Episode 1026: The Best Podcast on the Planet

## Summary

*Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about nets, nicknames, and scouting directors’ comments about international prospect Luis Robert, then answer listener emails about robbing from the Cubs, a division composed of only the worst teams, pitch counts and automatic intentional walks, pitchers pitching to pitchers, trying to win in spring training, Mike Trout batting eighth, pants and the strike zone, and baseball players and beer pong.*

## Topics

* Balancing value of players, managers, and GMs
* Division of MLB's worst teams
* Pitch counts and automatic intentional walks
* Mike Trout batting eighth
* Pitching strategy against pitchers
* Using pant height to manipulate the strike zone
* Winning spring training
* Baseball players and beer pong

## Banter

* One scout referred to Cuban prospect Luis Robert as "the best player on the planet".
* Episode 1025 follow-up: Listeners have continued to write in with possibilities for why Andrew Miller was pitching from behind a net during spring training.
* Episode 1023 follow-up: There was a lot of activity in the Facebook group about current player nicknames that national audiences might not be aware of.
* Episode 964 follow-up: Jeff is looking up player nicknames and discovers Bill Hands' nickname Froggy, not realizing he was a past guest.

## Email Questions

* Michael: "You are the owner of the worst team in baseball. You can take Kris Bryant for one year, Theo Epstein for three years, or Joe Maddon and his entire coaching staff for six years. Whom do you take?"
* Eric Hartman: "FanGraphs projects the bottom five teams in baseball this year to be the Padres, Brewers, White Sox, Reds, and Phillies, with the latter having the most wins (71). If those five teams were in a division this year how many wins would the division winner have?"
* Andre: "With the new intentional walk rule it's very likely that we'll soon see a pitcher get through a full half inning of three outs with fewer than three pitches shown. How long do you think it will take before we see this for real?"
* Dan (New Jersey): "If Mike Trout were traded to a National League team that insisted on batting him eighth before the pitcher, what would his walk rate and OBP look like?"
* Matt: "it seems weird to me that the upper bound of the strike zone is defined by where the top of the player's uniform pants. This seems to imply that a player sagging his pants could reduce the size of his strike zone. This could be taken to an extreme in which the player pulls his pants down all the way to his ankles. What would happen if someone tried this? Would this be called according to the rules in the rulebook. Lastly, would Adam Lind have been able to fart without anyone noticing had he been employing this strategy?"
* James (Nova Scotia): "Say I am an eccentric billionaire who buys a MLB team with the sole intention of winning the Grapefruit or Cactus League. I do not care about anything other than spring training wins. What kind of winning percentage could I achieve in the spring? What kind of organization strategies and in game tactics should I employ?"
* Eric (Plainview): "Whom would you rather have as your beer pong partner: Kershaw, Trout, or my friend Murphy? Kershaw has the arm precision but does that translate to a ping pong ball? My friend Murphy was the Buffalo University frat pong tourney winner."

## Stat Blast

* Jeff uses the Play Index to look up tOPS+ for pitchers facing other pitchers. This offers a way to see which pitchers are most effective when facing other pitchers, as compared to their overall performance.
* Zach Davies has a tOPS+ of -70 against pitchers, the best among active players.

## Notes

* Jeff says he would take Kris Bryant for one year, Ben would take Theo Epstein for three years.
* Barry Bonds was intentionally walked five times in his career with nobody on base and no outs.
* In 2016 hitters batting eighth in the National League walked 8.9% of the time.

## Links

* Effectively Wild Episode 1026: The Best Podcast on the Planet