The Barbecast

Hello friends!

We have noticed a good number of people subscribing to/downloading pods from this feed, presumably in search of our new podcast, Baseball Bar-B-Cast over on the SiriusXM podcast network. Consider this a clarification on where you can actually find that new show, AKA not on this feed.

You can find our new podcast here -- thanks for supporting us!

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/baseball-bar-b-cast/id1646489931

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/547IoA6qTC2kK8J7NpqVak?si=fed9ddb8903246f5 

 

Direct download: 221208_0359.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:07pm EDT

Hi friends! Just wanted to pop into this dusty ol' podcast feed to let you know that we're starting a new baseball podcast with The Ringer! It won't be like the Barbecast, but we think you'll enjoy it. Thank you so much for listening to the Barbecast and supporting us when we first started doing these things. May OBP and Napoleon live on forever.

Subscribe to the new pod!

Apple: https://t.co/etDSBxG8nT 

Spotify: https://t.co/lXMSoFa8AM 

Direct download: IMDABES.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:40am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 111. This is the last Barbecast. As you may or may not know by now, we are transitioning to Tha BBQ Part II, aka the part where we work for MLB Advanced Media. You can read all about that by clicking here. But this is our last hurrah, the final victory lap for this audio adventure we've been on for nearly four years. As is only right, this episode features arguably the three most important guests of Barbecast lore, but we began with a large pile of fantastic e-mails from you wonderful listeners, including questions about Kelly vs. Avril, Napoleon Bookbindery, baseballers on rollerskates, and of course, a beautiful final story from OBP himself. Thank you all so much for all the kind words. Our first special guest (at 42:10) is Craig Goldstein, our inaugural guest and one of our favorite people. We talked about Craig stuff. Our second special guest (at 52:40) was the most frequent guest in Barbecast history and we like her even more than we like Craig. It's Lana Berry! Lana recently had a tweet get over 100,000 likes. We talked about that and then said goodbye forever. Our third and final special guest (at 1:05:40) is Kieran Lovegrove, right-handed pitcher in the Cleveland Indians organization and the OFFICIAL minor leaguer of the Cespedes Family BBQ. Kieran is a Lynchburg Hillcat now, so we checked in on how his season is going and how he likes his new logo. We concluded (at 1:18:15) with some details about our new job, and some final hearty thanks for all of your support. For one final time (on here): thanks for listening <3

Music: A somber version of IMDABES

Outro: Jake's rendition of IMDABES

Actual end: The beginning of Barbecast 1

 

Direct download: Pod_111.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:41pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 110! And yes, you read the title right...it's the second-to-last Barbecast as you know it. Why? We still can't really tell you. Anyway, our special guest this week (at 22:15) is Brace Hemmelgarn, official team photographer of the Minnesota Twins. We asked Brace about how he went from D-III baseball player to MLB photographer almost instantly, the major league photography community, why everyone on the Twins calls him Bruce, and his favorite players to shoot on the job. After Brace (at 51:45), another B-Ref Battle ensued featuring the fourth Moose in Barbecast history and a guy who once struck out Babe Ruth and bragged about it. We conclude (at 59:00) with Jake's Professional Baseball Update about how his independent league tryout went, and some vague allusions to our professional futures. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Bye Bye Bye

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

 

Direct download: Pod_110.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 5:33pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 109! No guest or B-Ref (or really even e-mails) this week, we just wanted to check in and let you guys know how things are not that are college days are officially behind us and the terrifying prospect of adulthood is staring us right in the face. First, we tried to catch up on the division standings since we have not been paying super close attention to real baseball lately. Then we do one final Varsity Baseball Update about the end of Jake's collegiate career before transitioning into Jake's Professional Baseball Update (?!?!?!?!) with a fairly exciting announcement about where Jake will be for the next week. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: Pod_109.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:35am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 108! We've got two special guests this week. First up (at 24:30) is Tom Hackimer, professional side-armer in the Minnesota Twins organization. Tom is both a) our kind of guy; and b) almost everything Jake aspires to be as a poo-slinging reliever. We talked about how he went from a walk-on at St. John's to dominating for four years while also majoring in physics, getting drafted by his not-actual-favorite time, the one home run he is ever allowed, and a bunch of nerdy side-arm related stuff that Jake was understandably curious about. After Tom, (at 1:06:15), we brought on Jamal Collier, who covers the Nationals for MLB.com, to discuss the team's outrageously hot start (particularly on offense), Ryan Zimmerman's resurrection, Tanner Roark, and the wonderful mess that is their bullpen. We concluded (at 1:39:15) with a Varsity Baseball Update that actually is more of a Professional Baseball Update (?!?!?!) about Jake's Frontier League tryout, before some brief general D-III baseball talk. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Lil Yachty 

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: pod_108.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 5:14pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 107! We have two special guests this week. First up (at 17:25) is Steve Gerken, Average Dude from Austin, Texas. Who the hell is Steve Gerken? Good question! Steve sent us an e-mail for Barbecast 106 in which he explained that he basically has never played baseball (in any form!) despite being a totally normal 21-year-old guy. We asked him to defend himself. After Steve (at 29:20), we brought on J.B. Bukauskas, junior right-handed pitcher at the University of North Carolina. While J.B.'s ERA (1.40) is nearly double Jake's (0.72), J.B. has a significantly higher chance of being drafted in the first round of the 2017 Draft. We talked about growing up playing baseball in the DC area, being on campus when UNC won March Madness, and the best players he's faced during his time in Chapel Hill. After J.B. (at 53:00), we participated in a wonderful B-Ref Battle featuring an obscure record-holder, and one of our favorite players in the history of the segment, thanks to his outrageously strange and convoluted background. We will never get tired of this. We concluded (at 1:10:00) with a brief discussion on Our New Overlord Eric Thames and provide a Varsity Baseball Update about Jake's brief stint ATOP a real actual leader board. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Music: A song about birds

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: Pod_107.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:38pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 106! A lot has happened since the last Barbecast, so we decided to take this episode to reflect on all that has gone on over the past 6 weeks or so -- mainly, baseball is back, and Jake Mintz is suddenly really good at it. No special guests, just us being excited that the 2017 season is finally here. We began by answering several e-mails on topics such as the Red Sox flu crisis, 17 players being ejected from the same team in the same game, our favorite minor league experiences, and perfect sitters. After e-mails (at 34:43), we took some time to draw some major conclusions about the playoff race after one week of play, and mentally prepare ourselves for a Twins-Diamondbacks World Series. Next (at 43:00), we participated in *another* B-Ref Battle of extraordinary old-timey baseball names. We concluded (at 49:40) with perhaps the most exciting Varsity Baseball Update in the history of the Barbecast: Jake is good now. We discussed some of the highlights of the first half of the WashU Bears season, including Jake unknowingly blowing a no-hitter, sweeping Emory, and how in the world he currently has a 0.44 ERA (?!?!?!?!?!?!?!). Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Chance, duh

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: Pod_106.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 3:36pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 105! Two special guests this week, as has become fairly customary. First up (at 23:30) is Anthony Castrovince of MLB dot com and Sports On Earth. Anthony is one of our favorite writers and we knew he would be a good candidate to participate in a fun Barbecast game with us, so we invited him on to draft Weird Spring Training Things (AKA Silly Spring Stuff) with us. We each selected three particularly odd Spring Training things that we especially enjoy. After Anthony, we brought on arguably the most important guest in Barbecast history (at 1:00:15), Chattahoochee Valley Community College first baseman, Fuzzy Furr. Yeah, that Fuzzy Furr. We talked to Fuzzy about how he got the name Fuzzy at such a young age, and the blessings and curses of living with such a glorious name. After Fuzzy (at 1:18:00), we did a rapid fire B-Ref battle that was relatively short but still great (albeit less impressive in an episode that features a guy named Fuzzy Furr). We concluded (1:23:00) with a discussion about Blake Swihart's yips, a mild hot take on the proposed extra innings rules, Jake's Varsity Baseball Update, and an ode to the glorious Magic iPod. Thanks for listening <3 

Musical guest: The Magic iPod

Note: Yes, we forgot to ask Castrovince Kelly/Avril, we are v v v v sorry. 

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: Pod_105.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:10am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 104! Two special guests again this week, one repeat and one podcast rookie. First up (at 20:00) is Mariners pitching prospect Andrew Moore, making his third Barbecast appearance in three years. We've watched Andrew grow from a wee-little Pac-12 Friday starter to a mildly impressive professional rookie to a dude that just dominated Double-A for most of a season. We are so proud. We talked about Andrew's full-season debut, how much he's looking forward to hitting in the big leagues, and how he's spending his offseason now that he's no longer a JV basketball coach. After Andrew (at 47:00), we brought on Rob Arthur, one of our favorite writers and also the guy whose clenched fist is in all of those memes (I think?). We talked to Rob about how he got from master's degree in genetics to baseball writing, the strange experience of covering the 2016 as a longtime Cubs fan, his thoughts on the proposed extra-inning rule, and the reason for his unusual Twitter handle. After Rob (at 1:16:00), we participate in another B-Ref Battle featuring two more extraordinary names from yesteryear. We conclude (at 1:23:00) with a mildly exciting varsity baseball update, and a quick discussion on Russell Westbrook because Jake loves him very much. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Russell Westbrook on a Farm

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: Pod_104.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:27am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 103! We have two special guests this week. Hope that's cool with you. Our first special guest (at 25:15) is Cody Ponce, one of the top pitching prospects in the Milwaukee Brewers system, as well as a general enthusiast of nonsense. That is why he is on the Barbecast. We talked to Cody about the origins of his devastating lactose intolerance, his insistence that PITCHERS ARE ATHLETES, how he stayed entertained in the dugouts of the Florida State League, being best friends with fellow Damien High School alumnus Mark McGwire (they are not best friends at all) and more. After Cody (at 54:05), we brought on Baseball America's JJ Cooper with the hope of discussing some of our favorite prospects. That did not happen. Instead, since we are huge D-III baseball dorks with an obvious bias, we talked to JJ about the process of preparing the Small College Preview for Baseball America, and how JJ goes about even attempting to cover the lower levels of college baseball when there are such an outrageous number of teams and the competition level is all over the place. We found it super fascinating. After JJ (at 1:33:00), we competed in our customary B-Ref Battle brought to you by Baseball-Reference, featuring one blatantly silly name and one guy who had to retire from baseball so he could milk cows full time. What a world. We concluded (at 1:43:00) with a brief discussion on Bad and Boujee, Joel Embiid, and of course, Jake's Varsity Baseball Update. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: Pod_103.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 5:54pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 102! We have two special guests this week -- two very different ones. First up (at 27:15) is Phillies prospect Rhys Hoskins, who we first met over the summer when he was mashing dingers with the Double-A Reading Fightin' Phils, the winningest team in the minors. Rhys talked about what it was like to play for such a fun team that won all the time, competing with his teammate Dylan Cozens for the minor league home run title, that time he went 0-0 with 5 walks, and his beloved Oakland Raiders' chances in the playoffs. After Rhys (at 1:01:00), we brought on Lincoln Mitchell, author of "Will Big League Baseball Survival?: Globalization, the End of Television, Youth Sports, and the Future of Major League Baseball." We attempted to tackle a modicum of the big questions posed in Lincoln's book, and discussed where baseball has been, and the challenges/advantages it has today, particularly in relation to the other major American sports. Then we talked about the former Soviet country of Georgia, which is Lincoln's other area of immense expertise. Next, (at 1:37:20) the B-Ref Battle brought to you by Baseball-Reference returned with one strictly silly name and one guy with one of the more illustrious careers in the segment's history. We concluded (at 1:46:50) with a brief homage to Sam Miller and Effectively Wild, as well as our additional podcast inspiration, Up and In. Then we said goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Note: We will hanging out at Foleys in NYC around 8 PM on Saturday, January 7th. Come by and say hello! 

