Effectively Wild Episode 1969: Winning Ugly

February 16, 2023

EWFI
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the temperature in Phoenix, writers taking photos of bases, and Meg taking photos of the writers, then discuss Meg’s takeaways from MLB’s presentation to media members about this season’s new rules, MLB.TV adding minor league games, the Padres signing Michael Wacha (and changing their revenue-sharing classification), and early pitcher injuries, followed by (29:32) a Stat Blast about how much major league talent comes from a typical farm system. After that (46:44), they talk to The Athletic’s Evan Drellich about his new book about the Astros, the sign-stealing scandal, and modern front-office culture, Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess, plus Past Blasts from 1969 (1:34:25) and a few follow-ups.

Audio intro: The Waterboys, “Bigger Picture”
Audio interstitial: The Rolling Stones, “Winning Ugly”
Audio outro: Dag, “The Bigger Picture”

Link to Levi’s tweet about deGrom
Link to Levi on the Arizona weather
Link to Defector on base photos
Link to Nightengale’s first photo
Link to Meg’s photos
Link to Reddit post of Meg’s photo
Link to Meg’s clock buzzer photo
Link to AP story on new rules
Link to Bleed Cubbie Blue on new rules
Link to Noah Woodward on pickoffs
Link to Russell on throwing over
Link to Russell on the pitch clock
Link to Jeff Passan on balks
Link to Zach Buchanan on balks
Link to Sam Miller on balks
Link to Jon Bois on balks
Link to new MLB.TV features
Link to Manfred on blackouts
Link to MLBTR on Wacha
Link to story on Padres revenue
Link to MLBTR on Strasburg
Link to MLBTR on Montas
Link to Ben on spring pitching injuries
Link to retired-numbers Stat Blast
Link to retired-numbers spreadsheet
Link to Johnson’s comment on Ichiro
Link to Ryan Nelson’s Twitter
Link to Ryan on future All-Stars
Link to future All-Stars spreadsheet
Link to data on future major leaguers
Link to Bill James study
Link to KG on managing expectations
Link to Winning Fixes Everything
Link to Winning Fixes Everything excerpt
Link to Winning Fixes Everything on Cora
Link to Evan on the Astros in 2014
Link to Rob Arthur on the banging scheme
Link to Bagwell comments
Link to Passan on Click and Crane
Link to Fresh Air on Jack Welch
Link to Bando NYT obit
Link to Bando SABR bio
Link to Craig Wright on Bando
Link to Jay Jaffe on Bando
Link to 3B JAWS leaders
Link to TSN on Bando
Link to TSN on Bando, continued
Link to TSN on DiMaggio
Link to “baseball is dying” article
Link to Bryan Curtis on dying baseball
Link to Emma B. on dying baseball
Link to David Lewis’s Twitter
Link to David Lewis’s Substack
Link to Jaffe on PPP rules
Link to EW wiki on Jaso
Link to NYT on Jaso
Link to SABR on the high five
Link to ESPN on the high five