Baseball Prospectus - Chat with Craig Goldstein

Chat: Craig Goldstein

Welcome to Baseball Prospectus' Wednesday May 20, 2020 1:00 PM ET chat session with Craig Goldstein.

Craig Goldstein is the Editor in Chief of Baseball Prospectus.

Craig Goldstein: Okay, now that everyone is discussing my lunch habits on twitter, I suppose we can get started

Liam (You know already): Dude you should really invest yourself in the art of salad making

Craig Goldstein: FIRST OF ALL, I do have salads, they're great. But I often crave a sandwich for lunch. I don't have this *every day* but probably too many days?

sykklone (IA): Thanks for the chat. What % chance do you think that we have baseball this year in any capacity?

Craig Goldstein: Sure thing! I think it's pretty high. 70%? There is a lot of willpower invested in making this happen and a lot of money on the line. Do I think it's particularly safe? No. Should baseball happen this year? I'd say probably not. Will I watch? Will it be good for me, personally and professionally? Will it make people happy? Yes to all of those.

Quincy (Ames): In a nl only league that plays saves and holds(2 categories) would you rather load up on 3 setup men on say the dodgers or spread it around 3 winning teams?

Craig Goldstein: I don't think there's a real benefit to spreading them around different teams except in the event of off days. Holds can happen multiple times a game, so there's no real loss in stacking players.

mikewilsonelgin (Rhode island): If you had a major league team where every player was zero WAR, how many games would the team win?

Craig Goldstein: The generally accepted answer is somewhere in the 47-52 range.

Biff (Bay port on barmet bay): Are you buying in to Freddy peralta s new and improved slider . And what to make of avisail garcia? Nice exit velocity but rather erratic production

Craig Goldstein: Yeah I loved Avi as a prospect but I don't really trust the exit velo numbers on Garcia because he's so groundball oriented. I always liked Peralta but the number of fly balls he gives up is an issue unless the ball changes again.

brad (NJ): What would your strategy be in a dynasty league right now?

Craig Goldstein: Maybe this is oversimplifying it but I'm not really changing much due to this. It's kind of a random thing that's affecting everyone, and even older players will get some much needed rest during this time, right? Miles over pure age, and all that. Might be a benefit to some players as much as a detriment to others (the layoff, not the pandemic). We don't really have a way to model how that would be distributed.

Tony (Lancaster ): How many roster spots is there going to be on each team if the season starts?

Craig Goldstein: My guess is 30 with some additional taxi squad types and each team announces their 30 eligible each night or for a series or something.

Yeet (MN): Have you ever tried dried cheerios, parm cheese and milk?

Craig Goldstein: you are a monster and also what the hell kind of thing is it to say "dried cheerios" and then also milk. are you wetting the cheerios and then drying them and then adding milk again? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU

brad (NJ): What happens when baseball opens on July 4th, and then on July 18th one player tests positive and then on July 25 30 players test positive?

Craig Goldstein: That's the question we're all trying to answer, right? ESPN's report on this does not make one pessimistic. Under what we've seen come out of MLB's proposal, the players testing positive will be quarantined but the people they've been in contact with won't. As Rob Arthur noted, that doesn't really seem feasible for containment. Whether the league will just press on, or players will accept that risk, I don't really know. I'd have to imagine there would be daily testing and complete quarantining of people who have been in contact with a person who tests positive before things can really proceed.

Craig Goldstein: Alright, another short chat but I'm not sure I can tolerate another horrid food concept. Thanks for dropping in everyone. Mark Barry will be chatting fantasy on Friday.