants have been lacking a true power threat pretty much since Bonds. When I look through their minor league system, I don’t see any big-time power threats and what players they have with a modicum of power look like they strikeout a lot. Have they got anyone who could develop into a 30-40 HRs a year power threat at the big league level?
Klaw: Not off the top of my head. Shaw has that kind of raw power, but it’s a below-average hit tool (slow bat, doesn’t see the ball well). Reynolds is more like a 25 HR/25 SB guy, and strikeouts are an issue with him because he tends to run very deep counts and needs a better two-strike approach. I like him quite a bit, though, more than Shaw.

Colin: Have you written anywhere about your favorite roasters in the US? I am looking to try some new stuff
Klaw: I assume we’re talking coffee here. I haven’t, but here’s a bunch: Intelligentsia, Four Barrel, Blue Bottle, Cartel, heart, Archetype, Deeper Roots, Re-Animator, Royal Mile, Cuvee, 49th Parallel (BC).

Ridley Kemp: Rolling Stone left The Prisoner completely off their top 100 TV shows list. Were there such glaring omissions from the TV: The Book book?
Klaw: Nothing I noticed. I mentioned in my review that I thought Will & Grace might get a mention, since it was a cultural milestone, but it just wasn’t that great a show, especially after the first two seasons, and Sepinwall confirmed to me that that was the reason it didn’t make the cut. (The Prisoner wasn’t eligible for their book because it was British.)

Eric: Regarding Kyle Hendricks, you may have been wrong but certainly at least some of his success is due to landing on the right team at the right time. To his credit, he appears to have reached his 99% percentile of optimal performance. Is that more on him or on the Cubs? I feel that baseball is littered with prospects that could have been somebody if they had only been on the team with the right coaching and management in place to maximize their talent but maybe I’m overstating it.
Klaw: I talked about that a little bit, but I didn’t want to make it seem like I was somehow walking back the assertion that I made a mistake. (I hate calling it an “admission,” as if I made a moral error. “Forgive me, Bill James, for I have sinned.”) You are correct in that he is in the right place at the right time in baseball history, where the Cubs, a very analytically-minded organization top to bottom, could see him and the data and get him to throw his changeup more, to try to work more to the edges of the strike zone, to encourage contact because the fielders will be in the right places. Give the player credit too – I would always rather say, hey, I was wrong, because the kid made me wrong.

JJ: DId Yoan Moncada benefit at all from riding the bench for the Red Sox over the last six weeks? Aside from the pretty healthy per diem. In his limited ABs, he struck me as a guy who absolutely needed another 750 plate appearance in the minors (at least), not to mention a ton of innings at whatever defensive position they’ve chosen for him.
Klaw: Yes and perhaps that’s the benefit – it told everybody that he needs to start next year in the minors.

Danny: I’ve seen people suggest it would be appropriate to honor Jose Fernandez by voting for him to win the Cy Young award. Normally, I’m opposed to “stunts” like this that would otherwise never be suggested if not for tragic circumstances..but you could certainly do a lot worse with your Cy vote this year..
Klaw: He’s deserving, but not the top candidate. Perhaps the NL Cy Young Award could become the Jose Fernandez Award, and the Cy Young Award would just refer to the AL?

Ted: Do you agree with the notion that postseason results are just based on randomness?
Klaw: No. I believe that a human predicting the results will fare no better than a random prediction. I believe that a lot of luck goes into the postseason, from health to timing to matchups. But to say they’re just based on randomness would wipe out any role the players themselves play. Madison Bumgarner having the October of his life – of anyone’s life – was not “random.” The result, the Giants winning the WS as the 8th best team in baseball, may seem random in context, but the victory itself was not random.

Jason: Could Zach Davies have a similar career arc of Kyle Hendricks? I am not saying under 2 ERA good, but a solid #3 starter type?
Klaw: He was quietly very good this year, and I looked at him for today’s article but decided there wasn’t really enough of a delta between what he did and what I thought he’d be (4/5 starter). League-average starter? I’ll buy that.

Ron: Keith-Did the Twins hire Falvey? Good hire? Whom do you think he will tap for GM?
Klaw: They will be hiring him. I don’t know him that well, and am surprised they would hire a President who has never formally run a department of any sort; they interviewed Chaim Bloom, who appears to have the same skill set and background, but has managed a department before. That’s not a knock on Falvey per se, and may simply reflect my own ignorance. I have no sense of what they’ll do for GM.

William: I have a hard time understanding why people often rush to deny science and politicize it. Once a concept is established it just seems foolish to fight it. With climate change for example, it is ok to disagree with the best policies to combat it, but I fail to see how denying man’s role in it serves a political ideology. I am convinced that the vaccine deniers and climate change deniers would have been Heliocentrism “skeptics” in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Klaw: Yet we have a major political party arguing it’s bunk, and its candidate for President claiming it’s a fiction created by China. This is an existential crisis that affects everybody – the cost of food, the supply of clean water, the feasibility of living near coasts, global energy costs and supply – and slightly more than half of our polity is in abject denial.

Adam: Hunter Dozier — is he a DUDE or just a dude?
Klaw: Just a dude, I think.

Greg: Assuming all the Mets 7 good SP’s (not including Lugo) are healthy going into next yr (obviously a huge huge assumption) do you think the Mets should go straight up with a 6 man rotation?
Klaw: I’m not certain that actually helps – pitching guys less within games seems like it has more benefit in fatigue reduction. That’s based on scant evidence, though. Either way, this is hypothetical because it seems impossible that all seven will be healthy at the same time.

Jonny B: What would be more upsetting: Britton winning the AL Cy Young, or someone other than Trout winning AL MVP? For some reason, the idea of any closer winning the Cy Young seems objectively indefensible.
Klaw: Upsetting is putting it strongly; the writers as a whole are bad at this stuff and will always be, perhaps increasingly so as the gap between what teams know and what we know increases. If Trout loses, it’ll be to Betts, who’s #2. If Britton loses, it would be like David Ortiz winning MVP this year – a narrative defeating facts.

Jorge: We’re cooking a 1.5 lb corned beef using our sous vide machine. We’ve seen a ton of diff advice on what lenghth/temp to do it at. What says you?
Klaw: I say corned beef is disgusting.

Bryan: How come you love to pull the “absence of evidence…” card on a multitude of occasions, but still refuse to acknowledge the mere possibility that PED’s might assist player performance without iron clad proof?
Klaw: I’ve acknowledged the possibility on numerous occasions, and even supported it in the case of amphetamines. So I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.

JG: With Falvey only being 33, do you see any animosity with a GM who likely will be older?
Klaw: Well, if that’s the case, Falvey shouldn’t hire him.

Danny: My Asdrubal Cabrera cog diss is kicking in again. I know the numbers say he is no longer a good player, but every game he seems get a huge hit or make a great play. Please give me another dose of reality and remind me the numbers don’t match what my eyes are seeing.
Klaw: They don’t. UZR has him 18th of 24 shortstops this year, and a couple of guys below him aren’t really shortstops. Also, it has Elvis Andrus among the worst, which surprised me. UZR isn’t the be-all and end-all but it matches the eye test on Cabrera.

Michael: Coffee: black or with milk/cream?
Klaw: If it’s real coffee, black, no sweetener.

Ryan: If you got to ask one debate question for both candidates, what would you ask?
Klaw: Explain the difference between Keynesian economics and the monetarist school. Or something about climate change, but this year that would be a rout.

Ant: Reports indicate Austin Riley was catching up to fastballs much better in the second half. Still down on him?
Klaw: Yes. His bat speed hasn’t changed – that’s wishful thinking.

Randy: I’ve seen comps that have compared Alex Verdugo to Markakis, is that about right or do you have a different comp?
Klaw: I think he has more power than Markakis ever managed to show in the majors, although Markakis as a prospect projected to show more than he ever did.

Rob: I love Carcassonne, but haven’t tried any of the expansions. What are the best, and are any of them “essential” (IE, you wouldn’t want to play without them again)?
Klaw: Traders and Builders is pretty awesome.

Bill: In his post-game press conference, Brad Ausmus said that he was reticent about bringing Fulmer back after a 45-minute rain delay in a game in which he had already thrown 68 pitches in three innings. I’m thinking “insane” or possibly “foolhardy.” Any other descriptions come to mind?
Klaw: Didn’t he pull the same shit with Daniel Norris last September? A 50-something pitch first inning, right? Just fire him. This isn’t a solitary error in judgment. It’s a pattern of ignorance. (And hire Alex Cora to replace him!)

Anonymous: As an advocate, I’m curious for your thoughts. I’ve considered being screened for anxiety/depression with medication following, but am hesitant because I don’t like the idea that taking meds means I’m no longer “me”? Any advice?
Klaw: Been taking meds for anxiety for four years and I’m more “me” with them than I ever was without them. Prior to that – I take escitalopram, 20mg/day – the person you saw, met, even talked to online was dominated by the effects of the constant low hum of anxiety. Now I think more clearly, I’m more deliberate, I’m calmer, and everyone in my life has noticed.

Adam: Hi Keith! Thanks for everything you do. I enjoy reading your book reviews, and want to start reviewing the books I read as well to help me form my thoughts about them. I’m curious, did you write reviews for yourself before you had a platform? And do you take notes about books you read, or just compose the reviews on the fly?
Klaw: Never wrote for myself before, and I rarely take notes unless there’s a great quote I want to remember. Glad you enjoy them.

Anthony: Coffee: light, medium, or dark roast?
Klaw: Light. I’m a third-wave guy.

JT: What percentage of the claims against Clinton are legitimately true? Think that she’s on her death bed, she had detractors killed, she ordered a stand down in Benghazi, she ruined her husband’s accusers, she’s really a reptile level junk.
Klaw: Who can tell? I feel like the GOP would do better to focus on the actual policy questions, such as things she voted for in Congress that were mistakes – I would say the Patriot Act, but that’s probably not a good talking point for them – rather than this stuff or blaming her for her husband’s imbroglios.

JP: What if Keurig offered you $1 billion to endorse their K-cups? Does even Klaw’s dignity have a price?
Klaw: No shot. Bad coffee + environmental disaster.

JC: Is Goldschmitt the player you’ve missed out on by the widest margin in your career? BTW I think your track record is amazing.
Klaw: I think so. And if I could time-travel back to when he was in the minors, the one thing I would tell myself most on him is “just give him more of a chance.”

Ramanujan: Are bat speed and power correlated? I assume power comes from hitting a ball hard, which I assumed meant keeping the bat moving quickly (while keeping your hands and wrists rigid)…or does keeping the bat rigid as possible matter more for power (while moving the bat quickly is literally all that is necessary to have bat speed)? I’ve heard you mention a few times that people
Klaw: I don’t think that’s true. Power comes from hard contact and launch angle. Hard contact can come from strength too, especially wrist and forearm strength.

Adam: Any college pitchers in this draft with TOR potential?
Klaw: Wright and Faedo might.

Adam: Thoughts on the DBacks firing of De Jon Watson?
Klaw: I’d heard some anecdotal stuff about his time there that was unfavorable, but nothing to compare to the more concrete stories about TLR and Stewart screwing up the rules or mishandling their players. I think De Jon got scapegoated bigly.

Adam: At least two national writers believed the Padres should have been forced to send Anderson Espinoza back and received a lesser prospect from the Red Sox in light of the Preller fiasco. What are your thoughts?
Klaw: Can’t see how you can do that. You can only send the two teams back to the negotiating table, at which point Preller would have said “just send back Pomeranz.” It works better when the player with the injury issue is the prospect or one of the prospects, not the main target in the deal.

Jamie: I am sure you have heard of Harvard’s new policy on final clubs. What are your thoughts on the clubs themselves and the policy?
Klaw: They were extralegal when I was there; I don’t know if they still are. I wasn’t in one – it was largely rich kids or occasionally athletes, and I was and remain neither – and they were mostly invisible to me. (Fraternities are illegal at Harvard, for those who don’t know. For that I was fairly grateful.)

Adam: Baseball player most likely to kneel during the national anthem: Bryce Harper?
Klaw: Carlos Delgado wouldn’t stand for it in protest of the US Navy’s use of Vieques for bombing practice. It wasn’t that big of a deal at the time. Harper wouldn’t kneel, though – I think you’ve got his profile wrong.

Steve: Better 1B bat: Ronald Guzman or Rhys Hoskins?
Klaw: Hoskins. I am not sold on Hoskins’ real power, but Guzman I think has that.

Logan: What’s your opinion on Maikel Franco going forward? Is his low OBP due to lack of anything protecting him and trying to do too much?
Klaw: It’s his approach. What you offered are excuses. He’s never been a patient or disciplined hitter; he has great plate coverage, even out of zone, and is so damn strong he can do stuff with pitches other guys couldn’t hit fair. But he needs a significant improvement in his selectivity for his OBP to become acceptable.

Sgt Donnelly: Whose stock would you buy for the next 5 years: Buxton or Mazara? PS Thanks for sharing your baseball insight
Klaw: The offensive bar for Buxton to become an average big leaguer is so low because of his great defense & baserunning that I’d take him, easily. And I love Mazara.

Tracy: Have you read anything beyond The Hound of the Baskervilles? I’m asking because I’m eyeing an exquisite hardbound volume of Conan Doyle’s complete Sherlock Holmes works and I’m wondering if it’s worth it.
Klaw: A bunch of the short stories. They’re all great.

Nick: Thoughts on AJ Reed this year? IIRC you had some concerns about how his bat speed would play in the majors. Do you think that played a part in his high K rate, or was he maybe being too passive? Obviously he didn’t have too much of an opportunity to get acclimated with HOU fighting for a playoff spot this season.
Klaw: I think it was a factor, yes. Had he gotten more time in the majors, I think he would have made the same kind of adjustments he made in the minors, going the other way more with pitches he couldn’t get around on, which is why I rated him fairly highly despite concerns about the bat speed. For the reader who asked about Riley above, that’s the kind of player you hope he can become.

Aaron: I know it’s an extremely SSS, but less swing and miss so far from Renfroe. Encouraged?
Klaw: No, because it’s an extremely SSS.

Jeremy: It seems like you fit a ton of things you love to do into the same 24 hours I have, but I feel like I don’t do anything I enjoy. Any tips?
Klaw: I never want to assume too much about time, since some folks have to work two jobs or crazy hours just to pay the bills, but since you’re here I’ll guess that you have some flexibility. First thing I’d say is think about how you use your day and look for the time you’re not using well. I never sit in front of the TV unless it’s for something I really want to watch, for example. I used to do that, and then after a while I realized I was wasting part of every day and getting nothing out of it.

Elton: What are your thoughts on Peraza and Herrera for the Reds next year? Would the optimal result be Herrera at 2B (assuming they somehow liquidate Brandon Phillips) and Peraza as a roving backup/punch runner?
Klaw: I’d play Herrera at 2b and send Peraza back to AAA to play every day, preferably at SS. Peraza’s performance there this year was pretty mediocre and I wouldn’t be rushing him into a MLB job at ~23.

Brayden: Is JP Crawford still an elite prospect after a down year or is he over-hyped? Yes he was young for AAA but his gap power is non-existent.
Klaw: You’re scouting the stat line, and yes, he’s still an elite prospect, just very young for AAA as you said.

Nick: Speaking of players you were wrong about, do you still like the Jason Heyward contract?
Klaw: Yes, actually.

Rick: Why was Corey Seager passed on by 17 other teams? What was your report on him coming out of high school?
Klaw: He wasn’t “passed on” by other teams. He wanted well over slot, and had Boras, so some teams were afraid to take him and find he wouldn’t sign. This isn’t Trout again. Everyone knew that kid was special.

Chris: Great job as always in identifying who you were wrong about each year and owning up to that fact. You get it right a lot but it’s impossible to be perfect. Having said that, who are some players you missed on that you thought would be sure things at the major league level?
Klaw: Smoak is the one who’ll always bother me, because I never saw him do anything but hit, and pro scouts I talked to just raved about him up until he was traded to Seattle at the least. I thought Wieters would be a much better hitter too, while I’m at it. Lot of pitchers I liked were derailed by injuries – I had Zach Britton as a potential #2 starter.

Klaw: That’s all for this week; thank you as always for all of your questions. I’ll be back next Thursday if I’m not crushed by a hurricane.

You can pre-order my book, Smart Baseball on amazon already; it’s due out in April. Also, sign up for my email newsletter to stay up to date on all the stuff I write in various places.

Klaw: What do we have for entertainment? Klawchat.

Chris: Terry Collins brought in Smoker for Reed in 8th last night to face Freeman. He rationalized it postgame saying that Freeman is 2-4 career off Reed. Also, Smoker did induce weak contact. That said, when a manager quotes a SSS of 4 ABs to back up a decision, shouldn’t he immediately be fired? The game has passed him by.
Klaw: I saw a lot of howling about the decision last night when it happened, but I don’t have any problem with bringing in a lefty to face Freeman. That part is fine. The logic afterwards, well, it’s a stretch to call it logic because only a fucking idiot thinks four at bats is a meaningful sample.

Chris: Can Conforto play RF long-term? I think CF is a definitely “Hell No” and 1B is also pretty much off the table, but knowing Cespedes will probably only want to play LF, it seems RF would the one spot to get Conforto in lineup regularly.
Klaw: I think he can play right or left, but agree CF is a no go.

BB: It was a while ago this guy was a prospect, but do you have any thoughts about Mike Montgomery re-joining the Cubs/an MLB rotation moving forward? Or do you think he’s better suited as a BP arm?
Klaw: Never had the command or breaking ball to last as a starter. Certainly had plenty of opportunities.

Jake: What’s the ceiling for Jharel Cotton? Middle of the rotation guy?
Klaw: Probably less. I guess if you’re talking top 5% type of outcome, then okay, I’ll say middle of the rotation guy, but it’s not likely.

Father Tim: My son is 5 months old now and we’ve started to introduce some solids mixed with breast milk. Did you make your own baby food or use “safe” store bought brands like Nature’s Choice?
Klaw: Never made our own. Great idea. Too much work.

Ceej: Some think Moncada will play a ton next year because Shaw and company aren’t that good and others think he’ll spend most of the year in the minors. Which side are you on?
Klaw: Minors. Swing and miss is a legit issue here.

bobby: It’s barely possible that Gary Sanchez won’t be the best catcher in the history of the game. If that is the case, what do you foresee for him? Annual All Star? Occasional All Star? Solid performer? Kevin Maas? Thanks for the great work…
Klaw: The Kevin Maas comps are unfair (I know you’re not making one) because Sanchez has been better AND has actual value beyond the power AND there was a little more cause for optimism on Sanchez coming out of the minors. I think he’s a frequent All-Star, and could have an MVP type season or two, because he’s a catcher who will probably hit like a good first baseman.

bobby: The Yankees did a good job of rebuilding their farm system with some impact trades at the deadline. Clearly they need pitching to compete. If you were Cashman, would you deal from your prospects for a frontline starter, sign a Rich Hill, or wait a year and hope a Sheffield or Kaprielian works out and if not sign someone after 2017? Thanks, as always, for your great work.
Klaw: Probably would wait a year and see how some of the arms in the system fare next year, since several were hurt all or part of this year.

buck farmer: who would you pick for AL Cy Young?
Klaw: Kluber or Sale.

Jeff: Have you met Vin Scully? Any good stories?
Klaw: Once. He was a delight. Every bit as nice as he appears to be.

Anthony: I expect you to be flooded with this question. But what the are chances Sanchez can win RoY?
Klaw: I think pretty good, because he’s one of the 2-3 best candidates on performance and has a strong narrative behind him. Plus voters can be like sheep – one guy floats some stupid idea, like Cespedes for NL MVP last year, and next thing you know a lot of voters are baaaing along with it. Also it helps Sanchez that there’s a historical bias against pitchers winning ROY and the next-best candidate, Fulmer, is a pitcher.

Bradley: As someone who teaches high school Econ in a district that requires it for graduation, I appreciate your support of more kids taking the class. Would you be on board with all states requiring at least an intro class to graduate?
Klaw: Absolutely. I think it’s more essential than art or music, which I had to take in HS as well, or shop classes, which I had to take in junior high.

Fuzzy Dunlop: I’m already planning on getting the v60 pourover that you recommended the other day. What about a good grinder? I don’t like the one I have now, can you recommend one?
Klaw: I have a Baratza Virtuoso. It was recommended by my friend at Intelligentsia and it’s been great, as was the customer service when the first one I got proved defective.

Mike K: Any thoughts on Tommy Joseph? Is he a viable starter at first base moving forward?
Klaw: I don’t think so, but I don’t have a problem with them giving him half a season there to start 2017 and see while Hoskins goes to AAA.

Jeff: This is a bit of an odd question where your answers will probably more of an educated guess than it is a concrete answer, but you seem like the guy to ask it to! When you look at some of the MLBs official rules, rookie eligibility being a good example, why is it that at bats is the benchmark for determining status and not plate appearances? As a whole, it just seems like the MLB, at least in an official capacity, highly favors using it over plate appearances. I’ve always been a bit befuddled by that.
Klaw: PA matter for batting average title determination. It’s probably a function of convenience – at bats are listed everywhere, PA are not.

Dan: Adam Frazier appears to have an excellent hit tool, but with zero power. Any chance he can stick at an everyday player or is his ceiling a solid utility guy, if that?
Klaw: Utility guy for me.

Darren: Teabow hit an instructional league batting practice home run! I can’t wait to hear his speech at Cooperstown.
Klaw: Better get me a bucket, I’m gonna throw up.

Brett: Jason McCleod seems like the perfect candidate for the Twins job. Do you think he’s as interested as they are?
Klaw: He interviewed, so I can only assume so. I’ve touted him a bit here and on ESPN over the last few years because I think he blends scouting, player development, and analytical understanding in a way that would allow him to run a modern organization. Hiring strictly analytics guys to be GMs isn’t any better than hiring strictly scouting types, or than hiring a mediocre agent who’s never held a meaningful front office job in his life to be GM.

Clay: Do you think the Twins need to reset the rebuilding process after they hire a new GM, or are the pieces there that they could trade for some pitching?
Klaw: I think they need to focus on developing pitching for a change, and finding out why some decent pitching prospects they’ve had in the minors haven’t worked out as starters.

Dana: What’s Michael Pineda’s deal? Obviously, he has swing and miss stuff, yet the results are lacking.
Klaw: I think it’s a fairly hittable fastball when he misses his spots, which is often.

Reeve: Would Hunter Greene be your choice for #1 pick as of right now? What are some other names with #1 potential?
Klaw: No, he wouldn’t be 1 over Jeren Kendall. Kyle Wright is a possibility for 1, as is Alex Faedo. I think our top 30 is due to go up next week?

Rube Waddell: Does Trea Turner’s production fall off next year or can he keep up his all star level of performance?
Klaw: There’s no way he maintains this level of production. He’d be Honus Wagner if he did.

Missing Macphail: Keith, what do you do if you are Baltimore? You have three-fifths of a rotation and a solid bullpen, an offense built around inconsistent power with poor OBP and little speed, two very good players in Schoop and Machado, a great manager but a farm system that’s been gutted by short sighted trades? Weiters and Trumbo are probably gone after the season as well. Would it be better to blow it up and start over? I’m not sure how you could do so when the only parts other teams would want are the players you would like to build around. What’s your take?
Klaw: I don’t think Buck would have any patience for a rebuild, and what Buck says goes, so that’s the end of that conversation. I think the situation’s worse than you say – they have 2/5 of a rotation and whatever becomes of Bundy, who hasn’t been very good since they stretched him out and is a shell of what he was in high school. So they have to find two more starters on the market unless they can salvage something from Gallardo or Ubaldo, and they don’t have a ton to trade from full-season ball. It’s a serious challenge in and of itself, made worse by the constraints of the organization.

Jack: Is Franklyn Kilome a potential number 2? or backend?
Klaw: As with Cotton, if you’re talking absolute best-case scenario, #2 is reasonable. If you’re talking realistic ceiling, then it’s lower than that, with high probability that he’s a very good reliever.

Rube Waddell: Marcus Semien — Can he get better on both sides of the ball in 2017?
Klaw: No. I think this is it. I’m even surprised he’s gotten to this point.

Gordon Lightfoot: In 200 plate appearances since the beginning of August, McCutchen has put up a line of .288/.388/.494. Is it safe to say that the Cutch we saw pre trade deadline was driven more by things like health and not as much natural decline?
Klaw: It’s a small sample there, but I have said all year I thought it was health more than age. He’s a little young to be in that kind of age-related decline already.

Daniel: What can you tell us about Shohei Otani? Where/when will he play in mlb?
Klaw: He’s a pitcher, no matter what HR highlights you saw. I don’t think there’s any debate over this. As for when, I bet he comes over after 2017.

Mike: I know you were down on Yulieski Gurriel based on seeing him years ago. Granted it’s a sss but from what you’ve seen so far are you surprised by his performance?
Klaw: Remember that when I saw him he was also out of shape. It’s not fair to judge him on that look and that’s why I never really put it out there when the Astros signed him.

Mike: You can bash Jill Stein on Twitter all you want, but I find both Trump and Clinton to be deplorable with absolutely no honor and integrity. As a result, I will not cast my vote for either of them despite the fact I’ve always voted Democrat. Now, here’s a question for you – why should I vote Democrat after the DNC leak proved beyond a reason of doubt that the DNC leadership did everything it could to help Clinton win the primary and even aggressively targeted Sanders in a negative way? Why should I bow down to the establishment that cheated and proved it didn’t care what the voters actually wanted?
Klaw: Because this is a binary election. If you don’t vote for Clinton, you are effectively voting for Trump. You can convince yourself otherwise all you want, but if you wake up on November 9th and the President-elect is a dog-whistling white supremacist, then it’s on you and every other potential Clinton voter who decided this was the year to hold your breath until you get what you want.

Jaysfan: Donaldson has to be injured, if you had that information would you share it?
Klaw: He had an MRI on his hip a week ago. That’s not secret.

Casey: What is the ceiling for Magneuris Sierra? I assume with the lack of power he has to be able to stay in center in order to be an average regular?
Klaw: Yes but everything I’ve heard says he stays in CF.

Rick: Keith, In addition to the great work you do on baseball, I really like the insight you provide on other important issues. I have no question for you, just a thank you.
Klaw: You’re welcome, and thank you for reading them. I don’t pretend to have lots of answers but I do like to talk about these issues as part of the learning process.

Joe D: Keith, how can the public have faith in scientific studies when articles like the one you linked to last week show that results can be bought? On the advice of a former statistics professor, when I hear or read that a study was performed I always try to find out who paid for it.
Klaw: Those results were bought in 1965. The level of scrutiny today is much higher, and the opportunities for other researchers to replicate (or fail to replicate) results are greater.

Avi: Taillon has looked a little shaky recently. I sort of sense it might be fatigue for a guy who’s thrown 150+ innings that had not pitched since 2013. Thoughts? If the Pirates weren’t hanging on to WC hopes by a thread I would prefer to have him shutdown.
Klaw: I think that’s a reasonable position on all fronts. I don’t know if he’s feeling fatigue, but that’s a lot of innings for a guy who as you said basically missed two years.

Oren: Gregory Polanco has struggled a bit with breaking stuff this year and its clearly one of the last adjustments he needs to make. How confident do you feel that he can make those adjustments? He’s always struck me as a guy who takes a little longer than most to make them, but he gets there.
Klaw: I think that’s very fair. I believe he can make those adjustments because 1) he’s never been a hacker or somehow hopeless on offspeed stuff and 2) as you’ve said we’ve seen him make other adjustments before. The guys who scare me are the ones who’ve never hit breaking stuff at any level, or the ones who just don’t make adjustments well. I’ve never been a Grichuk guy because he’s struggled with breaking stuff since high school.

William Bradley: Can Hunter Renfroe hold down a MLB job next year, or was he simply out-performing this year in a hitter friendly league as an older player? Also, what are your projections next year for Tommy Joseph?
Klaw: Very hitter-friendly league and poor K/BB rates too, for a guy who already had swing and miss concerns and doesn’t recognize breaking stuff that well either.

Tim: I keep hearing that baseball needs to appeal to a younger audience. Do you buy this? I’ll be honest: the argument seems fallacious on its face, so I’ve never bothered to read further. Am I making a grave error?
Klaw: No, I don’t buy it.

Rob: You were a little hard on the Reds for the return they got for Todd Frazier but that Schebler and Peraza boy turned out to have nice seasons and are young. Have your thoughts evolved at all on that trade?
Klaw: No, it remains a huge loss of value for them. Schebler’s been replacement level for them, and he’s 25. Peraza didn’t hit well in AAA, hasn’t walked or shown any power in the majors, but at least the Reds have given him some reps at shortstop which would give him a substantial boost to his value. Still they could have done so much better for Frazier than they did.

