Effectively Wild Episode 2422: The 2026 Minor League Free Agent Draft

Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley

Sports, Baseball

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2026

⏱️ 106 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

EWFI
Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Ben Clemens banter about the Astros signing Tatsuya Imai to a smaller-than-expected deal. Then (18:20) they continue a cherished podcast tradition by conducting the 13th annual Effectively Wild Minor League Free Agent Draft, in which they select 10 minor league free agents each and compete to see whose roster will accumulate the most combined MLB playing time in 2025 (followed by a postscript at 1:31:23).

Audio intro: Cory Brent, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Guy Russo, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to guest appearances sheet
Link to FG post on Imai
Link to MLBTR on Imai
Link to Feinsand tweet
Link to The Athletic on Imai
Link to minor league free agents
Link to MLBTR on MiLB FA
Link to last year’s draft
Link to MiLB FA draft wiki
Link to EWStats page
Link to dynasty FA draft sheet
Link to Brebbia on EW
Link to MLBTR on Baddoo
Link to 2025 MLB average SP
Link to MiLB IP leaders
Link to Can’t Hardly Wait scene
Link to this year’s draftees
Link to first Stathead query
Link to second Stathead query
Link to Boob McNutt
Link to Mutt and Jeff
Link to Gink and Boob
Link to Bucco Bricks tweet
Link to Lile’s Reddit response
Link to MLB.com on Lile
Link to car service jingles
Link to Conjunction Junction
Link to “certain point of view” scene
Link to “Old Ben” clip
Link to Slate on prediction markets
Link to Bloomberg on prediction markets
Link to Sporcle quiz

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome your favorite
0:02.0	podcast
0:05.0	Listen our emails that last
0:08.0	When an antic baseball trip
0:11.0	Every weekday
0:13.0	Bring down your favorite pastime
0:16.0	Sit down relaxing unwind
0:19.0	As we learn how a toddy word.
0:22.9	Hello and welcome to episode 24, 22 of Effectively Wild, a Fangraphs baseball podcast brought to you by our Patreon supporters.
0:31.5	I'm Megrelia of Fangraphs, and I am joined by Ben Lindberg of the Ringer.
0:35.4	Ben, how are you?
0:36.8	Doing very well, thank you. And I am also joined by Ben Clemens of the ringer. Ben, how are you? Doing very well, thank you.
0:38.3	And I am also joined by Ben Clemens of Fangraphs. Ben, how are you? I'm doing great.
0:43.8	Happy New Year to you both. Yeah, happy New Year. Since we started recording, we already said this
0:48.0	off air, just to ruin the illusion that we don't talk at all before we press record. But happy New Year to everyone listening as well.
0:57.2	And actually, the first email of the year that we received to podcast at fancrafts.com was from Patreon supporter Dean Simmer, who said,
1:07.1	Happy New Year, friends, pleased to report that my nine-year-old just woke up and his first
1:12.2	question was, in referring to the 2025 baseball season, should we say last year now?
1:18.6	Yes.
1:19.6	Yes.
1:20.6	Yes.
1:22.1	You're raising that young man right, Dean.
	...

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