Ben and Sam talk to Alejandro Aldama of the Independent Group for Baseball Investigation about the state of sabermetrics in Cuba.
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Episode 440
Dayn Perry is a contributor to CBS Sports’ Eye on Baseball and the author of three books — one of them not very miserable. He’s also the entirely audible guest on this edition of FanGraphs Audio.
Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.
You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.
Audio after the jump. (Approximately 1 hr 13 min play time.)
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Everyone is good at something. We may not be great or elite, but we all have something we can do better than anyone we know. Whether it’s whistling, whittling, or wrestling — you can do something better than your friends and family. It could have to do with genetics or just hours of practice, but there’s something. This is not to say that being good at something is actually a good thing. Most talents are pointless at best.
I used to work in a sheet music store/warehouse. Part of my job was pulling sheet music for customers who called the store or came in looking for something. I would look up the thing on my computer, then take to the stacks. Every piece of stock had a nine digit stock number. I started off writing these things down, but eventually just committed everything to memory. Doing this dozens of times a day allowed me to become very proficient at memorizing and then immediately forgetting nine digit numbers. I can still do it pretty well. This is a pretty dumb talent.
On April 9th, Phil Hughes started a game for the Twins. He gave up four runs, striking out three and walking three. This isn’t entirely atypical of Phil Hughes, but he’s certainly done better. He pitched only five innings, however. This, we are learning, is probably more of the norm for him. Read the rest of this entry »
Circumstances were different when Paul Goldschmidt faced Tim Lincecum the first time. In early August of 2011, Goldschmidt was playing in his second-ever major-league game, a young first baseman who’d never been a Baseball America top-100 prospect, and who’d never been a Baseball America top-10 Diamondbacks prospect. Lincecum was a staff ace having a Cy Young-caliber season, his fourth in a row, and he was one of the major pieces around which the Giants were built. Against Lincecum, Goldschmidt popped out on the seventh pitch of the first plate appearance. On the fourth pitch of the second plate appearance, Goldschmidt went yard.
Masahiro Tanaka has now made two starts for the Yankees, and outside of a couple of home runs, he’s been ridiculous. He’s rung up 18 strikeouts while issuing just one walk, and he’s posted a 51% ground ball rate in the process, leaving him with a nifty 1.81 xFIP. His splitter is as good as advertised, and while it’s just two starts, it’s two starts that suggest that the hype was probably correct; Tanaka likely is one of the best starting pitchers in baseball.
But, a little more quietly, there is a pitcher in the National League that has put up a very similar line, and you probably won’t believe who it is.
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: Yes! I’m back!
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| 11:48 |
: for some reason this video featured prominently in my Jamaican vacation.
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Hey Eno! My league’s first week of free agency is coming up and I need your guidance. I need to fill my UTIL spot and the best available options are Colabello, Solarte and Almonte. Thoughts on all three and who is most likely to remain a full-time starter in 2014? |
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: ALMONTE! D at important position, right age, good enough swing (don’t love Solarte’s swing at all).
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What do you make of the current closing situations in Oakland and Detroit? Which reliever should we grab on each team if we’re looking for potential handcuffs to Johnson and Nathan? |
We’re just over a week into the regular season, and many baseball memories – positive and negative – have been inserted into the history books. Ryan Braun‘s three-homer game, Emilio Bonifacio‘s rapid-fire succession of BABIP singles, Tim Hudson’s sensational Giants’ debut, a bunch of aces being aces, and the Mets/Phillies/Angels, etc.., bullpen implosions – just another week in paradise. While individual player statistical sample sizes are still way too small to draw meaningful conclusions, team totals are already ramping up, allowing us to make some somewhat informed judgments regarding what may be in store for some clubs the rest of the way. Read the rest of this entry »
Perhaps due to schedule shenanigans, Arizona’s Chase Field has only been home to one Mark Trumbo home run this season. That’s fine. The park has already helped Trumbo become a better hitter.
Ben and Sam discuss events from Wednesday’s games, the new transfer rule, and the injuries that could cost teams playoff spots.
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Episode 439
Radio voice of the Texas Rangers for over 30 years, Eric Nadel is both the recipient of the 2014 Ford Frick Award and also one of the most highly regarded of broadcasters by readers of FanGraphs. He’s also the guest on this edition of the podcast, recorded live on tape from Fenway Park.
Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.
You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.
Audio after the jump. (Approximately 19 min play time.)
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