You can buy Lincoln's book by clicking here!

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: Pod_102.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 9:58pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 101! After returning for our centurial extravaganza, we took another lengthy break to finish our fall semester strong. Now home for winter break and have more time than we know what to do with, another Barbecast is here. Our special guest this week (at 15:50) is Lucas Giolito, former Barbecast guest, newest sock, and one of the three young pitchers traded from the Nationals for Adam Eaton. Lucas took some time from his rigorous Rocket League schedule to talk to us about how the trade has truly ROCKED HIS WORLD (it hasn't really that much), and what he's looking forward to in his new organization and new city. We also challenged him with a patently absurd would-you-rather type scenario courtesy of the one and only Wes Yee. After Lucas (at 53:50), the B-Ref Battle brought to you by Baseball-Reference returned from its Episode 100 hiatus with two players of varying skill levels, one who was pretty bad, and one who once won the National League batting title. We concluded (at 1:02:35) with an exciting Jake's Last Hurrah Varsity Baseball Update, and a brief discussion on Hanukkah. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Go White Sox Go!

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: Pod_101.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:15pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 100! Wait, 100??? Yeah, 100. Only a few months late, we finally managed to find some time to record our centurial podcast. We assembled an all-star cast of past Barbecast friends/guests to help create this inordinately long show to make up for the weeks of neglect. We began with our customary e-mail segment, except this time (at 13:00), we brought on a VERY special guest to offer us some insight into the mind of a Barbecast e-mail legend. It was fantastic. Our real special guest (at 31:30) and the only Barbecast rookie this week is Rob Zastryzny, left-handed pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. Though not on the World Series roster, Rob was with the team when they, ya know, won the World Series. So he walked us through the madness -- everything from Heyward's legendary speech to getting on the wrong bus at the parade. Next (at 1:08:45), we brought on Kendall Guillemette, the secret third member of the BBQ, to talk about his memories from the early Barbecasts and his new project, Savage Baseball (details below). After Kendall (at 1:16:40), we welcomed back the official minor leaguer of CFBBQ, Kieran Lovegrove for the first time since Episode 62, to recap his first year in full-season ball and the wonders of the Midwest League. Next (at 1:34:55), we brought our mothers onto the show to share their favorite memories from the Barbecast and explain why they are still letting us do it. Then (at 1:46:20), a historic rendition of Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry takes place as we try and remember what it was like to have her on the podcast every week. Finally (at 1:57:00), we brought it alllllllllll the way back and brought on our good friend and FIRST EVER BARBECAST GUEST Craig Goldstein to tell us how much he's changed since the inaugural pod and also tell us about #PieNight. We concluded (at 2:11:30) with a genuine thank you to all who have ever listened to this silly thing that we do, and toast to another 100 podcasts. Thank you!

While we did not do our usual battle of extraordinary old baseball names this week, the B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Kendall is giving away a free Savage Baseball to 4 lucky Barbecast listeners. Enter for a chance to win at savagebaseball.net/bbq

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We'd really appreciate it!

 

Direct download: Pod_100.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 2:35pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 99! Our special guest this week (at 17:00) is Ben Lindbergh, of the world famous Effectively Wild podcast and The Ringer. Ben's Barbecast debut is long overdue, but we wanted to squeeze him into the first 100 episodes at the very least. In the few baseball-less hours we had before the Wild Card games, we drafted the World Series match-ups we most want to see at the end of October, and give our very loose explanations for why we want to see them. After Ben (at 1:02:45), another B-Ref Battle brought to you by Baseball-Reference went down, featuring two of the better names we've had in a while and a heated discussion over the pronunciation of the world "coupon". That was really exciting stuff. We concluded (at 1:13:40) with a Varsity Baseball Update on the end of Jake's fall ball season, and a brief life update from both of us regarding our current and potential future whereabouts during the postseason (EYES EMOJI). Thanks for listening <3

Music: Bon Iver

Note: Thanks again for all the kind words on Episode 98.5, our Jose Fernandez Appreciation Podcast. If you still have any thoughts or stories you want to share with us, we're happy to receive more at cespedesfb@gmail.com. Were working to respond to all the ones we've already gotten individually.

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

 

Direct download: Pod_99.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 10:03am EDT

Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez passed away on Sunday morning. He was one of our favorite people in baseball, let alone one of our favorite players. We had a lot of thoughts, so we did our best to share them in a somewhat coherent manner. Rest in peace, Jose. You will be missed by many. 

If you have any thoughts/stories/feelings about Jose that you want to share, you can send them to cespedesfb@gmail.com

Direct download: Pod_98.5_Jose.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 6:35pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 98! After a month-long hiatus for Barbecasting due to our busy transition into our senior years of college, we shook off the rust and churned out a podcast for the listening masses (our moms). Our special guest this week (at 10:15) is the top pitching prospect in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, Brent Honeywell. Brent's minor league season ended recently, so he had nothing else to do besides come on our silly show. Topics include:

  • why Brent chooses to never lift anything ever
  • going to the same high school as Ty Cobb
  • being one of the only screwballers left on this Earth
  • his outrageously dominant professional debut in the Appalachian League
  • his mound mentality that allows him to stop professional hitters from scoring runs against him
  • the last time he ran out of gas
  • an unfortunate toe injury
  • Vienna sausage (?!?!?!?!)
  • Waffle House
  • ...and more!

After Brent (at 47:15), the B-Ref Battle brought to you by Baseball-Reference returned featuring one of the most ridiculous background stories in this segment's history. We concluded (at 56:25) with an exciting Varsity Baseball Update about Jake (America's ROOGY) potentially being a starter for his triumphant senior season. Then we talk briefly about Jake's school hosting an upcoming presidential debate. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Music: We Back

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: Pod_98.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:04pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 97! Our special guest this week (at 15:50) is Evan Drellich, the Red Sox beat writer for the Boston Herald. Evan is one of our favorite beat writers, so it's unclear how it took this long to have him on the podcast but hey, here we are! The Red Sox have been at the center of an argument Jake and I have been having all season, so Evan seemed like a good person to have on to moderate a discussion on said argument. Topics include: 

  • Which AL East team scares you the most?
  • Does David Price start the wild card game?
  • How is Mookie this ridiculous?
  • Mookie or Xander?
  • What is a Sandy Leon?
  • ...and more!

After Evan (at 36:20), we held a slightly different type of B-Ref Battle (presented by baseball-reference) in which we appreciated some of the most interesting Jewish major leaguers of all time. We concluded (at 56:20) with a brief look ahead to our senior years of college (?!?!?!?!?!?!?!) and an even briefer look ahead to Barbecast 100. Thanks for listening <3

 The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Note: sorry for the somewhat strange audio -- will be fixed for the next pod. 

Direct download: Pod_97.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 9:21pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 96! Our special guest this week (at 22:00) is Adam McCalvy, Brewers beat writer for MLB dot com. The Brewers made some interesting moves at the deadline and are at an odd place as an organization, so we checked in on their psyche with a guy that knows them well. It was mostly just us fawning over David Stearns for 25 minutes, but whatever. After Adam (at 49:45), we participated in another fierce B-Ref Battle presented by Baseball-Reference. Baseball names are funny, in case you hadn't heard. We concluded (at 1:00:45) with a recap of Jake's Men's League championship victory and then we said goodbye. Simple as that. Thanks for listening <3

 The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: Emails_96.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 5:31pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 95! After last week's guestless Carbecast on which we reminisced about the favorite parts of our roadtrip, we're back this week with two special guests. First up (at 17:55) is The Athletic Chicago's Sahadev Sharma, former Barbecast guest and relative expert on all things Aroldis Chapman trade and all things Chris Sale jersey-slicing saga. So we talked about those two things because both of them made us go "WOW!" for totally different reasons. After Sahadev (at 57:10), we brought on this year's #1 overall pick, Mickey Moniak, to discuss his first month or so of professional baseball in the glamorous Gulf Coast League, his favorite Disney shows growing up, and what his backup plan was if baseball didn't work out. Next, the B-Ref Battle of super old baseball names returned with a vengeance, celebrating two more heroes of baseball's yesteryears. We concluded with a preview of the biggest start of Jake's Men's League season, before saying goodbye until next week. Thanks for listening <3   

 The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Name Database!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: Pod_95.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:33am EDT

Oh golly. A wild barbecast appeared! No, we're not playing Pokemon Go, but we did manage to scrounge up a podcast for you fine folks. 

For those of you that don't know we've been on the road writing for MLB.com for the last 3 weeks or so. Our trip is nearing its conclusion we thought that we'd kill some time driving thru Kansas (holy crap Kansas is enormous and flat) reminiscing about the best moments of the trip thus far. We each drafted five of our favorite moments from our time on the road, but we discussed some other stuff beyond that as well. Some of what we talked about has been posted/tweeted about, while some of the other draft picks can definitely be classified as #EXCLUSIVECONTENT. 

Hear us talk about...

-Interviewing Dansby Swanson

-The Ty Cobb Museum

-Getting dunked on by Jeff Hoffman

-Yoan Moncada in a virtual reality headset

-AND MUCH MUCH MORE!!

You can find all of our trip entries on Cut4 right here: http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2016/06/24/185916752/the-cut4-minor-league-road-trip-your-day-to-day-guide

The B-Ref Battle (which we actually didn't do this time) is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

 

 

Direct download: pod_94.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 93! This is not a normal Barbecast -- it's shorter, there are no e-mails or B-Ref Battle, and OH MY GOD LANA BERRY IS BACK?!?! We wanted to record a quick podcast this week for two reasons: First, it's been a while. And second, we leave this week for our fourth annual insane baseball summer roadtrip. This time we'll be documenting our adventures for the good people over at MLB's Cut4 site. We spent the first part of the show discussing our trip. You can read about it and see our itinerary by clicking here. After roadtrip talk, we brought back on our good friend Lana Berry, 10 episodes and several months after mercilessly killing her off the show for no good reason. We checked in with her about her two favorite baseball teams, her LeBron hot takes, and her general life status. Yay Lana! We concluded the show with an exciting update from Jake about his recent dominance on the mound in his summer Men's League. Like, he's actually pitching really well. Then we say goodbye!

