January 5, 2011

BP Podcast

Episode 32: This Doesn't Smell Right

by Kevin Goldstein

Without much going in the world of baseball, we celebrate our listeners with a longer than normal email segment, including some tips on how we learn from scouts. Following that we go in-depth on the Dodgers and Angels systems, including some disagreement over Dee Gordon and a long talk about what kind of player Mike Trout can be in the end. The only big move of the week was the signing of Adrian Beltre, and Jason breaks down what that means for the Rangers, and how the signing meant more bad news for Angels fans. With it being Hall of Fame week, our special guest is our own Jay Jaffe, and there's no better expert in the business on who should (and shouldn't) be in when measuring performance. It's a long, highly entertaining, and informative discussion about numerous recent candidates, with a quick bit of trivia thrown in as well. Then, to make sure the show is really long again, we have a second special guest with Mike Ferrin of MLB Network Radio to discuss the channel, his career and his side gig as the occasional voice of the Double-A Bowie Baysox. And of course, we finish with the goofy stuff, including an inside look at one of Jason's many psychoneurosis. 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 32: "This Doesn't Smell Right"

Download Here (139 MB; 2:32:50) 
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Contact Information

Email Us: podcast@baseballprospectus.com
Twitter: @kevin_goldstein; @professorparks 
Skype Voicemail: kingclipon

Table Of Contents

0:00 Intro, Agenda Review, scripted jokes

3:30 Housekeeping: Email us, follow us on Twitter, join our Facebook group

5:24 Emails and communications

• Kevin and Jason as video game characters
• Our problems with providing comps
• The problem with short pitchers
• New metal bats and our official D-III player of the year
• What baseball teams let draftees sign football
• How to learn from scouts and the power of the stopwatch

37:12 Dodgers Top Prospects Review

47:28 Angels Top Prospects Review

1:04:47 What the Adrian Beltre signing means for the Rangers and the Angels

1:19:12 Special Guest Jay Jaffe on the Hall of Fame

• A quick primer on JAWS
• The statistical cases for Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar
• Jack Morris has an awesome mustache and is kind of like Andy Pettitte
• Mark McGwire, Tim Raines and how chicks dig the long ball
• The difficulty of DHs (Edgar Martinez) and closers (Lee Smith)
• A quick tangents on hits with their own Wikipedia page
• You can't talk about the Hall of Fame without talking about steroids
• New names on the ballot and the suddenly strange case of Jeff Bagwell
• Forget about drugs, Rafael Palmiero is no slam dunk on numbers alone
• The case for two shortstops: Barry Larkin and Alan Trammell
• A quick preview of the 2012 ballot (it's not good)
• Predicting the next cause celeb now that Blyleven is in

1:59:44 Special Guest Mike Ferrin from MLB Network Radio on XM/Sirius

• A quick review of the career path
• The re-branding of the network in 2010
• Doing a nightly show on the fly
• Working with Tom Gordon
• Picking up additional work as the voice of the Bowie BaySox
• Insulting our Indiana listeners
• Working in radio and career goals

2:18:40 Musical guest: Kowloon Walled City

2:20:26 What Are You Drinking?

2:22:50 Mental state issues

2:23:40 What we did for New Year's (or what we cooked)

2:25:51 Tales of sticky drinks

Music is by Kowloon Walled City, all rights reserved.

Kevin Goldstein is an author of Baseball Prospectus. 
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