Episode 865

Lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen returns to the program to detail FanGraphs’ recent trip to Cleveland. We discuss his impressions of the Futures Games, as well as what he looks for at showcase events like that, before contemplating the ideal format for the All-Star Game. This host also shares an embarrassing travel story, which she swears is true, and we review several particularly bad MLB.TV commercials and a few shark-related films.

For an extended Futures Game conversation, be sure to listen to the latest episode of The Untitled McDongenhagen Project, during which Eric and Kiley McDaniel discuss the prospects they saw and how their estimations of those prospects changed after last weekend. For prospect-related tweets, be sure to follow Eric and the FanGraphs Prospects account. And as always, you can find the guys’ latest rankings and reports on THE BOARD.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @megrowler on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio after the jump. (Approximate 1 hour and 12 min play time.)

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Episode 864

Rachael McDaniel, the new managing editor of The Hardball Times, joins the program to discuss Vancouver B.C., knitting, and the Blue Jays. We also explore Rachael’s approach to editing and vision for The Hardball Times. We then spend a little time on baseball brawls and feelings, and contemplate a few recent instances of baseball men behaving a bit badly.

If you would like to pitch new work to Rachael, please email an outline of the piece you’re interested in writing, along with links to examples of your prior work, to tht@fangraphs.com.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @megrowler on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio after the jump. (Approximate 47 min play time.)

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Episode 863

FanGraphs writer Jay Jaffe joins the program to discuss his impressions of the recently concluded MLB draft as a non-obsessive prospect observer, the trends and narratives that have most surprised and delighted him in the young season, and also, the free agent situations of Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel. Please note, this podcast was recorded prior to Kimbrel’s signing with the Cubs, but we think the discussion is still interesting. You can find Craig Edwards’ analysis of the Kimbrel signing here.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @megrowler on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio after the jump. (Approximate 52 min play time.)

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Episode 862

Baseball Prospectus’ managing editor Craig Goldstein joins the program to discuss his new job, his cats, and then, in a far more serious turn, the state of baseball dissembling, including what teams promise, but perhaps really mean, when they prize “financial flexibility,” how we talk about the changes we’ve seen to the baseball, and how the Cubs have talked about Addison Russell. We got a little spicy at times, and forced Dylan Higgins to edit out several swears.

Craig’s piece on financial flexibility can be found here.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @megrowler on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio after the jump. (Approximate 1 hour and 1 min play time.)

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