Summary[]
Ben and Sam discuss Cubs prospects and (at the end of the episode) Joe Girardi’s managerial decision, then talk about the Pirates’ loss and answer some listener emails.
Topics[]
- Pirates and Nationals outlook
- Young pitchers in the postseason
- Episode 18 follow-up: R.A. Dickey guessing game
- Mangers from outside baseball
- Coordinated fan behavior
- Team of player clones
- Overlooked Hall of Famers
- Joe Girardi hypothetical - Cubs vs. Yankees
Banter[]
- Sam is calling in while sitting at a creek in northern California.
- Ben is still at Scout School. He saw Jorge Soler, Kris Bryant, and Albert Almora play today.
- Scouting the player vs. the stat line
Email Questions[]
- Milos: "Might the next unexploited inefficiency be found in hiring managers who come from other backgrounds? Since most strategy moves are generally assumed to not make too much or a negative difference, could an advantage be found in finding a better manager of men from somewhere other than baseball, like the military or the tech world?"
- Greg: "During Tuesday night's Wild Card game the Pirates' fans were very active and seemed to disrupt the Reds a bit. Coordinated crowd behavior plays a meaningful role in creating a home field advantage in college basketball and professional football, among other sports. On the other hand we rarely if ever see crowd action in baseball that would seem to influence play. This seems surprising. Do you think home field crowds in baseball could do things that would tilt the playing field in their team's favor? What could they do, do you see this on the horizon?"
- Zack: "Let's say you could clone a player in MLB enough times to field an entire roster. Which single player, with their current abilities, would make the best team? Would you choose a good hitting pitcher like Carlos Zambrano, a cross-over type like Rick Ankiel who has shown some success in both hitting and pitching, an elite hitter who has some past experience all over the diamond? I think Buster Posey played all nine positions in one college game. Or a freak athlete like Puig who would excel at hitting, be good defensively at all positions, and has a good arm but probably would have to learn to pitch on the fly. Let's say we held a tournament, who would you put your money on?"
- Scott: "Which of the future hall of famers currently playing is most overlooked by fans and media? In other words, which current player is most likely to elicit a lot of WTF comments when he is enshrined in Cooperstown. I'm interested in mid-career guys, not some guy who is overlooked because he is a 21 year old who played in five games from a September call-up."
Notes[]
- Both Ben & Sam think the Nationals have a brighter outlook than the Pirates.
- Ben predicts the Pirates will make the postseason twice in the next five years. Sam does not think they will make it.
- Ben would pick a team of all Mike Trout clones, Sam picks Bryce Harper.