Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley reconnect with former cohost Sam Miller to discuss what he’s been up to since he stopped working for ESPN in December 2020, how the 2021 Giants rekindled his fandom, the pros and cons of paying attention to projections, what (if anything) he’s missed about covering baseball professionally, his plans for the future, the virtues of trying new things, doing dishes, and more.

Audio intro: Donovan, “Skip-A-Long Sam”
Audio outro: Ohio Players, “Here Today and Gone Tomorrow”

Link to Sam on projections

 iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)
 Sponsor Us on Patreon
 Facebook Group
 Effectively Wild Wiki
 Twitter Account
 Get Our Merch!
 Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com

Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and FanGraphs writer Ben Clemens banter about a few details of MLB’s latest labor proposal to the players, the conclusion of and possible confounding factors behind a Bill James study about how switching teams affects a player’s chances of Hall of Fame induction, another historic hire of a woman in baseball, and a prospective “Lab League” logo, then (22:52) extend a cherished podcast tradition by conducting the ninth annual Effectively Wild Minor League Free Agent Draft, in which they select 10 minor league free agents each and compete to see whose roster will accumulate the most combined MLB playing time in 2022.

Audio intro: Ronnie Spector, “Try Some, Buy Some”
Audio outro: The Bens, “Stop!”

Link to CBA proposal details
Link to J.J. Cooper on the prospect proposal
Link to Bill James HoF study
Link to article about Red Sox hiring
Link to Lab League logo
Link to revamped Lab League logo
Link to MLB “duck” logo
Link to list of MiLB free agents
Link to Jeff on Shoemaker
Link to Bannister on Hill
Link to Castellani delivery
Link to Ben on pitcher deception
Link to EW competitions and drafts

 iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)
 Sponsor Us on Patreon
 Facebook Group
 Effectively Wild Wiki
 Twitter Account
 Get Our Merch!
 Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com

Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a bargaining meeting between MLB and the MLBPA that reportedly produced little progress toward a deal, the odds of a punctual start to the season, the retirement of Jon Lester and their lasting fascination with his pickoff-throw yips, a familiarity penalty for relievers who face the same team multiple times within a postseason series, what the mysteriously rapid decline of Jimmie Foxx says about the value of injury information that we generally lack, and the Atlantic League mound reverting to 60 feet, six inches, then answer listener emails about an NFL tie scenario and the zombie runner, active players as GMs, how long the podcast (and MLB) could survive a lockout, why the best catchers’ career WARs aren’t higher, whether player-managers could ever make a comeback, Shohei Ohtani’s satisfaction with the state of the sport, and changing the dimensions of a ballpark (like Camden Yards) to favor a certain group of players.

Audio intro: PUP, “Familiar Patterns”
Audio outro: The Posies, “Throwaway”

Link to CBA proposal details
Link to Jeff Sullivan on Lester
Link to August Fagerstrom on Lester
Link to Ben on Lester
Link to Lester’s bounce pass
Link to old Lester episodes
Link to old news Facebook group thread
Link to postseason reliever research
Link to regular-season reliever research
Link to Ben on postseason SP familiarity
Link to Pages from Baseball’s Past
Link to Craig Wright’s first Foxx story
Link to Craig’s second Foxx story
Link to study on injuries and exit velo
Link to Atlantic League press release
Link to story on the almost-tie scenario
Link to Barnwell on the almost-tie
Link to Rob Mahoney on the Lakers
Link to article about LeBron as GM
Link to Jeff on a baseball LeBron
Link to oral history of Verlander trade
Link to Emma on the Players’ League
Link catcher JAWS page
Link to Ben on catcher career standards
Link to Ohtani profile
Link to Ohtani photo thread
Link to Ohtani “10 Essentials” video
Link to story on Orioles fence move
Link to analysis of Orioles fence move
Link to Statcast park factors
Link to story on Veeck moving fences
Link to story on White Sox field move
Link to story on home run robberies
Link to story on ballpark homogenization
Link to “burn the boats” story

 iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)
 Sponsor Us on Patreon
 Facebook Group
 Effectively Wild Wiki
 Twitter Account
 Get Our Merch!
 Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com

Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Rachel Balkovec becoming the first female manager in affiliated ball, Genevieve Beacom making her pro debut in Australia, and other women breaking baseball boundaries, then (13:20) conclude their “Measuring the Unmeasurable” series about studying difficult-to-quantify aspects of the sport by bringing on Rob Arthur of Baseball Prospectus and Rockies catcher AJ Lewis to discuss Rob’s research into racial bias in scouting and player promotions, the lack of Black catchers in MLB, AJ’s catching career and experience with inner-city baseball programs, ways to promote African-American participation in baseball, the demands of playing catcher compared to playing other positions, and more. Then (48:27) they talk to Shakeia Taylor about a recent study about the demographics of MLB managers, the unique nature of Dusty Baker, her reporting about the “Selig Rule,” ways to improve front-office diversity (and the different types of diversity), the impact of sabermetrics on hiring decisions, what MLB could learn from other leagues, the catcher-to-manager pipeline, and her SABR interview series.

Audio intro: Tommy Tutone, “Rachel”
Audio interstitial: Son Volt, “Catching On”
Audio outro: A Tribe Called Quest, “Mind Power”

Link to Times story about Balkovec
Link to Beacom debut video
Link to Beacom video interview
Link to article about Beacom
Link to Sara Goodrum news
Link to Jaime Vieira story
Link to story about Becky Hammon
Link to Rob on bias in player promotions
Link to Rob on Black catchers
Link to Claire Smith on Black catchers
Link to Jared Diamond on Black catchers
Link to story about AJ
Link to story about Rockies signing AJ
Link to story about Moller
Link to AJ’s Instagram
Link to AJ’s Twitter
Link to Ben and Rob on scouting bias
Link to Bryant’s list of Black catchers
Link to Bryant on Maxwell
Link to story on Black player percentage
Link to Rob on manager demographics
Link to Shakeia’s website
Link to Shakeia’s feature
Link to Selig Rule change story
Link to Global Sport Institute study results
Link to “Rediscovering America’s Pastime”
Link to study on Black player drain
Link to story on youth baseball cost
Link to Ballpark Figures series

 iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)
 Sponsor Us on Patreon
 Facebook Group
 Effectively Wild Wiki
 Twitter Account
 Get Our Merch!
 Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com

Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley continue their “Measuring the Unmeasurable” series about studying difficult-to-quantify aspects of the sport by bringing on Rob Mains of Baseball Prospectus to banter about ESPN’s new Sunday Night Baseball broadcasting plans and discuss Rob’s studies about competitive balance, team mobility and inequality, starter vs. reliever performance, the magnitude and history of the times-through-the-order penalty, the universal DH, injuries, and more. Then (50:25) they bring on the pseudonymous author of research blog Hareeb’s Hangout to talk about the potential pitfalls of baseball analysis, how baseball analysis compares to esports analysis, his history of betting on baseball, his studies on the cause of the TTOP, reliever sequencing, valuing closers, and the difficulty of fielding pulled balls, the proprietary data he wishes he had, and his recent research interests.

Audio intro: Neko Case, “Bracing for Sunday”
Audio interstitial: Math and Physics Club, “All the Mains Are Down”
Audio outro: The Muffs, “Where Did I Go Wrong”

Link to ESPN SNB press release
Link to Rodger Sherman on the Manning broadcast
Link to The Press Box on the Manning broadcast
Link to Jason Benetti Nerdcast tweet
Link to Rob on pitching to contact
Link to Rob on small-market teams
Link to Rob on relievers vs. starters
Link to Craig Edwards on relievers vs. starters
Link to Travis Sawchik on relievers vs. starters
Link to Rob on pitching and payrolls
Link to Rob on the times-through-the-order penalty
Link to Rob on the TTOP again
Link to Rob on 2021 injuries
Link to Rob on the DH and interleague play
Link to Rob on the universal DH
Link to Rob on team mobility and inequality
Link to Rob on 2021 mobility inequality
Link to post on Rocket League and pitcher velocity
Link to post on Rocket League viewership
Link to second post on Rocket League viewership
Link to MTG Arena post
Link to post on regression and linear weights
Link to second post on regression/linear weights
Link to study on the TTOP
Link to other study on the TTOP
Link to study on repertoire and the TTOP
Link to study on reliever sequencing
Link to BP piece on reliever sequencing
Link to study on Wins Above Average Closer
Link to study on pulling the ball
Link to Tango’s response to study
Link to Tango on playing center vs. corners
Link to Eno Sarris on playing outfield corners
Link to Mike Petriello on outfielders and spin

 iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)
 Sponsor Us on Patreon
 Facebook Group
 Effectively Wild Wiki
 Twitter Account
 Get Our Merch!
 Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com

Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley continue their “Measuring the Unmeasurable” series about studying difficult-to-quantify aspects of the sport by talking to Patrick Brennan about his studies on assessing player development at the major and minor league levels, the challenges of evaluating player development, the data he wishes he had, the most and least successful player development organizations, his work as the director of analytics for the Kansas State baseball team, analyzing pitch sequencing, and his baseball ambitions. Then (34:32) they bring on Pitcher List’s Grant Washburn to discuss his metric for measuring unpurchased wins, Wins Below Replacement Ownership, the importance of having a good owner, the data he couldn’t include, the owners who spend the least on player payroll relative to revenue, why having a high payroll isn’t always enough, saying “the MLB,” and more.

Audio intro: Billy Joel, “A Minor Variation”
Audio interstitial: The Legal Matters, “Minor Key”
Audio outro: Aerosmith, “Eat the Rich”

Link to Patrick’s study on MiLB player dev
Link to Patrick’s study on MLB player dev
Link to first Driveline study on player dev value
Link to second Driveline study on player dev value
Link to article on Patrick’s work with Kansas State
Link to Patrick’s study on pitch sequencing
Link to Ben on college player development
Link to Grant’s WBRO study
Link to Grant’s WBRO data

 iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)
 Sponsor Us on Patreon
 Facebook Group
 Effectively Wild Wiki
 Twitter Account
 Get Our Merch!
 Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com

Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Fanatics purchasing Topps and MLB Network reportedly parting ways with Ken Rosenthal because of his criticism of Rob Manfred. Then (27:36) they kick off a series of episodes about measuring difficult-to-quantify aspects of the sport by talking to Cameron Grove about translating his study of astrophysics into baseball research, assessing pitchers’ stuff, the cause of the time through the order penalty, pitcher deception, catcher game-calling, tracking and analyzing pitchers’ motions from video, proprietary data he wishes he had, the behavior of the ball, and his baseball ambitions. Finally (1:12:00), they bring on Eric Chalek to explain how he developed Major League Equivalencies (MLEs) for Negro Leaguers and other pre-integration Black baseball players, how his MLEs help put those players’ careers in context, the challenge of assessing league quality, Josh Gibson’s and Satchel Paige’s MLEs, Cooperstown implications, and missing data.

Audio intro: Robert Plant, “Network News”
Audio interstitial 1: Jimi Hendrix, “Astro Man”
Audio interstitial 2: The New Pornographers, “Loose Translation”
Audio outro: The Delgados, “Ballad of Accounting”

Link to WSJ report on Fanatics/Topps
Link to EW episode about Fanatics/Topps
Link to report about Rosenthal and Manfred
Link to 2020 Rosenthal column
Link to Rosenthal tweet
Link to Cameron’s website
Link to DESI’s Wikipedia page
Link to Cameron’s pitch quality app
Link to Cameron’s TTOP tweet
Link to Cameron’s other TTOP tweet
Link to previous familiarity/fatigue research
Link to Cameron on pitcher workloads
Link to Ben on playoff familiarity
Link to Cameron on over/underperformers
Link to Cameron’s motion data
Link to Ben on pitching deception
Link to Cameron on game-calling
Link to Cameron on game-calling leaders
Link to Cameron on the ball’s behavior
Link to Alan Nathan on fly ball variation
Link to Cameron on umpiring difficulty
Link to Adam Darowski EW interview episode
Link to Adam’s interview with Eric
Link to 42 for 21 EW interview episode
Link to Eric’s 42 for 21 ballot
Link to Adam on post-integration stars
Link to Hall of Stats MLEs announcement
Link to Eric’s website
Link to Eric’s MLE method for hitters
Link to Eric’s MLE methods for pitchers

 iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)
 Sponsor Us on Patreon
 Facebook Group
 Effectively Wild Wiki
 Twitter Account
 Get Our Merch!
 Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com

Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss Ben’s decision regarding his Hall of Fame ballot, and how to handle Hall of Fame voting in the future. Then (38:05) they complete their series of discussions of Korean baseball drama Stove League by breaking down the last four episodes (13-16) and reflecting on the series as a whole.

