Episode 871

Managing editor of The Hardball Times Rachael McDaniel joins the program to discuss some recent THT highlights, the end of Félix Hernández’s career in Seattle, and what delights and dismays us about postseason baseball.

You’ll find Rachael’s recent piece on Félix here.

Miriam Zuo on the Houston Astros after Hurrican Harvey.

Allison McCague on using the language of commodities to refer to players.

Zachary Hayes on Justin Verlander’s left on base ability.

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 43 min play time.)

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Episode 870

FanGraphs senior writer Jay Jaffe joins the program to discuss the current potential for ties, and thus chaos, in the postseason field, Jay’s preference that the playoffs feature match ups of the game’s best rosters, and his predictions for which teams make it to October, and the World Series. We also discuss his impressions of the current major league home run leaderboard and all these damn home runs, as well as Mookie Betts’ future in Boston. Jay also swears in Yiddish. It’s fine.

You can read Jay’s primer on Team Entropy, and the possible playoff scenarios it might inspire, from last week 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 49 min play time.)

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Episode 869

I welcome Ringer staff writer Michael Baumann to the program to discuss his recent piece on the Cleveland Browns and football’s burgeoning analytics revolution. We discuss the insights offered by erstwhile baseball executive Paul DePodesta on the lessons he took from the rise of empirics in baseball and the mistakes from sabermetrics early days that he’s keen to avoid in a football front office. Plus, Michael shares the things he’s most keen to watch in the final month of the regular season.

You can read Michael’s Paul DePodesta Browns piece here. You should also check out his recent deep-dive on Shane Bieber. And be sure to follow him on twitter @MichaelBaumann.

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 51 min play time.)

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Last Thursday, the Red Sox and Royals resumed a game from August 7 that had been previously suspended due to rain. The original contest took its pause knotted up 4-4; it resumed in a 2-1 count in the top of the 10th. It was a strange viewing experience. With the game still tied in the home half of the inning, Andrew Benintendi came up to bat. The chyron showed his season stats entering this day, August 22, but marked his batting line from a day when he was two full weeks younger:

It was a testament to a few things — the surprising rigidity of baseball’s schedule, the allure of a chance, however small (entering the day, our playoff odds had the Red Sox with a 1.7% shot at playing October baseball), the grip of a discounted hot dog on the hearts of children. But the whole ordeal also made me think about how we think about time — how we sometimes consider it banked, or free, or very precious, or, when we’re mad, or tired, or perhaps inconvenienced, something we’d just like to hurry along. The Red Sox played the Royals for about 12 minutes, and in that span, they showed us time in four different states. These are those four. Read the rest of this entry »

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Episode 868

I welcome FanGraphs lead prospect writer Eric Longenhagen back to the program. We contemplate surprisingly expensive adult hobbies before Eric details his recent amateur scouting trip through various Southern California showcases, including Area Codes and the Perfect Game All-American Classic, while I share some take aways from a weekend spent at SaberSeminar. We close with a discussion of the Arizona Fall League, and a quick draft of Fall League logos.

For prospect-related tweets, be sure to follow Eric and the FanGraphs Prospects account. And as always, you can find the guys’ latest rankings, reports, and updates 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.

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Episode 867

I welcome FanGraphs writer Craig Edwards back to the program to detail the current playoff landscape, check in on some tight (and not-so-tight) division races, and assess the October chances of Craig’s beloved St. Louis Cardinals. We also, though neither of us were aware of it at the time, engage in a series of reverse jinxes, before I force Craig to make several too-early predictions concerning year-end award recipients.

Be sure to read Craig’s recent pieces on José Altuve and José Ramírez, and to follow him on twitter.

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 43 min play time.)

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