November 17, 2010

BP Podcast

Episode 26: A Westerner, Far Bigger Than He

by Kevin Goldstein

Why just rage about the Rookie of the Year vote when you can go to the source? In this episode, Dejan Kovacevic, who submitted a National League ballot sans Jason Heyward, joins us to discuss his ballot, his way of seeing things, and accusations of homer-ism. Then, we continue our tour of the off-season leagues with Marcos Grunfeld in Caracas, who talks about the league there and how major league baseball is followed in Venezuela. When just myself and a very ill Jason are talking, we ready plenty of your email, talk about some recent trades, trade rumors and trade reactions, and finish up with an in-depth discussion of Sumo, my new second favorite sport.. Then it's the usual end-game stuff with what we're drinking and an update on our mental states. As always, we hope you enjoy.

Note: We do alert you to the presence of the occasional adult language. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Up And In Episode 26: "A Westerner, Far Bigger Than He"

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Email Us: podcast@baseballprospectus.com
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Table Of Contents

0:00 Intro, agenda review, Jason's health

5:11 Housekeeping (Email Us! Join our Facebook group! Nominate us for an award!)

7:06 Communications

• Jason's 'Professor' status
• Bidding on Japanese players
• The business of minor league baseball
• Finesse arms and the tipping point
• Can plate discipline be learned?
• Are some teams better at developing talent than others?
• The slotting system and the “wrath of Bud”

30:15 Rookie of the Year awards and corresponding Twitter rage

37:46 The Miller and Maybe trades and why they're not suddenly good

49:48 Arguing over the concept of trading Justin Upton

54:05 Discussing the Arizona and Baltimore Top 11 Prospects

1:02:13 Special Guest #1: Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

• Why his National League ROY ballot looked the way it looked
• At the core, did Neil Walker and Jose Tabata deserve votes
• How this was not a protest vote nor asking for attention
• Accusations of homer-ism
• In the end, the final totals look right
• How criticism in one direction or the other comes with being in the public eye

1:21:31 Special Guest #2: Marcus Grunfeld of Meridiano and beisbolvenezolano.net

• Some of the top players this year in Venezuela: Mark Trumbo and Alex Torres
• The combination of prospects and veterans
• The popularity of the league in Venezuela, and on Venezuelan players in MLB
• The most popular players historically and the concept of the Venezuelan shortstop
• The reality of Venezuela: crime and other issues
• The Caribbean Series and rivalries
• A message to our Venezuelan listeners (en Español)

1:40:41 A quick translatoin

1:42:14 Musical Guest: Screaming Females and a thanks to our listeners

1:44:46 Rewarding a listener by talking about Michael Ynoa tall pitchers

1:48:58 A very special What Are You Drinking: debut of the Up and In cocktail

1:51:25 Pop Culture Moment: NHK Television and the joys of Sumo and J-Pop

2:06:04 Jason's mental state and what we're working on.

Music is by Screaming Females from the album "Castle Talk", copyright 2010, Don Giovanni Records.

Kevin Goldstein is an author of Baseball Prospectus. 
Click here to see Kevin's other articles. You can contact Kevin by clicking here