Posts Tagged ‘ St. Louis Cardinals ’

Episode 36: Happy Michael Wacha Day!

May 31, 2013
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In Episode 36, Brock & Ben celebrate America’s new favorite holiday, Michael Wacha Day!  The guys kick off the podcast with a look around the league, discussing Michael Wacha’s debut for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Oakland A’s defense of the Oakland Coliseum against the villain Jon Heyman and George Brett taking over as the Kansas City Royals hitting coach.  The guys also share TBD superfan Bob in Taiwan’s update on Manny Ramirez and the CPBL.

In the episode’s educational segment, Brock & Ben check in on building block offensive state the triple slash (Batting Average/On Base Percentage/Slugging Average), then turn their attention to the upcoming Rule 4 Draft.  The guys discuss the changes to the draft implemented by the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement and their potential impact on competitive balance and baseball getting the best domestic athletes.  The conversation then turns to a potential international draft, how it might impact baseball’s international development and what factors MLB should consider in structuring it if they do decide on a more formal approach to international talent acquisition.

Here’s the link for Manny Does Taiwan.  Enjoy!

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Episode 35: Getting the Calls Right

May 16, 2013
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In Episode 35, Brock & Ben debut the new, more sectionalized format of the podcast, beginning with observations on Brandon Belt’s improvement and the impressive pitching performances of the last week.  The guys then debut a new recurring segment designed to unpack and discuss the myriad advanced statistics that inform modern baseball.  This week’s focus is on pitcher strikeouts, specifically the evolution from strikeout rate (K/9) to strikeout percentage (K/PA).  While discussing strikeouts, Brock & Ben explore the recent league-wide spike in strikeouts and strikeout % and what factors might be contributing to this trend.  The guys round out the podcast with a discussion of umpire accountability and expanded replay and how MLB moves closer to what everyone wants: getting the calls right.

For further reading, here are the New York Times and Fangraphs articles referenced during the discussion on the recent rise in strikeouts/K %.

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Episode 32: T’is the Season for Overreaction!

April 11, 2013
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In Episode 32, with divisional previews complete, Brock & Ben turn their attention to the young 2013 season.  After leading off the podcast with the first ever TBD listener email, the guys recap the weekend’s Cardinals-Giants series in San Francisco. The guys them move on to discuss the Jason Motte, Jered Weaver and Jeff Niemann injuries and their impact, then close by running a number of opening week  storylines through the lens of early season confirmation bias and overreaction.

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Episode 29: AL Central Preview

March 26, 2013
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In Episode 29, Brock & Ben discuss the Brewers signing Kyle Lohse, the Yankees trading for Vernon Wells and preview the American League Central.

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Episode 28: NL Central Preview

March 22, 2013
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In Episode 28, Brock and Ben say goodbye to the 2013 World Baseball Classic and continue moving eastward with their preview of the National League Central.

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Episode 27: Samurai Japan and the World Baseball Classic

March 14, 2013
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In Episode 27, Brock & Ben are joined by international Citizen of the Diaspora Glen Tsurudome to talk Japanese baseball.  The guys discuss the latest World Baseball Classic action before turning their attention to Japan.  Glen illuminates the Japanese perspective on baseball, the World Baseball Classic and the relationship between Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball.  The guys then identify Japanese players to watch, both in the 2013 WBC Championship Round and as potential cross-overs to MLB.  The conversation closes with Glen discussing the identity conflict the WBC raises for a Japanese American, particularly when Japan and the USA meet head-to-head.

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Stop Making Me Angry, Sports Scheduling Group

February 28, 2013
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Cardinals-Giants 2011

I’m not entirely sure this is the way I want to open the 2013 for the blog portion of The Baseball Diaspora, but then the Union army would probably like a do-over for the first couple years of the Civil War, too.  Sometimes things just work out a certain way.  So I’m kicking off 2013…

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Episode 22: The Baseball Diaspora 2.0

February 13, 2013
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In Episode 22, Brock bids a heartfelt farewell to Dan’s regular involvement with the podcast and welcomes new co-host Ben Stein.  After establishing Ben’s diaspora credentials, the guys turn their attention to the concluding offseason, focusing specifically on issues of baseball economics, injuries and medical advances and the impending World Baseball Classic.  Topics include:

