Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Effectively Wild community’s Secret Santa exchange beginning again, a new podcast featuring former EW guest (and oldest former living player) Eddie Robinson, and two more Scott Boras quotes, then reflect further on Kim Ng’s hiring and review listeners’ responses to a recent podcast discussion about picking a new rule to differentiate MLB’s leagues. Then (44:32) they talk to 15-year-old Canadian pitcher Raine Padgham about throwing 83 miles per hour, playing with and against boys, her origin story as a player, gaining velocity and protecting her arm, pink hair, and her aspirations to play professionally.

Audio intro: Ben Kweller, "The Rules"
Audio interstitial: Stevie Nicks, "Listen to the Rain"
Audio outro: David Crosby, "Other Half Rule"

Link to EW Secret Santa
Link to Eddie Robinson’s podcast
Link to Eddie Robinson interview episode
Link to Boras interview
Link to Rachael on Kim Ng’s hiring
Link to Raine’s 83 mph pitch
Link to Raine’s website
Link to Raine’s YouTube channel
Link to article about Raine’s pitch
Link to second article about Raine’s pitch
Link to third article about Raine’s pitch
Link to 2019 article about Raine
Link to 2017 article about Raine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about Representative Cedric Richmond’s retirement from the Congressional Baseball Game after a Ruthian two-way career, discuss Theo Epstein stepping down from the Cubs (and at least temporarily leaving baseball) and Robinson Canó getting suspended for the entire 2021 season after testing positive for steroid use, and share a Stat Blast about the first ever-LOOGY.

Audio intro: The Nerves, "Working Too Hard"
Audio outro: Chance The Rapper, "Same Drugs"

Link to Nathaniel on the Congressional Baseball Game
Link to Nathaniel’s EW interview episode
Link to Tom Verducci on Theo
Link to Joe Posnanski on Theo
Link to Theo’s farewell letter
Link to Theo’s comment on aesthetics
Link to 2016 EW discussion about Theo
Link to story about Cubs layoffs
Link to story about Dodgers layoffs
Link to Jay Jaffe on Canó’s suspension
Link to Ken Rosenthal on Canó’s suspension
Link to story about 2020 PED testing
Link to Ben on Canó’s 2018 suspension
Link to Geoff Baker on Canó’s 2018 suspension
Link to the Boston Globe on PED pressures
Link to THT article on the origins of the LOOGY
Link to Ben on LOOGYs and the three-batter minimum

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley reflect on the fact that it took a former player to hire Kim Ng as MLB’s first woman general manager, follow up on the unwritten rules controversy surrounding Kyuji Fujikawa’s final out, and evaluate two recent statements by Scott Boras, then (24:07) bring on Baseball Prospectus’s Patrick Dubuque and FanGraphs’ Dan Szymborski to discuss whether baseball is “solved,” how sabermetrics has benefited and broken baseball both economically and tactically, and whether its effects were foreseeable, and preview how the shortened season has altered 2021 ZiPS projections and the 2021 Baseball Prospectus annual.

Audio intro: Lone Justice, "Soap, Soup and Salvation"
Audio interstitial: Field Music, "Choosing Numbers"
Audio outro: Neil Young, "Too Far Gone"

Link to Joe Sheehan on Kim Ng
Link to article about Fujikawa
Link to Fujikawa’s tweet
Link to source of first Boras quote
Link to source of second Boras quote
Link to Patrick on baseball being solved
Link to Patrick on transactions
Link to Ben on the Overwatch meta
Link to Ben on the Overwatch meta again
Link to Dan’s 2021 ZiPS primer
Link to preorder Baseball Prospectus 2021
Link to Meg on Hang Up and Listen

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Marlins hiring Kim Ng and the significance of Ng becoming MLB’s first woman GM, the Angels hiring Perry Minasian and the team’s ownership issues, Kyuji Fujikawa and an NPB unwritten rule, Ryan Tepera’s accidental MVP vote, and how FanGraphs readers feel about 2020’s new rules, plus a Stat Blast about Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, and the most prolific putout tandems in MLB history. Then (43:30) they talk to The Athletic’s Eno Sarris and former MLB pitcher David Aardsma about MLB’s problem with pitchers using banned foreign substances, touching on how foreign substances help, how prevalent they are, Aardsma’s personal experience with foreign substances, how players learn to use them, whether getting a better grip really helps hitters’ safety, Trevor Bauer’s possibly substance-enhanced Cy Young award, whether sticky stuff will be baseball’s next big scandal, what MLB can do to address its widespread rule-breaking behavior, the future of player development, and more.

