Effectively Wild Episode 1944: The Christmas Socks of Free Agents

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the differences, if any, between a two-year deal with an opt out after the first year and a one-year deal with a player option for a second year, then discuss the Dansby Swanson signing, the destinations of the winter’s top four shortstops, and the state of the Cubs, the spending of the White Sox, the AL Central, and the trajectories of Andrew Benintendi and Joey Gallo, Atlanta depending on Vaughn Grissom to replace Swanson at shortstop, the Dodgers and Red Sox essentially swapping DHs in J.D. Martinez and Justin Turner (and Boston’s confusing competitive stance), the Orioles’ unexciting signings and the Marlins’ lack of moves, the Padres and Mets continuing to add players and payroll and whether Seth Lugo is like socks, the Astros re-signing Michael Brantley, Kris Bryant being on the Rockies, and more, plus Stat Blasts about this winter’s unusually long contracts and Rich Hill’s gap between 30-start seasons (1:03:35), a Past Blast from 1944 (1:15:28), and a Hall-of-Fame follow-up. Audio intro: ABBA, “Two for the Price of One” Audio outro: JD McPherson, “Socks” Link to Wendy on mutual options Link to article on tweet length Link to Ben Clemens on Swanson Link to Dan Szymborski on the Cubs Link to Laurila on Benintendi Link to Baumann on Gallo Link to Chris Gilligan on Lugo Link to team payrolls Link to SP depth charts Link to Battery Power on Grissom Link to Esteban Rivera on JDM Link to Justin Choi on Turner Link to Baumann on the Red Sox Link to article on Bloom buying/selling Link to article on Boston’s deadline Link to Dan on the Orioles Link to Hill Stat Blast data Link to 1944 story source Link to story on Phillies rebrand Link to SABR on team nicknames Link to Jacob Pomrenke’s website Link to Jacob Pomrenke on Twitter Link to latest Ringer-Verse episode Link to first Ringer-Verse episode  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Twitter Account  EW Subreddit  Effectively Wild Wiki  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: [email protected] var SERVER_DATA = Object.assign(SERVER_DATA || {}); Source