Audio intro: Blood Red Shoes, “Count Me Out”
Audio outro: Sloan, “Your Dreams Have Come True”

Link to latest HoF election projection
Link to 2016 Ortiz comments
Link to 2020 Ortiz story
Link to first EW Stove League discussion
Link to second EW Stove League discussion
Link to third EW Stove League discussion
Link to Pengsoo Wikipedia page
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

 iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)
 Sponsor Us on Patreon
 Facebook Group
 Effectively Wild Wiki
 Twitter Account
 Get Our Merch!
 Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com

Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the retirement of Kyle Seager and the lockout implications of a recent report about player payrolls, then discuss an assortment of listener-nominated, team-centric topics that they had previously overlooked on the podcast in 2021.

Audio intro: Spooky Tooth, “Kyle”
Audio outro: Hockey Dad, “I Missed Out”

Link to list of most HR in final season
Link to Seager ovation video
Link to payroll report
Link to story about Ryu and Manoah
Link to Korean story on Ryu and Manoah
Link to Blooper/Duvall video
Link to more Blooper/Duvall videos
Link to Romine/Romine story
Link to Casali story
Link to second Casali story
Link to Flexen story
Link to Lindor/McNeil report
Link to Zimmerman ovation video
Link to story on Harrison’s taunting
Link to Suárez FanGraphs post
Link to story on Cruz callup
Link to Cruz highlights video
Link to Mauer/Morneau hockey video
Link to FanGraphs post on Robert
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

 iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)
 Sponsor Us on Patreon
 Facebook Group
 Effectively Wild Wiki
 Twitter Account
 Get Our Merch!
 Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com

Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about their holidays, how the omicron variant is affecting sports and personal decisions, and how analyzing COVID case counts is (kind of) akin to analyzing baseball stats, discuss the pace and prominence of signings of former major leaguers by KBO and NPB teams, the results of 2021 interleague play, and Shohei Ohtani’s showing in a New York Times quiz about notable people from this year, and answer listener emails about minor league signings during the lockout, Ohtani’s Hall of Fame chances, redrafting Derek Jeter or Ichiro Suzuki, and an evolving Hall of Fame, plus a Stat Blast (1:22:30) about how long it took for every player from given MLB games to leave the league for good.

Audio intro: Vince Guaraldi, “The Great Pumpkin Waltz”
Audio outro: John Williams, “Duel of the Fates”

Link to Will Leitch on omicron and sports
Link to thread on omicron and boosters
Link to story on the week after Christmas
Link to MLBTR’s KBO posts
Link to MLBTR’s NPB posts
Link to Phantom Menace duel video
Link to Tom Tango’s league quality post
Link to year-by-year interleague records
Link to Russell Carleton on interleague records
Link to Rob Mains on interleague records
Link to Rob on NL DHs in 2022
Link to 2016 interleague roundtable podcast
Link to NYT notable people quiz
Link to Ohtani’s AP award
Link to story on Astros drafting Jeter
Link to Ichiro’s high school hitting appearance
Link to Ichiro’s high school pitching appearance
Link to Stat Blast inspiration thread
Link to 2014 Stat Blast game
Link to 2013 Stat Blast game
Link to 1945 Stat Blast game
Link to 1906 Stat Blast game
Link to 2009 Stat Blast game
Link to Drake LaRoche retrospective
Link to 2006 Stat Blast game
Link to 1949 Stat Blast game
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

 iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)
 Sponsor Us on Patreon
 Facebook Group
 Effectively Wild Wiki
 Twitter Account
 Get Our Merch!
 Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com

Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS