Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about why the free-agent market has been both slow-moving and fairly lucrative for the players who’ve signed, the White Sox inking closer Liam Hendriks, whether the White Sox are the American League’s front runners, the latest report that the season will start on time, napping, MLB’s plans for fans in the stands, why MLB owners aren’t pursuing expansion, the league’s next broadcast contract with ESPN, a rumored extension for Fernando Tatis Jr., the legacy of the late Tommy Lasorda, and the recent direction of the podcast. Audio intro: The Bangles, "Mixed Messages" Audio outro: Dion, "(I Used to Be A) Brooklyn Dodger" Link to Craig Edwards on the Hendriks signing Link to report about the season starting Link to report about health and safety standards Link to expansion story Link to Craig on MLB’s TV revenue Link to Meg on Bradley Link to Meg on Lind Link to Outsports story on Lasorda Link to Outsports on Lasorda and Minnie Miñoso Link to New York Times story on Lasorda’s son Link to Jay on Lasorda  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley break down the six-player blockbuster trade headlined by Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco, touching on Cleveland’s decision to cut costs by dealing two fan favorites and the face of the franchise, how much better Lindor makes the Mets, and more, then banter about NPB ace Tomoyuki Sugano re-signing with the Yomiuri Giants and the latest revelations about the use of foreign substances by MLB pitchers, before bringing on philosophy professors (and Effectively Wild listeners) Justin Coates and Ben Lennertz (53:49) to tackle the ethics of Hall of Fame voting and examine how philosophy can guide voters, the merits of the character clause, how to handle cheaters, the problems of past precedent and differing off-field offenses, and how they would vote. Audio intro: Margo Price, "Do Right By Me" Audio interstitial: Paul McCartney and Wings, "Get on the Right Thing" Audio outro: The Magnetic Fields, "’86 How I Failed Ethics" Link to Ben on the Lindor deal Link to Rob Mains on Lindor and Cleveland Link to story on Steve Cohen Link to Kyodo News story on Sugano Link to Jim Allen on Sugano Link to Harkins foreign substance story Link to Ben on foreign substances Link to EW interview about foreign substances Link to Ken Rosenthal’s Hall of Fame ballot Link to story about Schilling’s latest comments Link to EW interview with Jay Jaffe Link to Craig Calcaterra on the Hall of Fame  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the re-naming of Miller Park and the good and bad of ballpark naming rights, the improbable beginning of Phil Niekro’s career and what it says about the downsizing of the minor leagues, an intriguing projection of the outcome of the Padres-Dodgers NL West race, Boog Sciambi calling Cubs games and the difference in affection for local and national broadcasters, whether the absence of in-game video in 2020 really hurt hitters, the extent to which the rules and rosters for the 2021 MLB season are still in flux, and a questionable baseball-related scene from the new season of the Netflix series Cobra Kai. Audio intro: Jerry Garcia & David Grisman, "The Miller’s Will" Audio outro: Dream Wife, "Sports!" Link to story about American Family Field Link to story about NHL division sponsors Link to story about insurance company advertising Link to Jay Jaffe on Niekro Link to Craig Wright on Niekro’s origin story Link to Pages from Baseball’s Past Link to post about Niekro baseball cards Link to Ben on the knuckleball’s future Link to EW interview about the remaking of the minors Link to Dan on the Padres’ projection Link to story about Boog and the Cubs Link to The Athletic story on in-game video Link to Cobra Kai video Link to Ben on the baseball scene in Elementary Link to story about Whitecaps B-roll Link to Anchorman 2 clip Link to EW interview about Moneyball and Pitch Link to EW interview about Twilight Link to Jay on Foley’s Link to story about Foley’s memorabilia  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the official retirement of Phil Hughes, the joy of anticipating top prospects and watching them debut, the sobering reality of players their age starting to retire, a report that the 2021 season is likely to start on time, and a control