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: Pod_93.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 7:44pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 92! Our special guest this week (at 17:20) is Mike Lananna, college baseball writer for Baseball America, and noted #1 fan of the Coastal Plain League's Savannah Bananas baseball team. Mike joined the show to talk about his inherent passion for the Bananas franchise before getting us hyped for this weekend's D-I baseball regionals. Topics include:

  • what makes college baseball more exciting to both watch and cover than pro ball (or other college sports)
  • why all 16 regionals this year are east of Lubbock and south of Louisville
  • what the hell is wrong with west coast college baseball programs
  • the most intriguing regionals to watch
  • ...and more!

After Mike (at 42:45), we engaged in another B-Ref Battle, brought to you by baseball-reference, featuring two players who had curiously short careers for very different reasons. We concluded (at 53:40) with a Men's League update about Jake's first start of the year (8 innings!!!!!), a shoutout to last week's guest Daniel Palka for USING PABLO SANCHEZ'S MUSIC AS HIS WALKUP SONG OMG, and gave a little tease as to what we've got planned for the summer. Hint: it's a ridiculous amount of driving. Thanks for listening <3

Musical Guest: ring ring ring ring ring ring

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

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Direct download: Pod_92.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 2:10pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 91! After a guestless episode last week, we've returned with TWO special guests for this week's pod, both currently inhabiting the Southern League. First (at 18:15 ), we talked to Twins minor league outfielder Daniel Palka. Daniel comes on the pod a little under a year after we first saw him in the Diamondbacks organization with the Visalia Rawhide and commended him on his walk-up song. After being traded to the Twins in the off-season, Daniel's had a good start to the 2016 season with Double-A Chattanooga. We asked him about a bunch of stuff, including...

  • his experience as an aerospace engineer
  • his favorite BESR bats
  • suddenly stealing 24 bases last year
  • the process of choosing a walk-up song
  • his Backyard Baseball lineup
  • ...and more!

After Daniel (at 56:40), we brought on Brandon Liebhaber, the voice of the Jackson Generals, to discuss things related to being the voice of the Jackson Generals, such as...

  • How a Los Angeles native ends up in Jackson, Tennessee by age 23
  • What a broadcaster can learn/take from Vin Scully
  • Tyler O'Neill and Guillermo Heredia
  • Jerry Dipoto's magic
  • being overrun on the radio by Rush Limbaugh (?!?!)
  • ...and more!

After Brandon (at 1:33:45), another B-Ref Battle brought to you by Baseball-Reference went down. Names were shared. Laughs were had. And then we moved on. We concluded (at 1:41:20) with a Varsity Baseball Update about the end of our respective D-III schools' baseball seasons with similarly crushing losses in regionals, before looking ahead to the excitement of men's league baseball. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Music: 2Pac/Biggie (Daniel's walk-up song)

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

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Direct download: Pod_91.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:21pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 90! There's no special guest this week, because we just wanted to record a full damn Barbecast and didn't have time to arrange a guest. So here we are! Instead of a guest, we did perhaps the longest e-mail segment in Barbecast history, on topic such as...

  • Trading Mike Trout (Mike Trout is a Lunchable)
  • Bartolo's dinger
  • Bartolo's dinger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Craziest thing we've done for baseball
  • Rougned Odor punching Jose Bautista
  • Rougned Odor punching other things
  • Getting punched in the face (please e-mail us at cespedesfb@gmail.com if you've been punched in the face)
  • Jake's baseball brawl story
  • How to pack bobbleheads and hats
  • An epic tale from Big Poop about Jeff Francoeur 

After our lengthy e-mail segment (at 51:50), the B-Ref Battle brought to you by Baseball-Reference returned with a name inspiring the #FreeTheB movement, and another one that is just downright strange. We concluded with a very exciting Varsity Baseball Update (at 1:00:49) from BOTH of us, as both the WashU Bears and the Wooster Fighting Scots are both heading to the D-III Regionals this week. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Chance the Rapper

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

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Direct download: Pod_90.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:55am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 89.5! This not your average Barbecast. There's not even Jake Mintz on this Barbecast :( But hey, it's still 45+ minutes of unadulterated audio content for your enjoyment. Finals week has made the recording of a full Barbecast entirely impossible for both of us, but we really wanted to get something up ASAP, and so I brought Chris Crawford of Baseball Prospectus on to talk about the upcoming MLB Draft! Chris indulged me on several draft-related curiosities and answered a couple e-mail questions on topics including...

  • Jason Groome vs. Brady Aiken
  • The Mysterious Delvin Perez vs. the terrible shortstop class
  • Where In The World Is Alec Hansen's Command?
  • Buddy Reed vs. Corey Ray 
  • Matt Krook
  • How the Tigers draft strategy may change now that Dombrowski is gone
  • How teams treat pitchers throwing insane amounts of pitchers in high school/college, featuring a plus-plus rant from Chris
  • ...and more!

After answering my silly questions, Chris talks about his MLB Draft Guide, available for just $4.99 (!!!) on iTunes. If you have any questions about this year's draft class that weren't addressed on this podcast, the guide is the way to go. It's a fantastic amount of information for the price of a meh Subway sandwich. Seems like an obvious purchase now, huh? 

Anyway, thanks for listening! We'll hopefully be back next week with a full Barbecast, episode 90, likely spending three hours discussing Bartolo's home run <3

(Note: Sorry if my audio is a bit quiet compared to Chris'; I don't usually record these things and am even worse at producing them than Jake)

Click here to get Chris' MLB Draft Guide!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Database of Amazing Names!

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

 

 

Direct download: Crawford.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 10:03am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 89! We apologize for the lengthy delay since our last Barbecast, but it's great to be back. Before our special guest, we had a tremendous e-mail segment featuring the triumphant return of NAPOLEAN BOOKBINDERY (Note: Napolean last appeared on Episode 40, back in June 2014). Our special guest this week (at 29:00) is Jon Meoli, Orioles beat writer for the Baltimore Sun. After reminiscing about Jon's appearance on Barbecast 3 (!!!!), we asked him a bunch of O's-related questions about what's most surprising about the team's hot start, Dylan Bundy, the incredible Joey Rickard, the less-incredible Matt Wieters, and more. After Jon (at 57:30), another B-Ref Battle brought to you by Baseball-Reference commenced. It was short and sweet. We concluded (at 1:07:10) with an amusing Varsity Baseball Update about Jake's unfortunate relief appearance and a shout-out to my freshman-year roommate for setting a D-III record. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Musical guest: Oooo, o, o, o, oooo, o

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Database of Amazing Names!

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We'd really appreciate it!

Direct download: Pod_89.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 1:41pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 88! Our special guest this week (at 17:00) is former major leaguer Mark Teahen! Mark came on to reflect on his career, including...

  • getting drafted by the Moneyball A's
  • getting traded as a prospect
  • playing for the hapless late 2000's Royals
  • the brutal honesty of a young Zack Greinke
  • seeing that same organization be World Series champions now
  • the secret to hitting Justin Verlander
  • his two remarkable inside the park home runs (here and here)
  • pitchers that owned him/pitchers that he owned
  • playing for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic
  • ...and more!

After Mark (at 1:05:00), another B-Ref Battle brought to you by Baseball-Reference commenced. We concluded (at 1:15:20) with a painful Varsity Baseball Update from a hurting Jake after he had a rough time catching a bullpen. I also talked a bit about the start to Wooster's season before saying goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Musical guest: Jimmy Fallon having no respect for IMDABES

Link to Mark's fantastic charity

Link to Mark's fantastic wine bar

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Database of Amazing Names!

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We'd really appreciate it!

 

Direct download: Pod_88.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 1:21am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 87! Our special guest this week (at 18:42) is White Sox insider Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago. The Sox made some news recently with the supremely strange Adam LaRoche retirement saga, so we asked Dan to give us some COLD HARD FACTS on the story before transitioning into some more substantive White Sox talk. After Dan (at 44:38), we participated in a Purim-themed B-Ref Battle brought to you by Baseball-Reference. We concluded (at 50:35) with a lengthy Varsity Baseball Update from Jake and the WashU Bears and then said goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Scenario (and other ATCQ) - RIP Phife Dawg

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Click here for the B-Ref Battle Database of Amazing Names!

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Direct download: Pod_87_Fixed.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 10:23am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 86! We return after several weeks with special guest Jesse Agler (at 21:08), Padres broadcaster and the brilliant idiot who thought it was a good idea to put us on television for a few minutes. We talked to Jesse about the origins of Padres Social Hour, his favorite baseball thing to broadcast, the challenges of broadcasting Spring Training games, the arrival of Don Orsillo, and of course, Yangervis Solarte. After Jesse (at 53:15), the B-Ref Battle presented by Baseball-Reference ensued, with two more wonderful baseball names brought to the Barbecast table. We concluded (at 1:03:15) with a frustrating Varsity Baseball Update (Jake is hurtin') and then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Spring Is Here

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We'd really appreciate it!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Database of Amazing Names!

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Direct download: Pod_86.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 1:14am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 85! Our special guest this week (at 29:05) is Keith Law of ESPN! We've wanted to have Keith on for a while, so we let our conversation run a little long so we could cover as much as possible. Topics include...

  • the problem with pay-to-play showcase events for high school prospects
  • the geographical "holes" for scouts
  • how Keith adjusts his evaluations after a player proves him wrong
  • Keith's recently released Top 100 prospect list
  • why Pirates SS Kevin Newman is a damn good prospect
  • happy thoughts about Jurickson Profar (!!!!)
  • ...and more!

After Keith (at 1:27:25), a brief B-Ref Battle brought to you by Baseball-Reference commenced, featuring a guy who played on a team called the Nadjys (!?!?) and one of our most Jewish names ever, albeit subtly. We concluded (at 1:35:50) with a long-awaited Varsity Baseball Update about Jake's opening weekend and his IP and ERA projections for his upcoming season. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Dark Man X

Click here for the What These Pitchers Want music video 

Click here for all of Keith's Top 100 content! (ESPN Insider required)

Click here for Keith's non-baseball blog, The Dish!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Database of Amazing Names!

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: pod_85.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:35pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 84! While we rarely mention any specifics from our pre-guest e-mail segment, this week contained an exception, as we presented our all-time Jewish baseball starting lineup, with pump-up music and everything. It was wonderful. Our special guests this week (at 20:15) are Ryan Spaeder and Kevin Reavy, the co-authors of the upcoming book, "Incredible Baseball Stats" (info below). You probably know Ryan as Ace of MLB Stats on Twitter. We talked about...

  • how Ryan got into the whole tweeting amazing baseball fun facts business
  • how he turned it into a book
  • how Kevin got involved
  • how they got Wade Boggs (yes, that Wade Boggs) to write the forward
  • how Ryan keeps track of all of his fun facts
  • HOW?!
  • ...and more!