Pete: Jordan Luplow and Connor Joe had solid 2nd halves in the FSL. Do you see either as future major leaguers?
Klaw: Not of any consequence, although I expect both to get to the majors.

sam: Hey, Keith… since you’ve stated in the past that your concept of the rookie-of-the-year vote is to vote for whom you thought would have the best career (I remember when you thought Matusz was the best choice one year), would you vote for Sanchez or Fullmer this year?
Klaw: That’s overstating it a bit – I think that this should be a factor, since we’re typically looking at very unequal opportunities (playing time) when comparing ROY candidates. If I had a vote today, I’d probably give it to Sanchez, although Fulmer is worthy and if you wanted to put him first I wouldn’t disagree.

JC: I’ve been concerned all year about the way the Braves have used Aaron Blair. He has been up and and down 4 times and pitched poorly until his last ML start. Should the way the Braves have used him have long term effects?
Klaw: His fastball’s been off a bit and given that I was hoping he’d get a stint in relief to get some confidence back and also maybe let him regain some strength.

Bob: Good afternoon, Keith. I have read up on how WAR is calculated but one thing escapes me. Are park effects factored in? If not, then is that something that the evaluator has to do to interpret the data?
Klaw: Yes, all versions of WAR I know, including the ones teams use internally, include a park adjustment.

Morris: On Twitter I notice you frequently get labeled as a liberal. But when you tear Jill Stein a new one or defend Ronald Reagan’s presidency or rip some naturopaths on vaccine science I don’t see complaints about how conservative you are. I guess that’s not a question.
Klaw: People who call me or anyone else a “liberal” as a sort of insult don’t seem to know what the word means. I am more of a classical liberal than a modern liberal, but you’re not going to see that distinction on social media.

Casey: What is the best way to cook asparagus without having a grill?
Klaw: Roast at 500 degrees about ten minutes. Just toss with a little olive oil and salt beforehand.

Carly Simon: Tebow, Tebow, Tebow… seriously though…. I keep reading Tebow would have been a “high” pick coming out of HS yet I don’t recall ever hearing his name pre-draft. Do you have any recollection/opinion of his status as a 17-18 year old player? Is this just more Tebow hype or was he a legit “top 10 round” HS prospect?
Klaw: You don’t recall that because this is utter bullshit, and you should call out any reporter who claims it. He didn’t even play his senior year of HS.

Justin: Your obligatory, stick to baseball question. As an economist, what do you think we should do with interest rates?
Klaw: I wish I had even a reasonable answer to that (and I’m not an economist).

JC: First, second, short ,LF and CF seem set for the Braves. What positions would you focus on improving during the offseason?
Klaw: They need power bats, somewhere.

J: Totally agree with Sabbath as top 5 most important/influential band of all time. Other 4? I’m thinking Stooges, Velvet Underground, Ramones. Beatles. Not best of course but influential
Klaw: Clash would be one of my five, along with the Beatles, of course. I feel like Zeppelin, even though they’re not that critically adored, influenced two generations of rock musicians. This is one question where popularity may matter more than artistic merit (and I like Zeppelin quite a bit). So VU may get the critical nod, but they were and are far enough outside the mainstream that I’d probably exclude them.

BB: Cubs are still short on upper level minors SP’ing. Trevor Clifton had a nice year in high-A. He someone that has MOR kind of potential?
Klaw: Yep, he’s taken a nice step forward. There’s pitching in their system but not top-end pitching.

Frank: What would Atlanta have to surrender from the farm to acquire Chris Archer?
Klaw: Why would they want to do that? Pitching they’ve got.

Andy: You have NL ROY right? Do you wish that you could vote in an award that’s likely to be closer? Or is it just an honor to vote?
Klaw: Yes, and yes it would be nice to have a tougher decision – I think 1-2 are pretty obvious – but it is an honor and a responsibility to vote, and I will not complain about it.

Ian: Allard looked great this year after he came back from the back injury/rehab. Assuming the back issues are behind him, is he the best pitching prospect in the Braves system and most likely to reach their ceiling? Think he starts at A+ next year, or repeat at Rome? Really excited to watch the progress of that rotation at Rome. Thanks!
Klaw: I had him as their top pitching prospect prior to the season, I think, and I’d stick with that. I wish he was more physical, but he’s loose and athletic and I think he’ll be fine even without the size.

Tom: Do you think Patrick Corbin’s struggles this year (although he’s done better in the bullpen recently) stem from his recovery from TJ surgery? Do you think he’s a good candidate for a rebound next season after he’s fully healthy?
Klaw: Remember when I suggested last December that they put Corbin in the bullpen for part of 2016, and got pilloried for it? Or how TweedleDave said they were expecting a full season out of Corbin as a starter this year? That all worked out well. And by the way, yes, I am expecting/hoping for a rebound; he’s very athletic and had two legit weapons when healthy.

Pat D: Nice to see you, Mr. Creosote. Where would you start Rutherford next season? I think it has to be Charleston, but is that possibly pushing it?
Klaw: Charleston. He’ll turn 20 in May, so he has to start in low-A IMO. The goal should be Trenton by end of 2018. I think he’s got enough hit tool right now to do it.

JR: Do you think Gsellman and Lugo are legitimate MLB SPs going forward, or are they both having nice SSS stretches against mostly weaker competition? If so, would the Mets be smart to look to sell high this offseason and look to trade either or both?
Klaw: Gsellman yes, Lugo I don’t think so, but I wouldn’t try to sell either. That is their starting pitching depth right there. Without those guys they would have been screwed this year.

Evan: What do you make of Eric Hosmer’s consistently terrible defensive metrics? Is this due to poor positioning or a lack of ability? Are we getting to the point where he should DH?
Klaw: I think defensive metrics do a poor job with 1b because they measure range but not the receiving aspects of the job.

Jon: Even though it’s a meaningless feat, do you think if Trout reaches 30-30 HR/SB, that helps his MVP case?
Klaw: I think voters baaaa have already decided that they’re not baaaaa voting for him baaacause he’s on a losing team.

Bill: Matt Boyd reportedly changed his arm angle during the middle part of the season and has pitched extremely well since his return, with increased velocity and a higher strikeout rate. Can such an adjustment really have that kind of immediate effect?
Klaw: Yes. Arm angle/slot shifts are dangerous (I think) but the effect can be pretty dramatic for fastball life, breaking ball tilt, or just plain deception.

Nick: TJ Rivera has hit everywhere he has played, including his recent time with the Mets. I know he is already 27 so he isn’t exactly a kid, but what do you think his ultimate ceiling is as a MLBer?
Klaw: Up and down guy. He’s hit everywhere but he’s been old for everywhere too.

Spx: Not to derail the chat to vax stuff, but is it possible some truth in not ALL vaccines are always safe? Could be possible for one recent, limited tested vac out of the 200 causing problems?
Klaw: When there was the slightest hint that the first rotavirus vaccine caused bowel obstructions, it was yanked from the market immediately, even though the number of actual cases was minuscule. So, yes, it’s possible there could be a minor issue with a vaccine, but it would be evident immediately. There aren’t larger problems because vaccination itself is safe; your child will get more pathogens from a few hours at school or day care than from all the weakened or dead-virus vaccines s/he will get in his/her lifetime.

Linus: How much do you think Statcast and other “on the field” measurements revolutionized front offices? How much time will it take to change fans’ perspective of the game?
Klaw: I’m writing about this now for my book, and yes, it’s changing things very rapidly within the industry, but the gap between what they know and what we know is increasing as a result.

Michael: Hi Klaw- Thanks as always for the chats. You remain the sole reason for me being an ESPN Insider. I became a huge fan of Ticket to ride and Carcassonne in large part due to your reviews. However I have had the Le Havre app on my iPad for months and been unable to get over the hump of what seems like overly complicated game play. Any suggestions on an easy way to learn to play?
Klaw: That’s because it is complicated; I traded my copy of the physical game away because we hadn’t played it in years. It takes too long to set up and gameplay is very involved, even compared to Agricola. But if you’ve played Agricola at all, then Le Havre becomse a little more straightforward.

ritchie vanian: Keith- It appears you are no fan of Terry Collins, but can you give him credit for keeping such an injured team in contention? Only one starter has not been on the DL this year, and his best pitcher has been the 975 year old Big Sexy.
Klaw: Why is that to Collins’ credit, though? What has he done specifically to make the team play better? Is it tactical? Motivational? (I doubt this exists, but you could at least make the argument.) Something else?

Brett: I think the Rabbit books by Updike are great (they get better with time). I know you find the main character to be an ass, but isn’t that kinda the point?
Klaw: It is the point. I just don’t like that kind of novel.

Bevan: If Manuel Margot doesn’t start in CF for the Padres tonight, I’m going to lose my mind.
Klaw: Understandable.

Mike: What’s your fave boardgame to play with a 7 y.o? Ludo is crushing my soul.
Klaw: We have played regular games with my daughter since at least that age. Ticket to Ride is a great starter game, because everything is colors and arithmetic.

Bob: Speaking of Grichuk reminds me of other similar players like Trumbo. Not making outs is the #1 goal of a hitter but power has value too. What does a team do with low-OBP, high-SLG guys like that? Only use them to pinch-hit? Have no more than one or two on a team and bat them sixth or seventh? Frustrate yourself trying to teach them how to take a walk?
Klaw: The problem I see with those guys is that it takes a tiny bit of lost luck or lost power (or the wrong ballpark) to make them one-win players or worse. You’re relying entirely on a skill that is still a bit volatile.

Andy: Baseball does need to work on appealing to a younger audience. They need to do that by making it much more cost and time effective to play baseball as a kid. My 6 year old doesn’t need 6 hours of practice a week. 8 year olds (and their families) could use a weekend off instead of traveling all over the area playing. That’s how you appeal to a younger audience, having every kid be able to play as long as they have the talent to.
Klaw: That’s all fair and reasonable. I also have told many parents that their kid doesn’t need to play year-round, and that travel teams aren’t often worth the money. But I worry about kids for whom the expense of a glove and a bat is too much; basketball has a much lower cost of entry, requires fewer kids, and only requires a hoop. Making baseball more accessible to every kid would be a better use of marketing dollars than … well, I take it back. It would be a more noble use. It might not be a better ROI.

Kenny: I’ve always liked that you will admit when wrong. The O’s clearly have holes, but have contended for four straight years. What is allowing them to do that despite their flaws? It can’t be SSS anymore.
Klaw: Good bullpens, very good tactical manager, some luck here and there with guys having career years. I don’t think Britton should be a CY candidate but he’s having an outstanding year, and he was an outstanding prospect for whom the Orioles found a role even when he didn’t work out as a starter.

Brett: We know you live in DE, but where would you live if you had no obligations (yes, I realize that’s a poor way to describe a family and job)
Klaw: Italy.

Lee: Can we quit with the false equivalence between Clinton and Trump? I’m tired of people suggesting that they can’t vote for Clinton because they are both equally awful candidates. Trump is an actual threat to our country like we’ve never seen. Clinton just seems like more of the same which in comparison seem pretty OK with me for the time being.
Klaw: This is more or less how I see it. I do think HRC has real policy proposals that we can debate, some of which I like and some of which I don’t. Drumpf doesn’t even have that.

Ryan: Do you project Gonsalves as a #2 in the majors?
Klaw: Not without an average breaking ball.

Nathan: Does America have any hope of survival if Clown Hitler wins the presidency and the GOP retains control of the House and Senate?
Klaw: It’s a terrifying possibility. Hence, Italy.

Marques: I’m biracial. We can talk about bias all we want in the minority community and people lake us add giving excuses instead of explaining a reality. So, when a white guy with credibility says implicit bias is real, it helps mentally if nothing else. How can we improve if we don’t acknowledge the obvious? Thank you for your empathy.
Klaw: You’re welcome. To be honest, I feel like the worst white guy to talk about this stuff. I grew up in as white an area as you could possibly find in the country. My wife (we graduated from HS together) and I think we had fewer than 5 African-American students in our graduating class of about 375, maybe a dozen Asian-American students, and I don’t think we had anyone who would have specifically identified at the time as anything else. I’ve seen racism elsewhere, later in life, including in my time in baseball, but I’ve only been a passive observer and I didn’t even grow up with that around me. The worst bias I saw growing up was the casual anti-Semitism of the Catholic suburbs.

Spx: So basically you are ripping Jill Stein because Trump has lose, correct?
Klaw: No, I’ve ripped her for pandering to the tin-foil hat conspiracy theory nuts.

Brett: Did you collect baseball cards as a kid? I suspect I’m about your age, and I wonder if some of us “investing” in cards 1986-89 has driven the interest in stats
Klaw: Yep, tons. Probably still have them somewhere.

Steve: Where do you see Mitch Keller in terms of prospect ranking after his breakout year?
Klaw: He’s a top 50 prospect, but I hesitate to get more specific until I do some real work on that list.

Gregg: Any advice for someone who hates the idea of everything about cooking (time, cleanup, prep, etc.), but also sees the importance and possible enjoyments of it?
Klaw: Do things that require less of what you hate. Grilling minimizes cleanup. One-pot dishes do the same. Slow cookers are great for cooking multiple nights of food in one shot. I don’t cook a full meal every night every week; I often cook enough meat in one shot to cover three dinners for the family and then build meals around whatever else we’re eating, typically the vegetable dish.

Henry: Keith, your book seems to be tailored for novices attempting to understand the overrated statistics of the game. (Yeah, I’m kind of judging it from its title). Can you share if your current readers will get something out of it. P.S. Amazon is listing it as a #1 new release in Business Facility Management, whatever that is.
Klaw: I hope current readers will enjoy it, and there will be a section at the end (mentioned above) on Statcast and the future of the game, but there will be parts where you’re thinking, yep, I know saves are stupid. There is, however, nothing in the book on facility management. That’ll be the sequel.

Tom: Heh, how can you talk about influence and not mention Pink Floyd, shine on you crazy diamond.
Klaw: I love Pink Floyd but I don’t think they’re that influential. What bands or subgenres really derive from their work?

Chris: Has Max Fried gotten back to the level you expected after missing so much time, or does staying in the Sally League hurt his case?
Klaw: He’s back, and I don’t worry quite so much about age relative to level for pitchers as I do for hitters. With pitchers, results do matter, but stuff and projection matter too.

Ron: Are you going to watch Pitch? The reviews, including Sepinwall, have been outstanding at least for the pilot.
Klaw: I am not.

Rob: Do you manage to get in a lot of board game time during the season, or is that mostly an offseason hobby?
Klaw: My wife and I play something 3-4 nights a week, and we play something with our daughter maybe 2-3 afternoons a week. I’m pretty adamant about getting that quality time in with the family when I’m not traveling or at a local game. I was home more this summer due to the book and a family matter, so I’ve played more games this year.

Susan: What watch do you wear? I realize it’s a silly question, but still curious if you care?
Klaw: I haven’t worn a wristwatch in more than ten years.

Chris: I’m with you, I see no reason for the Yanks to undo the restocking of the system by trading it all for Sale or something. Rather see them consolidate for a year (in fact I’d like to see them keep going and trading Gardner, McCann, and selling high on Castro’s superficial numbers), but I’m worried the powers that be (not Cash) will get antsy and worry about empty luxury seats w/o “name” stars on the field.
Klaw: They’re going to be decent and very fun to watch next year, and I think Sanchez might already be enough of a name guy to help draw fans.

Amy: I’m sure ESPN will make you put this in a prediction post, but who you got for WS? I feel like everyone will pick the hot Sox, but it rarely seems to work out that the hottest pre playoff team wins.
Klaw: I’ll make a prediction because people want one, not because I think I have some special woo or anything. I’m likely to go Cubs because I think they’re the best all-around team, built well for the playoffs, especially in run prevention.

Sam: How much will Jorge Mateo’s bad final 4 months of the season knock him down in top 100 prospect rankings?
Klaw: I’ve said this previously, but I’m less concerned with his performance than with the apparent lack of hard contact. He could be hitting the ball hard and not getting results, and I’d still be high on him. But he’s not even doing that. And then there’s whatever got him suspended in July on top of everything else.

Scrapper: Who will have the better career: Carlos Rodon or Kevin Gausman
Klaw: I’ll take Gausman, believe it or not. He’s got the third pitch and I think he’s more likely to end up with above-average command.

Ryan: Keith – thanks for the chats and for not being afraid of stepping outside the foul lines. I have a 4.5 year old daughter and my wife and I want to step past infant books for her. What chapter books worked for you and your daughter around that age?
Klaw: We did the Winnie the Pooh books and the first two Mary Poppins books and my daughter loved them. Eventually you’ll run into Rainbow Magic, and I wish you godspeed when that happens.

Grant: Has the perceived value of any contract flipped further this year than Rick Porcello’s? He went from being called a bottom 10 MLB contract to a Cy Young candidate.
Klaw: Too bad the GM who signed him got fired for his troubles.

Scrapper: Is exit velocity something that you look at now or is this a “limited utility” statistic for you?
Klaw: I believe there is value in it, but we are still learning what that value is.

Zac: If you were going to have the perfect breakfast, lunch, dinner combo in Nashville, where would you be eating?
Klaw: Breakfast at Pinewood Social, lunch at Mas Tacos Por Favor, dinner at Husk or City House or 404 Kitchen or Two Ten Jack…

Ramon: I’m certainly no scientist, but I’ve heard theories that while vaccinations are themselves bad, that possibly over vaccinating (getting too many all at one time) may be a bad idea. What do studies say?
Klaw: They say this is absolute nonsense. My daughter, at age one or maybe just short of it, was at a playgym of some sort, and my wife saw her lick the floor. She ingested more pathogens in that one act than in every vaccine she got that whole year. Our immune systems are way stronger than the deniers claim.

JWR: Do you set aside a specific time to write your book or is it pretty much just write when time permits?
Klaw: When time permits. And when I’m not distracted by things.

Chris: Has Kodi Medeiros shown enough to stay as a starter long term, or is he for sure destined to the pen?
Klaw: Bullpen guy.

Chris: Preller should have been fired, right?
Klaw: I don’t agree.

Brett: Is David Ortiz an easy choice HOF’er? It seems like he is being treated as such. The WAR is surprisingly low (and if Bagwell is out for steroid suspicion, isn’t Ortiz in the same boat?)
Klaw: He’s not a HoFer for me. Edgar is the better DH candidate, and that bar has been set too high for Ortiz to get in.

Stacy: Ok, what do you think of tattoos? Obviously, they are big with millennials. Would you be good with you daughter sleeving the arm?
Klaw: I don’t have any, but it’s her body and when she’s old enough it’ll be her choice.

Jim: Response to the cooking cleanup question: They made liners for crock pots so there’s no cleanup involved with that.
Klaw: Also true.

spx: Inciate’s catch – first step was -.7. How is that possible?
Klaw: I actually don’t understand what that’s saying. He started before the ball was hit?

Tom: Sorry, my Pink Floyd joke sounded better in my mind, the operative word was “influence”, the lunatic is in my head…
Klaw: Careful with that axe, Tom.

Frank: Making my first trip to the AFL and looking for any recommendations on food stops..Also long term who will end up having a better career Bellinger or Verdugo th
Klaw: Check my Arizona dining guide for the first part. I’ll bet on Verdugo although I had both guys as top 100 prospects before the season.

Henry: The Smiths were highly influential, and Johnny Marr’s guitar playing is highly underrated. They wouldn’t be on a “top-five” list but their influence is still very evident with the British music scene.
Klaw: Absolutely, but it’s only within the British scene, I think.

Chris: Do you think Chase Vallot can stick behind the plate, and if not, will that bat play good enough elsewhere?
Klaw: No, and I don’t think so.

Scherzer’s Blue Eye: Would you put Giolito as the centerpiece in a deal for Sale? Given the year that Giolito has had?
Klaw: I’d hate to sell a little low – especially when some of it was the Nats’ own tinkering with his delivery – but if it gets you a CY caliber guy like Sale you consider it.

Joe: Do you think third party votes are always bad, or does Trump’s incompetence make this year a special case? I’ve voted third party before and would probably be giving Johnson my vote this year if someone like Kasich had been nominated. But I just can’t do it with Trump on the ballot.
Klaw: I’ve voted third party before too. I don’t agree that they’re always bad. But this time, there’s a dangerous man at the gates of the White House, so bar the doors.

Marshall MN: If you could go back to college and do it all over again (under the assumption you couldn’t follow your current work track), would you directly pursue a writing career or would your obvious interest in science point you toward a hard science field?
Klaw: If I could do it over again, I’d major in applied math and use all my electives on foreign languages. Those are all things I love, and as it turns out, they’re all quite useful in many careers, including the one I’m in. But I started college at 17 and it was a small miracle I could do my own laundry, let alone pick what classes to take.

Klaw: That’s all for this week – sorry the pace was off a bit but I stayed overtime to try to make up for it. Thank you as always for all of your questions; I’ll be back next Thursday for another chat.

You can pre-order my book, Smart Baseball, on amazon or iTunes. It’s due out in April.

Klaw: I’m not a trader, if what you got is greater I’ll trade. Klawchat.

Zack: Better pick-up for rest of season, PPR: C. Beasley or J. McKinnon? Current RBs: J.Stew, Rawls/Michael.
Klaw: I mean, I was used to people wandering into the wrong chat over at the four-letter, but here?

Joe: Now that it looks like Aaron Judge will retain his prospect eligibility for next year, how do you think you will handle his major struggles in the bigs this year when trying to evaluate him?
Klaw: He’s run into plate coverage issues before, and made adjustments to reduce his weakness there. I believe he’ll continue to do so, enough to be a productive, above-average offensive player, one who still strikes out 150 times a year.

Marshall: Is Touki a potential ace? Stuff is crazy and control/command seems to be coming around
Klaw: Yes, I’ve always thought he had that upside, but as you imply his command was a long way away from that. Great athlete, good arm action, smart kid, so all the elements you’d want in a teenaged arm to project him for that kind of ceiling.

Jacob: When do you see Victor Robles being the #1 prospect?
Klaw: That’s rather presumptuous of you.

Marshall: Have you ever seen a rotation like Romes? Touki, Freid, Allard, Soroka… Who has the highest upside?
Klaw: Unfortunately we have seen rotations like that and they don’t always work out as we hope.

Brian: Do you think Addison Russell will be able to add a bit more contact down the line without sacrificing the power he’s added this year?
Klaw: I do. I think his hands are so strong and quick that his strikeout rate will get under 20% within the next two years. He’s still just 22 and his 2015 season should have been spent in the minors.

David: Would the Pirates be smart to try to extend Andrew McCutchen this off-season at a possible reduced rate, hoping his down year is a fluke and not the new normal, or is the risk too high?
Klaw: Risk is too high and with Meadows in AAA they have an internal replacement at the minimum salary coming soon. They are not in a financial situation to pay McCutchen the market rate.

Minty: If Moncada doesn’t improve at 3B in the AFL, how long do they give him to improve before they try the OF?
Klaw: That’s not enough time. AFL is just six weeks and they don’t play every day anyway.

Mark: There will likely be 3 White Sox players from the June draft on your next 100, right?
Klaw: Wrong.

Anthony: Keith, what is your take on vitamins and other supplements?
Klaw: Most of them are just a waste of your money. The research on multivitamins for healthy people shows no benefit.

Ben: So renowned drunk driver Tony La Russa is questioning Colin Kaepernick’s “sincerity” and implying that CK is protesting to further his career. Does this turn your stomach, or is it just me?
Klaw: I don’t think his DUI makes TLR’s point less worthy. I think the intellectual bankruptcy of his entire worldview makes his point less worthy.

Nate: Keith, I was wondering if you have had any interaction with Nick Hostetler. What is your opinion of him as a scout? Do you foresee better scouting/drafting with Nick and Rick in charge of the operation for the White Sox?
Klaw: I have and I think his first draft went extremely well. I thought I saw some subtle shifts in philosophy that already seem to be paying off.

Adam Trask: What’s your take on win probability added (WPA)? Does it tell us anything we don’t already know or is it just RBI with more math?
Klaw: It’s still an entirely context-dependent stat, so it has no predictive value, and it tells you more about the player’s situations than about the player himself, but if you are looking for something that explains how the player’s contributions affected the team’s chances of winning – which RBI purports to do, sort of, but doens’t – then it’s the best stat of its kind.

Tyler: Is Francis Martes still a frontline starter in your opinion? He seemed to turn it around in the 2nd half.
Klaw: Yep, still has that upside. Hoping he doesn’t get pulled from the AFL as Paulino was.

Kim: Obviously Taijuan Walker can’t be expected to throw three hit shutouts from here on out, but are you more bullish on him after his new mechanical tweaks? Assuming he doesn’t revert back, that is.
Klaw: I mentioned it on the BBTN podcast this morning – the guy has had so many mechanical tweaks over the last four years that I’m quite skeptical of each new story about them. And his problems were more than just mechanical, but how the mechanical changes he made in the past took away his breaking ball. Let’s see him do it for more than a couple of starts.

RK: I know you weren’t a believer in Segura at the time of the trade. Has this year changed that? I don’tknow what to make of him. How do you see him moving forward?
Klaw: It’s been very fluky – career-high BABIP, power spike mostly park-driven (and Rockies-pitching-driven). I could see an average regular there going forward, if you think some of the BABIP jump is real, but I think they’d do well to shop him this winter as his value’s unlikely to rise in the two years left before he reaches free agency.

Nick: Any thoughts on 2017 college bats other than Kendall? IIRC, you aren’t too high on JJ Schwarz. Pretty weak crop this year it seems barring a breakout or too this spring.
Klaw: I am high on Schwarz; we just need to see him catch at some point. It’s a weak college bat crop and it’s weak all over at shortstop.

Vance: Name one thing that you like that is widely popular, is American, and is not a burger.
Klaw: Disney.

Nick: Nick Williams walked in 3.6% of his PAs this year. Good for an .287 OBP. This is all while hitting .258 with a .325 BABIP and only a .169 ISO. Is my concern justified?
Klaw: He was in my list of prospects who disappointed this year for this very reason. Remember how people claimed he’d figured it out last May when he drew 16 walks in 136 PA? Since then: 32 BB in 825 PA, 3.8%.

Mike: Which, if either, of DJ or Dustin Peterson gets called up first. Do you project either to be more than replacement level?
Klaw: Dustin’s quite a bit more than replacement level.

The Pirate Parrot: A couple of years ago, after the Pirates took Mark Appel and didn’t sign him, they selected Austin Meadows with the comp pick. Rumor was, they would have taken David Dahl if they didn’t take Appel. At this point, who would you rather have: Appel, Dahl, or Meadows?
Klaw: Dahl’s value today is the highest of the three. I’d say him. Meadows might have more offensive upside, since he’s more patient than Dahl, but Dahl’s advantage is that he’s at least a solid year of development ahead of Meadows.

Owen: Felipe Rivero had been a starter in the minors with inconsistent results, but from everything I can tell, his changeup didn’t breakthrough as a plus pitch until he became a reliever. In fact, it didn’t even seem part of his repertoire. Now it’s arguably his best pitch to compliment a strong fastball and an effective slider. Knowing that he now has three pitches to work from, do you think the Pirates should experiment with him as a starter this spring?
Klaw: No, I’d probably just leave him where he is, given the success he’s had in that role. I don’t think he ever had close to the command needed to start.

Jason: Hey Keith. If you’re Joe Maddon, how do you line up your October rotation? Hendricks is going to lead MLB in ERA — but would you pitch him ahead of Lester, Arrieta or even Lackey in a five- or seven-game series?
Klaw: Arrieta would still be the first choice if I want a RHP.

Fickey: What are your thoughts on Luis Urias? His name has been sprouting out more and more often with some giving him the star label. Is his bat that good
Klaw: Great player, bat is legit, little guy though. Going to have to get stronger to maintain this hit tool.

Spruce: Hey Keith a magic Javalina just gave me the chance to run the Dbacks org for a day. I’m gonna fire the TLR & Stewart duo, hire Mike Bell and Alex Cora as GM and manager respectively, and maybe actually hire some qualified cantidates to head up the analytics dept. Am I on the right track?
Klaw: That’s a real good start. Best of luck.

Jason: The upcoming free agent class is so dreadful that we could see Rich Hill – a late-30s starter with a sketchy track record who is barely a year removed from Indy ball – get, what, $15M per for three years? More?
Klaw: Yep, I think that’s well within reason. This class is the worst I’ve covered since I got to ESPN because the best candidates all signed long-term deals.

Chris J.: I listened to your conversation on the podcast with Buster about the Adam Jones statements. While I agree about the presence and impact of institutional racism in MLB front offices, I wanted to also comment that the demographics of MLB attendance are heavily white. And though that alone doesn’t mean ‘racist’ of course, with the percentage of people currently backing a racist like Trump, then it isnt much of a stretch to believe that some of the same attitudes are present in the outfield bleachers. I guess what Im getting at is that if Jones or any other minority player committed acts of perceived “disrespect” towards the national anthem, I’m sure there are quite a few ‘fans’ in some ballparks who wouldn’t hesitate to express themselves over it. And that those percentages are likely higher than they are in NFL or NBA. So, I guess not really a question, more of a statement expressing my own feelings about what what Jones’ words presented and why I support his stance.
Klaw: I may have misunderstood what he said, then. I thought he was specifically referring to team executives sanctioning a player who chose to make a gesture like Kaepernick did – executives like La Russa, who apparently forgot to turn on the filter between his brain and his mouth yesterday before talking to Dan Le Batard. I agree that Trump’s a racist, though.

