About this episode
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 Sponsor Us on Patreon Facebook Group Twitter Account EW Subreddit Effectively Wild Wiki iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!) Get Our Merch! Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com var SERVER_DATA = Object.assign(SERVER_DATA || {}); Source