Effectively Wild Episode 1649: The Energizer Battery

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the quirks and cancellation of a long-lost (and recently rediscovered) baseball successor to arcade hit NBA Jam called Power-Up Baseball, then discuss the Cubs signing Joc Pederson and the Cardinals bringing back Adam Wainwright and (probably) Yadier Molina, share a Stat Blast about where Wainwright and Molina rank among the most prolific pitcher-catcher combos of all time in terms of total starts, break down Nick Madrigal’s chances of achieving the “very reachable” (according to Madrigal) milestone of 3,000 hits, and celebrate Ken Griffey Jr.’s hiring as a senior advisor to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, then answer listener emails about whether contract incentives could encourage players to adopt data-driven approaches, how Mike Trout could tank his career WAR while continuing to play, and how to make baseball as bad as possible while preserving the core structure of the sport. Audio intro: Echo & the Bunnymen, "Lost and Found" Audio outro: Lindisfarne, "Together Forever" Link to article about Power-Up Baseball Link to video of Power-Up Baseball Link to Google Doodle baseball game Link to Dan Szymborski on the Wainwright signing Link to Stat Blast data about batteries Link to player turnover study Link to Madrigal’s comments Link to age-based baselines for 3000-hit club Link to MLB.com story about Griffey Link to list of Trout hypotheticals Link to Meg on Trout hypotheticals Link to Francoeur with big glove Link to Francoeur with big glove again Link to Craig Edwards’ farewell post Link to FanGraphs job posting  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: [email protected] var SERVER_DATA = Object.assign(SERVER_DATA || {}); Source