Episode 1107: Dropping (and Drawing) a Line

## Summary

*Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Willson Contreras’ Twitter behavior and the Yankees-Red Sox sign-stealing scandal, then answer listener emails about “up the line” vs. “down the line,” how rebuilding works, whether teams can count on the current home-run rate continuing, Deion Sanders’ career taking place today, the heat of the hot corner, the Hall of Fame candidacies of Joe Mauer and Justin Verlander, OBP vs. out rate, banning in-season trades, and more.*

## Topics

* Baseball terminology: running up or down the line
* Team rebuilding strategies
* Multi-sport athletes
* Hit frequency to the corners
* Building a team in a high home run era
* Hall of Fame cases for Joe Mauer and Justin Verlander
* Emphasising out-rate instead of OBP
* Banning in-season trades

## Banter

* Wilson Contreras' exposed Twitter messages to Mia Khalifa
* The Boston Red Sox were caught stealing signs and relaying information to players on the field using a smart watch.
* Value added from stealing signs
* Use of technology during games

## Email Questions

* Ethan: "When a player runs to first base is he running up the line or down the line?"
* Roland (Sheffield, UK): "I am a relative newcomer to the sport. I am a follower of the Detroit Tigers. With this in mind I wondered if you might spare a little airtime to explain what the process of rebuilding entails."
* Mike: "Let's say Deion Sanders' football and baseball career was beginning now and not in 1989. Deion was tremendously athletic but his football commitment made him only a part time baseball player. Would an MLB team be willing to sign him today and what lengths would they have to go to to keep him on the roster? How much value would he have to provide to be worth the part time status?"
* David: "What percentage of righties hit balls to third vs. lefties to first? It seems like the former happens more often. With Statcast, can we see whether or not balls hit to third by righties are actually faster than those hit to first by lefties?"
* Zack: "If you were a GM would you head into this offseason that the current baseball and elevated home run rate it has brought with it would remain constant going forward? Would you be comfortable making decisions under the assumption that the new ball is here for good?"
* Sean: "If Joe Mauer bounces back and is worth maybe 10ish wins over the next four years would it be time to discuss Mauer as a legit Hall of Fame player?"
* Steven: "What do you think about Verlander's Hall of Fame chances? How much does he need to do in Houston to help?"
* Daniel: "Keith Law posits in his book that OBP is the biggest correlating factor to a player's value to his team but he also offers the opposite could be true as well. What if teams started putting out percentages on the scoreboard? Do you think it is possible that doing so league-wide would affect any positive change?"
* Cameron: "What do you think would be the effect of trades being limited to the offseason, between the end of the World Series and the first game of the following season."

## Stat Blast

* The stat segment is inspired by David's email question about batted balls to third base.
* In recent years 16.5% of batted balls by righties have been hit to third base. 20.2% of batted balls by lefties have been hit to first base.
* In the last three years the average exit velocity on balls hit in these situations to first or third are nearly identical (about 80 MPH).

## Notes

* Jeff, on Wilson Contreras: It is a reminder that "every single one of us in some way is absolutely disgusting....everyone is revolting. If you knew what people did when nobody was around you wouldn't want to spend time with anyone. It's just disgusting and we just lie to ourselves to try to pretend we're wholesome people...no they're disgusting and you never want to know."
* Ben and Jeff initially think that running from home to first is 'up the line' and third to home is 'down the line'. However when referring to player speed they often say that a player is fast getting 'down the line'.
* Jeff thinks that Justin Verlander has a much stronger case of getting into the Hall of Fame than Joe Mauer.

## Links

* Effectively Wild Episode 1107: Dropping (and Drawing) a Line