Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Oliver Drake’s new/old home, the Braves signing Josh Donaldson and Brian McCann and converting Johan Camargo, the Pirates signing Lonnie Chisenhall, and the Twins claiming C.J. Cron, then (11:20) talk to Bill Rowe, official baseball advisor for the film Twilight, about how he helped make the movie’s depiction of vampire baseball look (more) realistic, where and how the scene was filmed, the actors’ (lack of) athleticism, what real vampire baseball would look like, the cultural significance of the scene, why he stopped playing minor league ball and switched to show business, his baseball work on Calvin Marshall, Leverage, and Portlandia, his two College World Series wins at Oregon State University, analytics at the college level, and more.

Audio intro: The Band, "Twilight"
Audio interstitial 1: Lou Reed, "Set the Twilight Reeling"
Audio interstitial 2: Elliott Smith, "Twilight"
Audio outro: Electric Light Orchestra, "Twilight"

Link to Jeff’s Cron post
Link to episode with baseball coordinator from Pitch and Moneyball
Link to Twilight scene
Link to Vulture post on Twilight
Link to baseball scene oral history
Link to EW Secret Santa sign-up

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about minor-league pay, the surprising prospect past of Neil Walker, and the impending posting and pitching of NPB star Yusei Kikuchi. Then (13:43) they bring on Cubs Double-A outfielder Connor Myers to discuss his offseason job as a UPS driver, his baseball bonus and salary, making ends meet on a minor-league salary, mental skills, conditions with the Cubs, playing with Kris Bryant, being tracked by technology at both of his jobs, and more. Lastly (43:27), FanGraphs writer and author of The Cooperstown Casebook Jay Jaffe joins to preview Hall of Fame voting season, including newcomers (Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, Andy Pettitte, Todd Helton), holdovers (Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Omar Vizquel, Gary Sheffield, Scott Rolen, Billy Wagner), the changing electorate, the new Cooperstown pitching baseline, and candidates from the Today’s Game ballot (Lee Smith, George Steinbrenner).

Audio intro: Jeff Buckley, "What Will You Say"
Audio interstitial 1: Elvis Costello & The Imposters, "The Delivery Man"
Audio interstitial 2: The Glands, "Possibilities"
Audio outro: The Black Angels, "Haunting at 1300 McKinley"

Link to story about phantom big leaguers
Link to Jeff’s Kikuchi post
Link to previous episode on minor-league pay
Link to Jay’s HoF preview post
Link to list of HoF-eligible hitters
Link to list of HoF-eligible pitchers
Link to Jay’s Today’s Game ballot intro post
Link to Ben on Halladay
Link to Ben on Smoltz vs. Mussina vs. Schilling
Link to Ben on support for Bonds and Clemens
Link to Mussina video
Link to EW Secret Santa sign-up

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about a Willians Astudillo strikeout (and Astudillo vs. other, more highly-touted Twins), the team-switching saga of Oliver Drake, and the singular skill of Nathan Eovaldi, then answer listener emails about changing the game to appeal to non-fans, the value of base-stealing, the odds of seeing gear from every team at one game, Allen Cordoba and the aftermath of the 2017 Padres’ Rule 5 extravaganza, Gareth Morgan and the highest strikeout rates, adjusting stats for the times-through-the-order effect, and modern pitcher usage compared to the gig economy, plus a Stat Blast about Derek Dietrich and the hitters with the highest hit-by-pitch rates.

Audio intro: Neko Case & Her Boyfriends, "Thanks a Lot"
Audio outro: Chris Thile, "Thanks for Listening"

Link to Jeff’s Eovaldi post
Link to Jeff’s Dietrich post
Link to Ben’s Padres Rule 5 post
Link to Shakeia Taylor on White Sox caps
Link to EW Secret Santa sign-up

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Tommy Milone and Willians Astudillo, Bryce Harper‘s awful fielding in 2018, two more examples of percentages greater than 100, and Adrian Beltre’s retirement and atypical, incredible career, then (23:34) bring on new FanGraphs managing editor Meg Rowley to talk about both sides of the Yankees-Mariners James Paxton trade, how good Paxton is, the Mariners’ future, the definition of acehood, and a few aspects of her new job, including anxiety about covering breaking news, the difficulty of replacing writers who get hired by teams, the balance between stats stuff and non-stats stuff, common writing pitfalls, representing (and extending opportunities to) women in a male-oriented industry, weekday vs. weekend website traffic, balancing writing and editing, and more.

Audio intro: Franz Ferdinand, "Darts of Pleasure"
Audio interstitial: Camera Obscura, "James"
Audio outro: Jerry Garcia & David Grisman, "Walkin’ Boss"

Link to Ben on Harper’s defense
Link to darts story
Link to Ben on Beltre
Link to Jeff on the Paxton trade
Link to EW Secret Santa sign-up

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about a big day for Willians Astudillo, the still-overlooked greatness of Anthony Rendon, the mystery of Jeff Mathis, John Middleton’s comments about the Phillies’ impending spending spree, and the Orioles hiring the Astros’ Mike Elias as their new GM. Then (26:50) they bring on outgoing FanGraphs managing editor Carson Cistulli to talk about how he got a job with the Blue Jays and what it will entail, his initial suspicion that the offer was a prank, his (low) level of confidence in his own abilities, how he’s managed to identify overlooked players, why teams are hiring a new type of writer, his feelings about leaving FanGraphs, why he gradually grew on the readers, and how his life will change.

