Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about a new nautical analogy by Scott Boras, the resurgent Lucas Giolito, Ronald Acuña (again), and possible destinations for free agents Alex Cobb and Greg Holland, then preview the 2018 Blue Jays (15:00) with Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, and the 2018 Pirates (46:48) with MLB.com’s Adam Berry.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Willians Astudillo’s day in the spotlight, Carter Capps’s new look, and Minor League Baseball’s new pace/length-of-play rules, follow up on previous discussions of spring-training celebrations and ground-bound players, and answer listener emails about a front-office saboteur, Steve Carlton’s incredible career balk total, the predictiveness of second-half performance, Ronald Acuña’s next triumph (and the cost of a lifetime Acuña contract), David Price’s opt-out, the strange statistical profile of Hall of Fame pitcher Ted Lyons, how a young Frank Thomas would have hit in the uppercut era, and two official-scoring quandaries, plus multiple Stat Blasts about Pi-themed players and games.

Audio intro: The Who, "Don’t Look Away"
Audio outro: Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Don’t Look Now"

Link to Jeff’s article about Willians Astudillo’s no-look pickoff
Link to GIF of Carter Capps
Link to article about the history of balks

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On a Bay Area edition of EW’s season-preview series, Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the resolution of their free-agent-contracts draft, the Lance Lynn, Neil Walker, and Jake Arrieta signings, the offseason market in review, and a Stephen Hawking baseball connection, then preview the 2018 Giants (32:07) with SB Nation’s Grant Brisbee, and the 2018 Athletics (1:07:20) with the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the odd odds of Jason Heyward opting out, the Mike Moustakas and Carlos Gonzalez contracts, the origins of shifting, the always-all-out Noah Syndergaard, Shohei Ohtani, and a non-throwing outfielder follow-up, then preview the 2018 Diamondbacks (38:46) with AZCentral Sports’ Nick Piecoro, and the 2018 Brewers (1:14:14) with The Frosty Mug’s Kyle Lobner.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the Rays’ latest Tommy John surgery victim and the team’s potential plans for a four-man rotation, players’ decreasing IP and PA totals, exhibition-game walk-off celebrations, Marlins spring-training invitees, and Jon Lester’s new bounce pass to first base, then answer listener emails about lower-level clutchness, how quickly changes to the ball would be noticed, Shohei Ohtani’s underrated offensive ability, how teams could spend their way out of scrutiny by the Players Association, whether teams should swap outfielders in certain parks, how much MLB might expand in the future, Jason Heyward opt-out scenarios, a non-throwing Mike Trout, the value of a player who doesn’t fly for road trips, and how much experience helps players, plus a Stat Blast about league-wide spring-training rates so far.

Audio intro: Shout Out Louds, "Four By Four"
Audio outro: The Posies, "That Don’t Fly"

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Ichiro Suzuki’s return to Seattle, Neil Walker’s perplexing unemployment, the unreliability of bullpens, Anthony Gose’s extremely rough start to spring training, and Kyle Jensen’s extremely hot start to spring training, then preview the 2018 Angels (20:44) with The Athletic Los Angeles’s Pedro Moura, and the 2018 Phillies (51:19) with The Athletic Philadelphia’s Meghan Montemurro.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Justin Verlander’s contribution to the juiced-balls debate, home runs, and a frank Justin Upton interview about how teams treat players, then preview the 2018 Cardinals (27:08) with FanGraphs’ Craig Edwards, and the 2018 Braves (57:28) with broadcaster Grant McAuley.

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In a bonus, non-team-preview episode, Ben Lindbergh talks to FiveThirtyEight’s Rob Arthur about his new research into the changing construction of the baseball and its possible effect on the rising home-run rate. Then Ben talks to trailblazing baseball researcher Tom Shieber, the senior curator at the Hall of Fame and a recent recipient of SABR’s Henry Chadwick Award, about his origins as a researcher, his pictorial deep dives into baseball’s past, and the Hall of Fame’s artifact archive.

Audio intro: John Lennon, "Crippled Inside"
Audio interstitial: Sloan, "What’s Inside"
Audio outro: Buzzcocks, "Hollow Inside"

Link to Rob Arthur’s article about the baseball
Link to 2018 Henry Chadwick Award announcement
Link to Tom Shieber’s Baseball Researcher blog
Link to Ben’s article about baseball in Elementary
Link to Larry Granillo’s article about baseball in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the Rangers’ Tim Lincecum signing, the Phillies’ corner-outfield experiment, and the Royals’ Lucas Duda signing, then follow up on a knuckleball question and answer listener emails about relievers’ and starters’ quality of opponents, an Albert Pujols basestealing challenge, the post-signing aging patterns of free agents, a Rusney Castillo hypothetical, surprising 2018 team projections, an opt-out what-if, teams trading places in divisions, time-traveling players as advanced-stat ambassadors, hand-picking the best three true outcomes, and two Waxahachie Swap scenarios, plus a Stat Blast about Billy Burns and extreme pop-up rates.

Audio intro: The San Francisco Sports Band, "Tim Lincecum"
Audio outro: Waxahatchee, "Never Been Wrong"

Link to article about the Phillies’ outfield experiment
Link to Russell Carleton article about corner-outfield swapping
Link to Russell Carleton article about the Waxahachie Swap

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the Logan Morrison signing and the Twins’ potent lineup, the Rays’ potentially lucrative new TV deal, and two tidbits from a game played in 1870, then preview the 2018 Red Sox (19:49) with The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, and the 2018 Reds (55:47) with The Athletic Cincinnati’s C. Trent Rosecrans.

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