After Ryan and Kevin (at 47:05), another B-Ref Battle brought to you by Baseball-Reference commenced. Funny names are still funny! After B-Ref (at 57:50), Lana Ber---OH WAIT, THAT'S OVER NOW (we still love Lana). We concluded with one of the dumbest things we've ever recorded on the podcast (link below). Hopefully you find it 1/100th as funny as we found it. Thanks for listening <3 

Music: We Didn't Start the Fire!

Y'all Ready for This Music Video featuring the best YouTube description ever

Pre-order Incredible Baseball Stats on Amazon!

Buy Kevin's first book, "This Day In Philadelphia Sports"!

Click here for the B-Ref Battle Database of Amazing Names!

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

 

Direct download: Pod_84.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:01pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 83! Two special guests comin' at ya. Our first special guest this week (at 20:00) is Marc Carig, Mets beat writer for Newsday and lucky guy who gets to cover Yoenis Cespedes on a daily basis for at least another year. We talked to Marc about how shocking Yo's return was to him, to the Mets, and to the crazed Mets fans tweeting firestorms of vulgarities at the @Mets account. After Marc (at 39:10), we brought on our second special guest, Andrew Moore! Andrew was the Mariners' 2nd round pick last year out of Oregon State and had a stellar professional debut. More interestingly, he's spent much of his off-season coaching JV basketball at his high school alma mater. So we mostly talked about that! After Andrew (at 1:03:45), another B-Ref Battle brought to you by Baseball-Reference commenced, featuring a family member and a guy whose tremendously long surname probably rhymes with Becky. Next (at 1:12:10), we brought on Lana Berry for her final Tales from Logdog after 75 grueling episodes of mediocre contribution. Lana is the best, but she doesn't have to be on this silly podcast every week. We concluded with an unfortunate appearance from Jake's roommates each saying something about baseball. We're so sorry about that. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Mike Jones!

Click here to watch us do bat flips with Andrew!

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code “bbq” for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We’d really appreciate it!

Direct download: Pod_83.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:31pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 81! Our special guest this week (at 14:05) is Lance McCullers, right-hander for the Houston Astros. The last we heard from Lance was back on Episode 59, merely hours before his 2015 season kicked off with the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks. Within months, Lance was in the big leagues making veterans look foolish. So we talked about that! Other topics included the major league hitters he most enjoyed facing from a "WOW THAT'S THAT GUY" perspective, how he maintains focus while also being super amped/emotional on the mound, Carlos Correa, and of course, the Powerball. After Lance (at 49:35), a very special B-Ref Battle commenced. Why special, you ask? Because the B-Ref Battle is now sponsored! By B-Ref! We also talked about the long-awaited B-Ref Battle Bracket, which is currently in progress (Details below).  After B-Ref (at 1:00:20), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered the college football National Championship and why Nick Saban is still doing this. We conclude (at 1:06:38) with some thoughts on returning to real college for the spring semester. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Batter Up - Nelly

The B-Ref Battle is brought to you by Baseball-Reference. Use the coupon code "bbq" for $6 off a one-year subscription to the Play Index, the essential tool for statistical baseball research. Click here to order your Play Index now!

The BBQ Best Name Bracket is here. Help us determine the best B-Ref Battle name we've ever used! Click here to vote! 

Huge thanks to Kendall Guillemette for helping us develop the bracket on the site. You can check out his other work by clicking here.  

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Direct download: POD_81.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 8:45pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 80! It's been nearly a month since our last installment of this audio venture, so it's great to be back. Our special guest this week (at 15:18) is Erik Malinowski, purveyor of Rule 1. and freelance writer extraordinaire. We talked to Erik about the recent Hall of Fame results, the <5% player who most deserves to go in the Hall, the process of producing any of his aforementioned extraordinary freelance pieces for various corners of the Internet, and most importantly, the origins of Rule numero uno. After Erik (at 51:43), another B-Ref Battle commenced with two more silly names and an exciting announcement about next week's B-Ref Battle Bracket. Next (at 1:00:45), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered what Lana would name her bowl game. We conclude at (1:02:40) with a rather traumatic but extremely amusing tale from Jake's post-semester Euro-trip, and look ahead towards our final week of winter break. Thanks for listening <3

Note: Apologies for the shaky audio throughout, particularly during Erik's segment. We also just bought new mics, so Barbecasts 81 and beyond should be more consistent.

Music: STANDIN' IN THE HALL OF FAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

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Direct download: Pod_80.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:47am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 79! We've got a couple special guests for you this week, but we decided to shift the format a tiny bit. So, after e-mails (at 19:40) will be the second installment of Jake and Jordan Talk 'Bout Baseball. This week, we're talkin' why we think Ben Zobrist to the Cubs is actually kind of strange, and what the hell is going on in Arizona (mainly the Shelby Miller trade). After baseball talk (at 44:10), we brought on our first of two pitcher friends, Lucas Giolito of the Washington Nationals, to talk about what he's been doing this offseason. Topics include his own EuroTrip, his favorite video games, and when Lucas is going to pass us in Twitter followers. Next, we brought on Spencer Trygg, another former Barbecast guest and now former minor league baseball player. Spencer talked to us about his life after baseball and the strange process of being released from an organization. Next (at 1:33:00) , we participated in a brief B-Ref Battle before bringing on Lana for the shortest Tales from Logdog ever. We concluded (at 1:39:50) with some reflections on the end of our time in Europe, and look ahead to our return to the US of A. Thanks for listening <3

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Direct download: Pod_79.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:33am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 78! Our special guest this week is Meg Rowley (at 22:05), new writer over at Baseball Prospectus and veteran writer at Lookout Landing. We brought Meg on to discuss her recent piece on baseball's impending situation surrounding the domestic abuse allegations towards Jose Reyes, and her concerns about how MLB will handle them after watching the NFL mishandle so many similar situations. Furthermore, we discuss the emotional challenges of rooting for athletes who we know aren't the best people off the field. Then we switched gears and talked about Meg's favorite team, the Mariners, and a new kind of optimism now that Jerry Dipoto is in charge. After Meg (at 1:11:47), we introduced a new segment for the offseason titled Jake and Jordan Talk About Baseball, during which we actually talk about current baseball events. This week covers the David Price signing, the Dodgers putting Dave Roberts *and* Gabe Kapler in the dugout, and where we think Yoenis ends up (click here for our comprehensive Yo free agency guide!). Next (at 1:26:33), we participated in a brief B-Ref Battle and discussed our larger plans for the B-Ref Battle Bracket (coming soon!). After B-Ref (at 1:37:50), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered how many billions of dollars Lana would keep if she had Mark Zuckerberg money. We concluded (at 1:48:33) with a recap of Jake's visit to Copenhagen and the Champions League handball match we saw. Handball is awesome. Thanks for listening <3

Music: The David Price pun

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Direct download: Pod_78.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 9:06am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 77! We have two extremely different but equally special guests this week. First (at 25:30), we talked to Arthur Lenk. Who is Arthur Lenk, you may ask? Arthur is a Mets fan! Arthur is also the Israeli ambassador to South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, and Mauritius! Naturally, we connected with him and invited him on the podcast for a fascinating discussion about...

  • the state of Israeli baseball
  • helping organize the Israel team for the World Baseball Classic
  • recruiting Jewish pro players to play for Team Israel
  • being a baseball fan in a country/occupation that doesn't have a lot of baseball'
  • following the Mets playoff run while living in South Africa and having to wake up and do important stuff the next day
  • ...and more!

After Ambassador Lenk, we brought on recently acquired Pirates minor league pitcher Trevor Williams (at 1:00:00) to talk about...

  • playing in the Arizona Fall League
  • getting traded while playing in the Arizona Fall League
  • the mindset difference between starting and relieving
  • not giving up any dingers
  • playing Magic the Gathering
  • the need for an enormous professional baseball Clash of Clans tournament 
  • ...and more!

We followed our two interviews with a relatively brief B-Ref Battle (at 1:38:45) before calling Lana (at 1:51:45) to talk about Peyton Manning for Tales from Logdog. We concluded (at 2:00:00) with some thoughts on the recent Hot Stove action/inaction, a brief Varsity Baseball Update, and a quick highlight from my trip to Prague. Thanks for listening <3

Music: 5,000 Candles In the Wind

Direct download: Pod_77.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 8:36am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 76! Our special guest this week is Sam Miller (at 18:07), he of 1,000 Pitch Bullpen Barbecast fame, as well as the EIC at Baseball Prospectus. As the co-host of Effectively Wild, Sam is accustomed to drafting things on podcasts, so we invited him on to our podcast to draft the best moments of the 2015 season with us. Of course, Sam has been busy running a professional baseball team, so he shared two fantastic stories about that experience, as well as a couple favorite things from the 2015 MLB season. Sam also managed to derail the draft a number of times throughout to discuss things such as ethics in baseball journalism. We also drafted five things each, covering everything from Bautista's bat flip to Bryan Price's epic f-bomb tirade (remember that?). It was a fun conversation, excessive length be damned. After Sam (at 1:50:15), another one-name-each B-Ref Battle commenced featuring a kind gesture and a famous war figure. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry (at 2:01:25) was messy as always. Sorry 'bout that. We concluded (at 2:07:55) with some thoughts on the World Series and the disappointing end to Yo's season, and look ahead to the Potentially Super Hot Hot Stove. Thanks for listening <3

Music: , Sound of

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Direct download: Pod_76.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 2:55pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 75, Yoenis Cespedes Is About To Play In The World Series Edition. Our special guest this week (at 15:00) is Boog "Jon" Sciambi, ESPN broadcaster and one of the 100 best broadcasters nicknamed Boog in the 21st century. We talked to Jon about...

  • his broadcasting experience at Boston College
  • how he got into primarily baseball broadcasting
  • being the voice of the Marlins at basically the only good time to be the voice of Marlins
  • how he incorporates sabermetrics into his broadcasts
  • the difference between broadcasting on radio vs. TV
  • the Mets and the Royals (those are the teams playing in the World Series)
  • ...and more!

After our conversation with Jon (at 1:03:40), we introduced a slight twist to our weekly B-Ref Battle -- fewer names! We still managed to blabber on for 15 minutes about our respective players, though. After B-Ref (at 1:20:49), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered The Baby Hitler Question because it didn't make sense to talk about that during any other part of the podcast. Thanks Lana! We concluded (at 1:28:40) with an explanation for this week's music and an amusing few minutes from Jake's inebriated friend. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Why You Always Lying?

