Author Archive: Ben Lindbergh

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Matt Wieters and debunk Scott Boras, then preview the Cubs’ 2017 season with Sahadev Sharma of the The Athletic Chicago and the Brewers’ 2017 season with Jack Moore of the The Hardball Times.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the anticlimactic approach of spring training and answer listener emails about baseball reductionism, investing in Little League, the Cardinals’ effect on the Cubs, transplanting Trout and Kershaw, and wearing out starters, with a statistical detour to talk about history’s most volatile hitters.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan introduce the fifth annual Effectively Wild season-preview series and banter about the short life expectancy of front-office secrets. Then they preview the Dodgers’ 2017 season with Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times, and the Padres’ 2017 season with Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan fixate on their new baseball obsession, NPB shortstop (and offensive outlier) Takuya Nakashima. Then they discuss prospect terminology and the nebulous significance of the “ceiling.”

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about how and why the Astros and Royals seem to have exchanged strategies and revisit champagne in the clubhouse and trampolines, then answer listener emails about what to hack if you were hacking, Statcast and baserunning, catcher framing, and Mike Trout.

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Ben Lindbergh, Jeff Sullivan, and Sports on Earth Senior Writer Will Leitch banter about the accuracy of a Jarrod Dyson declaration and the fairness of the penalty levied against St. Louis in the Cardinals-Astros hacking scandal.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about baseball’s trampoline problem and the future of Andrelton Simmons, then discuss and critique the crowdsourced organizational rankings produced by FanGraphs readers.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan discuss their EclipseFest sellout and answer listener emails about Jae-gyun Hwang, Daniel Murphy, and power/contact reinventions; the most informative stats; the best way to split up seasons; drastic defensive changes; career cycles for pitchers; protecting the inside of the plate, and more.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan discuss the brisk sales of tickets to their August “EclipseFest” outing and the strange saga of former major league reliever Jeff Manship. Then, on a much more somber note, they remember the late Yordano Ventura and Andy Marte and talk to Vice Sports editor-in-chief Jorge Arangure about the dangers many foreign players face when they spend their offseasons at home.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan begin by bantering about tentative plans for an Effectively Wild event this summer. Then, prompted by Baltimore’s Mark Trumbo signing, they pit the perplexing Orioles against every other organization in a series of head-to-head matchups.

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