Kyle: What has been the biggest difference with Gausman lately? Pitching like a #1 as of late.
Klaw: From what I’ve seen it looks like he’s been locating the fastball more effectively to the top and bottom of the zone. Nice to see since I’ve been boosting him for years – he was on my 2015 breakout list.

Todd Boss: (We talked about this on twitter DM but i’ll tee it up here for you to answer if you wish): When do we get the return of Keith Law-hosted podcasts to the airways?
Klaw: As much as I’d like to do this, it depends on a lot of things outside of my control and one thing that is: I have to finish my book before I take on another significant project of any sort.

Regis: It seems like the Pirates have gotten pretty good at finding these raw high school arms and turning them into breakout prospects (Glasnow, Kingham, and Keller, as examples). Do you see any potential candidates to make that leap in their low minors? Braeden Ogle and Gage Hinsz are the two names that come to mind, but I would love to hear your thoughts!
Klaw: Hinsz for sure. Ogle we’ll see more in a year, but I liked the pick. I’ll be curious to see about MacGregor – he was a reach at pick 68 compared to the general interest in him, and I understand the Pirates took him because he rated particularly well in metrics like spin rate and extension when he worked out for the team pre-draft.

Jon: It looks like Rougned Odor grew up exclusively watching Alphonso Soriano control a strike zone. If you are a manager where do you bat a guy with 31 HRs, 17 walks, and a sub .300 obp?
Klaw: Sixth or seventh. Still value there, but yeah, it’d be nice if he’d walk even once a week.

Ryan: Hi Keith, thanks for the chat. I am hoping to get your thoughts about the Ben Cherington hire, and about him as a baseball mind in general.
Klaw: Big fan of Ben’s, think he deserves some credit for the success Boston has had the last 15 years in developing talent. Sounds like he’ll oversee player development in Toronto, Lacava will oversee scouting, and Atkins will oversee everything. That’s a lot of brainpower and experience in one spot – and also a lot of just very good human beings, too.

Lyle: Is Andrew Moore a #3/4 starter eventually? 4/5? Worse? Better?
Klaw: I think a 4/5. Command guy without stuff.

Jon: Since 2017 will be another rebuilding year in Philly, should they prioritize getting Alfaro experience against MLB pitching or more development time in the minors (and preserving service time)?
Klaw: Already on the 40-man, so he’s not staying in the minors that much longer. I think having him catch major-league pitching and work with major-league coaches has real developmental value and would probably aim to have him spend at least half of 2017 doing that.

Archie: What has more probability of being successful: Drafting a big due who brings it in the upper 90s, but has no clue how to pitch and teaching him how to pitch, or….Drafting a guy who can pitch but lacks elite velocity and working with him to build the strength to develop the necessary velocity?
Klaw: If Player #2 has the frame and athleticism to add that velocity – it’s really not just about strength – then that’s my pick.

Marshall: Klaw there have been some rumors out of the Twin Cities that “multiple people” have taken themselves out of consideration for our PoBo job. That seems a bit odd doesn’t it, there are a finite number of these jobs in existence and maybe 2 or 3 open up every year. Would it be the ownership group that is driving away candidates, maybe the supposed mandate that Molitar is brought back as manager?
Klaw: I commented on this on Twitter: I think that was way overblown. Plenty of good candidates are in the process, like McLeod and Picollo. There isn’t anything driving candidates away.

Joey JoJo: A landlord taking a student-athlete tenant to dinner with his family is a “major NCAA violation.” On a scale from 1 to drug cartel, where does the NCAA fall?
Klaw: They are a cartel, and they need to be broken up by the federal government. This is a market failure that results in the exploitation of labor. If you’re a fan of free markets, as I am, then you should want to see the NCAA dissolved.

Justin: A few years back you predicted Tyler Thornburg would end up in bullpen despite solid numbers as a starter. After a few up and down seasons, he has had one of the better reliever seasons in all of baseball. What led you to believe that he was destined to be a late inning reliever?
Klaw: His delivery first and foremost. His arm action said reliever, and his slot along with his short stature pointed to a flat, homer-ready fastball. Very glad to see him find success in this role because he always had talent. When I say I think a guy is a reliever it’s not an insult.

Drew: If I recall correctly, you’ve been reasonably high on AJ Cole. Has he performed at about the level you had expected in his limited starts for the Nats?
Klaw: Yep, always liked him. He’s had a problem with the long ball, but on a batter-by-batter basis has been about what I expected. I think this is a lot of fastball command, which has always been his weakness. I still see the potential for mid-rotation starter there but that would require him halving his HR rate.

Bob: Lots of Phils fans anxious about the MLB team’s lack of power are a little disappointed in the HR potential of Cornelius Randolph and Mickey Moniak. Do you think either could project in the 20-25 HR range or more in the 15-18 range? That’s fine for Moniak if he’s a CF, but doesn’t do much for Randolph as a LF.
Klaw: Don’t think Randolph’s a 20+ HR guy but he does have great bat speed and maybe he ends up surprising me because he makes harder contact. He has no physical projection, though, and that concerns me since he didn’t show power this year either.

Jack: Terry Collins 3 weeks ago “You hit,You play”. Terry Collins last night ” We need to give Jay Bruce time to work out of his slump” Do you see Sandy making a change regardless of a wild card spot. #FreeConforto
Klaw: I haven’t heard anything about them making a change but my God do they need to.

Rob: I’ll give you two wheat for three sheep
Klaw: Throw in an ore and you have a deal.

Jax: How would Shohei Otani fare in MLB? Pitcher or hitter?
Klaw: Pitcher, by all accounts. But probably a pitcher who’s not a total zero at the plate.

Drew: With the way they’ve been pitching lately, do you think Tillman-Gausman-Bundy+bullpenning could carry the Os in the post-season?
Klaw: I don’t. I’m really concerned about Bundy – he doesn’t hold his velocity well into starts and since they stretched him out in those two great starts at the beginning of August (the first time all year he’d pitched into the 7th), he has a 5.45 ERA in 34 IP, 31 K, 23 BB, 7 HR. I think he’s not right, but they’re going to keep pitching him because they have nobody else.

Franco: As an Italian, how do you pronounce Porcello? I’m torn between respecting the way he prefers to pronounce it and saying it correctly.
Klaw: Don’t get me started on the Cecchini brothers.

Jerry: How do you factor competitiveness into your evaluations of players? Can a hyper competitive streak make average players great and above average players stars? Two names that come to mind are Pedroia and Bumgarner, who don’t jump out at you for their raw tools, but seem to treat every pitch like a struggle for their lives.
Klaw: Um, Bumgarner doesn’t jump out at you for his raw tools? Are you dead?

Jon: Any thoughts on Roman Quinn’s performance thus far? Does he look any different or is it just due to a small sample size.
Klaw: It’s four games. FOUR. GAMES.

Jesse: Does Alec Hansen have a ceiling of a # 1?
Klaw: I think a #2. I didn’t think any college arm in this draft had #1 potential.

jay_b: At what point in the scrambled-egg making process do you prefer to salt them?
Klaw: When I scramble them, I add salt immediately, before they ever hit the pan.

Matt: Coppy mentioned Patrick Weigel as the biggest riser for the Braves. Thoughts on him? Can he harness the command to be an effective workhorse starter? He looks to have the frame…
Klaw: Yep, mid-rotation upside.

Ben: Every try any of the Bayless restaurants while in Chgo?
Klaw: Frontera and Tortas are both excellent.

Adam Trask: Speaking of Mark Appel, what are the chances he become a 1-WAR big leaguer or better? Why did the industry miss on him?
Klaw: I still think a very good chance – it’s not the industry’s fault that he’s hurt now, or that the Astros sped up his delivery with disastrous results.

Ben: Do exclusively homegrown models like the Pirates and Twins really work? It seems a team like the Astros, that had mostly homegrown talent but is willing to go get a star when needed, is the best way to succeed. Can teams like the Twins and Pirates succeed long-term without having to hit on a ridiculously high percentage of prospects?
Klaw: The Twins’ ownership has spent money on players, but their outside investments mostly fared very poorly. I don’t think there was a refusal to go outside the org. You’d have to be very fortunate to build an entire playoff-caliber roster from within.

Chris: I agree the Yanks seem to have soured on Mateo, and have played him I think one game at SS since Torres came over, but isnt this a terrible time to trade him?
Klaw: It’s a terrible time if you think he’s going to be better in 2017. It’s a good time if you think this is it for him.

Gabe: Jose Berrios has been beyond terrible in his three stints with the Twins this year. I know you were never the high man on him to begin with. How concerned should the Twins be?
Klaw: He’s not this bad. I’d be more concerned with the major-league coaching staff’s inability to help him – not to the point of blame, but, hey, this is your job, and this is our best ML-ready pitching prospect, you should be getting results.

Steve: Dumb theoretical, but what happens if/when a guy comes along who exceeds the 20-80 scale? Say an Usain Bolt-like phenomenon comes by and is markedly faster than Billy Hamilton, pushing the edges of what we thought was humanly possible. Do future Hamiltons get bumped to 75 to accomodate for the new standard, or do we make this new guy an 80 too and call it a fluke?
Klaw: Hamilton already exceeded the scale, and he’s still an 80. If you really need to distinguish between Hamilton’s speed and, say, Buxton’s speed, well, good luck?

Unk: Favorite science fiction writer? Favorite science fiction book?
Klaw: I might do a ranking of SF books at some point when I get through more of the Hugo winners and some classics I’ve missed. I still haven’t read Stranger in a Strange Land, for example. I love Connie Willis, Philip K. Dick, and although I haven’t read anything by him in 20+ years I have read more Asimov novels than those by any other SF author.

Ben: It seems like the latest prospect fetish out there is Isan Diaz of the Brewers. What’s your take on him?
Klaw: Fetish is an … interesting word for it. He’s a future star, though. Segura trade looked bad the day the Dbacks made it, and it looks bad now even with Segura’s good season.

Ben: Meadows will miss the AFL with a strained oblique. How much of a concern is his durability? He previously had orbital and hamstring issues this year alone.
Klaw: It’s a real concern for him, for Roman Quinn, for any player who seems to struggle to get through 140 games without injury. They need that development time, and of course they won’t hold ML jobs if they can’t stay on the field.

Marshall MN: Is there ever a point where a guy like Aaron Hicks should at least consider making a change to P at this point in his career? Given his failures as a hitter it seems like he is going to have trouble staying in the bigs once his cost control years are up.
Klaw: He was good in 2015, and he seemed to finally start to hit again in August after Beltran was traded only to get hurt at the end of the month. I don’t think he’s anywhere close to this point.

Scarlet: Please rank these young pups: isan diaz- juan soto – ronald acuna…offensive potential only
Klaw: Diaz, Acuna, Soto.

Jeb: Any interest in restaurants like Alinea or do you think that they aren’t worth the price?
Klaw: In theory I’d love to try it. But I have a hard time justifying the price and the time together.

Anonymous: What happened to Dillon Tate this year? Looking back, what did you think of trading him for a rental piece this year?
Klaw: Velocity dropped off after the DL stint in April and never really came back. I don’t blame the Rangers for trading him. They nearly took Trent Clark with that pick until Tate agreed to sign, and in hindsight that would have been the better pick.

Mike: how close is 17 year old Jay prospect Vlad Guerarro Jr. to your top 100? Who has been your youngest prospect to crack your top100 list?
Klaw: Sano was on it at 16.

BG: What are your thoughts on Snitker? He seems to be gaining support as a legit candidate on a full-time basis.
Klaw: Good minor league manager/org soldier, not the kind of advanced thinker or tactician they should hire. The odds of the best possible replacement being someone already in your system are just not very high.

Anonymous: Keith – what are your thoughts on the Brewers Lucas Erceg? I’m excited to see him progress and eventually take over at 3B in their rebuild
Klaw: Big tools with an idea of how to hit, may be more of a RF than a 3B, and of course he needs to stay out of trouble off the field.

Chris: So, there is suddenly talk in DC about Reynaldo Lopez potentially a lights out dominant reliever………………
Klaw: Huh. I feel like I’ve heard that before.

Steve: Do you get to see instructs at all? When will you start getting reports on the recently signed international crop?
Klaw: I went to some instructs stuff when I lived in Arizona and realized scouting – “scouting” – it was a total waste of time. They’re not playing real games. Everyone is working on something. And of course the players are exhausted, the numbers are wrong half the time or the rosters are out of date, it’s 100 degrees … they serve some purpose for player development but scouting them is not for me.

Marshall MN: Klaw, I enjoyed the article you posted today, will you be writing another one that mentions players that surprised you and took a step forward?
Klaw: Klaw 43 minutes ago

Dan: There were character concerns about Dylan Cozens when he was in high school. From what you know, has that changed at all?
Klaw: The Phillies people haven’t reported any problems at all. The character concerns were significant: he was kicked off his first HS team for telling the coach to fuck off midgame and shoving him to the ground. He only got to Chaparral because the state athletics board just so happened to waive their transfer rule after he was booted.

Troy: Keith – Still high on Brewers Corey Ray even after kind of a down pro debut?
Klaw: Yes. I thought the assignment to high-A was too aggressive. Granted, I wish he’d performed better, and the swing-and-miss issue was a concern this spring too.

Chad: Maybe it’s just a small sample and the Cal League, but Kyle Tucker’s numbers with Lancaster are pretty eye-popping. Is his arrow pointing up going into the offseason?
Klaw: I like Tucker’s bat, both hit and power, but Lancaster’s a joke of an environment and I wouldn’t read anything into stats from there. Plus it was just a few games. He hit .276/.348/.402 as a 19-year-old in low-A and I think that’s 1) really good and 2) more indicative of his current talent level.

Aaron C.: I think the A’s should actively shop Khris Davis this offseason. Am I correct or, like, REALLY correct?
Klaw: You are absolutely correct.

Daniel H: Hey Keith, did you ever see this Jose Ramirez outburst coming? He was already a high contact hitter in the minors but his last couple of tours in the majors were very unsuccessful. He is hitting pretty much the same statistically as Michael Brantley. I was an intern with the Akron RubberDucks in 2014 and Jose Ramirez was the Assistant GMs favorite player in the organization. Any chance he can keep up this production in future seasons, or is this a one year spike? Thanks for the chat Klaw!!
Klaw: I think he can hit like this, in terms of average, contact, OBP, going forward. He’s always been a high-contact guy, but got to the majors very young without enough experience in the minors. Power, I don’t know; it’s possible this is the ceiling but given his age I don’t want to just assume this is it.

Chris: Hi Keith – I’m a new father-to-be (about 7 weeks away now) – any thoughts / recommendations on establishing proper eat / sleep routines? Any other words of advice?
Klaw: Congratulations. You’re not going to sleep enough, if that wasn’t already obvious, and you can’t do anything to set the baby’s schedule, so it’s about finding a way to get what you need around the baby’s needs. The one thing we found after a few months was that it was better to alternate nights – I’d feed our daughter both times in one night, then the next night my wife would handle both – than to alternate feedings each night. This way every night one of us got more or less a full night of sleep.

Darryl: If you can pick one team to have a better 5 to 7 year run who would it be and why….The cubs, red sox, astros, or Yankees
Klaw: I think the Red Sox right now have the strongest core of young major-league ready talent of anyone.

Zach: I noticed you didn’t have Glasnow in your article today about prospects who took a step back, despite going through serious control issues. What drives your belief that he’ll ultimately be fine?
Klaw: I didn’t say that I believe he’ll ultimately be fine. I think he can improve in that area as an athletic kid with a delivery that works. But you’re inferring something that wasn’t there – I only mentioned a handful of players, not every single top 100 guy who had a disappointing 2016.

Mike: Hi Keith, regarding Ryon Healy, I realize he was never considered legit prospect but at what point do we need to rethink his potential? One more solid type year?
Klaw: He’s not going to hit .300/.340/.500 next year.

Peter: You think Gary Sanchez can get the role of the year if he gets say 20 home runs and the Yankees get a wild card spot?
Klaw: Rookie of the Year? Yes but the Yankees making the playoffs is totally irrelevant.

Jefe: Whose future do you prefer: Yusniel Diaz or Ronald Acuna?
Klaw: I feel more sure about Acuna but I think Diaz has a higher offensive ceiling.

Jason: Now that we have hindsight in our favor, why did the cash-strapped A’s splurge on Billy Butler in the first place? That seemed like a bad contract before the ink even had dried.
Klaw: Dunno. Never understood that deal. Lot of money to commit to a player with an average upside and no positional flexibility. It seems like a more classic Oakland move would be to find a player who could hit but had no position, like a Vogelbach, and acquire him on the cheap because his current club had no place to play him.

Dabo: As a Pirates fan, how worried should I be that Josh Bell won’t ever be able to play even replacement level defense at first?
Klaw: R-level defense at first is a low bar. You should worry he won’t get to average. That’s a reasonable concern given where he is now.

Elton: Based on your recommendation I picked up Patchwork and got my wife to play it with me (a rarity) and we enjoyed it. Thanks for that. I’ll pick up Jaipur to try next.
Klaw: That’s great to hear. I’ll have reviews in the next few weeks of two more great two-player games: 7 Ronin and Agamemnon.

Brad: Is it me, or does the political discourse in this country get dumber by the day? Large portions of the citizenry are up in arms over non-issues while ignoring ones that will impact the next twenty years of their lives. Is the system redeemable or is it time to hitch up the wagon and leave?
Klaw: It is depressing. I feel like the issues get harder – things like addressing climate change – and the voting public and the media are less capable of understanding them or less willing to make the effort. The decline of print journalism isn’t helping matters either.

Alex: Any chance Mitch Keller is in your next top 25?
Klaw: No, because I can only put 25 players in there.

marty: What’s your favorite Wire album?
Klaw: Probably Chairs Missing. Although A Bell is a Cup is a great title.

Urban: Severino is only 22. The Yankees should go into 2017 with him as a starter. Or do you think he should stay in the pen?
Klaw: I have always thought he’d struggle as a starter due to his delivery and would be more successful in the pen. So I’d leave him there.

Isaac: Jahmai Jones!! Top 50 prospect POTENTIAL or is he just an Angel so he looks like a star compared to the rest?
Klaw: He’s their only position player prospect whom I’d project as an above-average regular. That doesn’t make him any less of a guy but when you’re starving everything looks like a meal.

Pete: Pirates seem to think Will Craig can stick at 3rd if he improves his quickness and conditioning via offseason training. Is there something particular about Craig that would make them think this or just a general scouting axiom that improving athleticism improves defense? Can you think of examples when this actually happened?
Klaw: I’d characterize that as an experiment worth trying, but with a low chance of success. We heard that a lot about Ryan Braun when he was at third. That didn’t work out.

Elton: If Trump wasn’t such a bizarre person a lot of this year’s election would boil down to how you feel about immigrants. How do you feel about them?
Klaw: My grandfather was one. Four of my great-grandparents were also immigrants. So you might guess how I feel from that. Also, the “debate” over immigrants tends to focus on a small subset of the immigrant population, ignoring how many immigrants come to this country and make substantial economic or cultural contributions. Closing our borders would hinder or stop economic growth. It’s bad policy, before we even discuss moral aspects.

Eugene: The Cubs shift the least in all of baseball but I think lead in DRS. If you have great individual defenders you don’t need to shift, or is this just contextual based on opponents? Maddon shifted a lot in Tampa, Cubs front office are known for being analytical, so it’s peculiar.
Klaw: I also think they’re positioning guys without getting classified as fully shifting. Shift is not a binary variable.

David: As much as I appreciate your sports writing, particularly the focus on baseball prospects, I’m so glad you have this personal web site to post game and book reviews. I particularly like your SF reviews. My family has bought a number of your recommended games and I currently have Doomsday on my bedside table. You have a great track record. Thanks.
Klaw: Thanks! I’m always writing with the hope that someone’s reading. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it.

BD: Is T Turner better than you expected? Power, bat control of insider corner, etc? Long term SS or CF
Klaw: Power, yes. That part I’m not so sure about long-term. Oh, fun with numbers – Turner’s at 2.9 rWAR this year in 50 games, playing CF and 2B rather than SS. That number, unadjusted for position, would be the sixth-highest in Rays history for any shortstop … and sixth-highest in Padres history. Those two franchises combined have had exactly three seasons where a shortstop posted 4+ WAR. Ever.

Elton: Have you played any of the Cthulhu-themed board games? I have Arkham Horror and every time I open it to try a solo game I am daunted by the setup alone.
Klaw: Only Elder Sign, which we like quite a bit.

Tom: I’m surprised Mondesi didn’t make you list of prospects with bad years. With a .176/.222/.261 line over 132 plate appearances, is it safe to say he is the most rushed to the majors prospect of the last five years? Has his long-term prospects been diminished by this year?
Klaw: He didn’t belong in the majors but the 80-game suspension didn’t help matters either.

Tom: Perhaps this is over-simplifying things, but doesn’t the fact that our country is choosing between Hillary Clinton and DONALD F’ING TRUMP for our nation’s highest office a good sign that “Hey maybe America ISN’T great anymore?”
Klaw: Clinton was basically anointed four years ago as one candidate, and Trump won by dog-whistling white supremacist nonsense for six months. So I’d say the process is pretty flawed all around. John Oliver’s piece on what utter bullshit the selection processes are for both parties was fairly stark evidence that there are some things we will never be able to change because too many people derive too much benefit from the way they currently are.

Tim: What’s the deal with Ryan Schimpf? Will he be a MLB regular going forward?
Klaw: Nope. Nice story, but a fluke.

Tom: Should I be happy that you were right about CJ Cron having a bit of a breakout season this year, or sad that he’s 3rd on the team in WAR for field players despite missing time this year?
Klaw: I’m happy! My breakout picks were Lamb, Myers, Odor, Cron, Schoop, Hicks, Ray, Joe Ross, Ketel Marte. Hicks and Marte are the only duds, I think. Ross had a great half-season and everyone else on the list at least showed significant improvement.

Urban: Re: Elton’s question on immigrants. That’s not the question. It’s about illegal immigrants. Why does that get lost in the discussion?
Klaw: I think that is the question, though: how many immigrants should we allow to enter the country legally, and what should we do with those who enter illegally but are leading productive lives here? FWIW, at least one of my ancestors came here illegally and I’m not even sure about some of the rest.

Rob: Can a player’s defensive metrics be affected by his teammate – meaning can an adjacent fielder who covers a lot of ground take balls that his teammate could’ve fielded?
Klaw: Advanced metrics take this into account. Teams’ internal metrics are well beyond what we see publicly too.

Mark: Was Keon Barnum much of a prospect heading into his draft year? Wth happened to this guy??
Klaw: He was not a top 100 prospect for me. I saw a poor 1b with no plan at the plate.

Anonymous: Thandi for the chats, you rock. You were right about Yoan Moncado not being ready for a meaningful stint in the show, given his propensity for striking out. Do you think he can/will make the adjustments needs to reduce his strike outs to a level needed to be succesful at the mlb level?
Klaw: I’d give him more than an even chance to do that but have tried to argue – perhaps poorly – all year that he’s got a higher failure risk than Benintendi or Devers.

Scott Upham: Surprised that Clint Frazier didn’t show up in the article as well. It seems like the promotion to AAA and trade to NY stalled his progress a bit. .228 average, .278 OBP, 30-7 K/BB, low power numbers in 122 at bats just 3 homers.
Klaw: Really young for AAA though. And he was great in AA so no reason to call his season a disappointment.

Ben: Yes or No: Citizens United should be overturned? America is an oligarchy? Republican party will still exist 50 years from now?
Klaw: Yes, sort of, and definitely.

Chris: I’m somewhat surprised to see that shortstop has three times the positional adjustment as center field, per the Fangraphs formulas (7.5 vs 2.5.) Do you concur with those numbers, give or take? I guess I always assumed that CF was positionially more or less equal to SS.
Klaw: Shortstop and catcher have historically been the hardest to fill so those players get the biggest adjustments (benefits) for their positions.

Joe: If you were managing the Cubs, who would you prefer to be in your 2 hole?
Klaw: That’s just not an appropriate question, Joe.

Tom: At what point can we start to assess what kind of difference Billy Eppler is making?
Klaw: Going to be a few years, I think.

Brandon: Who’s the Dodgers best position prospect not name Bellinger, Verdugo, or Calhoun?
Klaw: Probably Diaz for me. Unless I’m forgetting someone? Been a long chat already.

addoeh: Need to try Xoco in Chicago as another Bayless restaurant. Really good.
Klaw: I’ve heard this and yes I do.

Sriram: Vis a vis the Jones stuff – did the trend towards MBA-Ivy League driven front offices negatively impact minority hiring at the baseball ops level … shifting away from the “ex-baseball guy” …
Klaw: I wonder this too. There are plenty of people of color at Ivy League schools – diversity was already a huge buzzword when I was in school 25 years ago. But it cut off the path you described, where a player who didn’t make it would retire and go into scouting or coaching.

Rick: Saw that Walker Buehler’ velocity is up after TJ, is that normal? And where would you rank him in the Dodgers pitching prospects?
Klaw: Not up, just back to pre-injury levels. Skinny kid with a good slider and, when not hurt, average command. Chance for a third starter if he holds up.

Colin: Any quick takes on the Padres medical info sharing (or lack thereof)?
Klaw: I really don’t have enough info to comment either way.

Pat: The main issue with the Presidential selection system is that the primary’s cater to the extremes of both parties. The idealogues are the one’s the pay the most attention & vote in the primarys, while middle-of-the-road people either don’t or don’t in very large #’s. I almost wonder if it was better back in the days of the parties picking candidates in smoke filled rooms.
Klaw: I agree that the moderates get drowned out in this process, and unfortunately neither third party on the ballot now has produced a credible centrist alternative. Jill Stein’s pandering to conspiracy theorists and nut jobs has been particularly disappointing; if nothing else I’d expect the Green Party to stand firmly with science, but I guess science doesn’t bring in the votes.

Klaw: That’s all for this week’s chat – thank you as always for joining me. I’ll be back next week to do it all over again.

You can pre-order my book, Smart Baseball, on amazon already. It’s due out April 27th.

Klaw: It’s enough to make you stop believing when the tears come fast and furious in Klawchat.

Owen: Lets say you’re scouting a high school kid who’s not even touching 90 yet. What things do you look for as indicators that he has the upside to grow into more velocity and just a better pitcher overall?
Klaw: Physical projection is the biggest thing, and it includes room for the player to fill out, adding upper and lower body strength, which tends to favor taller pitchers but shouldn’t exclude shorter ones entirely. I also prefer guys whose deliveries work reasonably well, as opposed to pitchers with deliveries that are “max” or high effort (where are you going to get more velocity from?) or that otherwise seem likely to impede command or health. One other thing I’ll note is that I am more open to HS arms throwing in the upper 80s today than I was ten years ago, because of what we have learned about velocity/effort and pitcher health.

Jonathan Orr: You’ve said you’re not high on Luke Weaver, what don’t you like?
Klaw: Undersized righty without plane or a decent breaking ball.

Sandy A.: Asking for a friend, what do the Mets have to lose by signing Tebow? I mean other than respect and time developing real prospects
Klaw: Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Oh, I guess also the distraction of having him around. And will the washed-up QB actually be that much of a draw for a minor league affiliate? He’s basically a sports Kardashian. He’s famous for being famous, not for being good at anything.

ssimo02: Would you care to expand on your distaste for xFIP? My understanding is that, like FIP, it looks at a pitcher’s walks and strikeouts, but unlike FIP, it replaces the pitcher’s HR rate with the league average HR rate, on the assumption that almost all pitchers regress to that mean over time. According to Fangraphs, xFIP has a very high correlation with future pitching performance. As a quick-and-dirty projection tool, what’s not to like?
Klaw: The assumption you cite is the problem.

Lars: Being reported that it’s “likely Walker will lengthen his stride” – this is something you’ve advocated for, right? Can you explain why he might have gone to a shorter stride and what a longer stride can help with?
Klaw: I assume this is Taijuan? Then yes. I oppose pitchers with short strides because they nearly all end up either getting hurt or losing something on their pitches, either velocity on their fastballs or quality of the breaking ball. Aaron Sanchez is the only real short-striding starter I see in the majors now. ASMI has some real research showing that short striders have these problems due to the higher release point and abrupt finish. Arizona shortened Tyler Skaggs’ stride and he lost about 3 mph and blew out. Walker lost his curveball and hasn’t ever really had command since he shortened his stride. The stride length is my one big concern on Alex Reyes, whose stuff is otherwise unbelievable.

Kim: What kind of numbers are available to teams that aren’t to the general public through BR/Fangraphs/PITCHf/x, etc.?
Klaw: A lot. MLB’s Statcast product is providing a torrent of data that we don’t get to see.

Hattie B: Thoughts on (Nashville) hot chicken?
Klaw: I’ve never had it. I don’t love very spicy food (and it loves me even less).