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Direct download: Pod_75_Rea.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 9:26am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 74! This is our super-special playoff preview podcast in which 30% of this 2+ hour long marathon is anything resembling a playoff preview. We have two special guests this week. Our first special guest (at 15:00) is Jeff Passan, MLB columnist for Yahoo Sports and PLAYOFFS EXPERT. We pondered a bevy of playoff-related questions with Jeff, including:

  • Which playoff team is most surprisingly in the playoffs?
  • When does everyone start freaking out about the Cubs possibly winning the World Series?
  • How can the Cardinals lose?
  • How can the Blue Jays win?
  • Why did Jeff think it was a good idea to call us when he was in an Uber?
  • What is Jeff's book about?
  • Why is Todd Coffey the subject of Jeff's book?
  • Can Jake throw a 1,000 Pitch Bullpen?
  • ...and more!

Our second special guest (at 56:52) has been on the Barbecast before, but we decided to bring him back on to talk about some recent controversial happenings in the major baseball league. It's John Baker! Topics include:

  • Papelbon vs. Harper, and whether fights like they had actually happen all the time (hint: they don't)
  • The time Wes Helms (!!!) almost fought Hanley Ramirez
  • the idea of "protecting" players who have been hit
  • the amazing Jose Ramirez pimp job and its aftermath
  • a fantastic story about 19-year-old Prince Fielder pimping a home run against John's team in the 2003 Midwest League 
  • John's most egregious bat flip when he was playing at Cal (also a fantastic story)
  • being in Spring Training with Frank Thomas and Mike Piazza
  • ...and more!

After John (at 1:36:42), we participated in yet another B-Ref Battle for the ages, including a player who the tallest pitcher in baseball for over 60 years. For Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry (at 2:03:51), we called Lana immediately following her beloved Rangers' epic collapse against the Angels on the penultimate day of the season and invoked the memory of the great Carlos Garcia (Seriously, go listen to it). We conclude this audio voyage (at 2:13:45) with our own playoff picks (the Nationals are gonna win it all!!11!1) and a somewhat somber Varsity Baseball Update. Thanks for listening <3

Music: PLAYOFF HYPE SONGS

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Direct download: POD_74.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 2:50am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 73! In the spirit of Yom Kippur, we're atoning for the sins of the previous 72 Barbecasts with two special guests and an inordinate amount of actual baseball talk. Our first special guest this week (at 19:55) is Cardinals minor league pitcher Kyle Grana. (It's Gran-uh, not Grahn-uh. alternatively: Kyle Grandma).We talked to Kyle about how he went from being an undrafted D-II starter to a shutdown reliever with two full seasons of an ERA under 1.00 in the minors. Our second special guest (at 58:10) is Andrew Stoeten, Blue Jays Ambassador to the United States of America. We talked to Andrew about his beloved Jays as they march towards the postseason for the first time in over 20 years. The Jays are awesome! After our special guests (at 1:33:04), another B-Ref Battle took place and included an instant classic in the Agamemnon Baca category and some prominent religious figures. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry (at 1:56:30) reached an all-time high in the Ridiculous Recording Conditions category as the 8/9-hour time difference afforded us the ability to keep this god damn segment alive. We concluded with a brief draft of our favorite Yogi Berra quotes and some exciting general BBQ news. Thanks for listening <3

Music: First Place - Taylor Swift

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Direct download: POD_73.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 4:16pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 72! Our special guest this week (at 28:45) is Rangers prospect and Integalactic Defender of Unpopular Opinions, Mike Matuella. Mike was the Rangers' third round pick in the 2015 Draft out of Duke University just a couple months after getting Tommy John Surgery like all the other cool kids. We talked to Mike about a whole host of topics tangentially related to baseball, including:

  • growing up in the DC area and the kind of pitcher he was in high school
  • choosing Duke over Maryland
  • going from throwing 88 to throwing 98 in two years
  • pitching in the ACC
  • getting Tommy John before getting drafted
  • rehab getting him into the Best Shape of His Life
  • goals for the 2016 season
  • Mike's vehement defense of Nickelback as Not The Worst Band In the World
  • a strong argument against the cult-like nature of Chipotle
  • ...and even more controversial opinions on nonsensical crap that you rarely hear from professional baseball players 

Mike was great! Follow him on Twitter @mikematch30 for more scorching hot takes. After Mike (at 1:22:50), another B-Ref Battle commenced which included one of the more incomprehensible names we've ever heard as well as an incredible Honus Wagner story. Next (at 1:46:40), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry asked HOW MANY FINGERS?!?! We concluded (at 1:53:57) with some thoughts on our inaugural baseball experiences here in Europe: Jake watching actual baseball in London, and my inexplicable sighting of a Billy Koch painting at a Copenahagen pub. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Nickelback (Blame Mike)

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Direct download: Pod_72.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 9:09am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 71! Our special guest this week (at 24:55) is Ben Hill, minor league roadtrip aficianado and writer for MiLB.com. It's Ben's job to drive around America and document the ins and outs of minor league teams, from the on-field promotions to the weirdest ballpark food, and everything in between. It's basically the coolest job in the world (to people like us) so we asked him a bunch of fun experiences about what it's been like for the past five years gallivanting around the country watching minor league baseball. Ben's great! After Ben (at 1:05:15), yet another B-Ref Battle took place and included some guys from the 1850's LOL THAT IS SO RIDICULOUSLY LONG AGO. After B-Ref, we called Lana while she was at the Padres/Dodgers game and interrupted her pleasant afternoon. Tales from Logdog, everybody! We concluded with some updates our life in Europe (including Jake's internship with Manchester City FC), and a look at the week ahead. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Corey Feldman performing at a State College Spikes game?!?!?!

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Direct download: POD_71.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 6:30pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 70! You thought you'd get a break from this podcast with us being in Europe. You thought wrong. All the way from Manchester, England and Copenhagen, Denmark, it's a brand new Barbecast with two special guests and all the usual fun we squeeze into these longform audio ramblings. Our first special guest this week (at 16:20) is Carson Cistulli, fringe-prospect fanatic and rennaissance man over at FanGraphs and The New Enthusiast. Carson also has experience living in a European country during baseball season, so we asked him for advice on how to adjust to being surrounded by people that couldn't care less about the beisbol. We also talked about two of Carson's favorite fringe-prospects, Willians Astudillo and Blayne Weller, and even squeezed in some Danish soccer talk as well. Our second special guest this week (at 1:03:30) is a genuine real-life friend of the BBQ and Generally Awesome Person Kinza Baad! Kinza plays softball at the University of Virginia and spent this summer scouting the Cape Cod League for a major league baseball team. We asked about her experience as the incredibly rare female scout and her advice for girls that want to get into that part of the game. We also talked about softball because we also love softball now. After Kinza (at 1:26:25), we participated in yet another B-Ref Battle of baffling baseball names. Next (1:47:00), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered Lana's somewhat timid excitement for football season (sorry for the shitty audio here -- Lana is so damn far away). We concluded (at 1:52:35) with some observations on our time in Europe thus far and what you can expect from us going forward this semester. Thanks for listening <3

Music: The Countries of the World (Europe edition)!

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Direct download: Pod_70.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 10:23am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 69, the nicest Barbecast yet. We have THREE special guests this week in honor of the special occasion. Our first special guest this week (at 25:53) is Jared Diamond -- no, not THAT Jared Diamond -- the Jared Diamond who covers the Mets for the Wall Street Journal! Amidst one of the craziest weeks in franchise history, the Mets traded for our beloved hero and all that comes along with him, so we asked Jared about how Yo's stay in New York has been thus far. We also talked about the Wilmer Flores fiasco, the inexplicably awesome Jacob deGrom, and more! Our second special guest (at 1:00:40) is John Baker, former major league catcher and current major league critic. We last spoke to John when he was still with Triple-A Tacoma back in April. This week, John came on to talk about what he's been doing since becoming a free agent, how he watches baseball as a fan, and his ongoing transition into his post-playing career. Our third special guest (at 1:41:18) insisted that he be included on this special episode long ago: it's Jesse Spector of Sporting News, who came on to discuss his fascinating piece on the history of major league players wearing #69 and why those few players ended up with the number in the first place. After our special guests (at 1:48:30), another B-Ref Battle of extraordinary proportions took place. Tales from Logdog (at 2:10:01) with Lana Berry covered Lana's new podcast, which is weird because she's still on this podcast every god damn week. We concluded (at 2:17:41) with some updates on our respective study abroad programs and a look ahead at the challenges the Barbecast may face in coming weeks. Stay tuned! Thanks for listening <3

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Direct download: Pod_69.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:58pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 68! This week's show has two special guests: a minor league pitcher and a major league ballgirl. Our first guest (at 26:03) is Chase De Jong, a right-handed pitcher in the Dodgers organization who was recently traded from Toronto for international bonus money. We talked to Chase about that experience and much more, including...

  • having a cousin that played for the Jays
  • being a 2nd round pick 
  • playing in the Appalachian League
  • an hour-by-hour timeline of getting traded to the Dodgers
  • ...and more!

Next (at 1:00:35), we participated in yet another B-Ref Battle of extraordinary baseball names and laughed at them because they are funny. Our second special guest this week (at 1:25:16) is Celine Fowler, a softball player for Central Washington University and one of the many ballgirls for the Seattle Mariners. We talked to her about softball and how the hell she became a major league ballgirl. It was great! Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry (at 2:00:01) covered what Lana would trade in her life for something from our lives. It was a tremendously strange conversation. We concluded with a somber Barbecuers update on the tragic end to our season :( Thanks for listening!

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Direct download: Pod_68.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 8:27pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 67! Our special guest this week (at 21:30) is the author of "The Best Team Money Can Buy", Molly Knight. TBTMCB is Baseball Twitter's favorite thing at the moment and we also enjoy it quite a bit, so we had Molly on to talk about some of the highlights of the book, including...

  • PUIG. Duh. 
  • The evolution of Zack Greinke as a Dodger
  • what the hell Ned Colleti is up to
  • how writing the book has affected Molly's Dodger fanhood
  • ...and more!

After Molly, we participated in yet another B-Ref Battle chock full of absurd sounds that are actually names and a fair share of World War II jokes. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered how her roommate Molly's book has positively and affected HER life since she moved in...and how much she likes the book, of course. We concluded with an exciting Barbecuers update and an update on our remaining summer plans. Thanks for listening <3

Buy Molly's book! 

