January 13, 2011

BP Podcast

Episode 33: I Like The Unicorns

by Kevin Goldstein

A day late, a dollar short, and still no professor. We delayed the show by one day to see if Jason could get healthy, but it just wasn't in the cards. Luckily, we have Steven Goldman, who does an outstanding job filling in as we talk about our favorite announcers, how Bud Selig could learn from the past and who to value closers. Special guest number one is Alex Hinshaw of the San Francisco Giants, who is refreshingly frank about his career, getting to the big leagues, and trying to get back. Following that, independent filmmaker (and BP subscriber) Lucas McNelly comes on to talk about his latest project, A Year without rent. Then it's time for the goofy stuff and Steven's tales of working on the big book every year. 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 33: "I Like The Unicorns"

Download Here (131 MB; 2:23:26) 
Join Our Facebook Group
RSS Feed
ITunes Feed - If you subscribe via ITunes, please rate and review!

Contact Information

Email Us: podcast@baseballprospectus.com
Twitter: @kevin_goldstein; @professorparks
Skype Voicemail: kingclipon

Table Of Contents

0:00 Intro, intro of Steve, Jason has SARS, intro of agenda

5:58 Housekeeping: Email, twitter, Facebook group, iTunes, all that jazz

6:58 Steven's moral quandary and tales of ruined interviews

9:51 Emails

• Bundling up for the winter
• Philosophy of ranking prospects
• When too many fantasy teams focus on the future w/ bonus Yankee tangent
• Defining plus, plus-plus, and the scouting scale
• Our favorite announcers (includes Pat Hughes impression)
• Mommy, where do scouts come from?

50:02 Details on the Christina Taylor Green memorial fund

51:09 HOF voting, steroids, and how cheating was treated nearly 100 years ago

58:21 A rant about the reaction to the Kyle Farnsworth signing

1:06:03 Adventures in getting a press pass

1:07:54 The uniqueness of Trevor Hoffman (and what are closers really worth?)

1:20:44 Special Guest: Alex Hinshaw, LHP, San Francisco Giants

• Getting drafted the first of what turned out to be four times
• Arm troubles in college and the power of Tommy John rehab
• Getting drafted without playing, going to Texas, and not going to Texas
• Tales of Kung Fu Panda in the Northwest League
• Getting the call for the first time
• Trying to throw more strikes
• Watching your parent club win the World Series ain't so easy
• Adventures in Mexico
• The Hinshaw family background
• Good tattoos and bad tattoos

1:42:50 Special Pop Culture Guest: Independent filmmaker Lucas McNelly

• The effect of KickStarter.com on the indie film community
• His soon-to-be-released film Up Country
• The origins of the A Year Without Rent project
• Hoping for a RV
• The KickStarter comeback of the year and getting shut off on Twitter

1:59:36 Musical Guest: Byrds of Paradise

2:00:49 What are you drinking?

2:07:28 Steven's mental state and wrapping up Baseball Prospectus 2011

Music is by Byrds Of Paradise from the album Teenage Symphonies, copyright 2011, Don Giovanni Records.

Kevin Goldstein is an author of Baseball Prospectus. 
Click here to see Kevin's other articles. You can contact Kevin by clicking here