Why just rage about the Rookie of the Year vote when you can go to the source? In this episode, Dejan Kovacevic, who submitted a National League ballot sans Jason Heyward, joins us to discuss his ballot, his way of seeing things, and accusations of homer-ism. Then, we continue our tour of the off-season leagues with Marcos Grunfeld in Caracas, who talks about the league there and how major league baseball is followed in Venezuela. When just myself and a very ill Jason are talking, we ready plenty of your email, talk about some recent trades, trade rumors and trade reactions, and finish up with an in-depth discussion of Sumo, my new second favorite sport.. Then it's the usual end-game stuff with what we're drinking and an update on our mental states. As always, we hope you enjoy.
Note: We do alert you to the presence of the occasional adult language. Don't say we didn't warn you.
Up And In Episode 26: "A Westerner, Far Bigger Than He"
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Table Of Contents
0:00 Intro, agenda review, Jason's health
5:11 Housekeeping (Email Us! Join our Facebook group! Nominate us for an award!)
7:06 Communications
- Jason's 'Professor' status
- Bidding on Japanese players
- The business of minor league baseball
- Finesse arms and the tipping point
- Can plate discipline be learned?
- Are some teams better at developing talent than others?
- The slotting system and the “wrath of Bud”
30:15 Rookie of the Year awards and corresponding Twitter rage
37:46 The Miller and Maybe trades and why they're not suddenly good
49:48 Arguing over the concept of trading Justin Upton
54:05 Discussing the Arizona and Baltimore Top 11 Prospects
1:02:13 Special Guest #1: Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Why his National League ROY ballot looked the way it looked
- At the core, did Neil Walker and Jose Tabata deserve votes
- How this was not a protest vote nor asking for attention
- Accusations of homer-ism
- In the end, the final totals look right
- How criticism in one direction or the other comes with being in the public eye
1:21:31 Special Guest #2: Marcus Grunfeld of Meridiano and beisbolvenezolano.net
- Some of the top players this year in Venezuela: Mark Trumbo and Alex Torres
- The combination of prospects and veterans
- The popularity of the league in Venezuela, and on Venezuelan players in MLB
- The most popular players historically and the concept of the Venezuelan shortstop
- The reality of Venezuela: crime and other issues
- The Caribbean Series and rivalries
- A message to our Venezuelan listeners (en Español)
1:40:41 A quick translatoin
1:42:14 Musical Guest: Screaming Females and a thanks to our listeners
1:44:46 Rewarding a listener by talking about Michael Ynoa tall pitchers
1:48:58 A very special What Are You Drinking: debut of the Up and In cocktail
1:51:25 Pop Culture Moment: NHK Television and the joys of Sumo and J-Pop
2:06:04 Jason's mental state and what we're working on.
Music is by Screaming Females from the album "Castle Talk", copyright 2010, Don Giovanni Records.
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Cudos to you and Jason for all your hard work, keep 'em coming!
And here's a mental image for you, former Oriole Walter Young in Sumo garb ...
the far bigger westerner, but I think he would be an interesting topic.
He actually was trained in judo and wrestling as well and fought at UFC 3 back in 1994. If you could track him down for an interview, that would pretty cool.