Music: DJ YRS JERZY

Direct download: Pod_67.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 7:51pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 66! After last episode's 1,000 pitch festivities, we've returned this week with a fairly regular Barbecast -- at least, as regular as Barbecasts go. Our special guest this week (at 15:47) is Luke Ramirez, one of the most notorious players in Little League World Series history and a huge part of the 2009 LLWS Champion Chula Vista team. We talked to Luke about all the ridiculousness surrounding the Little League World Series, including:

After we talked to Luke (at 59:05), we participated in yet another B-Ref Battle of extraordinary baseball names. After B-Ref (at 1:18:08), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered Lana's #FinalVote candidacy and why she doesn't even really wanna get voted into the All-Star Game. We conclude with a brief discussion on our recent trip to North Carolina and look ahead to the rest of the summer. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Phineas and Ferb

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Direct download: Pod_66.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:21pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 65! This is not a normal Barbecast. There will be no e-mails or B-Ref Battle. This is a Barbecast about the possibility of Jake throwing a 1,000-pitch bullpen. Inspired by the one and only Wes Yee, we brought on 10 special guests (including Wes himself) to discuss this absurd proposition. As a result, this podcast is longer than usual. A list of all our guests (with timestamps, for your convenience):

1. Wes Yee, creator of the 1,000-Pitch Bullpen (Intro), on how this idea came about and his vision for how it will go down

2. Sam Miller, EIC of Baseball Prospectus (15:23), on the rules and regulations of the bullpen

3. Kyle Boddy, founder of Driveline Baseball (31:36), on what Jake can do to physically and mentally prepare for the bullpen

4. Doug Thorburn, pitching mechanics guru (47:00), on how Jake's mechanics (click here for video) will help/hurt his pursuit for 1,000 pitches

5. Lucas Giolito, Pretty Good Pitching Prospect (1:03:10), on his concerns for who in the world is going to catch this bullpen

6. Matt Ball, Not As Good Pitching Prospect (1:15:42), on why Jake is crazy

7. Lance McCullers, 1,000-Pitch Bullpen Pessimist (1:22:05), on why a 1,000-pitch bullpen is utterly impossible

8. Kazuto Yamazaki, Tokyo resident and Japanese baseball expert (1:34:35), on whether anything like this has been attempted in Japan

9. Lana Berry, That Lana Girl On Twitter (1:41:53), on her unexpected concerns for Jake's well-being

10. Jake's parents, parents of Jake (1:48:30), on their completely expected concerns for Jake's well-being

We conclude (at 2:04:40) with some final thoughts and share what we've learned by talking to all of these sane people about this preposterous idea. We had fun. We hope you enjoy it as well. Thanks for listening <3

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Direct download: Pod_65.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 10:05pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 64! After over a month hiatus during which we did a whole bunch of awesome stuff, this god damn podcast is finally back. Our special guest this week (at 23:40) is Kiley McDaniel, the Lead Prospect Analyst over at FanGraphs dot com. We talked to Kiley for lot longer than you'll actually get to hear, mostly because our conversation was completely derailed in the middle by the Jake-Mintz-Hasn't-Podcasted-In-A-Long-Time Experience, resulting in a whole lot of garbage that needed to be edited out. Luckily, we got back on track and talked to Kiley about a whole bunch of fun stuff, -- mostly Draft related -- including:

  • teams' particular strategies when it comes to drafting "unsignable" players
  • Plane Tinder
  • the Josh Naylor surprise and the advantages of playing for the Canadian National Team
  • enormous 1B/DH type prospects that have no position but can mash
  • how D-III players can get drafted
  • how Jake can get drafted
  • ...and more!

After Kiley (at 1:25:52), we participated in our 50th (!!!) B-Ref Battle of extraordinary old baseball names. Our database of all past B-Ref names will be up on the site within the next week. (It's incredible that we're still doing that segment but we love doing it every week and don't plan on stopping anytime soon). Next (at 1:48:13), we brought on that Lana Berry person for her customary Tales From Logdog, in which we discussed the Cardinals hacking fiesta, and what we should do with our Mariners Macklemore bobblehead. We concluded (at 1:57:00) with some general updates on our last month, our trip, Jake's college baseball team, and our plans for the rest of the summer. It's good to be back. Thanks for listening <3

Music: In honor of Kiley's affinity for airhorns, it's a whole bunch of airhorn remixes. Enjoy!

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Direct download: Pod_64.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 10:26pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 63! Our special guest this week (at 19:45) is Cardinals minor league outfielder and D-III success story Collin Radack! Live from his hotel in Cedar Rapids, Collin talked to us about a whole bunch of things, including:

  • How he ended up at Hendrix College in the middle of Arkansas
  • The difference between D3 schools in the south vs. other parts of the country
  • How he got scouted/drafted
  • His transition from D3 pitching to pro ball pitching
  • ...and more!

After Collin (at 55:45), we participated in our weekly B-Ref Battle of extraordinary baseball names featuring a tremendous contradiction and a guy who holds an MLB single-season record. Next (at 1:15:40), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry talked about .... . We concluded (at 1:19:35) with an update on our respective schools' baseball seasons, as Jake is going to regionals and Wooster is going home. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Division-III Baseball Song

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Direct download: Pod_63.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 9:50pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 62! We've returned to our our two-special guest format for this week, and one might argue that this podcast has three, even four special guests! It's all a matter of interpretation. Our first guest this week (at 18:20) is Chris Iott, MLive.com Tigers beat writer. We asked Chris about the Tigers' hot start, how #blessed he is to cover Yoenis Cespedes on a daily basis, the immobility of Victor Martinez, the realness of JD Martinez, and how long Miggy can avoid people complaining about his monstrous contract. Next (at 52:25), we participated in our customary B-Ref Battle of extraordinarily old extraordinary baseball names. After B-Ref (at 1:14:55), we talked to the OFFICIAL MINOR LEAGUER OF CESPEDES FAMILY BARBECUE, Kieran Lovegrove! Live from extended spring training in Arizona, Kieran (alongside his roommate/teammate Justin Garcia) gives his outlook for the upcoming season and answers some questions regarding when it is appropriate to throw at a batter on purpose, if ever. We love Kieran, and you should really follow him on Twitter so he stops bitching about his follower count :)  Next (at 1:39:51), Barbecast 61 guest Lucas Giolito hops back on the pod to give us a quick movie recommendation while his roommate Erick Fedde fails to come up with a single movie he has seen at any point in his life. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry (at 1:43:15) covered the NFL Draft for about 30 seconds until we realized we should probably talk about Josh Hamilton. We concluded with a few minutes of Bubba Trammell love, and Varsity Baseball Update with our respective schools' playoff odds. Thanks for listening <3  

Music: Good Charlotte ??????????????

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Direct download: Pod_62.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 8:46am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 61! Our special guest this week(at 20:12) is the consensus worst pitching prospect in baseball and member of the Washington Nationals organization, Lucas Giolito! If you recall, we had Lucas' dad on the Barbecast way back on Episode 42, and that went pretty well so we decided to have Lucas on also. We talked about a plethora of mostly baseball-related stuff, including:

  • when he realized he was pretty good at the whole pitching thing
  • his experience with Tommy John Surgery
  • the secret highlight of playing in Hagerstown
  • when he realized he had an alien curveball
  • giving up the dinger in the Futures Game to Javier Baez
  • watching Max Scherzer in Spring Training
  • ...and more!

After we talked to Lucas (at 1:17:15), we participated in yet another B-Ref Battle Bonanza, and went over the 300 Crazy Name mark in Barbecast history. After B-Ref (at 1:36:28), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry discussed HER FINALLY BEING IN GOD DAMN LOS ANGELES after four months of anticipation. We concluded this week's show (at 1:43:38) with a discussion on Angel Berroa, and Jake's Varsity Baseball Update includes a dramatic telling of Jake's HBP that lead to his 4-game suspension. Fun for all! Thanks for listening <3

Music: A Tribe Called Quest  

 

Direct download: Pod_61.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:31pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 60! Our special guest this week (at 27:15) is veteran catcher and Twitter All-Star John Baker, who is currently with Triple-A Tacoma in the Seattle Mariners organization. Live from the depths of the Albuquerque Isotopes ballpark, John talked to us about a whole bunch of stuff, including...

  • Getting traded for Wade LeBlanc
  • Lance Cormier (!!!)
  • Coming up with the Moneyball A's
  • Recovering from Tommy John as a position player
  • Facing Aroldis Chapman
  • Aroldis Chapman
  • Meeting 21-year-old Nelson Cruz
  • Jesus Montero's side of the ice cream sandwich incident
  • ...and more!

After we talked to John (at 1:06:20), we commenced in our weekly B-Ref Battle which resulted in a lengthy conversation about a metal band named Junius (this week's musical guest). It was strange. After B-Ref (at 1:40:35), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered Yasiel Puig's reported desire to cut down on batflips as well as a #BeefinWithLana update. We concluded with a brief discussion about Josh Phelps, an indifferent Varsity Baseball Update from Jake, and some exciting news regarding the fall semester. Thanks for listening <3

Music: Junius

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Direct download: Pod_60.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:10pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 59! For the second week in a row, we've got two special guests for you guys. First (at 24:20), we talked to Lance McCullers, one of the best pitching prospects in the Houston Astros organization. We talked about a whole bunch of fun stuff, including...

  • Being the son of a former MLB pitcher
  • when he first hit 90 MPH
  • why he dominated in high school
  • winning Gatorade Player of the Year
  • how he dealt with questions about being a starter or a reliever
  • his first experience in pro ball
  • his rough experience in the California League and why it's good for prospects to fail
  • ...and more!

After Lance (at 58:10), our weekly B-Ref Battle of Bombastic Baseball Names commenced and laughs were had by all. Our second special guest this week (at 1:24:38) is NBC HardballTalk's Craig Calcaterra, who you last heard on the Barbecast wayyyyyyyy back on Episode 19. 40 episodes later, he's back! This time, we talked to Craig about his beloved Braves and what the hell they have been up to this offseason.  After Craig (at 1:47:35), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered A-Rod's triumphant return to baseball and quickly led us down a rabbit hole of tremendously strange A-Rod Internet content. We concluded with a brief appreciation for one Tony Womack and a relatively unexciting Varsity Baseball Update. Thanks for listening <3

Music: dope ass Braves music

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Direct download: POD_59.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:53am EDT

IMPORTANT NOTE: Jake made an editing error which resulted in the break music playing about 10 seconds later than it's supposed to. We would normally fix an error as such before uploading, but the result ended up being too hilarious to delete. What it does mean, though, is that the breaks are eerily silent -- whatever device you're listening on is not broken; it's just us. The music is in there though. We hope you appreciate it's fashionable tardiness as much as we do, and we promise our production quality will be back up our mediocre standard for Barbecast 59. Thanks! 

