Effectively Wild Episode 1581: Endless Cycle by Ben Lindbergh August 21, 2020 Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Fernando Tatis Jr.’s “grand slam cycle,” the most exciting cycle sequence, unwritten rules, how to interpret reports of rising TV ratings, why umpires call more strikes when they work with the same catchers, historical precedents for the Cardinals’ overstuffed schedule, a confounding Clayton Kershaw commercial, and Jeff Frye’s controversial cycle. Then (41:24) they talk to Baseball Prospectus associate editor Ginny Searle about Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman using a homophobic slur on a hot mic, Brennaman’s apologies and the responses to his slur and suspension, baseball’s history of homophobic comments, the careers of Glenn Burke and Bill Bean, diversity in broadcasting, the prospect of a player coming out, and what MLB and the Reds should do to make LGBT fans feel more welcome. Finally (1:05:29), FanGraphs author Craig Edwards joins to discuss how he handled the site’s annual trade value rankings in an uncertain season, how he thinks teams will approach the trade deadline, where public and private perceptions of trade value diverge, where he placed Mike Trout, and how he ranked Tatis, Ronald Acuña Jr., and Juan Soto. Audio intro: Peter Matthew Bauer, "Transhistoric Cycles of Time" Audio interstitial 1: The Tragically Hip, "Hot Mic" Audio interstitial 2: Willie Nelson, "I’d Trade All of My Tomorrows (For Just One Yesterday)" Audio outro: Peter Bjorn and John, "Weekend" Link to “grand slam cycle” tweet Link to Ben on Tatis and unwritten rules Link to The Athletic’s MLB ratings story Link to Rob Arthur on catchers and umpires Link to article about the Cardinals’ schedule Link to May 1, 1975 article about the Twins’ schedule Link to Pages from Baseball’s Past Link to Kershaw commercial Link to Griffey Jr. commercial Link to article about Frye’s cycle Link to Ginny on Brennaman Link to Brennaman’s on-air apology Link to Brennaman’s written apology Link to Dale Scott interview episode Link to Bean interview episode Link to Christina Kahrl interview episode Link to Craig’s trade value series intro Link to Craig’s trade value series top 10 Link to Ben Clemens on trading high-value players 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 https://media.blubrry.com/effectively_wild/p/cdn.fangraphs.com/audio/EffectivelyWildEpisode1581.mp3Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS We hoped you liked reading Effectively Wild Episode 1581: Endless Cycle by Ben Lindbergh! Please support FanGraphs by becoming a member. We publish thousands of articles a year, host multiple podcasts, and have an ever growing database of baseball stats. FanGraphs does not have a paywall. With your membership, we can continue to offer the content you've come to rely on and add to our unique baseball coverage. Support FanGraphs