Author Archive

Effectively Wild Episode 1042: Several Premature Pronouncements

EWFI

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Keon Broxton and batting helmets, statistical soothsaying, and the two-way-player attempts of Michael Lorenzen and Christian Bethancourt, then discuss the early results of several preseason players and teams of interest.

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Effectively Wild Episode 1041: The Fernando Rodney Dinner Date

EWFI

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Jake Arrieta’s velocity loss, the league’s artificial velocity gain, and whether the Astros won the winter, then answer listener emails about topspin and the turf, the Mariners’ and Blue Jays’ 40th anniversaries/seasons, disagreeing with projections, intentional-walk predictions, Madison Bumgarner’s batting, the negative value of player mistakes, single-game double-play leaders, a pitcher who always throws strikes, forecasting final stat lines, and more.

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Effectively Wild Episode 1040: Opening Day and the Post-Trampoline Prospect

EWFI

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the difficulty of keeping perspective on Opening Day events, the lone disagreement between their preseason predictions, and a common reader misconception about prediction “groupthink.” Then they talk to Astros Double-A catching prospect and trampoline survivor Garrett Stubbs about his childhood trampoline injury and still-crooked finger, his dramatically different rankings on stats-based and scouting-based prospect lists, how size affects his future as a catcher, how he learned to hit for power, how he and the Astros focus on pitch framing, and more.

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Effectively Wild Episode 1039: Is Defense Still Winning the Analysis War?

EWFI

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the end of the offseason, a Canada-only Clayton Kershaw, and Drew Smyly’s health status, then discuss whether the advancement of technology and the latest sabermetric insights still favor defense over offense, or whether hitters have started to even the score.

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Effectively Wild Episode 1038: The Player With a Permanent Head Start

EWFI

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about a Carter Capps mimic, several recently released Effectively Wild favorites, a baseball use for trampolines, and Derek Jeter’s prolific publishing career, then answer listener emails about a different kind of fantasy league, a player who can see slightly into the future, speed vs. velocity, a home-run/strikeout pitcher, spring training intentional walks, breaking Old Hoss Radbourn’s record, magically missing bats, part-time Trout and Kershaw, and more.

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Effectively Wild Episode 1037: Season Preview Series: Pirates and Yankees

EWFI

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about a Robbie Ray ejection, Tom Hamilton’s Brody Chernoff interview, a quote about Mike Trout, a Takuya Nakashima shift, and a Terry Francona comment about Ryan Raburn, then preview the Pirates’ 2017 season with Travis Sawchik of FanGraphs and the Yankees’ 2017 season with Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal.

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Effectively Wild Episode 1036: Season Preview Series: Tigers and Rays

EWFI

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Jered Weaver, David DeJesus, and Dan Duquette’s comments about Jose Bautista, then preview the Tigers’ 2017 season with Jason Beck of MLB.com and the Rays’ 2017 season with David Roth of Vice Sports.

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Effectively Wild Episode 1035: The Catcher’s Crooked Finger

EWFI

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan share responses submitted to a smattering of recent topics and banter about whether old scouting reports have value to teams, then answer listener emails about MVP-vote streaks, Brady Anderson and ex-player executives, predicting pitches perfectly, middle-infield offense, Aroldis Chapman copying Carter Capps, non-traditional starting rotations, and more.

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Effectively Wild Episode 1034: Season Preview Series: Rangers and Marlins

EWFI

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about anticipatory player celebrations, then preview the Rangers’ 2017 season with Levi Weaver of WFAA and the Marlins’ 2017 season with Tim Healey of the Sun Sentinel.

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Effectively Wild Episode 1033: Season Preview Series: Mets and Orioles

EWFI

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about a beautiful Javier Baez tag, then preview the Mets’ 2017 season with Ted Berg of For The Win and the Orioles’ 2017 season with Jake Mintz of Cespedes Family BBQ.

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