group for their minor league free agent draft, then (31:40) talk to former Dodgers general manager Dan Evans about how he hired new Marlins GM Kim Ng when he worked for the White Sox and Dodgers, how she distinguished herself as an intern and gained greater responsibility, how to stand out in an MLB front office, why Ng had to wait so long for a GM job, how teams can diversify front offices and ensure that more minority candidates are promoted into positions of power, how the GM role has changed, and how Ng will run the Marlins. Audio intro: The Who, "1921" Audio interstitial: Mates of State, "A Control Group" Audio outro: Courtney Barnett, "Kim’s Caravan" Link to Hughes’ retirement announcement Link to video of Hughes’ 2007 debut Link to 2007 BP top prospect list Link to Andy McCullough on Hughes’ second career Link to study on top-prospect production Link to Jon Tayler on Strasburg’s debut Link to The Athletic report on the 2021 season Link to minor league free agent draft results Link to EW interview with Jen Wolf Link to Dan’s Sports Management Worldwide page Link to Dan on Kim Ng Link to Lindsey Adler on Kim Ng Link to Olivia Witherite on Kim Ng Link to Marc Carig on Kim Ng Link to Jen Mac Ramos on Kim Ng Link to Jake Mailhot on Kim Ng Link to Rachael McDaniel on Kim Ng  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the experience of podcasting about baseball in 2020, what purpose they think the Hall of Fame serves, and whether they would consider giving up their Hall of Fame ballots, then ring in the new year by extending an old tradition and conducting the eighth annual Effectively Wild Minor League Free Agent Draft, in which they select 10 minor league free agents each and compete to see whose roster will accumulate the most MLB playing time in 2021. Audio intro: First Aid Kit, "New Year’s Eve" Audio outro: Death Cab for Cutie, "The New Year" Link to Craig Calcaterra on the Hall of Fame Link to Jeff Passan on Hall of Fame voting Link to list of minor league free agents Link to Justin Hollander interview episode Link to last year’s draft results Link to this year’s draftees  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and FanGraphs Hall of Fame expert Jay Jaffe (the author of The Cooperstown Casebook) discuss Jay’s experience as a first-time Hall of Fame voter, the case of Curt Schilling, weighing on-field contributions and off-field transgressions, the players on Jay’s ballot, the candidacies of Billy Wagner, Gary Sheffield, Omar Vizquel, and others, adjusting the baseline for Hall of Fame starting pitchers, Jay’s predictions for this year’s voting results, a preview of the upcoming Cooperstown classes, the record number of Hall of Fame players who died in 2020, how to better honor baseball greats while they’re still alive, the Hall of Fame ramifications of reclassifying the Negro Leagues as major leagues, and more. Audio intro: Guided By Voices, "High Five Hall of Famers" Audio outro: The Felice Brothers, "Cooperstown" Link to Jay’s ballot post Link to The Cooperstown Casebook Link to Jay on this ballot’s big questions Link to the HoF Ballot Tracker Link to Jay on Schilling Link to Craig Calcaterra on Schilling Link to Zach Hayes on Schilling Link to Jay on Vizquel Link to The Athletic report on Vizquel Link to Sam on Pettitte Link to Jeff Snider on Hall of Famer deaths Link to Jay on Allen Link to story on overlooked Negro Leaguers Link to story on reclassification and Cooperstown  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and FanGraphs lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen convene to discuss the latest epic Padres transaction spree (in which San Diego traded for Blake Snell and Yu Darvish and signed Ha-seong Kim 김하성), touching on A.J. Preller’s penchant for frenetic activity, the Padres’ rebuilt rotation and crowded infield, the prospect packages going to the Rays and the Cubs, the state of the stacked Rays and Padres farm systems, why the Rays traded Snell, what dealing Darvish signifies for the Cubs, salary dumps vs. cost-cutting competitive trades, whether the Padres can catch the Dodgers, and much more. Audio intro: Bring it On (Original Broadway Cast Recording), "It’s All Happening" Audio outro: The Posies, "All in a Day’s Work" Link to Ben Clemens on the Snell trade Link to Brendan Gawlowski on the Kim signing Link to Eric