Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s embarrassing use of a definite article, the latest non-developments in the MLB-MLBPA CBA discussions, the career and retirement of Ryan Zimmerman, a rejected extension offer to the new Nationals franchise player, Juan Soto, a digital recreation of Truist Park and what “the metaverse” means, the outcome of the Erik Kay trial, MLB aiming to downsize the minor leagues more, a baseball rule proposal known as “The Scramble,” and a listener email about what an eccentric billionaire would have to pay a player to retire.

Audio intro: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, “The Year 1812 Solemn Overture, Op. 49”
Audio outro: Albert Lortzing, “Zar und Zimmermann, Holzschuhtanz”

Link to latest report about bargaining
Link to Zimmerman’s walk-off homer
Link to story about Zimmerman and spring
Link to more on Zimmerman and spring
Link to Zimmerman’s announcement
Link to report about Soto
Link to BP piece about the Nationals
Link to Truist press release
Link to Truist SBJ story
Link to Snow Crash on the metaverse
Link to WaPo on the metaverse
Link to The Ringer on the metaverse
Link to ESPN on the Kay verdict
Link to ESPN Daily episode on Kay
Link to 2019 JDA update
Link to Passan story on minor leaguers
Link to HUAL “Scramble” episode
Link to episode with NPB hypothetical

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Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Baseball Prospectus editor-in-chief Craig Goldstein discuss the owners’ latest CBA counterproposal, why analyzing Competitive Balance Tax surcharges isn’t exactly riveting, where the owners and players are still furthest apart, why the deadlock is about money—and not even that much money—more so than structural change, MLB’s argument for not paying minor leaguers during spring training, ethical consumption under capitalism, daydreaming about a better-run MLB, how and why some media members misrepresent the negotiations, how and when the lockout will end, and more.

Audio intro: Ty Segall, “Play”
Audio outro: The Avett Brothers, “Locked Up”

Link to Manfred transcript
Link to ESPN on the new proposal
Link to Jay Jaffe on the new proposal
Link to Heyman tweet
Link to report on Rosenthal and MLBN
Link to Drellich and Rosenthal report
Link to Emma’s Super Bowl tweet
Link to Emma on Manfred
Link to Sheehan’s latest newsletter
Link to EW episode with Joe
Link to Marc Normandin on owner PR
Link to Craig on covering the lockout
Link to Craig’s podcast
Link to CJR on describing lies
Link to WaPo on describing lies
Link to WaPo on “both sides”
Link to WaPo on the media and Jan. 6
Link to Travis Sawchik on player pay
Link to The Athletic fan survey
Link to thread on competitive balance
Link to Polygon report about crunch
Link to story about Nordic countries
Link to EW episode on lockout harm
Link to Drellich on minor league pay
Link to Drellich on minor league lawsuit
Link to thread on minor league union
Link to Russell on minor league pay
Link to Passan report
Link to Moore quote

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Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Joe Sheehan of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter discuss MLB’s approach to promoting sports betting and concerns about the integrity of games, then go over some of the most common misconceptions and flawed arguments about MLB labor relations, economics, and competitive balance (plus a postscript about listener nominations for potential MLB multisport players).

Audio intro: Buffalo Springfield, “Everybody’s Wrong”
Audio outro: The Resonars, “The World is Wrong”

Link to Joe’s newsletter
Link to piece about betting promotion
Link to episode with Bradford and Meredith
Link to Bradford’s baseballs report
Link to tennis match-fixing wiki
Link to Rob Mains on owner incentives
Link to Rob on market size
Link to Craig Goldstein on labor language
Link to Travis Sawchik on player pay
Link to 1998 study on ticket prices and payrolls
Link to 2003 study on ticket prices and payrolls
Link to 2006 column on ticket prices and payrolls
Link to 2019 study on contracts and payrolls
Link to thread on competitive balance
Link to Evan Drellich on MLB’s counterproposal
Link to Michael Baumann on Manfred
Link to Ben on Lords of the Realm
Link to story about the Mets’ “Five Aces”
Link to multisport players draft
Link to Josh Harrison pickle story

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about baseball equivalents of a stat about the New York Nets’ former big three, review Rob Manfred’s comments to the press about the labor situation (with an emphasis on his assertion about MLB teams being bad investments), Stat Blast (29:05) about players who batted at the bottom of the order after hitting 300-plus homers, and (45:15) talk to Kenyon College economics professor Jaret Treber about what his and other economists’ research has revealed about the impact that work stoppages have had on attendance and revenue in sports.

