Ben Lindbergh and guest co-host Jesse Thorn of Maximum Fun banter about Bryce Harper signing with the Phillies and the intriguing NL East, Jesse’s Giants fandom, being an ambassador of baseball to non-fans, and Jesse’s beliefs about baseball fashion, then preview the 2019 St. Louis Cardinals (30:00) with man of many outlets Will Leitch, and the 2019 San Francisco Giants (1:09:47) with SFBay News Giants beat writer Julie Parker.

Audio intro: The Smiths, "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side"
Audio interstitial 1: Camera Obscura, "William’s Heart"
Audio interstitial 2: The Mountain Goats, "Pink and Blue"
Audio outro: Julian Lennon, "Jesse"

Link to Ben’s Harper article
Link to Put This On
Link to Jordan, Jesse, Go!
Link to Bullseye
Link to Go Fact Yourself
Link to Will’s newsletter
Link to preorder The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and guest co-host Zach Kram of The Ringer banter about Clayton Kershaw’s bum arm, a rash of semi-suspiciously-timed signings, the Atlantic League as a testing ground for MLB rules changes, the latest Bryce Harper rumors, extensions for Nolan Arenado, Miles Mikolas, and Aaron Hicks, the Marwin Gonzalez signing and its implications for Willians Astudillo, and Matt Wieters joining the Cardinals, then preview the 2019 Tampa Bay Rays (36:44) with The Athletic’s Rays beat writer Josh Tolentino, and the 2019 San Diego Padres (1:03:53) with The Athletic’s Padres beat writer, Dennis Lin.

Audio intro: Aaron Lee Tasjan, "The Rest is Yet to Come"
Audio interstitial 1: Frank Sinatra, "South – To A Warmer Place"
Audio interstitial 2: Sloan, "Have Faith"
Audio outro: Wilco, "Please Be Patient With Me"

Link to Atlantic League report
Link to Zach’s Arenado post
Link to Wieters projection article
Link to Josh on the pitch clock
Link to Ben on the Padres
Link to Dennis on Stock
Link to Passan report
Link to preorder The MVP Machine

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In Jeff Sullivan’s final episode as the co-host of Effectively Wild (but not the podcast’s final episode), he and Ben Lindbergh discuss his new job as an analyst for the Tampa Bay Rays, what it was like to be courted by teams, why he decided to depart FanGraphs and why he feels guilty about it, why teams wanted him this winter, his hopes and fears as he enters a new phase of his career, his evolution and voice as a writer, his affection for Mike Trout, his personal and professional relationship with Ben, what the podcast meant to him, and more.

Audio intro: Guided By Voices, "Goodbye Note"
Audio outro: My Morning Jacket, "Thank You Too"

Link to Jeff’s first baseball blog post
Link to EW live episode
Link to Jeff’s last Trout post
Link to Jeff’s farewell post
Link to preorder The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about whether contract extensions are actually on the rise, the increasingly curious career of Rinku Singh, and Pirates owner Bob Nutting’s confusing comments about payroll, then preview the 2019 New York Mets (14:07) with The Athletic’s Mets beat writer Tim Britton, and the 2019 Toronto Blue Jays (45:22) with Sportsnet’s baseball editor, Ben Nicholson-Smith.

Audio intro: Travis, "Sing"
Audio interstitial 1: The Magnetic Fields, "In My Car"
Audio interstitial 2: Humble The Poet, "Iam Toronto"
Audio outro: Joel Plaskett, "A Million Dollars"

Link to Jeff’s extensions research
Link to Singh interview
Link to Vlad ETA FAQ
Link to preorder The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Manny Machado signing with the Padres and what the news means for the free-agent market and the futures of the NL West, the Phillies, and Bryce Harper, then preview the 2019 Los Angeles Angels (31:34) with The Athletic’s Angels beat writer, Fabian Ardaya, and the 2019 Milwaukee Brewers (1:02:42) with The Athletic’s Brewers beat writer, Robert Murray, plus a postscript on Machado and Don Newcombe.

Audio intro: The Frames, "Finally"
Audio interstitial 1: The Minus 5 (Feat. Ben Gibbard), "I See Angels"
Audio interstitial 2: Chip Taylor, "Why Milwaukee"
Audio outro: Led Zeppelin, "Ten Years Gone"

Link to Ben’s Machado piece
Link to Jeff’s Machado piece
Link to Padres celebration thread
Link to Ben’s Calhoun article
Link to Baseball Mogul offer
Link to preorder The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about differently shaped players being in the best shape of their lives, the Luis Severino extension, and three trends: the disappearance of highly ranked pitching prospects, the plateauing of league-wide fastball velocity, and arbitration-eligible players signing team-friendly extensions. Then they preview the 2019 Minnesota Twins (17:54) with Baseball Prospectus editor-in-chief Aaron Gleeman, and the 2019 Philadelphia Phillies (46:23) with The Athletic Philadelphia’s lead Phillies writer, Matt Gelb.

