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Upcoming LL Podcast Solicitations

We are going to try this again, in a slightly different fashion as we continue to tinker with the process. One idea that I especially liked was to offer you readers an opportunity to raise questions or topics that you would like to hear discussed. Now, this does not mean we will talk about each one, but we are open to suggestions because truth be told we are really boring people with no imagination.

Onward!

Post your topic suggestions.

 

0 recs  |  250 comments

Comments

Handicap the AL West!
Assuming that we still have room in our payroll, do you guys think it's best to hold onto it for a possible mid-season acquisition or to go for what's left on the FA market right now?
I Don't Agree

I think the M’s should maximize what money they have left for FA’s. When it gets close to July 31st and the M’s are still in contention, ownership will divvy up money to get a good player in here, you can count on that.

You just disagreed with something that had no conclusion to disagree with.
Maybe that's what they found disagreeable.
Rec'd for excellent use of gender neutral singular pronoun
We gender neutrals must stick together, singularly of course.
"They" is not singular.

“Maybe that’s what he or she found disagreeable” would be better grammar.

But not as much fun.
They can be used as a singular pronoun

when you don’t want to use the incredibly awkward phrase ‘he or she’. Shakespeare did it. Menken did it.

That's what they said
You should opt for 'zhe'

What it lacks in commonality it makes up for in confusion.

Just get on the bandwagon and go with 'ta'

Chinese singular for he, she or it.

It's a family of Mikes
Minor Leaguers

I would like some continuing discusson on what our minor league prospects look like, not just the top 10-15. Some of the fringe players such as Hawkins Gebbers and James McOwen. Maybe some discusson on Dennis Raben and Mike wilson. Just a thought.

Some of those guys are flat-out awful and wouldn't be anywhere near an interesting discussion from J/M/G

now if they can get Jay/Conor on as special guests, that might be kind of great

Possible spring training black horse candidates!

Who will be this year’s Shawn Kelley? Could Dustin Ackley make the big club like Brandon Morrow did?

dark horse*
I like black horse's better.
Pink and purple unicorns are prettier
Pink and grey ones are the best.

Especially if they taste just like raisins.

Thanks,now I can't get that song out of my head. I love it and hate it at the same time.
We don't have Bill Hall anymore.
A recurring segment where Graham gives out a fictional award called "The Grahammie"

Like Ken Schram and “The Schrammie”

"Evaluating Pitching Talent"

What are the best ways to evaluate whch pitchers will perform best in the future?
tRA, Swinging Strike %, In Zone vs Out of Zone swing rates and miss rates, etc.

Analytical tools to come

tOPS, Hit F/x, what’s next for Pitch F/x, new potential fielding metrics.

Random hilarious occurrences from games.

Guests, maybe from non-Mariners blogs for a change of pace. Maybe other team-specific bloggers like RJ or Grant, or guys from FanGraphs/BtB/THT, etc.

Fringe Players

Fringe may be the wrong word here, but I’m using it anyways. I’d like to see a discussion on the following type of players.

1. The top 15 players not on the starting 25 opening day (My current guesses would include Kanekoa Texeira, Greg Halman, Yusmeiro Petit, and 12 others).

2. Injured Players who could come back during the season (Feirabend and Sean White are the only ones I know are hurt, but they may be ready for Opening Day I dont’ know, but there may be others too)

3. Non-Roster Invitees (Corey Patterson, Mike Koplov, David Pauley, Josh Bard, Brad Nelson, Josh Wilson, Chris Woodward, Eliezer Alfonso and Chad Cordero). Which have the best chance to really improve the Mariners.

4. This category is a stretch, but I always wonder what ever happened to the players that fall off the radar. Where do they go? Are they so bad they cannot be traded (or was that a stupid question?) Players like Robert Manuel and Alex Cintron would be in this category.

These lists may or may not be mutually exclusive, but I’m still very intrigued by the depth (or lack thereof) we have at certain positions.

Thanks for asking for suggestions. It should make for a fruitful next few weeks.

