Episode 1103: The Wildest Card

## Summary

*Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the AL wild card race, whether the Dodgers are doing anything wrong by using the 10-day DL liberally, then answer listener emails about packaging Pujols with Trout, Gio Gonzalez’s league-leading (but also not league-leading) WAR, the pitfalls of Statcast for pitchers, Steven Souza and home-run imbalance by handedness, an especially silly save, how many major leaguers are being missed, baseball’s hidden superheroes, and more.*

## Topics

* Trade package for Mike Trout and Albert Pujols
* Differences between FanGraphs and Baseball Reference WAR
* Home runs against same-handed pitchers
* Requirements and silly ways to earn a save
* How many top baseball players are not in MLB?
* MLB players likely to be hidden superheroes

## Banter

* Ben and Jeff continue to be amazed by how tight the AL Wild Card race is and how crowded it is with bad teams. In Episode 1099 they discussed the extensive tie scenarios that are possible.
* Increase is use of the short-term DL and how the Los Angeles Dodgers have used it extensively
* Episode 1102 follow-up: Many listeners wrote in to let Ben and Jeff know that the Kannapolis Intimidators were named for Dale Earnhardt.
* Worst baserunning teams and players this season
* Giancarlo Stanton's recent hot streak and how it has impacted the Marlins' success

## Email Questions

* CJ: "How much more tradeable does Trout become if he is packaged with Pujols and the remainder of his contract?"
* Tanner: "Jon Heyman just tweeted that Gio Gonzalez is leading the NL in pitcher WAR and I thought 'that sounds impossible' and I looked up that he is 9th on FanGraphs at 2.9 WAR. However on Baseball Reference he is indeed first at 6.7 WAR. Why is Gio Gonzalez so different at the two places"
* Jacob: (Linking to the box score of the Rangers vs. Orioles 30-3 game) "30-3 save situation?"
* Lee: "In the past 50 years how much greatness do you think we've missed out on baseball without ever knowing it? I mean, how many people were never even identified as having top 1% talent?"
* Michael: "What if we had baseball players who were like Bruce Willis' character in Unbreakable? My initial thought would be a player like Barry Bonds. What if he could slow down time to be such an amazing hitter? Who do you think is most likely to have secret super powers in the major leagues?"

## Stat Blast

* Inspired by Steven Sousa, Jeff looks into players who have the biggest imbalance between home runs hit against same-handed and different-handed pitchers.
* In 1998 Sammy Sosa hit 54 home runs against right handed pitchers and just 12 against left handed pitchers.
* In 1993 Jeff Kent hit all of his 21 home runs against same-handed (right) pitchers.

## Notes

* Jeff, on the Tampa Bay Rays, "They haven't scored a run since we last recorded a podcast."
* Giancarlo Stanton is leading MLB in "no doubt" home runs but also has the second most home runs that have barely cleared the fence.
* Jeff estimates that Albert Pujols' negative contract value would perfectly outweigh Mike Trout's surplus value ($114 million).
* Baseball Reference places heavier weight on ERA when calculating pitcher WAR while FanGraphs places more emphasis on FIP.
* In Episode 802 Ben and Sam discussed a question similar to Lee's about undiscovered baseball players.
* When reading Michael's question Ben references a question from Episode 1038 about a player who could see a split-second into the future.

## Links

* Effectively Wild Episode 1103: The Wildest Card
* How The Dodgers Are Using Baseball's New DL Rules To Get An Edge by Rob Arthur
* Giancarlo Stanton's Slugging Is Carrying the Miami Marlins by Ben Lindbergh