Effectively Wild Episode 1645: Go Canada

Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley

Baseball, Sports

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2021

⏱️ 83 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

EWFI
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Alex Rodriguez’s ubiquity on non-baseball broadcasts and then discuss George Springer signing a franchise-record contract with the Blue Jays, Michael Brantley re-signing with the Astros, and José Quintana signing with the Angels, touching on how the Jays compare to their AL East rivals and what the team may do next, Springer’s track record and how he’ll age, Toronto’s run at Brantley, why Springer has escaped some of his former team’s sign-stealing stigma, how the Astros stack up post-Springer, the Cubs’ soft-tossing, poorly projected rotation, the NL Central’s inactivity, and when it’s appropriate for fans to take breaks from or forsake their teams. Then they answer a listener email about working in baseball and reevaluating a dream job and conclude with a Stat Blast about the longest time elapsed between the same player’s World Series hits.

Audio intro: The Tragically Hip, "You’re Everywhere"
Audio outro: Lou Reed, "My Friend George"

Link to thread of A-Rod photos
Link to Dan Szymborski on the Springer signing
Link to Dan on playoff odds changes
Link to Jeff on Springer’s contact in 2017
Link to Jeff on the 2017 Astros’ new-look lineup
Link to sign-stealing data
Link to Ben on sign-stealing effectiveness
Link to Rob Arthur on sign-stealing effectiveness
Link to second BP study on sign-stealing effectiveness
Link to Bill Petti on sign-stealing effectiveness
Link to Tony Wolfe on the Quintana signing
Link to Russell Carleton on starting-pitcher handedness
Link to R.J. Anderson on MLB brain drain
Link to Ben on going from a front office to the media
Link to Adam Ott’s website
Link to Stat Blast spreadsheet
Link to Russell on postseason experience

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Transcript

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0:00.0	One of the future lies on the land of night and above all the pain
0:07.0	You know, you're out
0:12.0	You know, you're out
0:20.0	You know, you're out
0:27.0	Hello and welcome to episode 1645 of Refectively Wild, a FagRass baseball podcast brought to you by our Patreon supporters on Migrallia FagRass and I'm joined as always by Ben Lumberger, the Ringer.
0:42.0	Ben, how are you?
0:43.0	No, I have to say I haven't enjoyed Alex Rodriguez's recent work on baseball broadcasts, but I have enjoyed his unexpected presence on many non-baseball broadcasts over the past couple years.
0:55.0	And I was like, hey, there's a rod at the inauguration. There's a rod at Times Square under your sleeve. There's a rod at the Oscars. There's a rod at the Grammys and the VMAs. There's a rod at the Met Gala.
1:07.0	June Lee had a whole thread of these.
1:09.0	And I think my favorite version of a rod is a rod as Jennifer Lopez's plus one where I don't have to hear him, but I get a little jolt of recognition from spotting a baseball player in a place where I don't expect a baseball player to be.
1:24.0	Like, hop-knopping with presidents, for instance.
1:27.0	Yeah, I think supportive partner A-rod is that's a good A-rod. That's a commendable A-rod. We're excited for that one.
1:35.0	It's the best of all A-rods. Remember last March when Trump reportedly called A-rod to ask for advice on the coronavirus response?
1:44.0	I did not remember that until you mentioned it.
1:47.0	There's been some news since then, so I wouldn't blame you.
1:50.0	But now that you say it, it sounds familiar. And I remember thinking at the time, I think we're in trouble here.
1:58.0	Yeah, I'm going to give A-rod the benefit of the doubt and say that Trump just ignored his advice, not that A-rod gave him the worst advice imaginable.
2:06.0	But that's kind of what I'm talking about. Like, A-rod as authority on national crises? No.
2:12.0	No. A-rod as Arm Candy who makes funny facial expressions? Yes, give me more of that A-rod.
2:18.0	Yeah, and to be clear, we are not saying that A-rods are not a smart guy.
2:24.0	But we are saying that expertise is often hard one. And you can be very good at one thing. And that does not make you immediately good at other stuff.
2:33.0	So you got to talk to the people who are good at the right stuff if you want to say, arrest the momentum of a pandemic.
	...

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