Audio intro: Rollins Band, “Liar”
Audio interstitial: Rollins Band, “Liar”
Audio outro: Hinds, “Come Back and Love Me”

Link to tweet about the Nets
Link to Zach Kram on the Harden trade
Link to Ben on the Royals’ outfield
Link to Sam Miller on the Royals’ pen
Link to Ben on record in games with homer
Link to Manfred transcript
Link to Manfred summary
Link to Evan Drellich on Manfred
Link to franchise values data
Link to Travis Sawchik on franchise values
Link to Rob Mains on franchise values
Link to Michael Baumann on Manfred
Link to Stat Blast data
Link to story about Foxx beaning
Link to story about Foxx’s final season
Link to Chuck Klosterman’s book
Link to Ben on post-strike attendance
Link to Jaret’s faculty page
Link to Jaret’s paper

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley follow up on or banter about minor league free agent draftee reportedly Matt Shoemaker departing for the NPB, raising kids to root for one franchise, precedents for out-of-nowhere sports video game cover models, players nominated by listeners for the nickname “Three-and-Two,” the possible effects of MLB suspending drug testing during the lockout, and Mike Trout’s endearing recent social media activity, then (39:00) draft the MLB players they would most want to see play specific other sports.

Audio intro: Devin Davis, “Transcendental Sports Anthem”
Audio outro: Mattiel, “Athlete”

Link to Shoemaker news
Link to 2022 MiLB FA draft
Link to MLB The Show cover models
Link to Hillis story
Link to Sogard contest story
Link to drug testing story
Link to steroid effects story
Link to Trout sandwich tweet
Link to Trout snow GIF
Link to Trout snow video
Link to Matt Lisle video
Link to Trout’s reply
Link to Trout’s follow-up tweet
Link to Trout’s dunk comment
Link to ESPN on baseball athletes
Link to Trout football story
Link to Jones on Trout
Link to Sam on Hamilton
Link to article on Metcalf sprint
Link to The Athletic on Stallings
Link to Jason Mackey on Stallings
Link to SIS story on Stallings
Link to story on gigantic goalies
Link to jai alai video
Link to World Chase Tag wiki
Link to World Chase Tag video
Link to Pokémon story

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the latest lockout stalemate and how to decide where to lay blame, a changing of the umpirial guard in which Joe West (finally) leaves and John Libka enters, and whether there could be an MLB equivalent of the NFL’s current tanking scandal, then answer listener emails about watching baseball during the playoffs, whether to raise a child to root for the Yankees or Red Sox, the root of Hall of Fame culture, the criteria for becoming a baseball cover model, a foul-tip rule, and identifying MLB players without their identifying features, plus (1:11:54) Stat Blasts about home run trees, the modern equivalent of “Three-and-Two Jack” Graney, and whether MLB adheres to the Pareto Principle.

Audio intro: Sloan, “Laying Blame”
Audio outro: Boat, “I Believe in the Principle”

Link to Evan Drellich’s latest
Link to MLBPA statement
Link to MLB statement
Link to AP lockout piece
Link to player tweets collection
Link to Emma on players and social media
Link to umpires press release
Link to story about umpires and age
Link to another story about umpires and age
Link to Umpire Scorecards leaderboard
Link to Libka episode wiki
Link to story on Flores lawsuit
Link to Hue Jackson tanking story
Link to Joe Posnanski on the Browns tanking
Link to story on tanking and the NFL draft
Link to Shakeia Taylor EW interview
Link to Posnanski on the Hall of Fame
Link to Lawrence Taylor story
Link to another LT story
Link to MLB rulebook
Link to foul-tip thread
Link to EW’s Trout hypotheticals
Link to home run trees info
Link to “Three-and-Two Jack” story
Link to 3-2 count leaderboard
Link to Pareto principle wiki
Link to Pareto principle post
Link to combined WAR leaderboard
Link to Travis Sawchik salary research
Link to Ben Clemens on Super Two
Link to Clemens on arbitration

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Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and FanGraphs writer Dan Szymborski briefly set aside the lockout blues to discuss the current state of rosters and projected standings, touching on how the talent still available via free agency compares to previous offseasons at the same stage, how the division races stack up today, the weakest-projected team positions, the best-projected players, the teams that have the most and least to do when the transaction freeze finally thaws, and much more.