on the Rays’ system Link to Eric on the Cubs’ return for Darvish Link to Craig Edwards on the Darvish trade Link to Ben on Preller’s trades Link to Ben on the formerly nondescript Padres Link to FanGraphs farm system rankings  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh talks to Jacky Bing-Sheng Lee, translator of the traditional Chinese edition of Ben’s book The MVP Machine, Hyunsung Kim, translator of the Korean edition of The MVP Machine, and Brendan O’Connor, assistant professor and linguistic anthropologist at the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University, about the challenges of translating a baseball book from English into other languages, how Jacky and Hyunsung got jobs in baseball and became translators, the ascendance of the CPBL and the KBO on the international stage, linguistic “borrowing” in baseball, the cultural conversations surrounding baseball bilingualism, the greatness of Korean baseball drama Stove League, and much more. Audio intro: Field Music, "Share the Words" Audio outro: Joel Plaskett, "So Many Words" Link to Jacky’s post in the Facebook group Link to Jacky’s baseball blog Link to Hyunsung’s list of American baseball books available in Korean Link to Chinese edition of The MVP Machine Link to Brendan’s ASU faculty page Link to Brendan’s Sapiens article Link to Part 1 of Sung Min Kim’s KBO series Link to Part 2 of Sung Min Kim’s KBO series Link to stream Stove League Link to paperback English edition of The MVP Machine  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about why MLB reportedly isn’t interested in short-term expansion and an observation about Tyler Glasnow, Martin Shkreli, and Cillian Murphy, then review the accuracy of last year’s annual ESPN MLB insiders survey, predict and assess the responses to the just-released, latest edition of the survey, answer a listener email about the cutoff for “young” players, and share a Stat Blast about Byron Buxton and the lowest on-base percentages by league-average hitters (plus an addendum on the longest baseball player Wikipedia pages). Audio intro: Oasis, "Stay Young" Audio outro: The Just Joans, "No Longer Young Enough" Link to Stark’s story about Dombrowski Link to story about NBA expansion Link to Sam on the Crasnicks in 2012 Link to Sam on the Crasnicks in 2014 Link to last year’s Rogers MLB insiders survey Link to this year’s Rogers MLB insiders survey Link to Ben on young hitters and aging curves Link to lowest OBP list Link to lowest OBP+ list Link to longest baseball player Wikipedia pages  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about ballpark renaming, follow up on their discussion about managers getting fired for their actions in a single game, discuss how the history of baseball’s sabermetric movement predicts the trajectory and ramifications of analytics use in football and other sports, and reflect on the significance of the Phillies hiring Sam Fuld as their new general manager, what the return of ex-player high-ranking execs may portend for front-office diversity, and Fuld’s lengthy Wikipedia page, then (51:15) talk to Driveline Baseball hitting intern and college baseball player Luisa Gauci about her multi-continent baseball odyssey from Australia to the U.S., her quest to bring data-driven development to women’s baseball, rewriting the scouting scale, why she’s determined to keep playing baseball, her work at Driveline, hitting technology vs. pitching technology, and more. Audio intro: Mattiel, "Just a Name" Audio interstitial: Of Montreal, "It’s Different for Girls" Audio outro: Neuseiland, "Write it Down (Radio Sonic)" Link to article about the Coliseum’s new name Link to 2003 Grady Little article Link to Ben on revisiting the Grady Little game Link to EW episode about sabermetrics breaking baseball Link to EW football vs. baseball analysis interview Link to football Multisport Sabermetrics Exchange episode Link to The Athletic on the new Phillies front office Link to story on the GM demographics shift Link to Breslow interview Link to Jalen Rose analytics comments Link to Jackie Bradley Jr. tweet Link to article about front-office hiring Link to Fuld’s Wikipedia page Link to Lookout Landing article Link to Luisa’s scouting scale presentation Link to Baseball For All website  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Source