Audio intro: Imperial Teen, "The First"
Audio interstitial: Della Mae, "It’s About Time"
Audio outro: Courtney Barnett, "Kim’s Caravan"

Link to Lindsey Adler on Kim Ng
Link to Christina Kahrl on the first woman GM
Link to Christina Kahrl interview episode
Link to Rosenthal’s report on Minasian
Link to Bill Shaikin on Moreno’s ownership
Link to Fujikawa unwritten rules story
Link to video of Saito’s last batter
Link to story about Mantle and McLain
Link to Tepera explanation
Link to Tepera tweet
Link to Jay Jaffe’s rules survey results
Link to putout tandems data
Link to Ben on foreign substances
Link to Eno on foreign substances
Link to Rob Arthur on foreign substances
Link to Eno on Bauer’s 2018 experiment
Link to Defector on Bauer’s 2020
Link to Pineda ejection video
Link to Angels foreign substance lawsuit story
Link to article about Blue Jays layoffs

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about Marcus Stroman accepting the qualifying offer and tweeting about Tony La Russa, what the AL Cy Young voting says about the Dodgers, and the singular greatness of the 2014-15 Royals, then answer listener emails about Noodles Hahn and how quickly former star players get forgotten, whether there should be three winners of each award in 2020, and proposed rules that could distinguish the AL from the NL in the post-pitcher hitting era (and whether it’s desirable to differentiate the leagues), plus a Stat Blast about a quirk in the MLB rulebook concerning rule 6.07 (the one about batting out of order).

Audio intro: Sloan, "Marcus Said"
Audio outro: John Lee Hooker, "I’m Leaving"

Link to Stroman’s comments on La Russa
Link to Sam’s ranking of NLCS team trades
Link to FiveThirtyEight on the 2014-15 Royals
Link to The Athletic article on the Hosmer play
Link to video of Hosmer play
Link to Ben on combining the Orioles and Royals
Link to Bill Hands interview episode
Link to Noodles Hahn book passage
Link to story about Bellinger and Seinfeld
Link to Conan O’Brien interview

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about Jeff Luhnow’s lawsuit against the Astros and Max Muncy’s and Joe Kelly’s comments about MLB’s permeable postseason quasi-bubble, then conduct their sixth annual free-agent-contract over/under draft.

Audio intro: The Clash, "All the Young Punks (New Boots and Contracts)"
Audio outro: The Electric Prunes, "Sold to the Highest Bidder"

Link to L.A. Times Luhnow lawsuit story
Link to The Athletic Luhnow lawsuit story
Link to Muncy’s comments about Turner
Link to Kelly’s comments about Turner
Link to MLB Trade Rumors’ top 50 free agents ranking
Link to FanGraphs’ top 50 free agents ranking
Link to Jay Jaffe on the crowded shortstop market
Link to EW drafts and competitions spreadsheet

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Ben Lindbergh and guest co-host Steven Goldman of Baseball Prospectus banter about MLB’s Friday news dump, covering the Red Sox hiring Alex Cora, the Mets cleaning house in the front office and the potential for new owner Steve Cohen to be baseball’s offseason spending savior, and the league announcing that it wouldn’t discipline the Dodgers’ Justin Turner for his behavior after World Series Game 6. Then (27:56) they talk to pitching coach and journalist Brian Vikander, a co-author of the new biography Dalko: The Untold Story of Baseball’s Fastest Pitcher, about the fact and fiction surrounding Steve Dalkowski, the reputed hardest thrower in history, who never made the majors but left a confounding and fascinating legacy.