Jill: When are you going to let your daughter get Snapchat?
Klaw: Probably never.

Republican: Any reason why people shouldn’t consider voting for Gary Johnson? He seems to be the most sane.
Klaw: It would be nice if he knew what Aleppo was (or if the US media spent more time covering the human disaster of Syria). He’s also done his share of pandering to the anti-vax nut jobs, and his site refers to government efforts to fight climate change as “a political agenda,” a sort of backdoor form of denial (yeah, man is causing climate change, but the government shouldn’t do anything to stop it) that I can’t support.

John: Buxton has been on a tear since he was called up again. Is this just small sample size or did he alter his approach or mechanics?
Klaw: I know of no change in approach or mechanics, and it’s just seven games, but I’m happy to see it.

Brett: Why do you think the Twins didn’t call up ABW or Garver when they’re giving consistent ABs to Schafer and Centeno?
Klaw: Walker has 202 strikeouts this season. Those are good reasons.

Nelson: Do AFL performances have any bearing on your preseason top 100 rankings?
Klaw: Performances do not, but I will go scout players there and talk to other scouts who’ll cover the league, so how players look at that time will have a definite bearing.

Bruce: Maybe Im having some selction bias, but rookie hitters doing so much better than rookie pitchers this year. Even looking at the distibution in top prospect lists, are we in a down cycle for pitching prospects?
Klaw: I’ve mentioned this before but I think differences between the minor and major league baseballs are the root cause.

Tye: How historically impressive has Brian Dozier been since the AS break? It seems like you don’t even hear anything about him.
Klaw: Playing for a non-contender doesn’t help. I wrote in June that he should be in the All-Star Game over Nunez as the Twins’ rep and was told by a couple of Twins fans that this was dumb because Dozier was having a bad season.

Chris: Please rank in terms of ceiling: Gsellman, Montero, Lugo
Klaw: None of those guys are especially high ceiling but I think Gsellman is the most likely to be a quality major-league starter. Lugo’s great spin rates are fun to discuss but if he doesn’t miss bats or generate weaker contact, then I’m not sure this emphasis is properly placed.

Marshall: Klaw, how did the idea for a book come about, was it your idea, was it suggested to you by your agent or a publisher?
Klaw: It was my idea, but it was also your idea. I am asked at least once a week to recommend a book like the one I’m writing, and I didn’t have a book to recommend, so I decided to write it. I have had publishers approach me before, but when they had concrete ideas they were dumb ones – someone just wanted to put my name on a book and hope it would sell because I have an audience. I didn’t want to write a book I wouldn’t want to read.

Clay: Does Buxton have potential to be as good defensively in center as Kiermaier?
Klaw: That’s a very high bar but I think Buxton’s speed and arm could make him a top 3 CF in baseball.

Nick: Javy Baez is the best tagger I’ve ever seen, recording multiple outs with lightening quick tags it seems like nobody else has the ability to make. Is this something that scouts discuss and factor into their glove grading, or is it more of a cherry on top?
Klaw: Never heard anyone cite it for Baez or any other player, but it’s pretty clearly a way he delivers value and is also fucking awesome to watch.

Michael: Are minor league players exposed to scouting reports? I almost never see shifts or catchers moving in and out, for example. Is there ever a fear that a player will struggle to process all the new information available in the big leagues?
Klaw: Yes. The Astros shift at all levels of their minors, to pick one example.

Jon: Hey Keith it feels like every year there are players in the PCL and in particular Las Vegas that have huge statistical outputs (Nimmo this year) but we are always told to ignore these due to the ball park. Is it that teams are comfortable with their in house scouting that the numbers don’t matter or is Las Vegas the last place teams want their affiliate due to ballpark? If this truley is the worst spot to have your affiliate why not bump them down to AA and have another city with a proper stadium take over a AAA team? I’m sensing that this is all about money but I’d like to know your thoughts.
Klaw: Nobody wants their affiliate in Vegas or Albuquerque or Lancaster or High Desert (RIP) for that matter. But the problem with the AAA clubs is that there aren’t just cities sitting around with seven-figure populations and AAA-ready stadiums. At least with the Cal League teams that are folding, MILB had a handful of moderate-sized towns in NC (and I think in VA if they wanted to go that route) that could support A-ball clubs.

T: TINSTAAPP and all but is Dylan Cease a legit TOR prospect? His last 5 games for Eugene are crazy: 21 IP, 39 Ks, 7 hits, 1 ER
Klaw: Yes, that’s why he was on my top 100 in the winter. Just gotta stay healthy.

James: Any chance Tim Tebow goes from instructs to the Fall League this year? Can you imagine?
Klaw: The guy struggled to turn around 88 in his workout. I clocked three guys at 100 mph last AFL and there was at least one more. That’ll be fun.

James: Know anything about the rift between Mike Bell and DeJon Watson in AZ? I assume you would probably side with Watson? He was the only guy I was somewhat happy with when the Dbacks signed the front office trio..
Klaw: I don’t know anything about it, but “siding” with someone is a weird way to put it. But I’ll stick up for Mike Bell here – he’s a star and should be getting attention for VP-type roles or even GM openings in the near future.

Chris: Based on your strong scientific beliefs, why aren’t you vegan?
Klaw: One, because the science behind veganism as a more healthful diet is nowhere near what you imply it is. Two, because I like meat.

Mitchell: Thoughts on Michael Gettys? Big progress or no?
Klaw: No progress at all. Repeated low-A with still awful plate discipline, moved to a hitter’s park, continued awful plate discipline. Great athlete, big tools, but that swing and approach right now are not going to produce an average hit tool.

Harrisburg Hal: When he played the position, was Josh Bell and average outfielder?
Klaw: I thought he was at least an average LF, but they have some well above-average defensive OFs in Pittsburgh.

Jake: Do you always stay in hotels when you travel? Ever Airbnb or friends or anything else?
Klaw: Never, unless I’m visiting family.

Frank: I read a piece recently which said that Devon Travis was overlooked as a prospect, because he does many things well, but nothing spectacularly. The argument was that it takes several viewings to realize that he is really quite good, but a single viewing will not show his whole game. Does the logic of the argument make sense to you as a scout, and what could you do to mitigate that type of problem?
Klaw: I saw that piece; it grafted a narrative on to the story after the fact. No one is really just seeing a prospect once. I might see a player once myself, but then I talk to multiple scouts who’ve probably seen a player 3-6 games apiece, more if it’s an area guy seeing a top draft prospect.

Archie: Will a pitcher who spends the majority of his career with the Rockies ever put up the numbers necessary to get into the Hall of Fame, no matter how good he might be?
Klaw: Don’t think so. Hitters are having a hard time too because we (myself included, yes) find it hard to cope with their stats.

Chris: What did you think of De Leon’s debut?
Klaw: Looked good, glad to see him throw strikes, but that Padres’ lineup is pretty awful.

Some guy: I had a really good question but I forgot what it was. What’s the answer anyway?
Klaw: The answer is 42.

Avi: Pirates fan located in Israel! Huge fan of your work! Any possibility that Barrett Barnes is beginning to show the tools that made him a supplemental first? He’s been injured for large chunks of his career, but he really seems to be putting together in AA. Is this a product of him being a bit older for that level or is there some upside remaining?
Klaw: Fourth outfielder. Thought he was a bit of a reach as a supplemental first guy. Real problem now is he’s limited to LF and doesn’t have the power to profile there.

Drew: Assuming the worst about Strasburg, is it fair to pin this on Dusty?
Klaw: I’ve seen that going around today and I don’t understand why. What did Baker do wrong? What could he possibly have done better?

Roberto: True or false: Josh Bell puts up an .800+ OPS next season?
Klaw: I’ll go with True. I’m a believer.

Hugo Z: So are you going to watch this new show about the first female pitcher? The actress looks like she couldn’t throw her way out of a wet paper bag.
Klaw: I’m not, mostly because I find baseball in fiction is often excruciating to watch or read. I haven’t seen her try to throw, though.

Wade: haven’t seen anything on the meadow about seattle. ever been? any good food recs for a non-coffee drinker?
Klaw: Horrible to say but I haven’t been to the Pacific Northwest in 15 years. There’s just never a good reason to go for work and it’s a PITA to get there from here.

Tim: Get your hands on TV (The Book) yet? (mine just arrived). I’m not sure I agree with their #1. Thoughts?
Klaw: I have a copy on my shelf but haven’t cracked it yet.

Albert: Keith, I feel like Mike Trout has separated himself from the pack in the MVP race the last few weeks. Do you think he has any reasonable chance of winning it?
Klaw: I think he has zero chance because derp-playoffs-derp.

Gavin: My wife loves easier-to-learn boardgames like Machi Koro, Takenoko, and Mysterium. I just bought Camel Up (thanks for your review), but do you have any recommendations for easier-to-learn games that are still complex enough to be fun for people who like a little more strategy?
Klaw: Check out my rankings from last November, which also has a separate ranking of top games for two players. Splendor is definitely your speed. Dominion’s quick to learn with lots of complexity. Jaipur’s a great little two-player game that never really gets old for us. Agamemnon is a new title I played at GenCon that has that Jaipur feel – very simple rules, lots of thinking going on.

David: Keith, which(if any) of Oscar De La Cruz, Dylan Cease, Trevor Clifton, and Jeimer Candelario have a chance to make your top 100?
Klaw: Cease was on it last year. Can’t say about any of the others as I won’t even think about those rankings until December.

Pete: Do you start Wainwright or Martinez in the Wild Card game assuming both are available and Cards make it?
Klaw: I would start Martinez, but I would bet my house they’ll start Wainwright.

Mike: Did you say, recently, that you’ll have a top prospects for the 2017 draft coming soon ?
Klaw: I did, but our editors pushed it back a little. Chris Crawford took the lead on assembling the list (he saw team USA, area codes, and the PG All-American Classic) and I helped tweak it and gather more info.

David: Keith, Ryan Kellogg seems to check off a decent amount of boxes. Size, durability, control, seems hard to hit. But is his velo ever going to jump or is he an 87-88 type of guy with back end of the rotation being his absolute upside?
Klaw: Don’t think his velo will ever exceed that and I don’t project him as a starter.

Casey: Moncada’s platinum (?) sombrero, with 7 straight Ks over two games, is frightening. Do you think that calling him up so soon is likely to harm his development, or are these struggles and adjustments that he’d need to make sooner or later?
Klaw: Don’t think it’ll harm him – that’s a small risk, but a real one – but it comes back to what I wrote last week, that I don’t see how he really solves any particular need for them.

Marshall: Has Gonsalves performance this year raised his profile at all in your opinion?
Klaw: Not really. Two-pitch starter struggles with the breaking ball. Walked a lot of guys in double-A but was young for the level (turned 22 on July 8th). Back end starter?

Cole: Is Kendall Graveman becoming a serviceable back of the rotation starter?
Klaw: In Oakland, sure. Anywhere else, I doubt it.

Mike: True or false … Bo Bichette had the best first pro season of any player drafted in 2016.
Klaw: I don’t know, and I’m a big believer in Bo’s bat, but his brother may have had the best first pro season of any player drafted in 2011 and how’d that work out for him?

Chris: Should the Nats bring Reynaldo Lopez on their postseason roster as an extra bullpen guy?
Klaw: I would. I think he’d be dynamite in short relief, and could go 2-3 innings if need be.

jay: do you still recommend that Artaste cleaver, or do you have a new recommendation?
Klaw: It’s what I own and I doubt I’ll need another one for a few decades.

Marcus: The Giants broadcast crew, during last night’s game against the Rockies, mentioned that Nolan Arenado’s brother Jonah had been named MVP of the Giant’s Single-A team in San Jose. It looks like he has some power, but doesn’t walk much and Ks a lot. Can he develop into a major league talent?
Klaw: I liked his swing when I saw him in 2013 but a 21-year-old can’t put up a .286 OBP in A-ball and be any sort of prospect.

Marshall: Doesn’t the justified uproar over the price gouging by Mylan (epi-pen) and Turing Pharma (daraphrim) show the inherent failures of the free market as it relates to the healthcare industry? Health care is an inelastic good, and actual life and death is on the line in these cases.
Klaw: I’ve had the same thought, but am nothing more than a spectator when it comes to the economics of health care. The proper functioning of a free market depends on a lot of things being in place, like low barriers to entry, perfect information, elastic supply and demand, and so on. Most of these fall apart in the market for health care, unfortunately.

section 34: Peter Angelos fires Duquette and hires you, and President Trump orders you to take the job (or some other such scenario where you can’t say no.) How do you proceed? (No fair saying “move to Macau.”)
Klaw: Depends on what Angelos wants, doesn’t it? If the mandate is “win now,” then you go out and find pitching any way you can, which to me would mean making the entire system other than Sisco (who might be the catcher by June 1) available in trade. And you’d have to find a way to work with Buck, who wields as much power as any manager outside of Scioscia.

Tom: Are you seeing Giolito making any improvements or adjustments? Are you still as high on him as the sample size is growing?
Klaw: The sample size remains minuscule. My outlook for him has not changed.

Lucas Giolito: Will I ever hit 99 or 100 again?
Klaw: You haven’t done that since high school, pre-TJ, when you were pitching once a week.

A’s Brand Merlot: Thank you for dissing xFIP. As an ordinary fan I hate the strident way that stat is yielded by other fans, and I also dislike the stat because it doesn’t describe what happened in reality. What other stats do you think are being misused right now? Is FIP itself of value? Should we be using Runs Average instead of ERA?
Klaw: FIP has value and flaws, but I think it’s a viable shorthand for the pitching peripherals we want to look at, reducing some of the noise of ERA at the cost of throwing out some signal too. I always look at RA as well as ERA. I think exit velocity and spin rate are cited too frequently given the paucity of research on their predictive value. (They may have a ton of predictive value. I suspect they will, somehow. I just don’t see any evidence on the subject either way.)

CD: Matt Chapman…power is exciting and obviously legit, but the Ks are a huge problem. He takes his walks, so we know it’s mostly a contact issue. Is there anything the team can do to help him out, or is this just who he’s always gonna be?
Klaw: I think this is who he is. If I told you you could have a player with a 4 bat, 7 power, 7 glove (maybe 8?), 8 arm at third base, you’d take that, right? Useful player if ugly to watch at the plate sometimes?

Tom: It seems like pitchers who come to the D-Backs via signing or trade are significantly worse while pitching here and then generally improve once they move on to another team. Is this park effects, something the organization is doing? Something else?
Klaw: I think they’re having some real issues developing pitchers, especially in working with mechanics. It’s funny to see because they got Robbie Ray and lengthened his stride out so he could finish better over his front side; his velo ticked up and his breaking stuff got way better. Then they’ve screwed up a bunch of other guys, especially Miller, who did at least look much more like his 2015 self in his first start back from his free-agency-delaying trip to Reno.

Jim: No question, just a random fact unrelated to anything in the news: the Mets own their FL St League affiliate in PSL.
Klaw: Thank you – I had this question in my head this morning. I believe they own the Cyclones too.

Cole: During the spring, you wrote about being impressed by Daniel Gossett and he has backed it up with a solid year? Do you see him as a future big league starter? Is he in consideration for a spot in the Top 100?
Klaw: I do think he’s a starter. As I said above, I do not have much of an idea of who’ll be in the back of the top 100.

Drew: I’m looking forward to your book! Given the fact that I have a daughter who’s about to turn two, I do much more listening to audiobooks than actual reading in the traditional sense these days. Will there be an audio version of Smart Baseball, and do you think you may narrate it?
Klaw: I’ve been asked a few questions like that – will there be an audiobook, will I do a book tour, will there be a Spanish version – but unfortunately I don’t know any of these answers. They’re mostly up to Harper Collins. As I know anything more, I’ll be sure to let everyone know on the dish and via my email newsletter.

EC: Are O’s making the right call with Bundy? You’ve said he is what he is at this point, and with his shoulder is likely to not stick around too long, so worth using what you have while you can?
Klaw: I don’t know for sure that he is what he is at this point – I fear that’s the case – but he hasn’t looked great the last 4-5 times out there and I worry that he’s now pitching fatigued, which, given his history, is not what I would recommend.

Phil: Not sure how many Jays games you watch. Bautista does not seem like the same player. Do you think his bat speed has slowed down this year? It sure seems like he can’t hit a fastball anymore.
Klaw: I said just this on TSN 1050 this morning. I think age has cost him some bat speed and the foot injury may have cost him some power.

dca: Why don’t teams convert failed prospects to pitcher more frequently, a la Mychael Givens? Is Givens that much of an outlier?
Klaw: Givens was a pitching prospect in HS. I think I ranked him as a pitcher in his draft, not as a shortstop, because I didn’t think he could hit.

Sebastian: Touki Toussaint had a relief appearance and struck out 3 in an inning. While the Braves will keep him as a starter as long as they can, do you think he ultimately ends up in the pen? And, if so, what’s his ceiling there?
Klaw: I think he’s a starter. Athletic, loose, shows three pitches, smart kid, just raw. Gotta be patient with the baby Braves.

Marshall: The power that Dozier has developed over the last few years seems really out of character in comparison to his early scouting reports and minor league numbers, can you think of any other players that had something similar happen to them when they made the bigs?
Klaw: Matt Duffy’s 2015 season comes to mind.

Rob: Bryan Mitchell has a good arm, but has never K’d many batters. He does seem to have a good sinking fastball. What’s his upside?
Klaw: Middle reliever.

Gus: Thanks for talking about your anxiety. It’s helped to review your past comments as I’ve been dealing with my latest bought. Any recommendations for meditating (apps, books, youtube)?
Klaw: Fully Present is the book I always recommend. InsightLA’s website has some good free downloads for meditation too.

Tom: Is a player’s service time affected by time on a postseason roster, or is it only regular-season games that matter?
Klaw: Only regular season games.

Doug: I saw where you were planning to do one board game review per week on Paste. What are some of your upcoming reviews?
Klaw: My 3 Wishes review just went up today. I’ve already filed reviews of Saloon Tycoon and New Bedford, and need to write up 7 Ronin this week. I think I have eight unreviewed games in the house already and more coming.

Scrapper: Would K Hendricks be top five in NL Cy Young voting on your ballot? If not, why?
Klaw: Probably not because that would be giving him too much credit for what his defense has done for him.

Mikey: Any concern over Cubs’ lack of hitting with RISP? Could be a problem in the playoffs.
Klaw: No because that is still, as ever, not a separate skill from “hitting.”

Albert: I was a bit confused by your book review this week. Do you not believe there is any science behind the power of positive thinking? I highly recommend The Happiness Advantage. Changed my life.
Klaw: There’s quite a bit of science on the harm of “positive thinking” approaches, especially those that preach against allowing any negative thoughts. Burkeman discusses some of that as well. But if you’ve found something that works for you, go for it. I wouldn’t tell you to scrap that and do something else.

JG: AA is rumored to be a candidate for the prez of baseball operations for the Twins. Would he be a good hire?
Klaw: He’d be an outstanding hire. He really fits what they have said they’re looking for.

Bruce: Brandon Woodruff has had a nice season at Brevard County and Biloxi. Does he have a future as a starting pitcher?
Klaw: Yes, definitely.

Ron: You once had Starlin Castro as high as #12 on your top 100 prospects. What do you think happened with him? He’s still surprisingly young, so is there any hope that he can even remotely live up to the promise he once showed?
Klaw: Lot of things, inability to learn/make adjustments foremost among them.

Jeff: Severino looks like a completely different pitcher in the pen. Do you think it makes sense to keep him there as a potentially dominant innings eater in high leverage situations?
Klaw: I have always believed he was more likely to be a reliever than a starter, and the way he was used last night was perfect. I killed Joe G for using Betances in a third straight game on Tuesday but I have to praise him for getting Severino in that long relief spot yesterday.

JB: Mr. Law, Odor is arguably the best player on the best team in the AL, but I haven’t seen any MVP hype for him. Thoughts?
Klaw: He’s 15th in the AL in OBP. From the bottom.

Dave: Has Josh Hader done enough this year to change your opinion on him being a starting pitcher?
Klaw: The delivery hasn’t changed, nor has the stuff, so no.

Marshall: If the Twins called would you answer, or is your current gig just too good (work/life balance, time with your daughter, seemingly good editorial freedom) for you to entertain a change at this juncture in your life?
Klaw: If the Twins called, I would recommend three candidates who are more qualified than I am.

Stomper: Richie Martin hit .230 in the Cal League this year. I know he was a 20 y/o draft pick and young for the league, but that is still wildly disappointing for a first round pick out of the SEC. Do you think the A’s can get him back to his good Cape League swing, or is that a pipe dream considering his struggles his draft year too?
Klaw: I was very disappointed with what I saw from him that spring, so I’m not totally shocked … okay, a little shocked that he struggled like that, slugging .312 even with all those road games in hitters’ parks. Still just 21, but that’s a terrible first year out for an SEC product and first rounder.

Rob: Your thoughts on Heinlein. I was surprised to see there’s been some backlash towards him based on perceived political opinions.
Klaw: Only read a couple of his books and have yet to read the big two titles but I enjoy his work. He was adamant that his fiction did not express political views, though.

Stomper: IIRC, Heath Filmeyer was a two way player in HS and didn’t pitch full time until JC. Given his age, lack of experience, and performance to date, what type of floor/ceiling does he have?
Klaw: Yep, that’s correct. I think he could end up an average starter and is at least a major league bullpen guy. I had him ranked as a top 100 guy, about third round, and still don’t understand why he fell to the fifth when he was totally signable and was not a secret name (there were a dozen guys there the day I saw him). Athletic, arm works, had two pitches already.

Matt: I know you’ve long been a Mike Foltynewicz fan, and he’s shown some flashes of brilliance this year, but has also been incredibly inconsistent. Is there anything you’ve seen or heard to make you think it could all still come together for him? He’s still just 24.
Klaw: I would take his year overall as a positive step. His control, which was awful at times last year, has been the best of his pro career, both in walks and generally in throwing strikes. I’m very optimistic on his future as a starter.

Sriram: If there is a game 163, what are the roster rules? 25-man, 40-man … is it treated like a fresh playoff round (postseason eligibility and whatnot)?
Klaw: It’s a regular season game (I think). I know the game counts towards regular-season stats.

TJ: JaCoby Jones likely outcome- minor leaguer/bench MLBer, solid MLB utility guy, or a MLB position player? If the latter, where would you put him?
Klaw: 4A player. Good athlete, not enough ability to hit.

section 34: I hope you’ll forgive me, you say about so many MiLB catchers “he can’t stick at catcher” that I lose track, but … I thought you said that previously about Chance Sisco. He’s an MLB catcher? Good news for starving O’s fans if so.
Klaw: Don’t know if I ever said that, but he was not very good receiving his first year in pro ball … which was also his second year as a full-time catcher. He keeps improving with experience and I don’t doubt at all that he’ll be a catcher in the majors now.

Doug: Any chance you could offer a “sneak peek” of your Saloon Tycoon review? Thumbs Up?
Klaw: Yes. My daughter really liked it. She never asked what the Brothel tile meant, though.

BD: The 40 man roster in September basically feels like an entirely different game. What is your opinion on it (I am not a fan)
Klaw: I’m not a fan of the infinite bullpens.

j: Are Chance Adams’ size and arm action reasons why he may not stick as a starter?
Klaw: Yep, especially the size issue.

Julius: Late to the chat….in regard to one of your earlier answers, where you said you factor in future growth that could lead to increased velocity in HS pitchers….Say a HS kid tops out at 87-88, yet you are positive that his room to grow and gain strength will lead to increased velocity and a chance to be a front line pitcher….what is the highest you would be able to draft this kid, knowing organizations are going to hedge toward the safety of the present velocity?
Klaw: I think you can find those guys later in the draft, so I wouldn’t rush to take one on day one. Those are good names to target for day two, even if you might have to overpay a little, negotiating with them the night between the second and third rounds.

Tana: Is there really someone who is much more qualified than you to run the player acquisition side of things? Isn’t it more about creating and following a strategy that makes sense? Sure you’ve had your share of misses, but your hits list is good too. In other words, is it a bit like picking stocks?
Klaw: I’m very flattered that you say so, but there are many people in front offices who are not well known to the public but who can do everything I can do, but better, and do more things too. They just can’t chat like I do.

Klaw: Thanks for all of the questions this week. I’ll be back next Thursday for more of the same.

My one Insider piece so far this week covered why September prospect callups are a thing of the past – or, why prospects who are going to be called up are probably already up.

Hey, while you’re here, pre-order my book! And sign up for my newsletter!

Klaw: What to do when suckers are preyin’ up on my well-guarded spreadsheets? Klawchat.

Kenny: Dansby has 1 UIBB in 12 games, is this what we can expect from him going forward or does he have some understanding of the strike zone? His ABs haven’t seemed to show someone completely lost.
Klaw: It’s 12 games. Remember when Alex Bregman started 0 for 15? I just found a tweet from that week where someone asked me if a demotion was coming. The big leagues are hard. Stop overreacting to minuscule samples.

Brian: Jemier Candelario having a second nice season after really struggling in 2014. Is he a potential everyday guy (maybe not with Cubs if blocked)? Will the glove play at 3b?
Klaw: He can hit, but I don’t think he can play 3b, and he’d be their … what, third best defender at the position right now?

Darnell: for my 11th grade honors American lit course I get to choose a novel from a list of about 200 for a research paper. My favorites are down to Catch 22, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Sun Also Rises, All The Kings Men, and A Farewell To Arms. Any thoughts on these books?
Klaw: My favorite of those is Catch-22. I wouldn’t wish Hemingway on anybody.

Dennis Swanson: Keith, so I watched Tim Tebows workout. Evaluate my scouting prediction please: weak arm (grade 40, by comparison I’m 60 and with a couple of weeks work, I would still grade at about 50). First year high school player footwork in the outfield. rarely lined up a ball to throw properly. Clunky catching the ball, glove to throw motion is on the low end of the scale. Batting practice fast ball power. Overstrides and is easily fooled by off-speed pitches. But has plus power when he does connect. In running, fast but not quick. Some team with a good AA park in the SE or S will sign him and he will attract people to the gate. Right coaching and practice could smooth out some flaws to get him to AAA, but he’ll be 30+ by then.
Klaw: A washed-up quarterback who can’t even square up 88 mph in a workout isn’t even as good as your bearish report would even imply. He’s an absolute zero, a 29-year-old with a 20 hit tool, and shame on everyone involved in this charade – including any team that might be foolish enough to sign him.

DrMike: Could Andrew Toles be an everyday player?
Klaw: I don’t think so, although he’s a different person (makeup) now than he was in the past. Always had tools, lacked real baseball skills and had little to no commitment to improvement. As an amateur and a Rays farmhand, he was a guy who could run and that’s about it.

Dave: KLAW, is there a consensus number one pick in next year’s draft?
Klaw: No, but there’s more talent up top than there was in this year’s. I’d put Vandy OF Jeren Kendall at 1 right now ahead of SoCal RHP/SS Hunter Greene.

Jim L: Why wouldn’t the Angels, who stink and their farm system stinks, try and work out a trade for Puig? The asking price can’t be too high.
Klaw: Why can’t it be too high? I think it would be.

Rich (Rochester): Inside baseball question from your time in Toronto: do minor league affiliates lobby for prospects? What do ‘minor league relations ‘ look like from an MLB FO perspective?
Klaw: They would rather win than just get highly rated prospects. Two years ago Wilmington was loaded with prospects and didn’t have a great season. Last year they had almost no prospects and made the league championship series. Any team that isn’t owned by the parent club would prefer the latter to the former.

mcgive_it_to_me: I agree with Sheehan. Every pace of play issue in baseball is directly correlated to pitcher velocity. I’m in the camp that they just need to move the mound back though not sure how far. The only downside I see to this is the unintended consequences towards soft-tossing/control pitchers. Where do you stand on this?
Klaw: Moving the mound seems like it would have a lot of unintended consequences. Also, speeding up pace of play means less rest between pitches or innings for pitchers, and less rest means more fatigue which means more injuries.

Marshall: Ronald Acuna is back from his hand injury and is already showing signs of greatness again. Will he be a fast riser on prospect lists next season?
Klaw: I’m a big fan.

Marty: Austin Riley is raking again- has 17 home runs the second half. What are your thoughts on him
Klaw: I’m not a big fan.

Tim: Hey Keith, thanks for the chat! Seems like Christian Pache is handling Danville pretty well. Thoughts on his future ceiling?
Klaw: I think he’s a potential star, but beware of these tiny samples – he’s hitting far better in Danville than he did in the GCL and that should make you at least question how indicative either stat line is of his true talent.

Disgruntled: Watching the Diamondback dumpster fire has passed the point of humor, is it safe to assume that LaRussa and Stewart will be jettisoned before next season?
Klaw: I don’t think that’s safe to assume at all; you saw how they circled the wagons when my article was posted, slandering me rather than addressing the very real mistakes they’ve made as a front office.

Disgruntled: Moncada up on Friday, odd’s he get’s full-time ab’s going forward at 3B?
Klaw: I don’t think he will, or should.