Fogel as your Frank Calliendo
Ask Jeff why he changed his name
Holy shit Jeff actually changed his name
Too many people were getting him mixed up with Jeff Shaw

He’s about 4 years too late, but whatevs

Assuming the Mariners make/get to the playoffs

What type of heart crushing loss will we suffer? Rangers with a 20 game win streak? Alfonso Soriano magically coming up to bat for the Yankees?

Methodology behind projections

Having just read Jeff’s fun fact of day involving CHONE projections I’m curious about how baseball performance is projected.

I’d be interested to hear about how different methodologies work and what they use to make their projections.

Safeco Field Beer choices

Pros/Cons…

Best ballpark experiences

individual ballparks, individual games

Or a more general repeating bit on beer.

A short minute or two talking about the beer of the week/month/day (however often you are thinking about doing said podcast). Similar to the whole “This series brought to you by XXX beer” thing. But more awesome cause we get to hear about it.

Considering how much of this crowd consists of beer fanatics, a bit of pandering in that direction can’t do any harm to your listening statistics. And just imagine the marketing potential!

But all of us are going to listen to the podcast anyway
What were your favourite moments from last season and why.
I think there's been so much discussion about the Ms and where they stand and what they've done

that a good new-information-to-time-spent-discussing ratio is going to be hard to maintain.

On the other hand, it would be very informative if you could bring in Rangers/Angels/A’s bloggers to answer the kinds of questions one can’t answer without following a team closely, ie how do you project your team, what are the roster’s major holes/weaknesses, who does the management/FO consider their most valuable young players, which valuable young players does the management have an oddly public dislike for (Napoli!), which of your manager’s habits drive you nuts and on and on.

As a once in a while thing this could be great.

YES

I would also love a discussion with a Rangers/A’s/Angels blogger hearing how everyone thinks the division will stack up. I also would like to hear from other team’s bloggers about what they think of facing Felix on Monday and Lee on Tuesday. Also, potential anxiety feelings other pitchers will feel when Ichiro is on 2nd and Figgins is on 1st.

Angels blogger?
They Angels have a blog?
Halos Heaven and Angelswin.com

Halos Heaven is a SBNation blog.

Never heard of it
I'm pretty sure Eyebrows wouldn't be hanging out here if the Angels had an actual blog.
Am I missing something

or did people really not know the angel’s had a blog?

I know I'm surprised Angels fans can read.

Although I guess they could have an all-picture blog.

I'm sure the best one could make a Geocities page by now.
Skills/talent

Some skills are more easily acquired/honed than others, so taking that into consideration, what can many of the M’s players reasonably do to get the most out of their talent?
I don’t mean, “If RRS added 10 MPH, he’d kick ass” and I don’t mean, “It would help if Kotchman developed 30 HR power.” I mean, what are the chances that Kotchman reduces his GB% and/or lays off pitches low in the strike zone? Or… RRS’ change-up is currently a, I don’t know, 35-40 on the scouting scale. If it was more like 45-50, what would that make him, and how likely is that?
Tui’s development as a 3B stalled because of a couple of reasons, one of which was poor defense. Would a move to 2B and work with new coaches increase the likelihood that he’ll be a league-average player? Does the shift to 2B make it more likely that he’d improve his defensive skills (because the skills for 2B are better suited for him, as an example), or do you think that if he hasn’t become an acceptable defender at either of 2 positions in many years in the minors, that no one should hold their breath about that skill improving now?

This is rambly, and I hope you understand the distinction I’m getting at…..

This would be really interesting

If I read you right, I think of it in terms of what can be coached an improved upon. Can we hope that Lopez gains some discipline at the plate? Can discipline be learned? Along those lines.

The pitching coach and staff got some credit last year, and I think some people would hope them to work continued magic this year. How realistic is that? Is it more realistic for certain pitchers and/or certain pitches?

Yeah, something like that.

At this point, we know Lopez can’t become a high-OBP guy. That ship has sailed. But he could improve his defensive positioning, or something, and generate a couple of runs that way.

The pitching staff got some credit, and Jack Z raved about the infield instructor he hired this year. But yeah, then you’re getting into specific players and very small, discrete skills. Tui can’t become Jack Wilson, but maybe there are things he’s doing wrong that he could learn to do… less wrong.

I just want Lopez to be an average OBP guy

he’s like a three-win player if he just posts a damn .335 OBP.

.295/.335/.480 with average defense at second is a really valuable player

Exactly. A .335 wOBA in Safeco, with a touch better defense gets him near 3 wins too.

So we have some idea of his overall talent, and we know what his current skills are… what skill improvements can he make to get to that 3 win point?
How realistic is it to see measurable improvement in some defensive skill, given the aging curve for defense? Is that more or less realistic than a 10% improvement in selectivity at the plate, or something like that?

I second or third or fourth that.

Let’s here about Lopez.

Let's where about Lopez?
I like this line of thinking a lot, but I'm not sure it's within our esteemed panel's range of expertise
That's a good point.
Wakamatsu as special guest!
Talk about the differences between the back end rotation candidates, who you like, and why
Tell us about your lives
Impersonate Bill Conlin
How you'd spend the remainder of the budget

and how strong the Mariners are relative to the other teams in baseball

I would like to know

If Jeff and Matthew got ripped in 4 weeks too? Or did it take a little longer? Jeff can you please get that ad removed from the rotation because I’m sure people are making false assumptions when they glance at my screen from afar.

Broadening the user base

Got to get the ladies around somehow

I'd like a narrated version of the Haray Canary incident, with sound effects by Graham.
Done in Ken Burns style

Lots of pan and zoom with stock black and white photos….

That would be some podcast
vidcast?

Beats looking at guys looking at a speakerphone, right?

Podcasts added to Zune Marketplace & iTunes?

This would be awesome to be able to subscribe to these inside the Zune Marketplace and/or iTunes. Not sure how they were posted before – but that would be cool.

Check out the previous podcast post - Matthew intends to post them to iTunes, I believe
They're already on iTunes.

Check the update at the top of the previous LL Podcast post.

Right on

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Now how about that Zune Marketplace! (I am one of the 15 people that have a Zune HD.)

A way to download the MP3 would be helpful for those of us with Android and WebOS.
Off the top of my head

DMZ does something kind of cool each year where he looks at the Vegas odds and tries to pick some teams he thinks will over or underperform their stated win totals. Something like picking overrated and underrated teams might be cool.

We all know what is awesome about GMZ. I’d love to have you guys look back and say what he has done wrong. Its more interesting to listen to than a continuous lovefest he deserves.

Team outlook for 1, 3, and 5 years?

Interesting... how about this: a look at the Snell/Wilson trade with 6 months of hindsight

It may make Graham start swearing uncontrollably, but at the same time I’m not sure we know how to evaluate that one now any better than we did at the time.

If we make it a TV show, we can have a "show off your Pittsburgh Pirates jersey collection day!"
Yeah I feel like that one is a big one that might be questioned in hindsight (or just plain questioned)

There are also a lot of small insignificant moves that can be thought about. They totally get cancelled out by the Lee trade by itself but still I think it would be an interesting subject.

It would be interesting

to hear an entire show on one somewhat higher-level topic, like “The Perils of Results-Based Analysis” or something – use the podcast as a way to draw people in to the more advanced analytical methods.

I would listen to that

I want to break off the casual fan @ Safeco with UZR (and understand what is actually coming out of my mouth)

That's a good idea that would not be feasible, say, this week, as it would require much preparation
I didn't realize your podcast idea well was dry after one episode

I was just thinking in general terms, not trying to be all “you should do this this week GO GO GO”. The most intriguing thing you could do, I think, would be to keep the podcast at a slightly higher level, and stay away from just rehashing things that are already on LL; a series of podcasts about higher-level topics might be an interesting way to go. Or maybe do something like that once a month so you can give it the prep time it deserves.

I like the idea, but I don't see us doing them on a regular basis, maybe the once per month timeline.

The appeal of podcasts, I think, from Jeff and I’s perspective is that they get to be a little more casual, a little less statsy. But we’ll see how they evolve.

Bingo

It’s important to realize that, while we like the idea of introducing podcasts, the site already takes up a ton of time and the only way to devote a lot of effort to the podcast is to reduce the amount of effort elsewhere. And that’s not something we really want to do. We simply can’t afford to put hours of work into one of these things without hurting something else.