Audio intro: The Who, "Break the News"
Audio interstitial: Shoes, "Nowhere So Fast"
Audio outro: The Lemonheads, "Steve’s Boy"

Link to MLB’s Red Sox sign-stealing decision
Link to Jay Jaffe on the Cora hiring
Link to Craig Edwards on advice for Steve Cohen
Link to Ben Clemens on the Mets’ offense
Link to official statements about Turner
Link to L.A. Times story on Dodgers’ COVID cases
Link to Dalko website
Link to Steve Goldman on Dalkowski
Link to Craig Wright on Dalkowski
Link to Joe Posnanski on Dalkowski
Link to John Eisenberg on Dalkowski
Link to Dom Amore on Dalkowski
Link to The Infinite Inning podcast
Link to study on the southpaw advantage
Link to article on the physics of rising fastballs

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the status of the designated hitter and answer a listener email with a Stat Blast about hitters who’ve homered from every spot in the lineup, then (23:11) bring on Cleveland life skills coordinator Jen Wolf to talk about her career path in baseball, what a life skills coordinator for an MLB team does, how her work with players has differed from the norm this year because of the pandemic, the group text she started for women working in baseball operations, the progress women have made in the MLB workforce, the obstacles and challenges they continue to face, how to improve the pipeline of candidates and encourage the league and teams to hire more diverse candidates, and much more.

Audio intro: Other Lives, "We Wait"
Audio interstitial: Math and Physics Club, "In This Together"
Audio outro: Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording), "Wait for It"

Link to Passan’s DH report
Link to Ben on the DH
Link to Adam’s home run research
Link to New York Times article on Jen’s group text
Link to Jen’s LinkedIn page
Link to Professor Manning’s Baseball/American Society course
Link to MLB Diversity Fellowship Program
Link to non-cis men in baseball group

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley remind their audience to vote, then banter about this year’s selection of qualifying offers and what the Rays declining Charlie Morton’s option for 2021 signifies for the free-agent market (if anything) before answering listener emails about front-office parity and what teams can do to differentiate themselves from each other, and what pitchers could do to diminish the times-through-the-order effect. Then (45:15) Ben talks to former major leaguer Clay Bellinger about getting the call to the big leagues at age 30, winning three World Series rings in his four years in the majors, watching his son Cody Bellinger win a World Series, the similarities between the dynasty Yankees and the kinda-dynasty Dodgers, when he knew Cody was a special player, becoming a firefighter, and more.

Audio intro: Paul McCartney, "Do it Now"
Audio interstitial: Gillian Welch, "Red Clay Halo"
Audio outro: The Psychedelic Furs, "President Gas"

Link to Vote.org
Link to Ben on the concerning offseason
Link to FanGraphs’ free agent rankings
Link to Jay Jaffe on qualifying offers
Link to Ben Clemens on Morton
Link to research on pitch types and the TTO penalty
Link to Ben on bullpenning and the TTO penalty
Link to Ben’s autographed Bellinger ball
Link to Bellinger’s catch in the 2000 World Series
Link to article on Clay watching Cody’s catch

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss the industry-shocking rehiring of Tony La Russa as the manager of the Chicago White Sox nine years after La Russa’s last managerial job and the Detroit Tigers’ hiring of A.J. Hinch immediately after the end of his sign-stealing suspension, then anticipate what could be an ominous offseason.

Audio intro: Silver Jews, "I’m Getting Back into Getting Back into You"
Audio outro: Stars, "Reunion"

Link to James Fegan on La Russa
Link to Michael Baumann on La Russa
Link to La Russa on Tatis
Link to La Russa on Kaepernick
Link to La Russa on Jones
Link to Ben on La Russa’s opener experiment
Link to FanGraphs’ free agent rankings
Link to Evan Drellich on the offseason
Link to Drellich on MLB layoffs
Link to stream Stove League

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