Amos: Desmond Lindsay’s numbers look great, albeit in Brooklyn. Any word from people scouting the player and not the stat line?
Klaw: That he looks great. He’s not old for Brooklyn. Hell, usually the Cyclones’ average age is closer to 30 than 20.

Carl Youstremsky: Yankees have been extremely active for once. What do you think of the Gamel for Orozco and De Paula deal? Also, out of those two and the couple PTBNL they received from PIT (Tarpley and Polo), can any of the four become solid ML regulars? Thank you
Klaw: I like Gamel for what he is but he’s been crowded out by better OF prospects in their system, so they flipped him for two high-upside teenage arms they can wait on. Polo looks like a good fourth OF, definite big leaguer. Tarpley has a million dollar arm and the proverbial ten-cent head, probably a LH reliever in the end but athletic enough that if he gets his act together at some point and turns into a quality starter I won’t be totally shocked.

Ryan: Trevor Clifton was recently named the Carolina League Pitcher of the Year, how do you project him as a MLB pitcher
Klaw: Mid-rotation starter.

Taco Timmy: Isan Diaz is nearing the obsession that Victor Robles once had… How bullish are you on this guy?
Klaw: Very bullish. Great feel to hit. Sneaky pop, don’t think he’s a huge power guy, but lot of hard contact. Could play 2b or 3b. Segura’s had a big BABIP year for AZ but I think losing Diaz is going to hurt them in the long run.

Gary: Jed Bradley called up to Atlanta after they got him for basically nothing from Milwaukee earlier this year. I know he’s a former first rounder, and his numbers in the Atlanta system have actually been good so far. Any optimism here long term?
Klaw: He’s regained his college velocity again and I think could be a swingman for Atlanta, maybe a 5th starter, more likely a little less. Not bad for, as you said, a guy acquired for nothing.

Steve: Higher ceiling, Soroka or Allard? Soroka has been absolutely dealing.
Klaw: Allard. Good results, especially for pitchers in the low minors, are nice but not as strongly predictive as you might believe (or as they are for bats).

Ryan: It’s amazing how people talk about the 1st amendment and how they value it, until someone actually exercises it. This divide astonishes me a little, yes other people have a right to disagree but you can’t say don’t protest. I’m not sure how people are wired to think that is a coherent thought. Also, so many terrible ‘hot takes’ on this came out this week, thank you for being a voice of sanity.
Klaw: Did you ever really learn about First Amendment rights at any point in school? I don’t recall any of that, even in American History in HS. I vaguely remember having to learn the five main freedoms of 1A but nothing further. So it’s hardly surprising that we have a nation of people who don’t understand what freedom of speech or censorhip of it mean in practice. Also, I have no idea why we need to turn sporting events into patriotic pep rallies. I’m here for the baseball, not for public displays of jingoism.

Frank: How do you factor in hitter tendencies in BP vs a game? If a batter pulls everything in BP, but sprays to all fields in a game, how would you describe him?
Klaw: What he does in the game is more important. The BP might show you what his raw pull power, but that’s subordinate to how he hits live pitching.

Nick: What have you heard about Yusniel Diaz’s season? The numbers are pretty so-so, but he’s very young for his league and seems to have at least shown some solid tools.
Klaw: Yep, good tools, good swing, decent approach, missed too much time with injury. He finished well after the lost five weeks and his overall line is solid for a 19-year-old in a decent hitters’ park in high-A, so I remain very bullish on his future. I was hoping he’d get an AFL spot to make up for the lost ABs.

DPF: Is there a level of performance that Jameson Taillon could achieve that would make passing on Machado the right choice?
Klaw: No, but Taillon’s clearly going to be good enough that this won’t be a “how the hell did you pass on Machado” conversation for the next decade.

Anonymous: According to Fangraphs, Kris Bryant currently gas the most WAR in baseball. We all know he is the front-runner for MVP in the NL, but is he the best player in baseball?
Klaw: The best player in baseball is Mike Trout. I don’t think there’s even a real debate at this point.

Zach: So far, I love what I see out of Josh Bell. He’s got a matured approach at the plate, can drive the ball opposite field, and is way more athletic than anyone with his build should be. That said, does his swing concern you at all? I’m not an expert, but at times it feels like its very long/slow to develop and very upper cut.
Klaw: I don’t think it’s “upper cut” in the least; if anything the criticism of him in the minors was that he wasn’t lifting the ball as much as a big man should. I saw enough hard contact from him that I was fine with his swing as is – he has a great approach, likes to go the other way, and isn’t afraid to drop the bat head and murder something middle-in.

Chris: The Mets ignoring Matz’ various arm issues and relying on specious evidence that the bone spur isnt affecting his shoulder is truly bizarre. Just sit him the rest of the year.
Klaw: And he’s *always* been hurt. He’s never reached 150 innings in a regular season in seven innings (including 2016) in pro ball. He’s hurt everything but his spleen. How do you not treat him with extreme caution given his history of DL stints?

Drew: Do you follow players on twitter? I recently followed Amed Rosario on twitter and found another reason why i hope he is in NY soon.
Klaw: Some, mostly players I know or who follow me.

John: Why are you rarely included when ESPN does large panels like the post season awards article up today?
Klaw: I decline to participate. I have too much else to do, including writing things that appear under my name.

Troubled (Cincy): It seems like Bryan Price has adopted a strategy you’ve recommended: multiple inning relievers separated by at least 1-2 days off. He’s been doing this with Lorenzen and Iglesias to most importantly keep them healthy and also to bolster the horrific bullpen. Long term, I believe Lorenzen is a reliever due to his lack of secondary pitches. But Iglesias looks like he has the arsenal to start, he reminds me of El Duque throwing pitches from multiple angles with movement. Do you think Iglesias can start, or is the better long term strategy to keep him healthy in the bullpen?
Klaw: Lorenzen’s been mostly one inning per outing, occasionally two; I’d be happy to see him go 2-3 and then get more time off. He’s a reliever for me all the way. Iglesias has the stuff to start but may not be able to hold up in that role … but that says to me that pitching him back to back (to back?) days in the bullpen isn’t going to be any better.

Mark: Pro: Hunter Renfroe has put up good all-around numbers this year at El Paso (top three in the league in total bases, homers, RBIs, hits, slugging and runs). Con: It’s the PCL. How much should I temper my excitement due to the league he plays in? Do you use sort of baseline to evaluate guys who play in hitter friendly environments (like factoring in that stats are artificially inflated by a certain percentage, etc.)?
Klaw: Not just the PCL, but El Paso, which appears to be a great place to hit – and he had terrible BB/K numbers and a big home/road split (.247/.276/.461 on the road). Since we already knew he had issues with contact and breaking ball recognition, the cons here ‘convince’ me more than the pros.

Sitting 95: What wizard did Warthen submit to? Because the Mets ability to crank out interesting pitchers is frankly obscene at this point in time. Gsellman and Lugo both looked good.
Klaw: Yes they did. Gsellman is suddenly bumping 95 with some regularity and that makes him more than just a 5th starter.

Jack: Will you be at Alec Hansen’s start tonight? Just curious if you will do a write up.
Klaw: Weather permitting, that is my plan, but it’s supposed to rain again.

JJ: Is Moancada ready to help the Red Sox? His lefty/righty splits seem a bit extreme, and I’m worried about this “drop him at third base” noise after he spent so little time there in the minors.
Klaw: Is Moancada a Freudian slip? I don’t like that idea either – he wasn’t that good at second base, third base isn’t an easier position, and if you don’t make enough contact in AA you’re not going to suddenly make more in the majors.

Paul Furlong: What the hell is going on with Kyle Hendricks? Is this a case of SSS or has he done something to make this a more long lasting improvement?
Klaw: It’s both. That .244 BABIP says a lot about how good the Cubs’ defense (their fielders and the team’s positioning) is. But he’s also got a plus changeup that allows his fringe-average fastball to play. So some of both. You just can’t separate him from the value he gets from the fielders around him.

sam: when your daughter’s a bit older, would you enjoy spending a summer traveling around the country with your family, stopping in to see minor league players/parks you might not see otherwise (while your wife/daughter are doing something else for a few hours if they’re not interested)?
Klaw: When she’s older I’d enjoy a summer traveling around the country with my family and not seeing any baseball at all. I call such a thing a “vacation.”

Kevin: Proud papa of a 9 month old who has yet to travel long distance with him. Would it be pure hell to put him on a plane now? Several people have suggested not traveling until he is at least two years old.
Klaw: We traveled with my daughter when she was six months and it went fine.

Bruce: You had recommended Jasper Fforde’s Dragon Slayer series for my 12 year old son last year. He read all three books and loved them. He now keeps asking me when the 4th book will be coming out. Do you have any other books or series to recommend for him?
Klaw: Try Diana Wynne Jones’ Howl’s Moving Castle series. And I too would like to know when the 4th Dragonslayer book is coming out.

Oren: Nick Kingham has apparently looked excellent in his rehab back from TJ. I almost forgot that before he went down, he was considered by some a Top 100 prospect. Could he regain his old prospect status as a good middle of the rotation piece?
Klaw: Yep, don’t see any reason why not.

Marcus: Giants made Blach a September call-up. Could he be useful in the 5th starter role instead of Cain/Peavy. He has great command and total innings on the year doesn’t look like a problem.
Klaw: I think long term he’s a reliever, but they need a 5th starter and he’s probably better than those guys, neither of whom seems likely to post an ERA south of 5.50.

NIC AZ: What do you make of the season that Trinson McKenzie has had? Do you think he will be considered for your Spring top 100 prospect list?
Klaw: If I say I’ll consider him that’s unfair because I consider just about everyone (and discard most of them right away), but McKenzie is a very exciting prospect with tons of projection left. You could just dream on him and see a future 1 or 2.

EC: Could Bukauskus go top part of round 1 next year? For guys like that, is it better to go to college, or just come out of HS? Seems like you can always go to college… but the big leagues provide an opportunity right away that might not be there next time around.
Klaw: Could go first round. Hard to see him going top 10 with that reliever-ish delivery and lack of size or plane. It’s all now – what you see is what you get, so get him to the majors quick.

Zach: Hi Keith, I asked you at the beginning of the season about Jon Gray, and you mentioned the fastball was straight and the delivery has no deception (amongst other problems). I was just wondering if you’ve seen anything from him this season that’s made you more optimistic about his potential as an above-average starter?
Klaw: Yes, they’ve lengthened him back out (or he did it himself) a bit so that his velocity has ticked up and he’s getting a little more plane on everything. The slider was there in college, not there last year, is basically there again. So I’m back on the bandwagon after I was off it last year and was on it when they drafted him.

Walter: My wife and I are expecting a child soon. We live in an apartment and our neighbor has a two month old. Based on who their doctor is, I think there is a high likelihood they aren’t going to vaccinate. This worries me. We can tell them they should vaccinate and try not to let the kids near each other. Any suggestions?
Klaw: Do just what you said. Please vaccinate your kid or we can’t be near you. I see no problem at all with ostracizing parents who make such utterly selfish, irrational choices.

JWP: Wasn’t an option pick-up due for someone in AZ’s front office yesterday? What happened with it?
Klaw: Dave Stewart. Don’t believe it was picked up.

Drew: If Trea Turner had been called up earlier in the year (assuming he consistently performed at his current level) do you think he’d give Seager a run for his money in terms of ROY voting?
Klaw: I think Seager came into the year as the favorite and would thus have had a leg up on Turner anyway, but Turner could have locked in to the #2 spot.

Vin: Could Tyler Beede step into the Giants’ rotation in 2017? What do you think his ceiling is?
Klaw: Don’t think the command is there for him to step in next year. He’s back to throwing four- and two-seamers rather than that 88-89 mph sinker, though, which is a big positive.

Mike: Last year, Kyle Lewis really put his name on the map as a prospect with his play on the Cape. What player(s) have done that during this summer’s Cape Cod League?
Klaw: Nobody to that extent. Michael Gigliotti of Lipscomb or Peter Solomon of Notre Dame were the breakout guys I know of.

Blergher: True or False: 1) Jake Locker holding a private workout would–on merit–be of more interest to MLB teams than a Tebow workout? 2) Fewer teams would send scouts nonetheless.
Klaw: First is true, second is false. Locker had real baseball skill. He played a summer during college in the West Coast League and still showed real ability. He’d get scouted and signed.

Johnny: Trumbo is obviously a large factor of playing half his games at OPACY, but he is still having a big year, and hitting on the road as well. Has he made a positive leap in your mind, carer wise?
Klaw: It’s not the ballpark at all – Camden Yards is neutral or slightly above, and Trumbo’s been just as potent on the road anyway – but this spike at age 30 without a significant change in his underlying skills screams fluke. Great season, and I hope he gets to 50 homers because that’s just cool when anyone does that, but I’d bet on him returning to the player he was previously in 2017.

Anthony: Have you seen anything with Jorge Soler to suggest he can finally put it together?
Klaw: I’m the wrong person to ask. I’ve always thought he’d put it all together.

Mike: Is Nick Storz a 1st Round pick for next season right now with the summer he has put in?
Klaw: I don’t think so. Long way off, though. Any round prediction on a guy right now is marginally better than throwing darts.

Keith: Re: Vacation – do you still enjoy going to the ballpark? It’s kinda funny to me – something everyone else would consider a leisurely day off is like a trip to the office for you. Granted, it’s probably a fun job at times but still…
Klaw: Nope. True vacation for me means no baseball at all. Don’t watch, don’t check scores, nothin’.

James: Can Mondesi Jr hit? His average in the minors wasn’t good and he looks lost on offspeed stuff.
Klaw: I think he will hit, and he could hit, except he’s always been so young and small for his levels that he’s never really had the chance to catch up physically.

BD: Not worried about Giolito’s very limited MLB showing so far, but am a little worried about his velocity. Despite all the scout talk of an 80 grade fastball, it seems to sit 94 with little movement. Is he “aiming” it? Are scouts worried?
Klaw: Second question about him having an “80 grade fastball” I’ve gotten this week. He has never had an 80 fastball that I know of. He hit 98 in high school, pre injury. Supposedly he hit 100 the week before I saw him; I didn’t see that and don’t believe it ever recurred. And he’s pitched in pro ball at 93-98, at best, which isn’t an 80 fastball although it’s really good. So I don’t know where the “80 grade fastball” came from, and him sitting 94 with his four seamer is about right. I’d like to see him throw more two-seamers, especially since he’s not commanding the four-seamer enough to get away with it in the zone.

Nate: Zack Collins is start at HiA has been pretty solid. Any reports on his catching?
Klaw: He’s not a catcher. He’ll hit his way to the majors at another position.

Bob: Big believer in vaccines. That said, what is the danger of letting your vaccinated child play with one who is not? They are protected from the diseases they’re inoculated against, right?
Klaw: Not necessarily. Vaccines aren’t 100% effective, just like any medical treatment isn’t 100% effective. Some, like the pertussis vaccine, are well under 100% effective, and we rely on herd immunity to make up the deficit.

Juan: A friend of mine has a son, who seems to be a very good player, go to a Division 2 school in Southern California. How does that talent at D-2 schools in hotbeds for talent like SoCal stack up against the talent at some of the lower level D-1 schools?
Klaw: It’s well below even the lower level D1 schools.

Jeff: What is your opinion on Arenado’s MVP chances? Does the fact that he plays half of his games in Coors take him out of the race?
Klaw: That kills him and the team being a non-contender kills him. Park-adjusting his stats takes him out of the race on merit anyway. He’s legitimately great, but not up to Bryant/Seager.

Mike DC: Are they Yankees making a mistake shifting Luis Serverino back and forth from starter to bullpen ala Joba? They sent him down recently to work on his change up and now have him back up to help ML team in bullpen – does this increase his risk of injury?
Klaw: Yeah, not a fan of the back-and-forth. Put him in the pen, in whatever role you want, and leave him there.

Pete: I know your employer is the chief culprit, but please explain the sports world’s fascination with Tebow? He was a huge 1st round bust in the NFL and has been out of the league for years.
Klaw: He gets clicks. I like clicks too, but would rather not sell my soul to get them.

marty: Last chat you mentioned it was down to Bryant and Seager for NL MVP. Why is Murphy not a legit candidate?
Klaw: Because defense matters.

davey: Where do you stand on Public Enemy and De La Soul?
Klaw: I’m a fan of their classic stuff. The new DLS is very mixed.

Lee: I don’t get the problem with Moncado coming up now? The Sox haven’t said he’s going to be the everyday 3rd basemen so what’s the problem with him spending a month with the big club and maybe pinch running/ grabbing a couple ABs?
Klaw: One problem is adding him to the 40-man roster before it was close to necessary. If what you say is correct and he’s just an extra guy it’s not a big deal. If they try to play him more, I don’t know if that’s good for the club or for his development.

Elton: The Dodgers’ offseason of depth-building seems to have paid off since they’ve been weathering Kershaw’s absence quite well. With a weak free agent crop coming up do you expect more of the same this offseason?
Klaw: I don’t think there’s an alternative out there – there’s no Greinke on the market this time. But what helped them weather Kershaw’s absence: the depth signings they made over the winter, or the players already in the system who came up and contributed?

Nate: Any chance that Zach Burdi is a starter?
Klaw: Yes, a small chance, but a definite chance.

Rich (Rochester): Why do the Triple-A leagues even bother staging playoffs?
Klaw: For money. It’s the answer to almost every “why” question you could ask about baseball, really.

William Bradley: Hi Keith – do you feel Brendan Rodgers will advance quickly through the minors to become a MLB player by 2018? Also, should I give up on Matt Olson as an MLB prospect given his dreadful year? (although he is still walking at a good clip)
Klaw: That’s aggressive, improbable but not impossible. Needs a full healthy year though – the ABs he lost this year didn’t help speed up his timetable. I was a little lukewarm on Olson anyway and I think his window has mostly closed.

James: Is the 40 man roster an outdated idea? I really don’t understand the purpose of having it.
Klaw: It defines who is and isn’t a union member, and players on the 40-man thus have more rights, clearly delineated in the CBA, than players not on the 40-man. Players on the 40-man are also invited automatically to spring training. It serves a lot of purposes. We could debate whether that number should be 42 or 45 or something else, but I think having that second roster serves many purposes.

Rich: Any recommendations for games, activities, flash cards to help a 2 year old learn very basic math/science?
Klaw: We never tried anything like that with my daughter. We let her interests dictate what we got but never really tried to teach her much directly. She also spoke a little late (after help from a speech therapist provided by the state of Massachusetts, so, hey, sometimes government actually does work for you) so we weren’t thinking about pushing her to learn anything.

Elton: I know in the past you’ve been higher on Hoskins than Cozens in the Phillies’ system. After pummeling AA this year do you think one or both makes it up next year?
Klaw: Likely we see both next year. Still prefer Hoskins as a better hitter.

Ridley Kemp: Andrew Pullin retired this spring, came out of retirement, and he’s having a pretty strong season. Do you know what the story is, and how good a prospect is he?
Klaw: I don’t know the story of the retirement but he is a legit prospect and possible everyday guy.

Jeff R: Is it weird to see Dusty not bury Turner on the bench?
Klaw: Dusty has done the best thing he could possibly do this year: he’s let the players play. He’s had his foibles but hasn’t buried any young players, hasn’t been wildly overmanaging, hasn’t pulled a Terry Collins at any point. I had it backwards – I said the Mets had the managerial advantage this year but it turns out the Nats have had a huge edge in that department.

Jeff Chisholm: Is there anything Trump can do or say to reconsider not voting for him?
Klaw: There’s a pretty lengthy body of work behind this guy that should eliminate any consideration a rational, open-minded individual might give him on Election Day.

Jeff Chisholm: Are you related to Jude Law?
Klaw: He’s my identical twin brother.

Edward: I have long debated getting a Vitamix. Is it worth it?
Klaw: I think so. Very expensive, but very powerful. You know how sometimes you read a soup recipe and it says to put it in the blender, which is a great plan if what you really wanted was imperfectly pureed soup all over the ceiling? Yeah. The Vitamix won’t do that to you. It actually works.

Chris: I read somewhere that LAD inquired about trading for Greinke. Do you think he would have gotten far enough through waivers to reach them??
Klaw: He cleared waivers.

Mike: It’s early, but Bryan Reynolds looking like a guy?
Klaw: I thought he was a mid-first round talent this spring. He will have to improve his contact rate, but the other tools are all there, hit power run glove.

TK: No question, Keith. Just want to say thanks for all the hard work you do (baseball, boardgame and book reviews, etc.) It’s a pleasure reading your work and I hope one day to make it to one of your fan meetups.
Klaw: You’re quite welcome. I hope to do more fan meetups next year once my book is out; between writing that and dealing with a family matter this summer, I haven’t been out and about as much as usual, but that should change next spring.

Klaw: That’s all for this week’s chat. Thank you all for coming and for all of your questions. I should be back next Thursday at the usual time.

Starting at 1 pm ET. Questions go in the frame below, not in the comments!

My latest boardgame review for Paste looks at Tak, a game derived from Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicles novels.

Klaw: Singing love songs can’t begin to fill your day, so try Klawchat.

Aaron C.: Apologies if you’ve addressed this already, but do you have a vote in any of the BBWAA awards this year?
Klaw: I have NL ROY again. Which is fine – it fits my job, certainly – although I think it’s funny that I’ve been sequestered from other votes.

Dave: I see you linked to the boardgame based on the Kingkiller books – have you read them? Thoughts? Personally I dont see any way there can only be 3 books…..
Klaw: No, I haven’t. Overlong fantasy novels are generally not my thing. But the game, Tak, is good, especially for something that was designed out of someone else’s fictional concept.

Steve G.: Hey Keith, so far, the results have been kind of OK for Dylan Bundy, despite the condition of his shoulder. What would you do if you were the Baltimore GM? Just have him start for as long as he can, knowing it might only be a year or two? Try to keep him in the pen? Thanks!
Klaw: I don’t know the correct answer for keeping him healthy, but I’ve noticed the last few starts that they’ve pushed him harder than I would have, and his stuff in his last three outings hasn’t looked like it did in the previous three or four. Perhaps the answer is he will always be plagued by arm trouble and they should just get what they can out of him. I think they are also so short of starting pitching – aside from whatever you’d call Bundy, they have one effective starter healthy right now – that they may feel they have no choice.

Alex: Gary Sanchez, is he for real? What can we expect from him going forward? Is he the next Posada?
Klaw: For real as in going to hit 9 homers every 20 games, probably not. But I have ranked him I think four straight years on the top 100, once pointing out that if he could stay at catcher he’d have MVP upside. That appears to be happening now.

Greg: One of the big bugaboos for Dom Smith until now (aside from lack of power) had been that he simply did not walk enough. That being said, he now has 11 walks in his last 11 games. This all aside from the fact that he’s mashing everything in sight. How excited should we be getting for him? Has he finally reached his potential?
Klaw: The amount of stat-line scouting on Smith the last few years was just comical. He was a young HS senior with a great swing, great feel to hit, and plus raw power. The Mets put him right into full-season ball, and he didn’t put up huge numbers right away, so the fake-scouting started – but he was never overmatched, never really struggled, always made contact, and if you saw him or talked to folks who did you knew he was working on going the other way because his pull power wasn’t resulting in HR. I could rant for a while but I’ve always thought he was at least an above average overall player at 1b and I still think that’s what he’ll be.

Michael Easter: There have been a lot of critical articles written about Jeff Luhnow and the Astros lately. What is your take on the Astros front office and the decisions they have made?
Klaw: He’s an easy target, especially since they’re playing well but not playoff well. They’re also a very young, very inexpensive team that is going to be highly competitive for several years to come.

Bill Center: Pads Luis Urias the next Altuve?
Klaw: Don’t see it. I like Urias but his body type is nothing like Altuve’s.

Biscuit: Read a few reports last year that Adam Engel had made some swing changes in the AFL with great results, allowing him to finally unlock some of his hit tool. Have you heard whether those changes have stuck? Stat line does not seem to indicate any sort of improvement.
Klaw: I thought it was a dubious claim and that his tools overall were too light for him to have any impact.

Derek: Scouting report on Trea Turner in CF?
Klaw: If you can run like that, you can play CF. And his routes have looked good so far.

Eric: With Duda likely to be non-tendered, do you think Smith will be ready for 1B for the Mets next year?
Klaw: I think that would be aggressive.

Biscuit: Given how far medicine has advanced it still amazes me how little recourse we have against common cold viruses. Is this truly an inability to develop treatments, or simply a decision to allow our bodies to fight them naturally in order to minimize viral evolution (like how we minimize antibiotic use).
Klaw: I think the problem is that there aren’t just a few common cold viruses, but three species with over a hundred serotypes. You may have more distinct viruses in your nose in one infection than there have been primate species in the entire history of life on earth. So, between that and the fact that colds rarely kill, it’s not going to be an efficient use of research time or money.

Timmy: It’s only 10 IP in the bigs, i know, i know, but Matt Strahm looks great. He’s only thrown a few changeups – understandable in a relief role – but those few have looked pretty good including the whiff of Realmuto last night. His fastball is leading MLB in whiffs/swing, the curve looks nasty and his walk rates in the minors and MLB this year have been strong. Can he hold down a rotation spot next year, and what should reasonable expectations be?
Klaw: I think he has the three pitches to start. Saw him in Wilmington last year and while it’s a little funky for the rotation I’d absolutely let him do it.

Matt: Any idea around what date Crawford and your draft top 30 is coming out? -Padres fan
Klaw: We’ve had to push it back a little with other stuff running on the site.

Chris K.: Michael Kopech is on a pretty ridiculous run right now. What are the odds that he remains a starter long term (putting injuries aside)?
Klaw: How many guys who throw that hard – okay, almost that hard – have lasted as starters? Syndergaard has. Strasburg didn’t maintain his fastball although he’s worked out very well. Eovaldi throws that hard and needs a whole new arm. So you can argue that Kopech has so few comparables that we don’t know, or that the few comparables we have say he’s at very high risk if he remains in the rotation. But I’d still rank him fairly aggressively even with the risk because it’s an 80 fastball and he’s athletic enough that I think he can improve in other areas to at least profile as a starter.

Brent: Is there something fundamentally flawed with Minnesota’s player development (looking at Berrios, Sano, Buxton, etc.), or is this just normal growing pains / the inherent unpredictability in prospects. I know projecting prospects is inherently a difficult task, but it just feels like there’s got to be more here…the player development seems fundamentally flawed. Thoughts? How do you even go about fixing something like this?
Klaw: I think the hitters’ issues are more the coaching staff – and I’ve mentioned that before – but with Berrios, look at all the pitching prospects who’ve come up this year and struggled out of the chute. It’s not just him and not just the twins.

Will: Brando Nimmo is scorching lefties at Triple A this year. Now we’re talking about 116 plate appearances in Vegas, but have you heard any reports that this aspect of his game has improved?
Klaw: It’s Vegas. Someone pointed out to me on Twitter that Nimmo’s AAA stats were better than Seager’s. The ballpark destroys any value in the stats.

Jesse: I know you’re not a football fan, but do you have any thoughts on the Joey Bofa situation?
Klaw: You really think I just fell off the turnip truck?

John: Anything to the s guys the Braves got in the Francoeur deal?
Klaw: Nope, org guys.

Chris: Can’t make it to the chat today because of work, but should the Angels trade Andrelton Simmons this winter? I imagine there would be a lot of interest, and it logistically makes more sense than trading Trout.
Klaw: If the mandate from the owner is to build the best possible team around Trout, then no.

Marty: Who do you take going forward, Gary Sanchez or Willson Contreras?
Klaw: Gosh, I like both. A lot. Probably Contreras because he’s the better athlete and I think will end up the better receiver, but Sanchez’s bat is pretty special and he wouldn’t be the wrong answer.

Dave M: Who are your top 5 current contenders for NL MVP?
Klaw: Right now I think it’s Bryant or Seager.

Nelson: Just statistically speaking, there must be some pitchers today that can handle Cy Young’s workload (400+ IP) over a career and not have any injuries, right?
Klaw: Doubtful given how much harder pitchers throw today.

Eric W: Addison Russell has tapped into some major power in the 2nd half and is now on pace for around 25HR. And he’s 22. What do you think his power ceiling is at this point? Has he raised it?
Klaw: Given his hand strength 25 HR/season would not surprise me. I think overall he’s developing into the player I thought he’d be (I mean, he’s doing it NOW).

JWP: Any guesstimate as to when/if Shoehi Ohtani comes to MLB?
Klaw: Absolutely none. I assume he will because it’s in his financial interest to do so, but he could choose to stay home as long as he wants and I wouldn’t question it.

Michael Conforto: Why am I in Las Vegas? And why would you put me at first base or centerfield?
Klaw: You’re in Vegas because the Mets’ manager hates youth so much he watches the Little League World Series and boos the television.

Bruce K: My kids are 7 and 13. Can you recommend some board games that will be simple enough for my youngest but still challenging for the rest of the family? Its tough finding games the whole family can play together.
Klaw: The 7-year-old is the gating factor here – but I think there are plenty of good Euros that someone that age can handle. I always suggest Ticket to Ride to start. I think Splendor is simple and elegant enough for that age – the rules are 2 pages, which is a great sign.