Audio intro: The Microphones, "I Felt Your Shape"
Audio interstitial 1: Jeremy Messersmith, "Fast Times in Minnesota"
Audio interstitial 2: Prince, "Still Waiting"
Audio outro: Leonard Cohen, "The Guests"

Link to Ben’s article about pitching prospects
Link to Jeff’s velocity research
Link to Jeff’s post about the Kepler extension
Link to Jeff’s post about the Severino extension
Link to Baseball Mogul offer
Link to preorder The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Willians Astudillo’s visa problem, Doug Fister’s retirement and CC Sabathia’s retirement tour, Johnny Cueto’s late horses, the current size of Yoenis Cespedes, players’ newly coordinated messaging about baseball economics, and Aaron Nola’s extension, then answer listener emails about when baseball will cease to exist, small-market teams’ spending, Shohei Ohtani as twins, projecting power vs. contact, saving money for Mike Trout, seven-inning games, and using total bases to end extra-inning games, plus Stat Blasts about Max Muncy vs. Robbie Grossman and major award winners with no award votes in previous or subsequent seasons.

Audio intro: Guns N’ Roses, "Dead Horse"
Audio outro: The Yardbirds, "Over Under Sideways Down"

Link to Ben’s old story about retirement-tour gifts
Link to Cueto’s first dead horse
Link to Cueto’s latest dead horse
Link to Cespedes video
Link to article about players’ social-media messaging
Link to Sam on small-market teams
Link to Sam on ending extra-inning games
Link to Baseball Mogul offer
Link to preorder The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the return of Brett Lawrie and two-way draftee Kyler Murray’s decision to pursue playing football over baseball, then preview the 2019 Atlanta Braves (8:45) with From the Diamond host Grant McAuley, and the 2019 Arizona Diamondbacks (43:23) with the Arizona Republic’s Diamondbacks beat writer, Nick Piecoro.

Audio intro: The Swell Season, "When Your Mind’s Made Up"
Audio interstitial 1: Chip Taylor, "Hello Atlanta"
Audio interstitial 2: Clem Snide, "Collapse"
Audio outro: The Rock*A*Teens, "Tuesday’s Just As Bad"

Link to Grant’s website
Link to preorder The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about a bunch of proposed rules changes, FanGraphs readers’ responses to them, and the general desirability of change of some sort, then preview the 2019 Colorado Rockies (19:57) with former Rockies outfielder and current AT&T SportsNet Rockies analyst Cory Sullivan, and the 2019 Pittsburgh Pirates (46:20) with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s Stephen J. Nesbitt, plus a closing note on J.T. Realmuto.

Audio intro: The Bevis Frond, "Time to Change"
Audio interstitial 1: Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby, "Rocky Mountain Moon"
Audio interstitial 2: Oasis, "The Importance of Being Idle"
Audio outro: Guster, "Two at a Time"

Link to rules change survey responses
Link to Sam on Marlins trades
Link to SABR Award voting
Link to preorder The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan dissect the trade that sent catcher J.T. Realmuto from the Marlins to the Phillies for Jorge Alfaro, Sixto Sanchez, and Will Stewart, honor the legacy of Frank Robinson, and then (22:28) bring back 88-year-old 1950s two-way player and podcast king Johnny O’Brien, along with his 24-year-old grandson, current Tampa Bay Rays minor leaguer Riley O’Brien, for an inter-generational conversation about baseball and player development, touching on Robinson and the late Bob Friend, the relationship between Johnny and Riley, life in the minors, baseball’s salary structure, changes in how players train and spend their offseasons, advances in velocity, strikeouts, and technology, and much more (plus a postscript on MLB’s just-concluded Mariners and Dodgers investigations).

Audio intro: Real Estate, "It’s Real"
Audio interstitial: Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, and Jules Munshin, "O’Brien to Ryan to Goldberg"
Audio outro: The Byrds, "John Riley"

Link to Jeff’s post on Realmuto and Marlins Park
Link to Jeff on Realmuto as baseball’s best catcher
Link to Jeff on the Realmuto trade
Link to first interview with Johnny
Link to Seattle Times article on the O’Brien twins
Link to video of Riley
Link to SI report on the Dodgers and Kapler
Link to SABR Award voting
Link to preorder The MVP Machine

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