SBN really needs to pay you guys more
I swear, when they roll up to us with six-figure offers,

we’ll do massively in-depth podcasts. Of this I promise.

Fuck podcasts, I want video interviews at that point

unless you make it subscription only

(will subscriptions be payable in beer?)
The daytime ones will be.

LL @ Night Vidcasts will require a credit card

I hear Conan's looking for a new show to host...
And he said he was down with doing nudity

so he could do the LL @ Night Vidcasts.

He needs to keep his momentum going until September!
As a bonus he married someone from Seattle.

He has to be a closet fan!

Fair enough and completely understandable

but here’s my devil’s advocate question – why bother podcasting, then? I don’t mean you shouldn’t do it, but what’s the goal of doing it?

*don't mean to imply you shouldn't do it
Because it's fun to talk about baseball on a complicated but still more casual level

The podcast with John last week was pretty much completely off the top of our heads, and people enjoyed it, which is perfect for everyone involved.

Also it helps the reader connect with the mods on a more personal level!
We're so welcoming!
Everybody look at my last name!
Mark Twain had a last name too and it turned out to be a great big lie
To believe that Sullivan's actually his last name would be silly
I think the last name makes it more formal and therefore less personal
If he went by Sully I'd feel like we were drinking buddies
Yeah but that's also the name of the fake indian guy from Dr. Quinn
Also the pilot that landed the plane in the Hudson
He was also a Avatar.
Sully makes him sound like he's a Red Sox fan.
Before you know it, it will be Mr. Sullivan
Herr Sullivan
vr, Sul
Comrade Sullivanski
Don't you mean Skippy?
Yeah now I'm going to feel really bad when he hollers at me
Warm fuzzies abound
But you're all robot automatons and are thus unable to connect to humans, right?
This is the very sort of misconception we are looking to erase!
But...

you do sit in your parents basement staring at spreadsheets instead of watching games, correct?

Yeah, that makes sense

So maybe just solicit 5 questions per week like you’re doing here, and over the course of the podcast riff on those five questions?

We're going to do a top five countdown of users we hate the most.
And then spend 5 min talking about each one in depth and why you hate them!

All hail approachability!

And the phone lines will be open
Awesomeness
And then read us some flags/warnings
That'll show those FSN "Best Damn" guys.
No, see, then you have to tell an unfunny story ...

and everyone around you has to fall out of their chairs, fake-laughing.

That's a big part of the plan

Basically, it’s half covering our own questions, and half covering reader questions we’ve solicited. That way we know we’re talking about stuff that people want to hear.

What Jeff said plus

part of it is just an experiment in branching out. There’s plenty of stuff we want to try, podcasts, videos, interviews, non-baseball stuff. Some of it is going to suck, some of it will lead to other stuff.

Ok if something is going to suck, I recommend not doing it.
We probably won't know something's going to suck until we do it
Except Fogel
It's interesting how the joke has evolved considering its origins were back when his MLB.tv was delayed
Should have turned off NexDef
Aw it wasn't even on
Should have turned on NexDef
No I don't think that would have helped
My advice is now exhausted.
Do you know of someone else I could ask?
I know of no other being you could ask.

I..I’m sorry, your feed is going to stay delayed.

Wow

This is hitting me worse than when I found out JFK got shot

Oh man,

do I have more bad news for you…

Do you?
You have lupus
Can't be
I will ask around

But it would be best to start treatment right away

Right away?

Uh oh… I always seem to be a little behind on everything I do.

And now I suck penises
That's mighty kind of you.
Wait is high-res mlbtv delayed still?
results-based analysis!
You dirty consequentialist.
You could also do something simple such as

Using stats to avoid the most common mistakes. Simple stuff for beginners to bring people up to speed.

Love this idea

I’d much rather listen to you guys talk numbers versus Tony, no offense to him.

Note that I probably won't be involved in the podcast for the forseeable future
Well instead of doing a podcast

I think it might be cool to hear a post about tRA and what you have learned now that its been around for a while. Any insights you have that aren’t obvious would be cool. Also any problems you know it has and suggestions for future work would be cool.