***

Welcome to Barbecast 58! It's been over two weeks since the last Barbecast, so we return with two special guests! Our first special guest (at 29:17) is Howard Megdal, contributing writer to Capital New York, Sports Illustrated, and the author of the upcoming book, "The Cardinals Way". We talked to Howard about his inspiration for the book, the Cardinals complicated offseason, and his favorite young Cardinals player going forward. We also talked about Howard's experience being a Mets fan since Jonathon Niese was born, and whether or not he has any hint of optimism heading into the 2015 season.  After Howard (at 57:07), we talked to minor league friend Matt Ball, a pitcher in the darkest depths of the Chicago White Sox system. Matt explained to us the important differences between major and minor league camp in Spring Training, and gave us an idea of his 2015 schedule developmentally. Matt's great, and we appreciate him making his first (and probably last) career pinch-hit appearance when some of our other minor league friends are too busy to record this stupid podcast with us. After Matt (at 1:20:20), we participated in a spectacularly themed B-Ref Battle...this time, it's WAR. After B-Ref (at 1:44:10), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry celebrated 50 EPISODES LOL LANA HOW DID WE MAKE IT THIS FAR and covered Lana's first experience playing fantasy baseball. We concluded (at 1:51:43) with a brief discussion on Mike Lieberthal and some of the greatest offensive seasons by a catcher in MLB history, as well as an exciting Varsity Baseball Update from Jake, who is now actually pitching for a varsity baseball team on a shockingly consistent basis. Thanks for listening <3

Music: DO YOU REMEMBA 

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Direct download: POD_58.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 1:17am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 57! Our special guest this week (at 17:23) is one of the best college pitchers in the country, Andrew Moore! Andrew is the Friday starter for the Oregon State Beavers, and he decided to spend the night before his start against Arizona State talking to us about (mostly) silly things, including:

  • his self-scouting report
  • choosing Oregon State over Oregon
  • the Ducks/Beaver rivalry
  • pitch counts for college pitchers
  • playing with Michael Conforto
  • pitching for Team USA...
  • ...IN CUBA!

...and more! 

After Andrew, the weekly B-Ref Battle commenced, and included a guy named Butts, and yet another remarkably strange and unusual death. After B-Ref (at 1:12:08), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered #FerrellTakingTheField, and the things we liked/disliked about it. We concluded by marveling at the astoundingly brief MLB career of Charlton Jimerson, and discussing the realities of Jake's Varsity Baseball Update. Thanks for listening <3

Musical guest: The Duck Song

Direct download: Pod_57.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 6:54pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 56! We have TWO special guests this week. Our first special guest (at 21:47) is Evan, the lead-vocalist and founder of the Isotopes, the World's Greatest Baseball Punk Rock band. We talked to Evan about how one starts a baseball punk rock band, being a baseball fan in Vancouver, Rey Ordonez, and (at 39:30) Evan shares arguably the greatest story in Barbecast history about how and why he was BANNED FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Evan is awesome! After Evan, our B-Ref Battle commenced, names were laughed at, and a guy named Crazy who looked like Hitler. After B-Ref (at 1:20:05), we brought on our second special guest: good friend of the BBQ and Buster Posey rookie card hoarder Wes Yee! We talked to Wes about the art of buying and selling baseball cards, playing NAIA baseball, and that time he asked a few adult film actresses Kelly Vs. Avril. Wes is awesome! Next (at 1:45:20), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered that god damn awful dress. Sorry. We concluded with some appreciative words about the career of Benito Santiago and a mildly disappointing Varsity Baseball Update. Baseball is soon! Thanks for listening <3

Click here to listen to/buy some awesome Isotopes music!

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Direct download: Pod_56.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:01pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 55! Our special guest this week (at 13:32) is MLB dot com beat writer for the San Diego Padres, Corey Brock! Corey, like many of us, has been rather exhausted by the typhoon of Padres transactions over the last two months. We talked about how the Padres went from That Team Everyone Forgets About to whatever the hell they are now. Topics included:

  • The enigma that is AJ Preller
  • What the Padres could still do with their 73 outfielders
  • What happened to Everth Cabrera?
  • ODRISAMER DESPAIGNE!!!
  • Young Felix Hernandez
  • Barry Bonds' 755th career home run off Clay Hensley

...and more! It was a fun conversation and we're looking forward to actually watching some Padres games this year. After we talked to Corey (at 1:00:20), we proceeded with yet another B-Ref Battle Bonanza with an appropriately romantic name, a name that is almost Michigan, and one of the greatest NCAA basketball coaches of all time. After B-Ref (at 1:23:10), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered some of the worst lies Lana has told in her past. We concluded this week's show with an intense discussion about former Padres reliever Scott Linebrink and an almost exciting Varsity Baseball Update. Thanks for listening <3

Musical guest: Vanessa

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Direct download: Pod_55.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 1:20am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 54! Our special guest this week (at 18:54) is Chris Crawford of ESPN, Draft to the Show, and Barbecast 22 fame. We talked to Chris about his fantastic 2015 Draftbook (which you can buy for only $2.99! link below), some of his favorite prospects for the 2015 MLB Draft, how he uses the 20-80 scale, and more! We know the draft is months away, but it's never too early to start getting excited about prospects who will almost certainly disappoint you. After our conversation with Chris (at 1:02:22), we had one of our best B-Ref Battles in Barbecast history, all thanks to Based Hod. After the legendary B-Ref Battle (at 1:37:49), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered Deflategate/Ballghazi and her Super Bowl pick. We concluded with a brief discussion about Max Scherzer to the Nationals, Duaner Sanchez, and a semi-exciting Varsity Baseball Update. Thanks for listening!

Musical guest: MESSSSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Buy Chris Crawford's 2015 Draftbook for $2.99!

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Direct download: Pod_54.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:57am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 53! Our special guest (at 16:01) this week is former major league pitcher Glendon Rusch! We talked to Glendon about his journey from being a 17th round pick to pitching in the World Series against the Yankees in the Subway Series. We talked about a ton of fun stuff, including...

  • Whether or not he's the most famous Glendon
  • Being a part of a three-team trade that also included BENNY AGBYANI AND ROSS GLOAD OMG
  • The 2000 New York Mets
  • Dominating the Carolina League in 1995
  • His time with the Cubs
  • Facing Hall of Famers in the early part of his career 
  • Why Adam Dunn absolutely dominated him
  • ...and more!

It was a fantastic conversation, and at the end, Glendon shared some BREAKING NEWZ. After our interview with Rusch (at 57:40), we did our customary B-Ref Battle which included an amazing story about a guy who might as well be named Preliminary Soap. After the B-Ref Battle (at 1:17:39), we called Jake's mom when she was in the middle of doing something important. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry (at 1:18:23) covered Lana's depression over the Cowboys' loss and her optimism heading into the Rangers season. We concluded with a brief Varsity Baseball Update and a random discussion about former big leaguer Robb Quinlan. Thanks for listening!

Music: Who do you think did it?

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Direct download: POD_53.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:16pm EDT

Note: This interview was recorded on Wednesday, December 17th right before we both went on vacation. We had planned for it to be the guest on Barbecast 52, but the timing and the content of the interview didn't end up fitting with what we eventually did. So, we decided to release this interview as its own thing -- a half Barbecast. 

Welcome to Barbecast 52.5! This is an interview with MLB player agent Joshua Kusnick, who represents players such as Michael Brantley, Jeremy Jeffress, and Steve Clevenger. Kusnick has a pretty incredible background, which Joe Lemire profiled in a piece for The Cauldron last month, which you can find by clicking here. We talked to Josh about a number of topics, including...

  • How he became an agent for guys like Michael Brantley
  • What it's like going to the Winter Meetings as an agent
  • "Transaction Monkeys" and Kusnick's guidelines for teenage reporters
  • What separates him from other agents
  • Kusnick's experience in stand-up comedy and meeting some of the most famous comedians of the last few decades
  • ...and more!

We hope you enjoy!

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We would really appreciate it. 

IMPORTANT LINKS:

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cespedes-family-barbecue-cespedes/id683535357

Link to all previous podcasts: http://cespedesfamilybarbecue.com/the-barbecast-cfb-podcast/

Tweeterz: https://twitter.com/CespedesBBQ

Click here to join our Facebook group!

Click here for the RSS feed

Click here to find us on Stitcher!

Direct download: Kushnick.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 10:07am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 52! We know it's been a while, but the Barbecast is finally back and will hopefully be more consistent in the coming weeks. Our special guest this week (at 16:28) is Jorge Arangure, writer at VICE Sports. We talked about Cuban baseball, the impact of the recent changes in US-Cuba relations on baseball, and even some PREMIER LEAGUE CHAT about why Jake's an ass for being a Manchester City fan. After Jorge, we did our B-Ref Battle in which we asked a shocking number of questions about Catholicism. After B-Ref (at 1:36:25) we talked about basically everybody on the Hall of Fame ballot. We started from the bottom and now we're at Barry Bonds. We shared our ideal 10-man ballots and discussed the few players we disagreed on. Then (at 2:02:45) it was Lana Berry's turn to be on the podcast for the billionth podcast in a row! Tales from Logdog covered DEM COWBOYZ and some football stuff (including the Gronk erotica). We concluded with a brief Varsity Baseball Update and a brief Life Update as well. Thanks for listening <3

Please rate and review us on iTunes! 

Musical guest: Thin Lizzy (???)

Direct download: POD_52.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:09am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 51! It's been a while since the spectacular celebration that was Barbecast 50, but we're back with another solid podcast. This week's special guest (at 20:25) is World Series champion Grant Brisbee, writer at SB Nation's Giants blog, McCovey Chronicles, and overall good guy. We talked to Grant about how the Giants did the whole Win The World Series thing for the third time in five years, how San Francisco treats Barry Bonds, Grant's ideal offseason, and some other fun stuff before Jake interrupted with whatever the hell this video is. After Grant (at 1:02:57), we did our customary B-Ref Battle which included an incredible story about a player named Pumpsie. The usual. After B-Ref (at 1:23:15), Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered TOO MANY COOKS because of course it did. We tried to comprehend what it all means and discussed our favorite characters. Gwydion is the only right answer. After Lana (at 1:31:14) we decided to actually talk about some baseball! We discussed who we would like our respective favorite teams to sign and more importantly, who we are desperately praying that they don't sign. After free agency (at 1:47:07) talk was THE RETURN OF CRAIG GOLDSTEIN for the second week in a row! We only brought Craig back to talk about his recent Twitter calamity in which he was destroyed by one Peter Gammons. We feel pretty bad for Craig, but we made him talk about it anyway. We concluded with a non-existent Varsity Baseball Update and a very brief discussion on former pitcher Kirk Saarloos. Thanks for listening <3

Musical guest: 2Many Cooks

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Direct download: Pod_512.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 4:33pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 50! While we did have an especially extravagant Episode 25, we think we've outdone it for this milestone Barbecast. We have two special guests, and one regular guest (Craig). Our first special guest (at 20:54) is Will Leitch! Will is a lot of things; among those things, Will is a senior writer at Sports On Earth and the founder of Deadspin. So that's pretty cool. We talked to Will about his time as a starving artist in NYC, the evolution of Deadspin, his Cardinals fandom, and of course, the tragic death of Oscar Taveras. Our second special guest (at 1:12:35) this week is former major league reliever Chris Resop! If you don't understand why that's amazing, you should probably click here. Chris is a real estate agent now, so we talked about that, and you know, the other stuff about Chris Resop. It was pretty awesome. After our two fantastic guests, we participated in yet another B-Ref Battle Bonanza with six more wonderful names from yesteryear. After B-Ref was yet another Tales from Logdog (at 1:46:53) with Lana Berry in which we discussed Halloween briefly and reminded ourselves that Lana picked the Royals to win the World Series in 7 games. She was wrong :( After Lana (at 1:52:35) was the return of our good friend Craig Goldstein. We love Craig. He had to be on Barbecast 50. We concluded with our new segment, Random Baseball Players From 2002-2007, as well as the weekly Varsity Baseball Update from Jake and some brief thanks to all you who listen. As always, thanks for listening <3