Eric W: Have you gotten to vote for CY Young since your somewhat famous (and correct) 2009 vote?
Klaw: Nope, ROY every year since but one (Manager). Never had an MVP vote.

Kevin: Do you think David Ross has what it takes to be a solid manager without getting coaching exp first?
Klaw: I would answer that by asking how big league managers without any prior managing experience have fared overall.

Anonymous: Kyle Higashioka has had a breakout season for the Yanks. Has he turned into a real prospect or is it just a case of being old for his level?
Klaw: Where does he play? He can hit some but I don’t know at what position.

CL: Hey Keith, lot of talk about figuring out ways to make baseball relevant/interesting for young people. What would you do to generate more appeal for the game (both the sport and MLB)? Thanks.
Klaw: The one thing I wouldn’t do is start changing the core product. That will just start an endless cycle of trying to predict consumer tastes. I think getting players out there more in marketing efforts and in the community is huge – MLB has long had trouble marketing its stars, and when it does so it often focuses too much on one or two players. Of all of the ideas Manfred floated recently about altering the game itself, the only one I liked was reducing pitching changes, because they create so much dead time and I’m not even sold that they’re an effective strategy on the whole.

Lyle: I saw where a sportswriter was advocating that the Olympics should be cancelled just a few weeks before they were due to start. Given the lack of disasters related to Zika, sewage, etc. what would say to that sportswriter now?
Klaw: If you saw the VICE piece on what a disaster the Rio Olympics really were, you’d say he was right. Brazil would be better off if the games had never happened. I hope we never have another Olympics here in the US unless the IOC wants to pay to build everything.

Brian: Desmond Lindsay has a 1:1 strikeout to walk ratio and an OPS near 1.000 for Brooklyn. Does he project as a big league regular? What is his ceiling?
Klaw: That’s a long way off to be focusing on his stats but I happen to think he is a future regular with a star ceiling because of his speed and athleticism.

Ben: Did your pitching tools piece get posted yet? Realize I may have just missed it.
Klaw: Yes, it’s up.

JP: Reds fans are drooling over Senzel’s performance in Dayton so far. But isn’t this what he SHOULD be doing against A-ball pitching?
Klaw: Yes, exactly. It’s great to see, but I don’t think it tells us anything about him we didn’t already know. Dude can hit.

Brian: I asked you this on Twitter last night prior to Loney being unable to put his foot on first base last night. How many would Conforto have to be defensively at first to be a worse all around player than Loney? Would he have to drop 50% of the balls thrown to him? Tackle Thor mid windup?
Klaw: It doesn’t matter. Terry won’t play Conforto unless he can show a birth certificate that says he’s 30.

Tom: Keith, the government (FDA) advises that American’s eat too much sodium. I recall you writing years ago that sodium is not harmful. How do you choose to follow science in some areas (global warming), but ignore it in other areas (nutrition)?
Klaw: I love these questions. Your mistake is that you assume that what the government (FDA) says is founded in science, when it’s not. There is no scientific research supporting the position that consuming salt is harmful to people with normal blood pressure. The government (FDA and USDA, I believe) also claimed for years that a high fat diet was harmful in spite of evidence that it’s sugar, not fat, behind our rising incidence of heart disease, obesity, and possibly (although it’s very complicated) certain cancers.

Archibald Meatpants: How long until you are in Williamsport, analyzing the slash lines of 12 year olds and giving up future projections for them?
Klaw: When is hell scheduled to freeze over?

Colin: On twitter you expressed disdain for xFIP. What’s the problem with it?
Klaw: Doesn’t work. It’s an experimental (x) stat that has not panned out in reality. It doesn’t predict what it was supposed to predict. Don’t use it.

Tom: Do you get to watch a lot of Cubs games? If so, what are your thoughts on Baez v. Russell at ss? I swear that Baez has better range and a much stronger arm, and that Russell should move to second instead. I acknowledge that they are both very very good, but Baez makes some ridiculous plays.
Klaw: Russell’s less flashy and more consistent. Baez does have the better arm. At a position that handles that many balls in play, I’d rather have the guy who’s probably going to make more plays in total.

Petey: Has there been anyone since you have been in the business that you saw as nothing more than an org guy, yet worked their way into becoming a big league regular?
Klaw: Oh yes, probably quite a few. Think of it this way: I rank 100 players in every draft class, but no draft that I can remember has produced even 40 big league regulars … and that list always includes a few players taken beyond the fifth round. So right there you will have players I know and chose not to rank who ended up several grades better than I said or implied they would be.

Philip: Quantrill or Puk at this point?
Klaw: I talked to two scouts who saw Quantrill in the last month, and based on that, I’d take him. But I have not seen Quantrill, ever, so I’m comparing scouts’ reports on him to my own looks at Puk (too many).

Scherzer’s Blue Eye: What are your thoughts on Bochy leaving Moore in for 133 pitches last night, chasing the no-hitter?
Klaw: I was asleep, so i didn’t see it and don’t know how he looked or if he was showing signs of fatigue. Given his injury history, I’d handle him fairly cautiously.

Steve: Does a team like the braves have any sort of impetus to keep the “rookie eligibility (under 130 abs?)” intact for a guy like swanson so he could potentially be ROY in 2017? Marketing opp?
Klaw: There’s a disincentive to do so because a player who wins ROY gets paid more in arbitration.

Frank: What do you make of “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings”? Kudos to U of C, right?
Klaw: What they said in their letter was generally positive. Unfortunately it appears that what they say and what they do are not quite the same thing; a former student body president at U of C had some things to say about this on Twitter last night that, if true, put the university in a very poor light on subjects like sexual assault.

Preston: What teams do you think have the most to gain from their September call ups?
Klaw: Who’s getting called up? I couldn’t give you five prospects of any significance whom I think will be recalled next week who haven’t already been up. Most of the guys who matter are up already. Teams aren’t waiting till September for that, and we don’t see many prospects recalled in September if they’re not going to play regularly … so teams just call them up whenever the opportunity arises, September or August or July or whenever that may be.

John: He wasn’t on anyone’s midseason list but Luiz Gohara has some pretty interesting numbers. What’s the skinny on him?
Klaw: Nothing skinny about him. Picture a young CC Sabathia arm with a mid-20s CC Sabathia build. It’s legit though – kid’s got big velo and a potential hammer.

Tom: Britton gave up an earned run — gasp! Should we assume the narrative voters are deserting him now?
Klaw: Plus he’d given up a run in June so the streak was basically accounting bullshit anyway.

JP: Is defensive WAR largely a product of chance, in addition to ability? I see certain guys dWAR fluctuate wildly from year to year, but I can’t imagine their innate skill set diminshes or improves all that much over the course of a year.
Klaw: It’s the product of chance in the sense that the set of balls in play a fielder might get to field in a given year is totally beyond his control, and it will vary from year to year.

A: Help me understand why my Phillies are calling up Alfaro now? I thought they were making it a priority only to call guys up when they could stay up.
Klaw: They only have three catchers on the 40-man. One is Rupp. One is Ellis, who isn’t physically with the team yet. The third is Alfaro, so he gets the call.

Brian: Why did you say Arrieta is second in command? He has been walking a ton of batters this year and I think teams have figured out how to get his pitch count high.
Klaw: Because it’s not a list of who’s done what in 2016 as if nothing before that ever happened. (Also, I thought about making a VP joke here but I figured I should just answer the question.)

John: When’s the next spotify list coming?
Klaw: I do them at the beginning of every month.

Jon: Reds have looked good since All Star break, What do you think are the chances they can compete in 2017?
Klaw: Zero. Less than zero, if that’s possible.

Bruce K: Lewis Brinson has been off to a great start since being traded to the Brewers though he is in a huge hitters park. How do you project him and when will he be in Milwaukee?
Klaw: He’s in a huge hitters’ park and I don’t think anything has changed about him at all. He could debut at some point next year, and I think his defense will carry him for a while but he’ll probably have a year or two of excessive strikeout rates before he becomes the sort of complete player I project, with All-Star upside because he has 30-homer power.

Matt: Faedo or Lange currently top college pitcher in 17 draft?
Klaw: Faedo or Wright or Houck but Lange is not in their class at all.

Lyle: Overall? Sure. The Olympics are a big money drain and the higher-ups are very corrupt. But once you’ve spent the money, it would have been an even bigger disaster to the Brazilian economy to not then hold the games.
Klaw: Would it? They spent a ton of money to operate the games, such as security costs. They would have done better had they skipped the bid and simply handed out the $20 billion they spent to their citizens.

A’s Brand Merlot: A’s got a good return for a pitcher whose name I can’t spell, right?
Klaw: Eh, he’s fine. Nice return for a lefty specialist. Not a significant prospect, more a college guy beating up A-ball pitchers.

Tom: In your opinion, who will make more plays at ss, Russell or Baez? Sorry for the follow-up but your answer was a bit unclear.
Klaw: Russell.

Brian: Do you limit your sugar intake given your love of pies, oreos and dining out?
Klaw: At a certain point the questions about what i eat border on “none of your business.”

Tim: Winker’s power this year is zippo (though he is coming off a wrist injury). Still project him as at least an avg regular in LF or having second thoughts?
Klaw: Wrist injuries sap power. No change.

Brad: I have made several pies now. Fillings always turn out. But I have been hit and miss with the crust. Any tips?
Klaw: Without knowing what recipe you’re using and what kind of pie dish I can’t give you any advice.

Bob: What bothered me about Moore throwing 133 pitches last night is the continued fascination everyone seems to have with the no-hitter. Garbage pitchers have had a great day (along with some luck) and thrown a no-hitter. It ignores walks (Moore had 3 last night). And it forces managers to manage in a way that elevates the stats of one player above the team. That was proved last night when Moore was removed immediately after giving up a hit. Bochy didn’t risk the game last night, but if Moore’s arm can’t recover, he may have jeopardized other games. The goal is to win games not give a player a thrill.
Klaw: Bud Smith! Jose Jimenez! I agree, I love no-hitters as a fan but their importance as entertainment is not connected to their importance as a game in the standings.

David: During this chats, how many questions are about baseball, politics including health policy and vaccination, and just pure hate?
Klaw: The pure hate mostly went away when ESPN ended the chats and I started them up over here.

JJ: Who was your favorite player when you were a kid?
Klaw: Willie Randolph.

JR: Regarding interest in baseball for young kids – I think it’s still very strong. the little league team my son played on last season continues to grow and add more teams/kids. This fall he will be joining a club team and there is tons of interest. One area that should be concerning to MLB is making the game available for minorities/lower income families. It’s expensive. I’m fortunate that I can afford it for my son, but I’m sure many cannot.
Klaw: That’s especially the travel ball problem. You shouldn’t have to spend thousands of dollars for your kid to play baseball.

JR: You still watching “The Night of?” The pilot was excellent, but I feel like the quality has been dropping off each week.
Klaw: I haven’t had time since episode 3. I’ll pick it up again soon.

Brian: Would you trade Trout if you ran the Angels? I imagine a Herschel Walker situation where a star player brings so much in return that it lays the foundation for success? If you can get a TOR pitcher, and four good-great bats, isn’t it a deal you have to do if you aren’t a contender and your minor league roster sucks?
Klaw: If the owner would permit it, yes, because I don’t see another way to make this team good before his contract is up.

Jonah: Austin Meadow or Lewis Brinson?
Klaw: Meadows because I think he has a more advanced feel for the strike zone. Brinson has more power and is the better defender.

Jay: Have you changed your opinion on Chad Kuhl? Seems to be adjusting well to the majors
Klaw: He has a 4.22 FIP and lefties are hitting him hard, so, no.

Chris: How should someone assess a guy like Brian Dalbec, who looked like a solid, if risky and unspectacular, prospect before the year, had a terrible college season in not-so-many at bats, and a terrific start to his pro career in even fewer at bats? Split the baby?
Klaw: He’s changed his swing quite a bit already, so I’m a little more optimistic about him now than I was in June.

Brad: Follow up: I have been using shortening, butter, flour, water recipe for the crust. Switched from glass to metal dishes on the last pie.
Klaw: I prefer tempered glass and Stella Parks (@thebravetart on Twitter) recommends them too. Her all-butter recipe is pretty easy to work with and produces a pliable dough, but I’ve used shortening and butter like you do and have had success. I use the food processor to mix in the fat, then add the water (ice cold) by hand with a rubber spatula. Handle gently and don’t let the fats melt. I hope any of that helps.

Len: You don’t want to answer all food questions? Seems like you want to have your cake (pie) and eat it to.
Klaw: I’m happy to answer food questions.

Elton: Have you ever thought about designing a board game?
Klaw: Yes. I need the time. I have 2-3 ideas kicking around in my head. GenCon was an eye-opener in two ways: on the one hand, there are a TON of games in the market already, but on the other hand, the barrier to entry is as low as it’s ever been.

Biscuit: I feel like water temperature is almost always the issue with pie crust…needs to be ice cold.
Klaw: Yep, no question. And on warm days I will put an ice pack on the part of the marble counter where I expect to roll out the dough.

Dave: Have you ever used a Big Green Egg or other ceramic grill? Thoughts?
Klaw: I have not but Jason Grey (RIP) always raved about his BGE.

Graig, MN: In the past you’ve said you didn’t think Seager was too big for SS and wouldn’t stick; how long do you think he stays there?
Klaw: He’s looked great there. He’s defying history every time he takes the field there.

Albert: Keith, I think the unwritten rule (except in rare cases of total dominance) that the MVP must come from a contender is stupid and unfair. Do you agree and if so would you be willing to write a blistering post about it like your piece about the Diamondbacks front office?
Klaw: I’ve done that. Hasn’t worked.

Harry: If Global warming was proven to be 95% increased solar activity and 5% humans, would you be more upset (because we can’t really change it) or relieved that it wasn’t caused by humans?
Klaw: Woof. I think more upset that we’re kind of screwed.

Josh: Do you think Austin Slater could be an everyday outfielder? Is his recent power surge in Sacramento sustainable?
Klaw: Probably not an everyday guy. Five of his 12 HR in AAA came in a series at Reno, which is 4500 feet above sea level. But I like his swing and think he’s a big leaguer.

Pete: Do you like Josh Bell at 1B? All star potential?
Klaw: All-Star potential with the bat. Hoping for ‘tolerable’ with the glove.

Matt K: Jake Bauers or Dom Smith? Numbers @ AA this year are nearly identical. 4 months apart in age. Who do you like more and why?
Klaw: Smith. Way better fielder, far more raw power.

Chris: I live in Nevada, a state where there was a civil war last legislative session to slightly raise taxes to help fund education in a state where education is among the worst in the nation. However, these same legislators seem to have no issue giving one of the world’s richest people $750M in tax money on the Raiders’ stadium. Why are our representatives always so bedazzled by building sports stadiums with public money?
Klaw: Because there’s little reward in improved education but big reward in building a stadium. Elected officials will do what they need to do to get reelected. And as long as people vote like they do today this won’t change.

Jack: I am really confused on your opinion on Kuhl. So your saying no chance of sticking as a starter? Not even a No. 5?
Klaw: Why are you confused? If you can’t get lefties out, teams will stack their lineups with lefties, and you’ll end up a reliever.

Jace Peterson: Would the Braves giving Albies a Sept call up serve any valuable purpose?
Klaw: No, since he’s not on the 40.

Gabe: Mr. Law, what do you make of the season that Greinke has had? How concerned, if at all, should Arizona be?
Klaw: Well, signing Greinke, who really relies on his fielders, after Andy Green left for San Diego, leaving Arizona without any plan for another coach to handle shifting and positioning, wasn’t a terribly good idea and isn’t Greinke’s fault.

Anthony: When selecting questions, do you tend to go more for questions posted during the chat or questions posted before? I know you get a ton and there is no way of answering all of them, but just trying to work the odds so my question has a better chance of getting answered. Although, I could always just ask a better question…
Klaw: I look at all of them. It’s much easier in this format than it was on ESPN.

Harold Bloom: Was a little surprised by the title of your book, if only because the snarky sort of “kill the win” stuff seems very 1) Sabrmetric 1.0 and 2) designed to appeal to fans who already think the way you do. Why do that route?
Klaw: The subtitle was the publisher’s idea, not mine, and I don’t think it’s set in stone either.

Rick: But Swanson wasn’t on the 40 man either until they decided to call him up.
Klaw: They needed a shortstop after Aybar was traded.

Scrapper: What would you set the over/under at for Steven Matz’s innings pitched next season?
Klaw: Probably 125. He has great ability and no history of staying healthy for full seasons.

A’s Brand Merlot: Hope Solo suspended and fired for calling opponents “cowards.” Your thoughts? Would a man be suspended for such?
Klaw: Actually she was fired for multiple violations of team policies, after something like five or six warnings.

Mike: Think the Rangers catch lightning in a bottle with Carlos Gomez? What happened to that guy?
Klaw: His approach melted, and he got thicker. The former can be fixed – stop swinging out of your shorts every time – but the latter isn’t changing before the end of the season.

Lee: What’s the typical recovery period for an ACL/ MCL tear? Worried that Benintendi could be out a lot of next season as well.
Klaw: I think about nine months but I still don’t see anything about him having a ligament tear.

Franklin: Have we reached the point in our society that Ben Franklin predicted: When elected officials utilize their influence to create more power for themselves, the whole system will crumble?
Klaw: I think we reached it a little while ago, at least the first half of it.

Mike: Would you put Reyes in rotation or leave him to the bullpen for the year?
Klaw: A few starts in September wouldn’t be a bad idea if they have the flexibility to do so (e.g., they’ve already clinched a wild card spot). It can help set him up to start for them next year.

Mike: Any hope that Bird can learn to play a ‘tolerable’ first base with major league coaching?
Klaw: He was really bad there before the injury. I thought he was far more likely to end up a DH.

Rick: The Braves could have played any combination of d’Arnaud, Jace, and Beckham at SS, as they had been the many times they sat Aybar. If it doesn’t make sense to bring up Albies just because he’s not on the 40 man, I’m not seeing how the logic is any different with Swanson.
Klaw: Except none of those guys is even a remotely capable shortstop. You’re running young guys out on the mound; you can’t put a 40 defender at short behind them. And if you want Swanson to be your OD shortstop in 2017, you call him up now to get him some reps.

Mike: Another thing regarding Hope Solo. Sports teams are really good at making a stand when they no longer have any use for the player that they are making a stand against.
Klaw: True dat.

CB: Re: The Ben Franklin question. Please. The love of power is hardly new among politicians. Boss Tweed (to take one example) was at the height of his power 150 years ago.
Klaw: Or the girth of his power.

Bob: Are you surprised what Taillon has done? Seems to be a future Cy Young contender
Klaw: Not entirely surprised. I was surprised when he came out like he did in AAA, but after talking to scouts and to Taillon himself it made sense – his delivery’s streamlined, he’s definitely thinking much more like a pitcher (he had a bit of a “thrower” mentality before) and he had more time to recover from TJ than most guys get. I do think there’s some Cy potential there, yes.

JR: How much of writing a book is a passion project vs money grab (not judging anyone looking to maximize revenue – I would do the same). It just seems like most successful sports columnists write a book at some point, so I’m curious what the main motivating factor is (mine would be the $$).
Klaw: For me, writing a baseball book is about learning to write a book, period, and I hope allowing me then to write books on other topics in the future. The money didn’t hurt, though; it paid to remodel our two full bathrooms, which turned out to be good timing since we learned that the wall between them was floating rather than sitting on a joist.

Tom (not the other Tom): And lastly on Hope Solo – based on comments by the players’ rep, does it boggle your mind how many people do not understand what constitutes First Amendment violations?
Klaw: It doesn’t because I know how little civics education I had at any point in school. In a related story, if I hadn’t made it part of my major in college, I would not have taken a single economics class anywhere in my life. And Americans as a whole suck at those topics.

Rick: The Braves also could have called up Daniel Castro, who is certainly a capable SS.
Klaw: Except he has a .239 OBP in the majors for his career, .266 in AAA this year. That doesn’t accomplish much.

Jonathan: Your answers re: Swanson since he was called up have been consistent and mirror what Atlanta FO has said. The “We want Swanson to be our 2017 OD Shortstop so bring him up now” answer completely ignores the fact that bringing Swanson up now makes him a FA after 2022, whereas bringing him up in mid-April next season makes him a FA after 2023. The Braves stink now. They are going to stink in 2017. The club control over Swanson in 2023 is far more valuable than anything else in the equation. The “we want him to be OD shortstop in 2017” rationale is cheap cover for “We need to market Dansby to sell tickets to our shiny new stadium in 2017”.
Klaw: Does that really matter that much? Do we know that he’s going to be so good that his free agency is going to matter? That he won’t sign a long-term deal? That giving him an extra 200 AB between now and next May 1st won’t make him a better player by 2018-19, when they hope to be more competitive? The overemphasis on what is essentially just money at some date six years in the future baffles me. It’s not the only variable in play, and perhaps not even the most important one.

steve: I know you have advocated for relief pitchers having little or no chance for a cy young award. I believe you advance ( and rightfully so) that since a starter pitches so many more innings that relievers can’t compete. I agree with you mostly. But I think a reliever who transcends the normal year as Brittan has done so far ( what will happen in the future will mostly likely fall apart) I contend that a starter pitcher only pitches in 28-32 games with his 190 -220 innings while a reliever can pitch in 70 innings and save 60 games. ( not that Brittan will) But that reliever is affecting twice the games sans the less innings. All things being equal the starter wins but with average starting pitchers and great reliever I say the reliever could win
Klaw: He’s affecting twice as many games but is not affecting them as much as the starter who faces seven times as many batters.

Rob: Have you followed the Epipen disgrace? Can anything be done about such obvious price-gouging?
Klaw: Yep. The feds could enforce existing antitrust laws.

Tom (not the other Tom): The other day on Twitter when you said “oh they read it alright” in regards to the DBacks brass reading your column, were you being mostly facetious or did you actually hear that they did?
Klaw: I know they did. They’ve been bashing me personally ever since.

JT: Is Albies even ready for a major league trial?
Klaw: I don’t think so; he’s still just 19. The silliest question of all is why Swanson (22, with SEC experience) came up and Albies (19) didn’t. I also happen to think that any player with Swanson’s experience should be in the majors in that 14-month range; Bregman and Benintendi are up, and I wouldn’t be totally shocked if Newman came up for Pittsburgh (and then started next year in AAA).

Walter Mondale: Read where you said you’re a Reagan fan. Why? Supply side doesn’t work.
Klaw: Reagan’s legacy is a lot more than “supply side,” and I don’t think saying “supply side doesn’t work” is universally true. Economic policies that work in one economic environment might fail in another. If I learned anything in all those econ classes I took, it’s that treating economics like a hard science is a good way to look stupid (and that’s why I don’t talk much economics outside of baseball).

Frank in Chicago: What has Alec Hansen been doing differently since his college days? I like this version. How many years away is he?
Klaw: Hoping to see him next week if schedule and weather permit. The White Sox sahy they’ve cleaned up the delivery. I was afraid he wasn’t healthy this spring, but so far so good on that front.

Happy: So, Yoan Moncada is confirmed for the AFL, playing third. Who else are you most looking forward to seeing?
Klaw: Haven’t checked the rosters, or decided which week I’m going, but I have been there ten straight years now and don’t think I’ve ever had a bad trip out there. It’s always loaded with hitters if nothing else.

PJ: Thoughts on Jeff Hoffman coming up this soon? Got roughed up and obviously pitching in Coors, but Jon Gray seems to have somewhat figured it out. Bright future for Hoffman?
Klaw: Great arm without deception. Pitches up too often with the fastball. Not the ideal formula for Coors.

Ted: I don’t know if the epipen is patented, but isn’t the point of a patent to share the idea with everyone in exchange for an exclusive right to sell for a period or time? What does that have to do with anti-trust?
Klaw: I believe the patent has expired. The issue is that Mylan spiked the price when their lone competitor had to suspend production.

Niall: What was dodgers offer for Archer? and will Jose de Leon pitch in the bigs this year
Klaw: I don’t know, and yes I believe he will be back.

Archie: Re: EpiPens….the senator who orchestrated the vote on giving one company and exclusive patent to market that type of pen, while also pushing though legislation that schools could only use that type of pen, happens to be the father of the company’s CEO. But, there won’t be an investigation because the senator is from the same team, I mean party, as the sitting president, who has appointed his cronies to the justice department with instructions to look the other way when the Ds do something that might look a little suspicious.
Klaw: Last I checked, the other party controls both houses of Congress and wouldn’t mind a bunch of cameras in a committee room watching them grill the CEO over her company’s price-gouging.

Corey: You’ve said that Moncada probably ends up in the OF. How does Boston handle that given that they don’t need another OF (assuming Benintendi isn’t out the next year with a torn ACL though I bet that’s what he has)
Klaw: I’ve said that I don’t like how he fields groundballs right now, and that it’s not ideal for an infielder. He could change that, or he could end up somewhere else. The latest is that he’s going to move to third, which then blocks Rafael Devers, who can already play third and I think has more offensive upside but is younger than Moncada and lacks the latter’s plus speed.

Jason: Isn’t this also a story of overregulation? The FDA wouldn’t approve competitors, which allows Mylan to raise prices with impunity
Klaw: You’re reaching the end of my knowledge on this topic, so i’m going to post your question and nod like I know what I’m talking about.

Ryan: To follow up on Jonathan’s long comment re: Swanson…if they aren’t going to be good next year, why not just wait until mid April 2018 to call him up then? At some point, you gotta bring people up. Sheesh.
Klaw: That’s a good rejoinder. Atlanta has certainly made mistakes – trading for Olivera was bad at the time and looks a thousand times worse now – but recalling Swanson isn’t one, IMO.

Klaw: That’s all for this week. Thank you all for reading and for your questions. I should be back on target for a Thursday chat next week, barring unexpected travel. Enjoy your weekends; for us it’s the last before school starts and I have to start getting up early on weekdays like a grownup again.

Chat at 1 pm ET. Questions go in the chat frame, not the comments!

Klaw: I can feel the earth begin to move … for Klawchat.

Carl: Keith, what are the Braves doing with Swanson? Numbers in Double A are just OK and they aren’t going to compete next year. What’s the point?
Klaw: What’s the downside? If they think he’s going to be their OD starter next year at short, giving him 100+ at bats this year is a good developmental step. You don’t wait to bring up your top prospects until you’re ready to compete; you bring them up when it’s the right time for their development so that you can be ready to compete in the future.

Chris Sale’s Scissors: Love the work you’ve done this week subbing for Buster. Been a must listen all week. What’s your take on the supposed rift between Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams? As a fan of the team I don’t think they’ll ever be serious contenders as long as Williams is on the premises as he has no long-term vision whatsoever. His ego won’t allow a rebuild. I actually feel for Hahn, who SEEMS to understand what’s needed but can’t act due to the egos above him.
Klaw: I don’t know any details on the rift, but I agree that Hahn is the more progressive thinker while Williams is more reactionary and operates from an older playbook.

Frank209: Do you think KC’s plan with Strahm is to use him out of the pen this year and then move him into the rotation next year?
Klaw: I think he can be a starter and would hope they’d give him that chance at some point.

Billy: You have better access than me, so can you help get this done: if it takes more than a minute, minute and a half, to review a replay, there isn’t enough evidence to overturn and it stands. Please tell Manfred to make this happen. Thanks
Klaw: Nah, if you’re willing to wait 90 seconds to get the right answer you can wait three minutes.

Kyle: Why are you bias against the Diamondbacks? Just kidding, great write up.
Klaw: Thanks. I believe that is only the second time I have said a GM should be fired, after Bowden was accused of skimming Latin American player bonuses or simply allowing it to happen on his watch while with the Nationals.

Dan Lincoln: Altuve or Trout for best player in baseball right now?
Klaw: Trout. Altuve is having a Trout-like year. Trout is having his fifth straight Trout-like year.

Jacob Paukner: What have you thought of Musgrove so far?
Klaw: Only 18 innings but I’m surprised at the strikeout rate. Sinkerballer with control, so the other stuff isn’t surprising. Definitely a big league starter, average floor. Rare example of a guy who missed a lot of time with a shoulder issue and came back as good as ever.

James: How do you view Swanson relative to Trea Turner? Braves fan here, but I’ve watched a lot of Nats games over the past month and Turner looks like a star player with a better than advertised hit tool and a dynamic trait that Swanson doesn’t have (speed), does Swanson’s all-around prowess still give him the advantage in your mind?
Klaw: Turner has much more speed, Swanson’s more physical and will have some more power. As prospects, Swanson has/had the better floor, Turner had the better chance to be an impact player because the speed could be game-changing if he gets on base enough (which so far he has).

Dario Sanchez: What do you think about Encarnacion signing with Houston in the offseason? Seems like a good fit to fill in at DH and hit at Minute Maid.
Klaw: No. They have lots of guys who can fill the DH spot for them without giving up a draft pick or paying EE’s cost. They already have more bats than spots for them.