Audio intro: The Cranberries, “Astral Projections”
Audio outro: XTC, “Burning With Optimism’s Flames”

Link to Dan’s 2022 ZiPS intro
Link to Dan’s team ZiPS series
Link to ZiPS player projections
Link to projected NL standings post
Link to projected AL standings post
Link to Dan’s 2021 hitter breakout picks
Link to Dan’s 2021 pitcher breakout picks
Link to Dan’s 2020 team projections review
Link to Dan’s 2020 hitter projections review
Link to Dan’s 2020 pitcher projections review
Link to Ben Clemens on Cardinals consistency
Link to Jeff Passan on the labor situation
Link to Evan Drellich on the labor situation

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley ask their audience how to handle their team preview podcast series with the resolution of the lockout still in doubt, then banter about Shohei Ohtani becoming the cover model for MLB The Show 22, “Big Boss” Tsuyoshi Shinjo pioneering a new model of major league manager for the Nippon Ham Fighters, and the alternate-timeline MLB career of former Expos draftee Tom Brady. Then (44:19) they discuss what would be covered in an “Eleventh Inning” of Ken Burns’s Baseball if the documentarian made an update to cover the last 12 years.

Audio intro: Grateful Dead, “Big Boss Man”
Audio outro: Pinegrove, “11th hour”

Link to 2021 season preview series
Link to ESPN on labor deadlines
Link to story about Ohtani cover
Link to photo of “Big Boss”
Link to Shinjo’s latest outfit
Link to Shinjo’s ride
Link to Shinjo’s economic impact
Link to Kyodo News on Shinjo
Link to Jim Allen on Shinjo
Link to Allen on Shinjo again
Link to Jason Coskrey on Shinjo
Link to Brady’s retirement post
Link to Sportsnet on Brady and baseball
Link to SI on Brady and baseball
Link to ABC News on Brady and baseball
Link to Kevin Clark on Brady
Link to Burns on a sequel in 2010
Link to Burns on a sequel in 2013
Link to Burns on a sequel in 2021
Link to Ben on the team of the decade
Link to remastered/restored Baseball

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about one of Ben’s most laborious baseball-writing experiences, answer listener emails about playing MLB games at minor league affiliates’ parks, how scouting reports affect the times-through-the-order penalty, and what they would do if they discovered that Roberto Clemente had been credited with one hit too many, share a Stat Blast (36:20) about times when the best hitters in each league (and best pitchers in each league) played in the same city, and then (46:24) talk to Aidan Gruber about his website, MLB Trade Trees, which tracks and displays trade/transaction trees for every trade in AL/NL history.

Audio intro: Still Corners, “Into the Trees”
Audio interstitial: David Duchovny, “3000”
Audio outro: Pulp, “The Trees”

Link to FanGraphs redesign
Link to Ben’s trade trees article
Link to Ben Clemens on fastballs
Link to article on old stat changes
Link to article on Wilson’s RBI
Link to Craig on artificial scarcity
Link to video of Clemente’s hit
Link to Stat Blast hitter data
Link to Stat Blast pitcher data
Link to episode on lopsided trades
Link to Ben on Schilling trades
Link to Aidan’s Dybzinski post
Link to Dybzinski trade tree
Link to Stephens trade tree
Link to players traded for themselves
Link to Baseball Trade Values site
Link to Aidan’s code on GitHub
Link to contact Aidan
Link to MLB Trade Trees

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about FanGraphs adding fancy “photograph” technology and whether Dick Monfort is any better at collective bargaining than he is at running the Rockies, then discuss the pioneering lives and careers of 2022 Hall of Fame inductees/honorees Bud Fowler and Jack Graney and Graney’s dog mascot Larry, with detours into Yankees mascot Dandy, whether dogs are eligible for the Mascot Hall of Fame and, yes, whether bat boys and bat girls violate child labor laws.

Audio intro: The Midnight Club, “Dandy in the Underworld”
Audio outro: Lucinda Williams, “Fruits of My Labor”

Link to FanGraphs photo post
Link to FanGraphs redesign announcement
Link to Drellich’s Monfort story
Link to Freedman’s Monfort thread
Link to Nick Groke on the Rockies
Link to Pages from Baseball’s Past
Link to Fowler story
Link to Graney story
Link to Larry story
Link to Jack and Larry video
Link to Dandy story
Link to story about Bronxie the turtle
Link to Mascot Hall of Fame rules
Link to story about Butler’s Blue
Link to Arkansas Travelers mascot
Link to Mrs. Met wiki
Link to Portland Pickles tweet
Link to 2022 Child Entertainment Laws
Link to NYT bat boy labor story
Link to AP bat boy labor story
Link to WaPo bat boy labor story

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