January 26, 2011

BP Podcast

Episode 35: I Will Take Your Liver Out

by Kevin Goldstein

Not much going on? Sure, so let's have a bit of Front Office 101 this week. After plenty of deep, metaphysical emails, we try (and fail) to understand what the Angels did this week, while also talking about what Mike Napoli means to the Rangers, and plenty of prospect talk with the Cardinals and White Sox Top 11 lists. The highlight comes with our special guest, John Coppolella, the Director of Baseball Administration with the Atlanta Braves. If you've ever had any questions about the arbitration process, you won't after this interview, as we go through the entire process with a fictional player named Johnny Shortstop. It's truly fascinating stuff and a rare glimpse at how the sausage is made. From there, we talk about Saturday's big SABR Day event in NYC, talk about refrigerators for way too long, and also supply details on how to drink with Jason and I on Saturday night. 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 35: "I Will Take Your Liver Out"

Download Here (136 MB; 2:28:41) 
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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, how to drink with us on Saturday night

5:14 Housekeeping: Email us, follow us on Twitter, all that kind of stuff

6:39 Emails

• The psychological effect of playing in bad towns
• Rookie ball and roster restrictions
• Bert Blyleven, motives and pretending
• URL problems and rushing Tigers
• The reality of intangibles, clubhouse leadership and managers
• Judging moves and Bayesian inference
• Delino DeShields, DUIs, and what is makeup
• Our career aspirations beyond the podcast

47:37 Trying to understand what the Angels did this week (and failing)

54:58 What Mike Napoli in Texas means for the Rangers

1:06:14 St. Louis Cardinals Top 11 Prospects rundown

1:12:17 Chicago White Sox Top 11 Prospects rundown

1:24:39 Special Guest John Coppolella, Director of Baseball Administration, Atlanta Braves

• Walking through the arbitration process for the mythical shortstop
• Looking for comps and how MLB helps teams in the process
• The strategy behind what teams offer and the importance of the midpoint
• File-and-go: We're not messing around
• Preparing for the hearings and arbitration practitioners
• The concept of bulk vs. ratios; getting paid to play
• The dangers of going beyond performance in your argument
• Location, location, location
• Arbitrators are not baseball people
• Winners, losers and no gray areas
• How teams can hurt other teams with signings
• Getting four deals done in 90 minutes
• Trying to improve the system for both sides
• A world of automatic raises

2:02:23 Special Guest Joe Hamrahi on Saturday's SABR day in NYC

2:11:34 Musical Guest: Village

2:14:14 What Are You Drinking?

2:19:11 The week ahead

Kevin Goldstein is an author of Baseball Prospectus. 
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