Episode 1150: Sighs and Signings

## Summary

*Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the Zack Cozart and Carlos Santana signings and the Matt Moore trade, then answer listener emails about when it makes sense to rebuild and how the second wild card has affected that calculus, Shohei Ohtani’s intel on other teams, the competitive futures of the Cubs, Yankees, and Dodgers, how a team could benefit from controlling the schedule, Oscar Robles and hitters with weird lines on 0-2 and 3-0, what “quality control” coaches do, a team with no coaches (and too many coaches), Trout/Ohtani vs. Judge/Stanton, and more.*

## Topics

* Knowing when to rebuild or tank in the second wild-card era
* What Shohei Ohtani learned about each MLB team
* Playoff outlook for the Cubs, Yankees, and Dodgers
* A team that controls the MLB schedule
* The worst top-performing players
* Worst hitters in 0-2 or 3-0 counts
* Quality control coaches
* A team without coaches
* Trout/Ohtani and Judge/Stanton combined WAR

## Banter

* Jeff and Ben review several recent transactions including the signing of Zack Cozart and Carlos Santana in addition to the trade of Matt Moore.
* Jeff and Ben recorded this episode on the same day as Episode 1149.

## Email Questions

* Eric: "I think teams are too quick to tank and rebuild in the two wild card era. To me, all but the sorriest situations in baseball should try and at least start every season with a plan of how they'll make the playoffs with the potential for a mid season pivot if it goes south."
* Mike: "Has the second wild card moved the bar for competitiveness down enough that it's now worth being a .500 quality baseball team and hoping you have a bunch of career years?"
* Nick: "Does Ohtani have any value even if he never plays a game of baseball. He talked with 27 MLB teams and they all at least shared some of their plans to win a World Series. Do you think there is any value simply by what teams told him?"
* Andrew: "When do you anticipate will be the next season in which the Cubs, Dodgers, and Yankees all fail to make the playoffs in the same year? The last time this occurred was in 1994."
* Troy: "What would happen if, through a nefarious series of bribes and corruption, a single team secretly gained control over the MLB schedule? The schedule still has to contain the same matchups and locations but the controlling team can rig it however they want beyond that."
* Will: "Oscar Robles' career slash line was .260/.323/.348 but in 63 career plate appearances after falling 0-2 he slashed .338/.361/.463 and in 23 career plate appearances after getting ahead 3-0 000/.609/.000."
* Hebron: "Can you clear up what the duties are for a quality control coach?"
* Jerome: "What if the Yankees decided not to employee any coaches for the 2018 season?"
* William: "Who puts up more combined 2018 WAR: Trout and Ohtani or Judge and Stanton?"

## Stat Blast

* Jeff uses Baseball Reference to look up the worst 'Top Players' for certain teams in a given year.
* Tyler Clippard had 3.41 WAR in 2011 and was the Washington Nationals highest WAR player.

## Notes

* Given new MLB scheduling rules the only way a team could strongly manipulate the schedule in their favor (or to hurt opposing teams) is by limiting miles flown throughout the season.
* Quality control coaches are often liaisons between the front office and players.
* In 2018 Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani combined for 12.9 WAR (10.2 was Trout). Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton had a combined 9.5 WAR.

## Links

* Effectively Wild Episode 1150: Sighs and Signings