Audio intro: The Zombies, "Moving On"
Audio interstitial: Iggy Pop, "I’m Going Away Smiling"
Audio outro: Gord Downie, "Christmastime in Toronto"

Link to R.J. on Mathis
Link to Sam on Mathis vs. Napoli
Link to Sam on Mathis vs. Napoli again
Link to Carson’s first FanGraphs post
Link to Carson’s Fringe Five results summary
Link to Carson’s 2018 Fringe Five results
Link to Carson’s farewell post
Link to listener’s extra-effort visualization
Link to EW Secret Santa sign-up

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Willians Astudillo‘s current strikeout-less streak, a few more people who gave much more than 100 percent, and end-of-season-award voting, including Mike Trout’s showing in the AL MVP race, Jacob deGrom and pitchers as MVPs, and why Jeff voted for Justin Verlander for AL Cy Young over victor Blake Snell. Then (27:50) they talk to FanGraphs writers Eric Longenhagen and Craig Edwards about the site’s recent work on prospects and scouting, including how and why we put dollar values on prospects, the value of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., how scouting and player development are changing and making public prospect ranking harder, farm-system rankings and the big gaps between teams, what types of prospects public lists tend to overrate, whether the Padres system is historic, and more, plus the significance of MLB’s new national broadcast deal.

Audio intro: The Whigs, "Hundred / Million"
Audio interstitial: Guided By Voices, "Vote for Me Dummy"
Audio outro: The Replacements, "Love You Till Friday"

Link to Astudillo stats
Link to “one million percent” story
Link to Jeff’s Verlander post
Link to Craig’s prospect-valuation post
Link to Craig’s farm-system rankings
Link to Craig’s positional-bias post
Link to Eric and Kiley’s scouting primer post
Link to Sam’s romance-novel post
Link to EW Secret Santa sign-up

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Jose Altuve and other players claiming to give (much) more than 100 percent and Joe Mauer‘s retirement and Hall of Fame case, then answer listener emails about Shohei Ohtani’s future role, whether Mike Trout could go contact-for-contact with Willians Astudillo, a baseball romance novel, winning a World Series MVP award without hitting, whether improved pitcher hitting could correct the so-called strikeout scourge, a 60-WAR season vs. 60 one-WAR seasons (and the theoretical single-season WAR maximum), the effects of bigger bases, and teams with no “qualifying” pitchers, plus a Stat Blast about Mallex Smith and the hitters who’ve sprinted their way to extra offensive value.

Audio intro: Ken Ashcorp, "20 Percent Cooler"
Audio outro: Manny, "210 Percent"

Link to Jay’s Mauer post
Link to story on the 1957 A’s
Link to Sam on the ERA title innings minimum

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about a Carter Capps-like cricket bowler, another Scott Boras nautical analogy, the latest Mariners-Rays trade (this time involving Mike Zunino, Guillermo Heredia, and Mallex Smith), how fans felt about the 2018 season, and a Twitter kerfuffle caused by comments made by Bill James, then (31:19) bring on former major leaguer F.P. Santangelo to discuss the ins and outs of sign-stealing and pitch-tipping, peeking at the catcher, headsets on the field, playing with Barry Bonds, his memories of the Expos and thoughts on Montreal as a baseball city, playing several positions, getting hit by a high number of pitches, career longevity, and more.

Audio intro: The Avett Brothers, "Signs"
Audio interstitial: The Thrills, "Don’t Steal Our Sun"
Audio outro: Dave Clark & Friends, "Signs"

Link to cricket delivery
Link to Jeff’s post on the Mariners-Rays trade
Link to Jeff’s post about fan sentiment

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the possibility of the Mariners selling and what a Jerry Dipoto-led rebuild would look like, the Yankees’ CC Sabathia signing and GM Brian Cashman’s comments about the luxury tax, scenes from the GM meetings, the Giants hiring Farhan Zaidi from the Dodgers, and Lance McCullers presumably pitching hurt and having Tommy John surgery, then conduct their annual free agent contracts over/under draft and World Series odds movers draft.

Audio intro: Blondie, "Will Anything Happen"
Audio outro: Big Thief, "Vegas"

Link to EW competitions and drafts sheet
Link to MLBTR’s FA contract predictions
Link to October Bovada World Series odds

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Willians Astudillo‘s 2019 Steamer projections and turnover in the Astros front office and field staff, then (13:17) bring on Arnie Pollinger and Robin Perlow, husband and wife administrators of the 40-year-old SOMBILLA Strat-O-Matic league, to talk about the origins of the league, playing Strat on their first date, league rivalries, how they’ve kept the group together for so long, keeping track of past performance, how Strat has enhance their appreciation of baseball, pace of play, and the beginning of the league’s latest season. Then (41:16) they bring on EW listener and A’s fan Chris Rankin to ask him many probing questions about why he recently elected to get Khris Davis‘s .247 batting averages and Matt Chapman’s 2018 Defensive Runs Saved total tattooed on his wrists, and the possible ramifications of that decision. Lastly, Ben brings on Baseball Prospectus co-founder, Ringer colleague, and dermatologist Rany Jazayerli (1:04:29) to put a bow on both preceding segments by explaining whether Chris could conceivably remove his tattoos and how Strat taught him how to analyze baseball, followed by updates on Roger Angell and the minor-league free agent draft.

Audio intro: Clem Snide, "Weird"
Audio interstitial: The Rolling Stones, "Tumbling Dice"
Audio interstitial 2: Simon Love, "(Why’d You Get That) Tattoo Girl?"
Audio interstitial 3: Golden Earring, "Save Your Skin"
Audio outro: Dawes, "A Little Bit of Everything"

Link to 2019 Steamer projections
Link to SOMBILLA website
Link to photo of Chris’s tattoos
Link to Rany’s Strat-O-Matic article
Link to Roger Angell article
Link to .247 shirt

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