Jack C.: Hey Keith, have been real busy the past couple of days and have finally caught up with the flooding in Louisiana , especially Baton Rouge. Now please correct me if I am wrong because this may sound awful or morbid, but why do we (our country) keep funneling time, effort, and resources to parts of Louisiana that are already below sea level? Did we not learn anything for Hurricane Katrina? While people continue to believe that global warming is some hoax, homes and businesses will be underwater in those areas in the next couple hundred years. It’s happening now. It is just a matter of time until those sea levels rise a couple of feet and nothing can be saved.
Klaw: This came up after Katrina, and the best argument against it that I saw was that such places as the Ninth Ward of New Orleans were heavily populated by African-Americans, and thus such a policy would displace far more minorities from their homes. I tend to agree with you, though, that the cost of allowing those residents to stay in areas below sea level is going to escalate over time and that we need to find permanent housing solutions for all of those citizens rather than bailing them out, literally and figuratively, every five to ten years, including the attendant disruptions to their lives and their work.

Jack C.: Hey Keith, finally got the opportunity to do my first freelance scouting trip this past week to a Snappers – Timber Rattlers game. I loved it. I loved it so much I went down to Clinton, IA on Monday and Peoria, IL Tuesday to watch some more prospects (K. Tucker, A. Jackson, J. Woodford, T. Blankenhorn). I wanted to ask about something I saw in my first game regarding Trent Clark. He was playing CF when there was a ball hit to him off a broken bat. He took a pretty awful first step backwards and the ball eventually fell in front of him. Are broken bat hits extremely difficult to judge (as I imagine)? Does your average defensive outfielder make that play more routinely or is that something only seen out of gold-glove caliber players?
Klaw: He’s not a very good CF; I think he ends up in a corner anyway. Broken bat hits are tough to gauge, but a first step back is not a good sign for his instincts. He’s also just not fast enough to be an average defender in center.

Burlin: Can you recommend chapter book for a precocious 3.5 year old? I got the original Wizard of Oz on hold, but I’m not quite sure. I’ve got some lined up in the next year or two, but would like to start something sooner. Thanks.
Klaw: The Winnie the Pooh books are my go-to rec for that age. The vocabulary isn’t too high and the stories are very gentle.

Chris: Is Gavin Cecchini a viable option for Mets next season at 2B? I’d like to see him get some reps in bigs this season, totally understand the Vegas inflation factor on offensive numbers but would bringing him up for a look hurt at all?
Klaw: Yes, it would hurt because Terry Collins would have to come up with new excuses not to play him, then would criticize him to the local press, and then try to get Sandy to demote him to AAA even when Vegas’ season is over.

John: Is it a huge blunder that the rock bottom Braves called up its top prospect and waste his service time?
Klaw: No, because you have Dave Stewart level understanding of the rules. Giving Swanson 45 days of service this year isn’t going to affect his free agency or arbitration dates.

Nick: Any guys from the complex leagues or even DSL that have popped up or you’re hearing good things about that might make team top 20s or do next year? I’ve heard Jonathan Guzman referenced a couple time times.
Klaw: He’s one of the best names I’ve heard about. Legit 96-100 as a starter.

Nick: Seems like a repeat of last year for Soler: early struggles, prolonged hamstring injury, excellent hitting upon return. What is it with this guy, and what do you think his future looks like?
Klaw: I still think he’s a star if he stays healthy. He’s showing these last 2-3 weeks what he’s capable of doing, and I think he’s adjusting to that slider low and away that just killed him earlier in the year.

Jonas: What happened with Joba Chamberlin and Phil Hughes? Why didn’t they pan out as expected?
Klaw: Joba was jerked back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen, and eventually blew out. Maybe he was going to blow out anyway but a single consistent role would have helped. I thought he had the three pitches he’d need to start. Hughes was always a bit overrated for me with the flat fastball and lack of an average third pitch, so I think he probably met realistic expectations for him but not the hype around him.

Dana: Who do you like better to be the Yankees’ first baseman of the future, Bird or Austin?
Klaw: Bird is a bad defender at first.

Tony: Worried about Cody Reed after a rough start to his big league career?
Klaw: No. I don’t worry about any player after a “rough start;” I remember getting a few tweets asking if the Astros had made a mistake/could continue to live with him when he went 0 for 15 to start his career. And I think the differences in the baseball between the minors and majors are making it harder for pitchers to make the adjustment.

Mack: Regarding Chad Kuhl, when you say “doesn’t have a pitch to get lefties out”, are you saying that he just doesn’t utilize a 3rd pitch (like a changeup) or are you saying that the changeup he has is completely unusable? I saw him throwing changeups pretty frequently against a LHH-heavy Dodgers lineup and wasn’t sure if that was a new step for him or if it doesn’t matter because the pitch itself is just horrible. Thanks!
Klaw: It’s just not a good enough pitch.

Patrick: Who is a potential riser in the Sox farm over the next year? Josh Pennington? Roniel Raudes? Luis Alexander Basabe?
Klaw: Raudes for sure. They kept the good Basabe – I wonder if Arizona knew which one they were getting – and I’m definitely buying on him. I still like Travis Lakins quite a bit despite the rough debut season.

Nick: Any intel as to who the PTBNL in the Lucroy trade is?
Klaw: My understanding is that the player has not yet been decided on. So he will be named … later.

Joe: I agree with you re: closers and Cy Young/MVP potential. But I saw you interact with someone on twitter yesterday who was using WPA as an argument. Am I correct that your argument against that was that WPA for closers is somewhat like RBI for hitters, in that it is arbitrarily inflated by [managerial decisions]/[spot in lineup and quality of hitters a batter hits behind] and thus not reflective of actual talent and value?
Klaw: Yep, that’s pretty much it. And what WPA thus loses is how much of, say, Zach Britton’s very high WPA is a function of how he’s been used versus how he’s performed.

Kraig: Why did the Padres agree to take back Rae? Seems strange considering he made a start with the Marlins and he would have taken a physical before the trade was completed?
Klaw: He would not have taken a physical before the trade was completed. You can’t do physicals for in-season trades. The Marlins claimed the Padres had not disclosed something that should have been in Rea’s medicals.

Andy: Is Patrick Corbin’s major regression due to something that the org has done or is it just a cautionary tale that TJS is not a definite.
Klaw: I think they rushed him back – and I said so at the time, even suggesting this past offseason that they consider putting him in the bullpen for some of 2016 to try to slow things down – but I’m hopeful that he’ll be better in 2017 after another offseason of rest.

Walligator: Rowdy Tellez is up to .295/.387/.499 after a brutal start to the season. He is walking almost 13% of the time, while only striking out 18% (with 16 homers to boot). He is just 21 years young. While he undoubtedly has a “bad body”, and is likely to be a DH, is there nothing to like in his profile, given his age and inexperience at the level? Admittedly, I’ve only scouted his stat line–is he someone that you have to watch in person to pick out his flaws? I believe you said he has a long swing or one that can’t handle high velocity…is there any way he can make it work? His slash line at his age just seems excellent, and I would think some AA pitchers can hit the mid to high 90’s…does Rowdy have a chance at a big league future?
Klaw: New Hampshire’s a good place for LH power – remember Eric Thames – and no, he’s not facing mid- to high-90s that often. I think good pitching will eat Tellez alive, like it did in the AFL.

Jackson: Keith, loved the debate with Stark and was totally on your side. Who do you think is the frontrunner as of now?
Klaw: In the Cy Young debate? I don’t think there is one. Whoever has a great final six weeks gets it. And that could be Britton, because voters love a good narrative.

Andy: I commend you for you D-Backs article. Usually it seems, national press tries to stay above the fray to not give the appearance of impartiality. Nothing that was said was factually inaccurate, and the results have not been there, in large part likely due to the process. I am sure that you have your share of accusations of bias, (#meow) but analysis from people more in the know than I am, is why I pay for ESPN insider.
Klaw: Thank you. As I said to an exec who texted me about the story today, these are their mistakes. I just organized them.

Chase: Missed your amateur coverage this summer Keith, hope you’re ok. Can you give us a couple of your top names? This class better than last?
Klaw: Thank you. I have been going to fewer games this year for two major reasons – working on my book (which has an amazon page now!) and due to a family matter that required me to be home more. Chris Crawford did Team USA, Area Codes, and PG All-American for me, and I saw the Under Armour game. Between all of that and notes I’ve gotten from scouts who went to the Cape, I think it’s a better first round crop, lots of college arms, great HS crop in SoCal, weak in the northeast and northwest.

Nelson: The fact that an Olympian in High School cant accept an endorsement or even a concert ticket or else 2 years later she wont be eligible to compete in the NCAA has to be one of the dumbest things I learnt this olympics
Klaw: And another reason why the NCAA is a cartel that should be broken up by the government.

Mark: Earlier this month Preller said SD’s farm system had bottom 5 talent when he arrived and now has top five talent. Do you agree with the first part of that comment?
Klaw: They had Ross and Turner there when he arrived, among others he traded, so no, I don’t.

Bruce: Most people hit right-handed. Why is being a lefty pitcher so coveted?
Klaw: Because left-handed hitters are more likely to have extreme platoon splits.

Chris: Long time reader, first time questioner. Seems like it’s been a positive year on farm for Padres in many areas but not at SS. Granted I’m mostly “boxscore scouting” but looks like a lost year for Guerra….Giron and Rondon just mediocre. Wondering what you think about Luis Urias. Is he a possible avg MLB regular in the future and, if so, can he play short?
Klaw: Urias is a solid prospect, probably not a star, outstanding feel to hit and general baseball instincts. Giron was overrated off the hot start last year. Guerra did indeed have a lost year and I’ve heard some of that is makeup-related.

Henry: Keith, outstanding post today on the Arizona front office. Do you ever get concerned about the backlash you might get from teams when you draft such things? Nevertheless, I’m really glad you’re speaking out vs organizational ineptitude as it hurts the game and your recent post on domestic violence was very much needed.
Klaw: I’m cognizant of how what I write might be received in front offices, but my job is my job – I can’t not do it out of fear that people will be mad at me. I have spiked some ideas or held back some things over the years to maintain relationships or to stick to my own standard of journalistic ethics (and I’ve made some serious mistakes on that front too), but I think I’ve found a balance I can work with.

Speedtrap: There is so much unwarranted emphasis on pitch velocities during a major league broadcast that with some broadcasts it’s almost the dominate topic. Scouts bring their own guns apparently. In your experience what it the difference between the stadiums guns and the readings a scout is getting?
Klaw: Depends on the stadium. Also I think your point about velocities is broader than just broadcasters getting hung up on it. If you’re 14, and you hear all this raving over this guy throwing 101 and that guy throwing 98, what are you trying to develop most as a pitcher? Hint – it ain’t command.

Kelly: You’ve been skeptical about Luis Severino’s ability to start long-term, but you also tend to advocate letting a player start until it’s clear they no longer can. Given the lack of upper-level Yankees pitching prospects, would you let Severino try starting again next year? Or should they just leave him in the bullpen as a potential multi-inning relief ace?
Klaw: My guess is they will try starting him again, but I would probably shift him to the bullpen for a full season, and if he does well there and wants to start, consider transitioning him back to the rotation in 2018. This way he gets a season of success and adjusting to major-league hitters under his belt.

Jonas: What are your go to quick meals when you have a busy week and limited cooking time?
Klaw: It’s summer, so our vegetable each night is usually a salad – no cooking, just prep, make dressing once or twice a week and use it several nights. Our tomato plants are going bonkers, too, so we’ve been doing tomato salads with basil a few times each week. Then the main dish is often a quick-cooking protein, something I can grill or that I can cook quickly in a skillet, often with a basic rice dish on the side because it cooks in 15 minutes without much work. My sister-in-law is Indian and showed me how she makes basmati rice – soak five minutes, toast spices in butter, toast the drained rice for a minute, add broth/stock (2:1 ratio), cook 15 minutes.

Tom: What are your thoughts, if any, on Derrick Hall? Do you think he should go to? It seems, after two failed two failed general managers, he bears a lot of the responsibility for where the team is now, especially since he could have kept Jerry DiPoto and avoided all of this.
Klaw: I think Ken Kendrick has made those decisions, not Hall.

Tim: Yadier Alvarez going to be a top 100 guy for you? I know Longenhagen says he has him valued at 60 FV. Thoughts on his performance in his debut year?
Klaw: I have not seen him, but Eric’s seen him a few times and we’ve discussed him quite a bit, in addition to what I’ve heard from others, all of which makes him a top 100 guy. Huge arm, good athlete, and he’s throwing strikes.

Barry: Do you like UA and PG separating their games so that the best players can participate in both showcases, or would you rather have them closer together so that more kids get the exposure?
Klaw: I like this better. No more competition for the players. They’ll still get some differences on the rosters due to geography, and in recent years one or both games have suffered when they’ve been on the same weekend, like the 2015 UA game when almost no one could throw strikes.

Joe: Manny Machado still in the MVP discussion?
Klaw: I don’t think so; he’s about 60-65 points of OBP behind Trout/Altuve, with similar power production, so to make him a viable candidate you’d have to argue his defense is Andrelton Simmons-level. I don’t think it is. Top 5 candidate but not top 3. I think the AL MVP race is Trout/Altuve/Donaldson, then Betts/Machado. But I think it will end up Altuve/Betts, Donaldson/Trout/Machado.

Wes: What exactly is a “hitch” in reference to a player’s swing?
Klaw: A big move (with the hands) down, back, or down and back from the load position – that is, not the way the bat needs to go to get to the ball.

Kevin: What are your thoughts on Newcomb’s improvement?
Klaw: Improvement?

Lev: As a GM, how do you properly value an injury prone superstar like Stanton? He’s clearly capable of hitting 50, but will he ever have a season with enough at bats to reach those levels?
Klaw: I think the problem for Stanton is that he can’t stay healthy enough to ‘earn’ the salary he’s guaranteed. The Marlins may end up in a spot where they’re trying to move that contract and can’t. You can hope you get that full season of production, but if you’re running a projection how could you assume it?

Bill: Am I wrong in my thinking that a prospects hit tool is the most important tool by a wide margin? Are prospects that don’t have a lot of exciting tools but can just flat out hit underrated by the industry?
Klaw: It’s the hardest one to evaluate, and it’s incredibly important – if you hit, we forgive lots of other sins, and if you can’t hit, you’d better have something like a 70 glove.

Alex: Do you believe Alex Reyes will be able to develop into a frontline starter?
Klaw: Can, yes. Will, not sure. Stuff is there. Apparently a bright kid and good worker. Delivery needs some tweaking, which I think would help him stay healthy and add power to the breaking ball.

Jordan: Could you see the Yankees starting the 2017 season with 4 starting rookies? (Greg Bird, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Tyler Austin)
Klaw: Bird’s not a rookie and Sanchez won’t be by then either. I could see all four starting the season with the big club, though.

Brad: Keith, we hear a lot about Greene, Faedo, Wright and others as potential 1-1 candidates. Where are the potential 1-1 bats?
Klaw: Jeren Kendall is the best of the group. Jordan Adell is pretty exciting but I think might be too raw for 1-1 right now.

Joe: Does Jordan Montgomery have enough fastball to be a starter?
Klaw: I don’t think so.

Michael: I like that you do it, but can it ever be awkward running into people you criticize? What happened if you saw Dave Stewart or Terry Collins at the Winter Meetings and they said something to you, even something innocent?
Klaw: I would be friendly and open. If such a person wanted to have a real discussion about what I wrote, I think I have an obligation to do it (and I would). If someone wanted to come yell or swear at me, I don’t think I have an obligation to take that.

Jeb: No love for Manowar : )
Klaw: Never could get into them. Power metal kind of left me cold.

Robby: Looks like everyone agrees Luke Weaver’s drop and dive delivery won’t allow him to have an average breaking ball. Can you get by as a #3 or #4 with a fastball, changeup, and cutter?
Klaw: Think he’s a 5th starter or long reliever. Definitely a major leaguer with value, so that’s not some code for writing him off. Just can’t see him having that breaking ball he needs.

JP: Aaron Judge or David Dahl?
Klaw: Dahl ends up the more valuable player thanks to position/defense. Judge does more with the bat, if you’re asking a fantasy question.

MeisterNJ: With so many companies claiming they use ‘all natural this’, ‘wild caught that’, ‘small batch’, somebody has to be lying right? Any way to verify these things short of going undercover?
Klaw: Nope, it’s basically on regulators, who don’t have the time/budget to investigate them all, or independent organizations like journalists or consumer-rights groups.

Davey: You mocked energy drinks on Twitter a little while back. What’s the criticism? Overreliance on placebo effect? Caffeine not as effective as people say? Does your criticism hold even for sugar-free ones?
Klaw: They don’t do what they claim to do, are loaded with ‘nutrients’ that don’t help, and taste like shit.

Marty: Matt Manning is striking a ton of guys out, but also getting hit pretty hard, especially when the lineup turns over against him. Do you think his secondary stuff develops enough for him to start in the big leagues, or do you see him more as an eventual reliever?
Klaw: See him as a future starter – grade 70 or 80 athlete, limited pitching experience, golden arm. Not surprised at all that he’s struggling to turn a lineup over since he was fastball-spike CB in high school.

Alex: What do you see in a player that makes you think that player will be able to make adjustments in the future? You seem optimistic on Soler. Randall Grichuk could also be a great player if he could learn to make adjustments and hit stuff soft away. My question is what do you see in a swing that sways you one way or the other?
Klaw: Athleticism. Looseness/flexibility. Some selectivity – if you show me now you can sort of recognize a breaking ball, or a pitch that’s inside, then I’m more inclined to think you can improve that recognition (Joey Gallo, for example) than to take a guy with no clue and believe he can make that adjustment. Grichuk has never recognized breaking stuff, going back to HS, which is why I’ve never really projected him to figure that out.

JC: It could even be ignorant to ask, but is Dave Stewart’s….sub-par tenure as GM going to be detrimental to future minority front office candidates? Or will teams know well enough that pushing for more diversity shouldn’t backpedal at all due to one man’s failure?
Klaw: I certainly hope not. I think it’s reflective of a Chief Baseball Officer hiring his buddies, and of the flaw in hiring someone who hasn’t been involved in the game for 13 years.

Fritz: Any hope for DJ Stewart or is he another bad Baltimore first round pick like Hobgood?
Klaw: I was not a fan of his in college but in no way did I expect him to fail to hit for any power like he has this year. I didn’t like the body or athleticism and thought he was a slow-bat DH type but would run into 20 bombs.

Steven.: AJ Minter 2017 NL Roy?
Klaw: As a middle reliever? No.

Darren: Thoughts on the jays firing their scouting director? He had done a good job getting the jays the prospects they needed to make all those trades last year.
Klaw: If this was just “we want our own guy,” fine, that’s how the business works. Parker had had a few good drafts until this past one, where I assume the new regime changed his mandate. I also thought firing Blake Davis, one of their cross-checkers, was totally bizarre – that should be the decision of the new scouting director. I don’t see why the GM or President would have any reason to fire someone below the scouting director.

Cara: If a stud HS hitter is facing relatively weak competition, how do you get a true sense of their abilities?
Klaw: You’re looking at his swing, his body, his athleticism, his BP, and hope that you’ve seen him the previous summer with a wood bat against better competition.

James: I can preorder your book and get it on April 25, 2017? I also find it interesting that the book will be 304 pages. Just giving you crap, love you man. And yes, I will be preordering the book.
Klaw: I also find it interesting that the book will be 304 pages. But yes, it’s due out in April.

Ian: Wait, is that Amazon link you provided legit? That title is spectacular and I’m pre-ordering on the spot if that’s the actual Amazon page….
Klaw: Yes, it’s legit, and I believe that’s the final title.

Jason: Trent Clark or Kyle Tucker, if you could only have one who would it be?
Klaw: Clark. Better pure hitter.

Kelly: Do you see Tyler Austin as a potential regular, or is he more likely a very good bench player? Either way, I’m very happy that he’s healthy enough to get a chance after a few rough years.
Klaw: I’m willing to buy Austin as a starter.

JP: Do you think Kopech could be an effective reliever for the Red Sox in September?
Klaw: I brought this up somewhere yesterday – podcast? – but I think it’s a stretch. He’s killing guys with one pitch, and yes it’s an 80 fastball, but big league hitters will get to that.

Chris: What is your favorite way to cook/grill Salmon?
Klaw: Pan-seared, cooked right to medium, with a beurre blanc.

Tim: Thank you for being so high so early on Mookie Betts. I picked him up in a fantasy keeper league just prior to his promotion in 2014. In a related story, my team is killing in this season.
Klaw: You’re welcome but I was way too light on him, in hindsight.

Nic AZ: With a little pro data on Cal Quantril, what kind of ceiling/floor do you see for him?
Klaw: All I’ve heard on him from scouts so far is positive. He could turn out to be 1-1 good now that he’s healthy.

DP: Keith, you were okay with the Cubs signing Heyward to the big contract this past offseason. He is the type of player I worry advance metrics tend to overvalue. Thoughts??
Klaw: I was, but I never thought he’d evaporate at the plate like this. I thought he was a great defender who could hit but put the ball on the ground too often.

Alex: So, is Moancada the third baseman of the future for the Red Sox? That seems to be the only position currently in flux for them. Can he handle the gig defensively? I assume he’d need a full season as a minor league third baseman to get ready.
Klaw: I think he might end up in the OF. Athletic enough to play anywhere (CF?) but actions at 2b aren’t really right for the infield. Not ruling any position other than SS out, though. Also he could probably moonlight as a tailback for the Patriots.

Frank: The Giants said publicly that one of the reasons they felt they could trade Matt Duffy was because Christian Arroyo is the going to ready shortly to take over 3rd base. How would you compare Arroyo to Duffy and how soon do you think he will be ready? Thanks.
Klaw: Although I liked the trade for Moore I don’t think Arroyo is that close, not with the bat at least, and I don’t think he has the arm for third base.

Nan: I often think about your controversial 2009 NL CY Young vote and appreciate you stuck to your guns using real analysis. In a similar vein, using advanced stats like FIP, how do your views on Cole Hamels’s season compare to the mainstream media
Klaw: His ERA is great, his FIP is over a full run higher … but the main reason is because he’s been so much more effective with men in scoring position. He’s been slightly better from the stretch than the windup, a small enough difference to dismiss it as noise. But is pitching better from the stretch, or with men on base, a specific skill? For a hitter, it’s absolutely not. But Kluber has been worse with RISP this year than with the bases empty, while Hamels has limited hitters to .206/.281/.310 with RISP. I do not know the answer to this – how much we should factor that in, when FIP doesn’t consider it at all.

Bryan (Montclair, NJ): Any recommendations for a daily coffee maker? My Cuisinart grind and brew machine just kicked this week.
Klaw: I use a V60 ceramic pour-over … uh, thing by Hario. Takes about 5 minutes total to make a cup, including grinding etc. Much prefer that to machine drip.

Jason: Is Scivicque just a guy, a backup catcher, or a starting catcher (even if a lower-tier one)?
Klaw: Backup catcher. For Aybar, you couldn’t expect anything better.

Jordan: Can you please make a scouting trip to Vanderbilt to see Jeren Kendall and Kyle Wright next season? (But mostly so me and a couple of buds an meet you)
Klaw: Oh, I’ll be there. You think I ever turn down a chance to go to Nashville? I might retire there.

Kenny: What are your thoughts on Seattle not playing games during instructional league and instead using the time to work on specific player skills, or to institute their organizational philosophies?
Klaw: I applaud the novel line of thinking. Instructs can be useful, but they’re hardly the only way to do things. I remember seeing Luiz Gohara in an instructs game in 2012, for one inning, on a 100 degree day, and thinking if I stayed any longer I might die. I doubt the players were any happier to be there than I was. (Gohara’s a GUY, by the way.)

Evan: In your opinion, what is the most likely explanation to the Fermi Paradox?
Klaw: The weight of the fuel.

Drake: Oldest a prospect has ever been drafted in the 1st round?
Klaw: Jeremy Guthrie was 23, I think. James Ramsey of FSU was at least 22.

Aaron Houston: KLAW, can you provide link to Diamondback story?
Klaw: Yes, here it is.

Jay: Are Reese McGuire and Harold Ramirez future starters for Toronto, or solid backups?
Klaw: I think McGuire’s a backup and Ramirez might sneak into average regular LF.

Casey: Think the Blue Jays will hire someone from the Indians as their new Scouting Director?
Klaw: I had two guesses: Chuck Ricci, Rays cross-checker, who used to work for Cleveland in the same role; and Marc Tramuta, Mets cross-checker, former Jays area scout and regional cross-checker.

Chris A: When do you think you’ll get to see Kevin Maitan in person?
Klaw: Probably in the spring, assuming we do TV in Florida that pulls me down there in late March. He’ll be a priority guy.

Brian: Honest question: do you think your book will be worthwhile for someone (say, myself) who already thinks pitcher wins are for losers, batting average is for suckers, and saves don’t mean shit?
Klaw: Fair question. I certainly hope so, because I’m trying to make the book entertaining enough that you’ll enjoy it even if you agree with what I’m saying, and maybe I’ll have some new arguments or anecdotes that will make it worthwhile. That’s been an issue for me as I write it – balancing the need to make this accessible to everybody and the desire to write a book that my regular readers would still enjoy.

Braden: What’s your favorite song to play on your guitar?
Klaw: It changes. Seasons in the Abyss is one of my favorites.

Gerry: Dom Smith is hitting a robust .351/.418/.580 over his last 196 pa’s with just a 12.8% k rate – safe to say he’s finally becoming the prospect you always thought he would be?
Klaw: Yes, I think this is closer to what he is, although I’d like to see him do that over a full season.

Tim: Should Rookie of the Year factor in future potential? Or should it just go to “rookie who had the best season.” Looking back it’s pretty comical that Chris Coghlan won ROY over Andrew McCutchen, for instance.
Klaw: I’ve argued for the former, which means things like considering age – a 21-year-old and a 25-year-old having the same season are not equivalent.

Aaron: In one of your last boardgame ranking posts on the dish, you mentioned you had Village but needed to play it more. Have you played it more? Write-up in the works, or any general feelings? Thanks
Klaw: Nope, haven’t played it at all. I own at least ten games I’ve never played, because I get new games to review all the time. I think Paste has three reviews from me that haven’t run yet and I’ll file another, for Saloon Tycoon, in the next day or two.

Klaw: That’s all for this week’s chat – thank you all, as always, for all of the questions. I’ll be back at some point next week, maybe Friday, to chat again.

In case you missed them, all of my GenCon wrap-up pieces for Paste are now up, including the top ten new games I saw, the summary of every other interesting title, and an essay on the experience of attending for the first time.

Klaw: It’s a helping hand that makes you feel wonderfully bland. It’s Klawchat.

Mike: Keith, do you feel like the Yankees would be best served by calling up BOTH Judge and Austin and giving them significant ABs?
Klaw: I do, in Austin’s case to see what they’ve got since he’s repeating AAA, in Judge’s case because I think he’s going to need some time in the majors to work on keeping the swing and miss to a manageable level.

Mike: Tim Tebow? Really? Any chance in hell that any MLB general manager gives him the time of day?
Klaw: This was an absolute non-story and I want no part of it.

Bindu: Do you think Brandon Woodruff can be a quality MLB starter?
Klaw: Sure. Less sure of precisely what quality, but I do think he’s a future MLB starter.

Jim: Alec Hansen has been great so far. Have you heard anything about what the White Sox have done that Oklahoma could never figure out? I know it’s a small sample but his walks are way down.
Klaw: He’s also facing some pretty weak competition up there. I’m thrilled to see what he’s doing – I thought he was a potential 1-1 pick coming out of the fall – but tempering my enthusiasm until we see him in a full-season league.

Justin: If you had an AL Cy Young vote, would JA Happ be your choice at the moment?
Klaw: He wouldn’t be on my ballot at all.

Scott: Can we go back to Monday for a second? You tweeted that Al Trautwig was wrong for stating that Simone Biles’s adoptive parents were not really her parents. It’s a fact that Biles was adopted by her grandparents; she considers them her parents and calls them Mom and Dad. Yet objectively, Trautwig was correct. He stated a biological truth. (You typically stand on the side of science.) Why do you believe Trautwig did something wrong?
Klaw: Because he absolutely did something wrong. This is like confusing sex and gender. And it was not his place to say that the people Biles and the law regard as her parents are not her parents. I am related by marriage to someone who was adopted at birth. He does not know and has never known any parents but the ones who raised him. Are you going to tell him that those are not his parents? Furthermore, I thought Trautwig’s comments were indirectly racist, given the higher percentage of African-American kids raised in non-traditional households. He was way out of his lane, and doubling down on Twitter like he did was unacceptable.