The Lookout Landing Podcast - temporarily 8% taller!
Actually only 2.1 % taller
Doesn't account for the stack heel boots worn by the other LLodcasters.
Way to be a team player
I won't be either for that matter.
So we can't ask katal then?
No
Can we ask Fogel?
He has a more "under the table" role in the podcast
That explains why their minds were so aroused.
Robert should fill in.
I'm too shy.
Bullshit

Grow a pair.

I can't produce the show if I'm talking on it.
What, exactly, is it that you do again?
Producer sounds a lot better on my resume than Beta Bitch.
We could give him a pack of gummy worms to transcribe the podcasts
I'll work for a roll of wild cherry life savers
Or a drunk puppy if Robert is busy.
What.

You have shamed our country.

Good thing he's one of them damn furriners then
No she's saying they're both from Orientland.
Graham?

Too tall.
And not cute enough.
Is this where we make the racial jokes?
Only me.
Racial jokes, but only about you. Got it.
Rats, I was hoping this was going to be a three-way.
If I had a dollar for every time I have said this.
Still think you should do it live.
Quick review of the various projection systems and what they say about the M's

Formal: issues with methodology, why Marcel is important, why some systems project AAAA guys as MLB all-stars, etc.

More casual: discuss why each system goes with the Earth collision disaster movie selected, talk about the various ways people misuse projections, blah blah blah beer.

If a bunch of different styles of SP are avalilble with the same WAR and price

What type of pitcher would we want? We have great IF defense so we would like a groundball pitcher. We have great OF defense so we would like a flyball pitcher. We have a very expansive park so we would like who gives up flyballs. We want a guy with high strkeouts because thats a great repeatable skill. What is the verdict?

I suggest interviews with minor league players

LL use to do this and it was awesome. I suggest bringing this back any way possible.

All of them ended up being traded or injured.

We’re never doing another player interview again.

We blew our chance with Johnson
Hey Rob, want to talk about hunting?

Ugh.

Enough with the dick jokes.

I thought this was a serious blog.

Huh

I don’t know why

Only 454? This surprises me immensely.
I was more surprised to see that LL didn't have a higher percentage of the total.
Well if you don't want to do an interview, at least get yourself a press pass somehow so you can make all the work you do here worth it.

Imagine how cool a press pass would be.

Press passes are awful
Tacoma press passes are awesome

MLB press passes probably suck

You could talk to RRS

Wouldn’t that be pretty awesome. I’m not saying you need to write any stories about it. Just use it as a way to get a personal tour of the clubhouse and talk to Dave Niehaus about stuff and then hat suggestions from Dave Sims.

PRESS PASSES DO NOT WORK THAT WAY
Well that kills my dreams
Don't really want to pretend I'm a journalist
I think thats valid

How about this, we could get one for some photographer for the blog (Paul?) and then get super cool pictures.

Paul's already got one for Tacoma.
Yeah his pictures are awesome
Yes this seems scientifically valid
The LL jinx?
The curse of the Grahambino?
I imagined Graham saying that and now I have a case of the giggles.
Maybe an overview of statistical thoughts on clubhouse chemistry?

It’d probably be nice to have an explanation to point to that sounds more casual and friendly.

Fuck it. Audio beer thread.

It’s casual, it’s responsive to LL reader interest, you don’t really have to ‘prepare’ anything.

Today's fun fact:

I was drinking an Anderson Valley Winter Solstice during the premier podcast.

And I was concentrating on a hockey game
As was I!

Also, Twitter and how much I hate talking on phones.

Save it for the podcasts
That might actually be one where you could have live call-ins

I suspect certain members of the LL community would enjoy being on that. It would be like reverse call-ins though – “now we’re going to call acblue to see what he has to say about Speedway Stout”

Supplimental show: Places to go to get said beers that aren't horrible.
I would like to hear about your fantasy teams
No one would like to hear about anyone's fantasy team.
Nick does.
He doesn't know it yet, but he's wrong.
Who is Preston Vancil?
If LL ran Mariners PR.

Including coming up with LL endorsed:

2010 Team Motto
Promotional Days You’d Like To See
Unique Mariners Related Merch You Wish Existed
Ect.

Dave Sims Hat Night.
"Jim Thome-- anything left in the tank?"

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