- How the big pitching deals of the offseason stack up both against past long-term, high-dollar pitching contracts and the mega-contracts given to hitters in recent years in terms of advisability and value

- Whether the rising cost of quality pitching will result in teams locking up their young aces (or potential aces) long-term early in their careers (a la Evan Longoria, Troy Tulowitzki and a slew of other young position players)

- If the rising cost of pitching is responsible for a recent willingness to deal top prospects (Wil Myers, Travis D’Arnaud) to net quality starters on team-friendly contracts (James Shields, R.A. Dickey)

- What the Myers, D’Arnaud and Trevor Bauer trades mean for the recent standard practice of holding onto top prospects and whether we will see more major league-ready prospects traded in the near future

- What role personality plays in organizational thinking with respect to its players and prospects and whether Arizona mishandled its unloading of Bauer, Justin Upton and Chris Young

- The advance of medical technology and how it is impacting baseball contracts, making the “pending physical” much more than a mere formality

- Whether the use of enhanced medical capabilities to not only spot current injuries but to project future risk may present a future labor problem as more players have the experience shared by Mike Napoli and Francisco Liriano and lose guaranteed money and guaranteed years as a result of more heightened medical scrutiny

- Injuries and the World Baseball Classic and whether it’s time for MLB to step in to remove some of the barriers to the participation of some of the game’s top talents

- What it will take for the WBC to rise to the level of prestige and participation of the World Cup

and

- Who is missing from Team USA that would most enhance the team in terms of both quality on the field and star quality?

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Episode 21: The Baseball Diaspora Eats Crow with the Best of ‘Em

November 1, 2012
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In Episode 21, things are curious and unnatural on The Baseball Diaspora.  Due to the lingering effects of the sinister confluence of Halloween and a San Francisco Giants World Series Parade, Brock is joined not by Dan, the ardent anti-Giant, but bizarro Dan – Dan Lerner – a lifelong diaspora Giants fan.  San Fran Dan takes Brock through the 2012 Postseason experience before the two look ahead to the Giants’ offseason and the NL MVP race.  Topics include:

- Which component of the Giants’ winning formula was most indispensable to the team’s success in the postseason.

- The Giants player most deserving of the MVP award for the entire postseason.

- What play or moment stood out as the most memorable for Giants fans from an October full of remarkable games?

- Dan’s road warrior experience in the 2010 and 2012 playoffs, following the Giants to Atlanta, Texas and St. Louis, and favorite memories from those trips.

- How the 2012 World Series compared to 2010 for Giants fans and, from a more general perspective, can you ever top the first World Series your team wins in your lifetime?

- The 2012 Giants team compared to the 2010 team and which will be remembered more fondly.

- What the future holds for the Giants: continued playoff success or a drop-off due to stiffer competition within the division?

- The Giants’ fan’s wishlist for the offseason: does the team build upon its success by keeping the team largely intact?  Add outside talent through free agency or trade?  Both?  Neither?

The guys close out the podcast by discussing the NL MVP race between Buster Posey and Yadier Molina, whether the race is closer than most people think and how to adequately factor defense and base running into the MVP calculus.

While the focus is on the 2012 World Champs, Brock is able to work the St. Louis Cardinals into the conversation at regular intervals.

This episode goes out to Dan (the original), his wife Rachel and the certain A’s fan daughter who they should be welcoming very soon!

NOTES:

The Bill James book Brock completely blanked on the name of is The Politics of Glory: How Baseball’s Hall of Fame Really Works

The ESPN article Brock & Dan discuss during the brief discussion of the AL MVP race is this one by Peter Keating (sorry, it’s an Insider piece)…

…and here is an evisceration of Keating’s argument that I found when searching for the original article

 

 

 

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In Search of Deja Vu

October 22, 2012
By
Peter G. Aiken/USA Today Sports

The last two games of the 2012 NLCS have had the trappings of deja vu.  In Game 5, Cardinals starter Lance Lynn hit an invisible wall in the 4th inning and – as in Game 1 of the series – had to be relieved before recording 12 outs.  In Game 6, the St. Louis defense…

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