John: What’s the best option for an undrafted player still trying to make it in baseball?
Klaw: Indy ball or, if possible, an open tryout with an actual MLB scout (not a part-timer or ‘associate’ who may not have any power to sign a player).

andy: Thoughts on Yankees’ handling of A-Rod farewell tour and Girardi’s comments on “winning”?
Klaw: Embarrassing for Girardi in particular, since he had no problem playing the corpse of Jeter in all of the Cap’n’s final season and batting him second.

Marshall: what are your thoughts on Dustin Peterson? Is he an everyday ML outfielder or a good 4th?
Klaw: Chance for an everyday corner OF because he can hit. Limited upside unless there’s power in there I don’t foresee.

Theo: Is Hendricks really a #1? What did you miss on him? He’s the only Cubs prospect you said wouldn’t be great who has been awesome. 19/20 ain’t bad.
Klaw: Hendricks isn’t close to a 1 – he’s been extraordinarily lucky/helped by his defense this year. But he also became a much better groundball guy with the Cubs too, which is where I was too light on him.

Fred: Seems like the 2017 draft class is loaded with arms. What college or HS bats do you see that could be in the 1-1 conversation?
Klaw: I think the best prospects in the class are Vandy OF Jeren Kendall and SoCal two-way HS guy Hunter Greene, better on the mound but also a prospect as a SS.

Jack Conness: Hey Keith, I am going to do my first freelance scouting trip next Monday to a Cedar Rapids Kernels vs. Peoria Chiefs game. Any tips for a first timer? Where to sit? What to analyze? How difficult is it to scout defense? I plan on bringing out the iPad and recording the guys I plan on scouting too. I’ve done all the reading and research available on the world wide web, but would love a helpful hit or two from someone with your pedigree. Thank you very much.
Klaw: You should just watch the game. So much of evaluating players via observation is about comparing them to players you’ve seen before over years of doing it. So this time, just focus on what you see, rather than trying to convert those into fast opinions on players. Also, I hate seeing iPads used as cameras, FWIW. There’s no way you’re filming anything without blocking someone’s view.

Chris: Was the Herrera/Wotell return for Bruce a little light?
Klaw: No, I thought it was great for the Reds.

Paul: I know you’ve been a big fan of Coppy and the Atlanta rebuild, but is there any justification for the Kemp trade? Locking him into LF for three years seems like the last thing a young team needs.
Klaw: If he’s terrible, they can just release him. I don’t think there’s much there, although there’s at least some reason to hope he’ll play a little better in a new environment, and there’s so little power on the market I guess I could talk myself into seeing him as having a little value … eh, whatever, he’s still pretty awful, but better him than Olivera.

ken: Klaw, please help me understand what the Rays are doing. I can’t seem to understand their moves the past couple of years. It looks like one bad move after another. They say they are building young talent, are making bad trades / not developing correctly? Thx
Klaw: “Bad” move is a little strong here, but I do think they’ve allowed their analytical side to weigh in too heavily on certain moves, like taking Souza rather than holding on to Turner/Ross. I liked the return for Moore on its face, but I don’t know what his actual market value was – could they have gotten more for him, rather than taking a package of players they had previously liked, even though that return is sufficient for what they gave up?

Reeve: Heard any updates on the Twins GM search?
Klaw: That’s not going to go anywhere till September. Anything you hear before then – oh, this guy’s high on their list – is BS.

Max Kellerman: I’m a huge fantasy nerd and am looking to make a couple pickups… I seem to be higher on these five guys than most publications: SP Reid-Foley (TOR), 3B Andujar (NYY), SP Weaver (STL), SP Paddock (SD), 1B Tellez (TOR)… Are you a believer in these guys? Your light being shed would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Klaw: I like Paddack but he’s out with TJ. Reid-Foley is a starter, maybe like a 4th starter in the end. Andujar’s interesting but I don’t think he ends up starting for the Yanks. Weaver still doesn’t have an average breaking ball and Tellez is a DH who can’t hit good velocity.

Darren: Hi Keith, I’m curious if you grill vegetables, do you prefer to put them in aluminum foil to grill and steam or just put them directly on the grill? What is your favorite seasoning for veggies besides salt and pepper? basil? rosemary? a curry mix?
Klaw: Right on the grill, just rub with oil and season with salt and pepper. If the vegetables are good quality they don’t need much seasoning afterwards.

Jeff G.: As the father of 13 year old pitcher, I am very interested to see what your opinion is on the following question. What is the number one red flag for you when scouting high school pitchers? I would assume some something to do with mechanics, but I could be wrong.
Klaw: Bad mechanics, yes, especially for guys who are throwing hard and appear to be expending max effort on their fastballs. That seems to be the worst combination of variables for predicting future injury. If your hat is falling off on every pitch, then you have a problem.

Ya’akov: Curious if you think SF’s Shaw has enough hit tool to be an everyday 1b? Thank you for all the content you create, your work on espn.com is what I miss most since cancelling my insider subscription.
Klaw: I don’t. I think he’s power over hit and a mediocre enough defender that he may max out as a 4A guy. Even with that special Giants woo.

Greg P: KLaw – Texas’ Eric Jenkins didn’t make your pre-season Top 10 for the Rangers, but he’s pretty young. Is there anything here that makes you think he’s anything more than a pinch-runner?
Klaw: That’s a little harsh but I don’t think there’s going to be enough hit tool there for him to be a regular.

Kevin w: Ever been to Jamaica?
Klaw: Never been to Jamaica or played the boardgame but I have enjoyed plenty of Appleton rum.

Casey: I know you weren’t high on Harrison Bader when the Cardinals drafted him but he is now up to AAA with success at each level. Do you see him as an average regular or more of at 4th outfielder?
Klaw: Might be an average regular if he’s really got a plus hit tool; he’s had a great pro career so far but he doesn’t have power (or project to have it) or walk that much. I’m still inclined to think he’s an extra guy, but that doesn’t fairly credit him with how well he’s hit so far even with aggressive (and prescient) assignments.

Kevin w: Best player not in the hall but should be (the steroids guys do not count)?
Klaw: Tim Raines’ absence is a joke. Top 100 player of all time.

Andy: Madison Bumgarner is widely recognized as one of the best hitting pitchers. He’s 180/271/328 this season, which is better than his career norms. Prince Fielder, having neck pain and widely being seen as one of the worst hitters in the majors this season, hit 212/294/334. Tell me again why anyone likes seeing pitchers “hit”?
Klaw: The worst part of the Bumgarner mythology is that the Giants are now using him as a pinch hitter when he’s worse than pretty much anyone they could pull off their bench or out of their AAA lineup. Having Bumgarner, a good hitter FOR A PITCHER, is not a substitute for carrying another capable bat on your bench.

Joe: How do you project Rhys Hoskins versus Dylan Cozens moving forward? Hoskins’ splits are exponentially better, so do you see him having a major league career?
Klaw: I also think Hoskins has a better swing, and I’ve said before I was not a fan of Cozens’ character when he was in the draft, so I would rank Hoskins higher … unless you were asking me just about power. I think Cozens has far more raw power than Hoskins does.

Terrence: How much power does Ronald Guzmán have in him? Seems like a 20 HR guy to me, but I’m only scouting the stat line.
Klaw: Potential would be more like 25-30 IMO.

Adam: How do you evaluate a player’s initial return from Tommy John Surgery? Cal Quantrill and Brady Aiken had theirs at essentially the same time but Quantrill’s stuff seems to be coming back much quicker.
Klaw: I don’t. Anything that first year back is a bonus. And a lot of guys don’t get all their velocity or command back right away, so panicking out of the gate would sell them short.

Zach: Between Steven Brault, Chad Kuhl, and Trevor Williams, which one of them has the best chance of making it as a starter and why?
Klaw: I’ll answer with this: if he doesn’t find a pitch to get LHB out I don’t see how Kuhl can be a starter.

Greg: Hi Keith, I have twins turning 5 today, and I was wondering if you have some suggestions for children’s books that start to read like adult books. What age should we start to give them advanced reading and what are some of the better choices to give a child this young that can already read well enough to be challenged. Thanks.
Klaw: Happy birthday to your kids! At that age, my daughter was reading chapter books aimed at early readers, a lot of which were … well, garbage. The two Winnie-the-Pooh books might be appropriate. She’d also reread stuff I’d read with her; Berkeley Breathed’s Mars Needs Moms was a big favorite.

Eric D.: Keith, your thoughts on Benintendi’s promotion and results thus far? Can he develop 25 hr power?
Klaw: I think he has 25 HR power, yes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did that next year, given 150 starts.

Tim: Was TJ Friedl on your radar at all this year? Does he have MLB potential or is he a bit too small to project in the major leagues?
Klaw: No, he wasn’t even a top 5 rounds candidate in the spring; he had no prior track record and Nevada-Reno’s ballpark is about 4000 feet above sea level. He had his coming-out party with Team USA, using the wood bat, showing some speed, and because he was a free agent he ended up getting something like third-round money, which is probably about right. I don’t think he’s too small; I think he’s about the right risk/reward profile for a third rounder, which is to say if I could redo my draft top 100 now he might just sneak on to the back end of it.

Karl: Willy Adames is having a very solid season at AA as a 20 year old. Do you think he’s a top 20 prospect?
Klaw: I do not.

Aaron: What do you make of the Tommy La Stella ordeal. As a Cubs fan, it does seem to me like he has reason to be mad. However, he had options and Chris Coughlan didnt. At the end of the day its a business and this seems like a very bad business decision for La Stella and puts the Cubs in an awkward spot welcoming him back.
Klaw: I really have no idea. It’s not really a baseball topic.

All of NY: What is Terry Collins doing and why
Klaw: The wrong thing, because reasons.

Dave: Will Matt Thaiss get a chance to play catcher or is he strictly a 1b-only guy?
Klaw: Not a catcher.

Nick: Please tell me Collins hasn’t already ruined Conforto…
Klaw: Ruined is awfully strong. Ruined his season, perhaps, but not his career.

Bobby: Noticed that you’ve previously referred to a player as “just a guy” and “GUY.” What’s the difference? This question is really difficult to Google. Thanks for all of your work!
Klaw: If you say them out loud it makes a little more sense. He’s just a guy (sad trombone) vs he’s a *GUY* (bold italics underline).

zak: I know you always been a huge Giolito fan but would you still say he is the best pitcher in the minors despite his struggles as of late?
Klaw: I would still say he is the best pitching prospect in the minors. You’re being far too recentist, in addition to overweighting the stat line.

Jameson Taillon: Can I be better than Gerrit Cole? My combined minor league and MLB line this year is 104 Ks vs 12 BBs….
Klaw: Better than Peak Cole is awfully good. But I think you can be a top 15-20 pitcher in the NL.

Michael Conforto: What did I do to deserve this?!?
Klaw: I don’t know how you’re gonna get through.

Buck: Should Britton get Cy Young votes?
Klaw: No. It’s stupid season, where people forget that a closer who might not see 70 innings can’t be as good or valuable as even the tenth-best starter in the league who throws 160-plus.

Pramit: SSS and recency bias aside, have you seen anything from Devon Travis that would indicate he’ll be a better player than what you initially projected?
Klaw: Swing is improved and he’s got really good hand-eye coordination.

Mark: Ridiculous sample size aside. The ball seems to bounce off gary sanchezs bat, was his defense behind the plate the only reason he wasn’t a more highly touted prospect?
Klaw: Defense (receiving specifically) and concerns about his work ethic. The latter seems to be over now.

Ryan: In a previous chat you mentioned that if Travis Demeritte were to drastically reduce his K rate, he could be an impact player in the majors. How likely is this, and do any other players come to mind that accomplished that?
Klaw: It’s not THAT likely but he’s athletic with great bat speed and doesn’t have a ton of reps in the minors to date, so it’s a better chance there than with, say, a slow 1b-only type who swings and misses too much.

Tim: Keith – I enjoyed your review of Anomalisa, I only wish I had enjoyed the movie half as much. Without firsthand knowledge of depression, it was hard not to see that character as solipsistic and kind of a bully given the power dynamic between he and everyone else in the film, which he seemingly exploits at every turn. I guess my questions are two: 1) does the film have an obligation to be explicit about his depression (giving your interpretation the benefit of the doubt); and 2) does the character have an obligation to be a decent human despite his malady?
Klaw: I think that’s part of the point. People with depression, anxiety, or other mental illnesses can be very difficult to be around, to work with, to be married to, etc., because of the way those conditions alter your behavior – which is yet another reason to seek treatment, or to get your loved one to seek treatment, whether that’s individual or family therapy, medication, or more.

Jim: Hi Keith, anything new on Kapreilian? Surgery or no surgery?
Klaw: Good luck getting an answer on an injured Yankees prospect. Russian hackers couldn’t even get you that info.

Mark: Apologies in advance if you answered this and I did not see it but I wanted to get your thoughts on the Jays 6-man rotation re: Aaron Sanchez. Do you agree with this approach? Why or why not?
Klaw: I like that better than simply shutting him down or sending him to a bullpen role that probably doesn’t do anything to reduce the odds of him getting hurt. The idea is to never have him throw a pitch while fatigued, knowing that at this point in the year, fatigue is probably inevitable at some point. A 6-man rotation reduces those odds while still serving the greater goal of winning the division.

Jason: Question about who has to pass through waivers to be traded now (since you didn’t chat last week). Let’s say the Braves claimed Chris Sale and agreed to trade the Shelby Miller package (please ignore the merits; I doubt that would be enough) – Inciarte (in the majors), Blair (in the minors but on the 40-man roster), and Swanson (not on the 40-man roster). I know Inciarte would have to pass through waivers and I believe Swanson would not. What about Blair?
Klaw: Blair’s on the 40-man roster so I’m about 99% certain he would.

Wade: Will you alter your scouting plans because of Zika?
Klaw: It hasn’t come up. I’m not having any more kids so it’s not a huge concern for me. If I were 28, that’d be a different story.

Ted: I keep reading that Matt Chapman as a plus glove and plus power, is his hit tool so poor that it prevents him from being a top 100 prospect? Is he under consideration for the top 100 in your opinion?
Klaw: That’s correct. His hit tool is below-average AND he’s not hitting for average or contact as a 23-year-old in AA.

Patrick: Any interest in the new Dinosaur Jr album? Reviews have been positive
Klaw: I liked the one song I heard.

JD: David Dahl has shown the ability to play at the big league level. Seems like he could be a plus-CF’er in the bigs. Agree?
Klaw: I agree. Have had him rated pretty high ever since he got into pro ball, even just after that first stint in short season. Poor guy just hasn’t been able to stay healthy but the ability has always been there.

Lou: Does Hicks have anything left? Coming into the season I had high hopes. His swing just looks all over the place.
Klaw: I did too. Wouldn’t give up on him but his year is inexcusable – he didn’t hit when he was playing irregularly, then he started playing more and didn’t hit then either. The weird thing is that he’s making plenty of contact, it’s just weak contact, which wasn’t really a thing with him before.

James: How’s the book coming along?
Klaw: It’s coming along, slower than I wanted, but it’ll get done eventually.

Gunnarthor: Can you comment on this. There seems to be some ire in Twins land b/c it was revealed that Dave St. Peter, the team president, doesn’t have an answer for why Jorge Polanco didn’t play short this year in the minors. He said that would be a question better suited for the baseball department. I think that makes sense. The President of the team has a lot of duties and delegates more. He probably shouldn’t have input on something like that. Correct?
Klaw: Right. That’s not his job. If he were a president like Epstein or Friedman, that’d be a different story.

Jim: Hey Keith, I’m looking to buy my wife a sous vide machine for her birthday. Any idea what model I should look at, any tips for using sous vide and any foods in particular that you think come out great using sous vide? Thanks!
Klaw: I have this Anova model and can vouch that it works great.

addoeh: So is Hendricks more of a middle of the rotation guy than a back of the rotation guy?
Klaw: Yep, that’s probably about right.

Alex: Do you actually believe that if she’s President, Hillary will appoint judges who will try to eliminate rulings like Citizens United? Hasn’t she benefited most of all from that ruling with her thirst for pay-to-play schemes and $360k per plate fundraisers?
Klaw: Where have I ever discussed Citizens United or even said much in favor of Hillary? My interest in this election is pretty much about defeating Trump.

Dan: I have a six year old son. I am his adopted dad, my wife is his biological mother. This was always going to be a hard situation, but now I have to worry when watching TV with him that someone will tell him that I am not his “real” father and his “real” father is the asshole that ditched him before he was born. That is why this NBC shit is important to me and other people.
Klaw: Exactly. Thank you.

Ray Grace: Thanks for the recommendation of The Third Plate – really fascinating read. Is Rob Segeden a legit player that got lost because of injury or a 4a type guy?
Klaw: Four A type of guy.

Matthias: Any Baltimore eating recommendations (aside from all of the crab cakes) for me? I’m here for a month for work.
Klaw: I haven’t been but I’ve heard Woodberry Kitchen is fantastic.

Michael: Why do pitchers need to put on jackets when they reach base or run slow if they will likely make an out? These are grown men. Is running hard to first really going to stop you from throwing well in ten minutes?
Klaw: I don’t know the answer to that. I suppose the belief is that it keeps the pitcher’s arm from cooling off too much?

Ryan: Other than the Qualifying Offer, because let’s face it -it’s awful – what is the one other thing you would like to see changed in the new CBA?
Klaw: I think the draft is broken, personally. Severing it from free agents would be step one. I’d also like to see minor leaguers get some rights in this process, like better pay (hah!) or earlier free agency if they’re not put on a 40-man roster.

JEFF: Not much of a question, but more of a comment- Went to Crack Shack in San Diego. Man, that’s some good fried chicken
Klaw: I would not lead you astray. On Kyle Hendricks, maybe, but not on food.

JR: Can Managers regress? IIRC, last year you believed that Collins was an average manager (apologies if I’m not remembering correctly). However, the past couple of weeks, you’ve been very critical of him on twitter (and I agree with you 100%). Do you think he has regressed and is now a horrible manager, or was he a bad manager last year too and the team talent was good enough to out perform his stupidity?
Klaw: Oh he had some moments in the postseason. I don’t remember praising him or criticizing him much at all last year.

John: Hi Keith, regarding the resurgence of Dylan Bundy, he seemed to struggle mightily out of the bullpen earlier this season. Do you think his performance is due to finally being healthier than he has in years or possibly also due to some mechanical adjustments?
Klaw: His arm action is different now, less loose and fluid, and the curveball isn’t what it used to be. But the velocity is good and if he can repeat this delivery without pain then I say go with it. I don’t like seeing him go 90-odd pitches, though, given that he has or had calcification in his shoulder before the season and just a few months ago couldn’t miss bats even out of the pen.

Josh C: Would you try to get value out of Michael Kopech by moving him to reliever and getting him up quickly before he suffers any injury?
Klaw: Need other pitches beyond the fastball for that.

JG: Berrios getting rocked again today. What needs to change?
Klaw: Notice how many pitching prospects – highly ranked ones – have struggled right out of the gate this year? (Michael Fulmer, you may be excused from this discussion.) The ball was already different from the minor league ball anyway; perhaps the juiced ball this year (hat tip, 538) has exacerbated this issue.

Anonymous: any idea about the PTBNL the brewers will be getting from the rangers? Sure would love to see a guy like Guzman or Jurado
Klaw: I don’t think it’s close to that.

Nick: Do you believe Sanchez could be an All Star catcher? 25 Hr’s a year?
Klaw: Yes, I do.

Jay: Mitch Keller or Luke Weaver?
Klaw: Keller, for sure.

Troy: Keith – thoughts on the slow start for Corey Ray? What do you think of the problems Brett Phillips is having?
Klaw: Ray went from college right to high-A, an unusually aggressive assignment especially for a guy who already had some contact issues. I’m not concerned about the performance, but I don’t know that he was ready for the level and then wonder what we’re accomplishing by sending him there.

Jack: Do you believe Will Craig can hit? Above average regular?
Klaw: Can hit a little. Didn’t hit with wood last summer, played in a bandbox this spring. Not an above average regular.

Jason: Thoughts on Patrick Weigel? Big strikeout numbers and a big arm, but he’s 22 in Rome.
Klaw: Yep, can’t take the numbers too seriously. Good arm, but way too old for the level.

Ricky: Has Luiz Gohara turned a corner this yr?
Klaw: Yes, and I’m particularly glad to see it given how much I’ve talked him up in the last four years.

Chris: Bigger boxes like Whole Foods that cater to the non-GMO, organic shopper seem to be fairly polarizing. My friends heap a ton of insults at me because I do most of my shopping there. To be sure, the prices are higher. But I figure that if I can afford to control what goes into my kids’ bodies (right or wrong), that’s not a bad thing. Am I wrong or are my friends?
Klaw: I’d say you’re right in that what food you buy is pretty much your call – and to some extent, shopping at places like WF allows you to reduce the impact of your diet on the environment and to opt out of the Big Ag-driven processed food pyramid. It’s far from perfect, but unless you’re rotating crops in your backyard it’s one of your best bets.

John: Speaking of ruined, what are the M’s doing with Taijuan Walker?
Klaw: Has not been the same since he shortened his stride a few years ago. The breaking ball never came back.

Jacob: Why only one child?
Klaw: Why not?

Scherzer’s Blue Eye: Your ESPN colleague ripped the Nationals for not going all-in on Chapman or Miller. I contend, and as we know I am usually right, that the Nats did much better by getting Melancon for much, much less. Miller and Chapman are better, but the Nats were much smarter. Am I right, as per usual?
Klaw: You are right, this time. I won’t ask who the colleague was because I don’t think I have to.

Nathan: Have you ever read the Lemony Snicket A Series of Unfortunate Events with your daughter? If so, thoughts?
Klaw: I read the first three ages ago and found them bleak and far less funny than I expected, so I haven’t suggested them.

Gus: How does Terry Collins still have a job after saying he didn’t know if Brandon Nimmo was faster than Jay Bruce? These are basic fundamental things about his players that he doesn’t even know!
Klaw: The front office seems completely disinclined to do anything with Collins, even telling him to play Conforto already, until after the season.

Nick: Heyman reported today that the Braves turned down an offer of McCann for Folty and Inciarte. Would you have done that?
Klaw: Hell no.

Marshall: Re: Hillary and Citizens United, the person that posted that comment does not understand what that ruling allowed. Expensive fund raisers were allowed before and after the CU ruling.
Klaw: And since I could not reasonably explain to you what Citizens United really did and did not do, I can’t share an opinion on it.

Jasp: Why is Bellinger a top 100 guy but Willie Calhoun isn’t? They both can hit for power and have about the same avg, is it because Bellinger has a better glove?
Klaw: Bellinger is a year younger, has more power, a way better body, and is a 7 defender at first. You are just looking at the stat lines. Calhoun’s a prospect, yes, but he’s my height, which would put him in the bottom 1% of big leaguers.

JD: Comment on Carlos Gomez. Bat speed diminished or poor approach at the plate. It appears that there has been a decline as even balls that he barrels have stayed in the ball park. Does not appear to have much left in the tank. He can still run, but at 30 years of age, that tool has to be diminishing soon.
Klaw: I think the approach is the biggest issue. If he could corral himself, he’d have some value. The problem for him now is a noncontender has no real incentive to pick him up, since they wouldn’t have any time to flip him anyway, and would a contender see enough value to claim/sign him now and play him?

Dan: Related to adoptions, I also have two kids down the street from me with their grandma because their parents ditched them (they’re cousins, two separate sets of dipshit parents). They still see their parents around the city and know they have other kids that they kept. You can see on their faces how it weighs them down. It’s easy not to think of this stuff when you don’t have to.
Klaw: Exactly. So when this becomes a public issue and Loutwig makes an ass of himself by de facto telling a teenaged girl that she doesn’t know who her parents are, we should stand up for her and all adopted kids and parents and say no, that’s not right.

Rick: I know you were not big on the AJ Minter pick. If he ends up a dominant reliever, was it worth it? Or are you just completely opposed to drafting a pitcher that high with no intent to try them as a starter?
Klaw: I wouldn’t take a pure reliever in the first round, but he wasn’t taken that high (around 75th?), so that’s fine. He was hurt at the time, though, with TJ, and I thought Atlanta paid him way more than they needed to.

Elton: Is Jose Peraza looking like a backup infielder now?
Klaw: Yes, which is why I didn’t have him on my top 100 this past winter.

Tom: Sort of stunning to think about how, at age 26, Ichiro had 0 MLB hits. Makes you wonder what number he’d be sitting at now if he’d debuted in MLB at 19 or 20.
Klaw: Well, it made me think of how nice it would be if MLB’s all-time hits leader was someone we’d actually like to have all over our record books.

Joe: How much coffee do you drink daily? And does the caffeine have any ill effects regarding anxiety?
Klaw: One cup of coffee or a double shot of espresso. That’s it.

Gary: Keith, I’m about a month into trying to lose weight by working out way more and eating better. I’m a total novice with healthy eating though. Where would you recommend I start to learn?
Klaw: Ask your doctor. I don’t know you or your metabolism and what is right for me might be wrong for you. I shouldn’t eat a super-high protein diet because I have an inborn error of metabolism. That might work for you. About the only universal advice I would have on eating is to eat more plants.

Marty: Do you think Addison Russell still becomes a star?
Klaw: Yes, I do. Remember he came up very young, probably a year before he was ready.

Rick: Seriously people – “why one child?” and “when is the second child coming?” questions are rude and intrusive. Don’t ask them. I used to get so tired of them, that I replied to someone out of frustration, “we’d like another, but we can’t afford it” – the look on their face was priceless
Klaw: Incredibly rude. I know someone very well who had her second child in April. You want to ask her why she isn’t planning to have a third and have her tell you, well, I nearly bled to death on the table while my son was being born?

Brent: I saw your write ups on GenCon games. Was that your first time at the event? I’m curious how your overall experience was? (I also live in Indy and enjoy people watching downtown).
Klaw: First time and I had a great two days. Hoping I get to do it again next year for longer.

Joe: Whats so great about Folty and Inciarte that you wouldn’t give them up for an above avg catcher? Two below avg big leaguers for on good one that can handle a young pitching staff and help sell tickets to your new stadium.
Klaw: This is not a good question. Please try again.

Mike: re: TJ Friedl. Was he not on your pre-draft top 100 because he was not highly ranked or because you weren’t aware he was draft eligible?
Klaw: He was not highly rated by scouts. I did not see him. I don’t think Eric did either but you would have to ask him.

Adam: At what point do the Braves pull the plug on Davidson and Riley as hitters and put them on the mound?
Klaw: Little hasty there, Adam.

mcgive_it_to_me: With Ben Cherington being a top candidate for the Twins VP/GM role I hear a lot of about how the good of his Red Sox tenure (developing their system) comes with the bad (free agent signings like Panda). Wouldn’t a lot of that pressure be taken off Cherington in Minnesota where ownership would never mandate him to make splashy free agent signings each winter?
Klaw: He’s not “a top candidate” because I don’t believe they have any candidates lined up.

Jasp: So is Calhoun going to be a Howie Kendrick, Dozier, Kolten Wong, or none of the above?
Klaw: He’s not like any of those guys, really.

Marshall: The JAWS rating system has Utley as a borderline top 10 all time 2b – despite him having a great career I can’t see him smelling the HOF because of voter ignorance, but I think of him as one of the defining players that separates statistically centered analysis versus traditional guys.
Klaw: He was one of the 2 or 3 best players in baseball at one point and I’d be fine with putting him on my ballot if I had the space.

Rick: Did the Dodgers make a mistake by drafting Gavin Lux instead of Delvin Perez?
Klaw: That’s unfair, especially two months out, but really just to call it a “mistake” when Perez’s positive PED test had just come out – and it cast some doubt on the stuff he’d done so well that spring to launch himself into top 5 status.

Jason: Here’s Citizens United in a nutshell. An independent group (Citizens United) produced an anti-Hillary movie in 2008 that they wanted to make available on-demand. The law at the time prevented “electioneering communications” by corporations and unions 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election. The Supreme Court held that, as long as the communication was independent (i.e., not coordinated with a campaign), that restriction violated the First Amendment. Because it was independent, there could not be quid pro quo corruption or appearance thereof (which is basically the only justification for campaign finance laws under Supreme Court jurisprudence)
Klaw: Yeah, campaign finance laws are one of those topics I probably just shouldn’t talk about because I don’t know anything about it. (Cue people asking why I talk about baseball, then!)

Andrew: Any Astros position prospects have a decent chance of helping the club in 2017 – Teoscar, Fisher, someone else?
Klaw: In a significant way? It’s Bregman and Reed. Not sure who else or where such a player might play.

Junior: Have you heard anything on Cal Quantrill? Looks like he’s had a couple impressive starts in Tri city.
Klaw: Everything I’ve heard has been very positive. Stuff, delivery, athleticism. Could end up being the best guy from the draft, which was what he was supposed to be before he got hurt.

Byron: I’m back in Rochester cuz I stink. Everybody else has given me advice so what say you?
Klaw: Stay there and hope either Molitor & staff are replaced or that you’re traded to an organization better equipped to develop you as a hitter.

Klaw: That’s all for this week’s chat – thank you all for reading and for all of the questions! I’ll be back next Thursday at the regular time.