Effectively Wild Episode 1346: Baseball and Eight American Pies

by
March 12, 2019

EWFI
Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the fallout from Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s oblique injury and the signings of Adam Jones and Martin Maldonado as referenda on free agency, then answer listener emails about whether the Indians and Astros could have significantly upped their playoff odds by making more moves (and fan bases that should be aggrieved about their teams’ winter inactivity), Craig Kimbrel’s in-season negotiating leverage, whether wearing or not wearing a uniform number is a more fitting tribute, the value of scouting strengths versus scouting weaknesses, and the effects of robo umps on offense, entertainment value, and chasing pitches outside the strike zone, plus a Stat Blast about manager height.

Audio intro: The Glands, "Pie"
Audio outro: Neuseiland, "Robots of Me"

Link to Dan Szymborski on Jones and Maldonado
Link to Sam on players seeking contracts
Link to BP playoff odds
Link to Sam’s article on manager height
Link to article on the compassionate umpire
Link to article on the Bayesian umpire
Link to Baltimore/DC-area EW meetup
Link to preorder The MVP Machine

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Bryan
5 years ago

Interesting episode, especially the bit about managers. However I disagree with the idea that Pitchers are the best equipped for managing pitchers. Catchers have far more experience with learning the nuance and idiosyncrasies of each individual pitcher in a staff. Furthermore, catchers also have more experience “observing” pitchers; i.e. knowing what’s working, what’s not, when a pitcher is tired, etc. Pitchers individually know what worked for them, but as we’ve seen what works for one player certainly doesn’t work for another.

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