Musical guest: Barbecast 50 Cent

Direct download: POD_50.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 9:26pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 49! It's not quite Barbecast 50, but it's pretty damn close. We have THREE special guests this week. Although, to be fair, we've had all three of these guests on before. Our first guest (at 16:54) is Matt Clark, the official MAJOR leaguer of the Cespedes Family Barbecue. We talked to Matt about his long, complicated season that was topped off by his first call-up to the big leagues with the Brewers. Our second special guest (at 43:18) is Jake's Mom! We spent a solid 10 minutes debating whether it is safe for Jake to eat a baseball. Our third special guest (at 55:41) is the official MINOR leaguer of the Cespedes Family Barbecue, Kieran Lovegrove! Kieran just had Barry Bonds Hip Surgery, so he's rehabbing in Arizona, but he carved some time out of his busy schedule to recap his season with us. After our three guests, we did the customary B-Ref Battle in which we present three of our favorite. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry recapped Jake's ridiculous trip to Kansas City to see the Orioles' season end...so that was kinda depressing. We concluded with A NEW SEGMENT featuring a discussion on Reggie Abercrombie and an uneventful Varsity Baseball Update. Thanks for listening <3

Musical Guest: HOVA

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You can e-mail us at cespedesfb@gmail.com

Direct download: Pod_49.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 10:47am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 48! It's been a while, we know. Our special guest this week (at 21:40) is professional not-baseball player Geoff Schwartz! Easily the largest guest ever to appear on the Barbecast, Geoff is an offensive-lineman for the New York Football Giants. We talked to Geoff about how he was probably the biggest high school pitcher of all time, getting drafted in the 7th round, his San Francisco Giants fanhood/Barry Bonds, and being a professional Jewish athlete. We think it was pretty awesome, so we hope you enjoyed it. Our B-Ref battle included some surprisingly good names considering this is the 34th CONSECUTIVE WEEK we've done it, although I did SERIOUSLY screw up a really good Chappelle's Show reference and I apologize for that :( Tales of Logdog with Lana Berry was pretty bad, so sorry if it detracts from a mostly good podcast. Our e-mail segment was one of the best e-mail segments we've had for a long time, mostly because we spent 12 minutes talking about eating baseballs. We concluded with a moderately exciting Varsity Baseball Update and then we said goodbye. As always, thanks for listening <3

Please rate and review us on iTunes!

 

Direct download: Pod_48.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:43pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 47! We took a break for a bit because of a plus-plus amount of homework, but we're back. This week's special guest (at 26:15) is Sahadev Sharma, new associate editor over at Baseball Prospectus and noted Cubs enthusiast. We talked to Sahadev about...

  • His recently diminished fanhood
  • Jose Abreu's amazingness
  • His ideal Cubs 2016 Cubs lineup
  • Dan Vogelbach (duh)
  • His favorite Cubs pitching prospects
  • Zunes?
  • Other stuff!

It was great! You can and should follow Sahadev on Twitter @sahadevsharma. After Sahadev, we participated in YET ANOTHER B-Ref Battle of extraordinary baseball names and managed to include a Spongebob reference. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered who Lana thinks should be the next NFL commissioner because Goodell is not lookin' so good. We concluded with the return of Jake's Varsity Baseball Update with exciting news that Jake is still on the team! Our crop of e-mails this week was especially strong, with a few discussions on the worst lineups we've ever seen, and of course, Papelbon's crotch grabbing extravaganza. Thanks for listening <3

Musical guest is Yelawolf. We're so sorry. 

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We'd really appreciate it!

Direct download: POD_47_True.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:48pm EDT

Barbecast 46 has arrived and it is chock full of questionable hip-hop opinions. For the second straight week we have TWO special guests for ze подкаст. Our first special guest (at 14:45) is the new lead prospect writer over at FanGraphs. His name is Kiley McDaniel, and he is on Twitter, just like us! We talked to Kiley about the 20-80 scale, how he gives tool grades to major leaguers, prospects similar to Dan Vogelbach, and more! Then we put Kiley on the spot by forcing him to give 20-80 grades to a myriad of random and not-so-random rappers. It was fun! After Kiley, we did our weekly B-Ref Battle in which we found a player truly near and dear to our hearts. Our second special guest (at 1:21:01) is Tyler Stafford, aka @JeffBlogwell on the Tweeterz. We talked to Tyler about what it's like being a miserable Astros fan and discussed the timely firing of Mr. Bo Porter. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry celebrated the recent call-up of mutual friend Matt Clark to the big leagues and discussed what Lana is getting Jake for his birthday. We concluded with a brief update on how we're feeling about our two favorite teams heading into the final month of the season. Thanks for listening <3

Musical guest is some combination of The Game and The Backstreet Boys and 2Pac. Enjoy! 

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We want more people to listen to the show, and this is the best way to make that happen. 

Direct download: POD_46.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:27pm EDT

Hey! Welcome to Barbecast 45, the first podcast of our sophomore year of college. We have two special guest this week and they are somehow both currently based in the great state of Alabama. Our first guest this week (at 23:33) is one of our earliest minor league friends, Mike Recchia. Mike is a right-handed pitcher for the Birmingham Barons, the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. We talked to Mike about his unique path through the minor leagues and how different pro ball is in affiliated ball relative to independent ball. Mike was great. You can/should follow Mike on Twitter @Recchia1. Before our second guest, we did our weekly b-ref battle of ridiculously ridiculous old baseball names. Our second guest this week (at 1:12:00) is Nicole Collins. Nicole is the Director of Media Relations for the Huntsville Stars, the Double-A affiliate for the Milwaukee Brewers. We talked about why her job is much more complicated than just "media relations", what it's like working for a team that could be moving as soon as next year, and more! You can/should follow Nicole on Twitter @nicoley_collins. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry was short and to the point, as always. We concluded with a brief discussion about the Little League World Series and then we said our goodbyes. Our musical guests this week are the Baja Men because WHY WOULDN'T THEY BE THE MUSICAL GUEST EVERY WEEK??? Thanks for listening <3

You can e-mail us at cespedesfb@gmail.com

Please rate and review us on iTunes! It helps other people find the show and we appreciate it!

 

Direct download: POD_45.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:04am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 44, the One-Year Anniversary special. The actual one year anniversary of the Barbecast was back on August 2nd, but we didn't realize until this week, so we're celebrating now! We have three very special guests this week. One of them was on the first ever Barbecast, one of them has been on every Barbecast since Episode 8, and one of them is an entire professional baseball organization.

First up (at 23:10), it's the Seattle @Mariners! We talked to the @Mariners about what it's like being such a complex organism, how difficult it is to schedule things when you are an entire baseball team, and their favorite other @BaseballTeams. It was fun! 

Before our second guest, we did a very special B-Ref Battle segment in which we, in addition to our weekly names, read all 200 of the craziest baseball names we've found since Episode 14. It took a while, but it was well worth it. Ed Head!

Our second guest (at 1:16:20) is Craig Goldstein. Craig was on THE FIRST EVER BARBECAST. That was over a year ago He hasn't gotten any better, but we still love him. Thanks Craig! 

Our final guest (at 1:27:05), as always, is Lana Berry. We took some time for this Tales of Logdog to discuss Lana's favorite moments in Barbecast history, and took even less time to discuss why preseason football is remotely important. 

We conclude with some brief thanks to all the people that have enjoyed the first year of Barbecasts and look forward to the next year of maybe Barbecasts. As always, thanks for listening <3

Notes:

1. Sorry about the crickets. Jake was recording at night in his beach house which is basically just a porch.

2. We were supposed to have The Official Minor Leaguer of CFBBQ, Kieran Lovegrove, on for this special episode, but we couldn't quite make it work. If you wanna listen to Kieran be Kieran, listen to Episode 11.

Please rate and review us on iTunes! 

Direct download: POD_44.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 7:16pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 43, "Yoenis Was Traded But We Aren't Going To Talk About It" edition. This week's special guest (at 20:21) is former major leaguer and two-time World Series Champion, Mike Mordecai. We talked to Mike about his relationship with Coach Mac, the differences between the Braves and Marlins World Series teams, and the pitchers he struggled with the most. We recorded with Mike while we were at camp, so we apologize for the audio quality. Our b-ref battle included a player who was once referred to as "the most prominent jail-bird athlete in America." Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry discussed the hectic trade deadline and how she reacted to our beloved hero getting traded to Boston. Our e-mail segment was chock full of e-mails, because it was an e-mail segment. But they were good e-mails! We finished up the podcast with a salute to the Tenleytown Barbecuers, the 2014 DC Wood Men's League Champions. Thanks for listening <3

Our musical guest this week is The Dixie Chicks, in honor of Yoenis' somber departure from Oakland. If you haven't read our OFFICIAL STATEMENT on the matter, please click here. 

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Direct download: Pod_43_mixdown.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:02am EDT

Welcome to the inaugural Diet Barbecast! If you're reading this, that means you wanted to listen to our podcast but you didn't wanna listen to ALL of our podcast. Well good news! This version of our podcast is only 30 minutes. We this gives a good look into what that full Barbecast has to offer. In this Diet Barbecast, you'll hear part of our interview with Rick Giolito (father of Nationals prospect Lucas) about the Brady Aiken/Astros situation and how he handled a similar situation with Lucas when he was drafted. After our interview was our weekly B-Ref Battle extravaganza where we search the depths of Baseball-Reference and triy to find the craziest names we can. Next is our super crazy brief TALES FROM LOGDOG with Twitter friend Lana Berry. We ask her one question and then we say goodbye. It's remarkably efficient, but it keeps the Logdog streak alive. We concluded with a brief update on our summer league team, the Barbecuers, as well as a brief salute to #42 himself. Thanks for listening <3

Please rate and review us on iTunes! Let us know how you like the Diet Barbecast. 

Direct download: Diet_BBcast_42_mixdown.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 1:14am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 42! The FULL Barbecast. If you're reading this, you're deciding to subject yourself to all 110 minutes of this week's podcasting glory, and we really appreciate it.

We've got two special guests this week. First (at 19:33), we talked to Rick Giolito (father of Nationals prospect Lucas) about the Brady Aiken situation and his experience being in a similar situation when Lucas was drafted after getting hurt. Rick also talked about Lucas' progression in his first season of pro ball and what we can expect from him going forward. Next (52:50), we talked to the mysteriously spectacular Tepid Participation. You may know Tepid, or, "Michael", as the guy on Twitter who loves to tweet about Rangers prospects, and that's cause HE KNOWS ALL DA RANGERS PROSPECTS. We talked to Tepid about a few Rangers prospects, focusing mostly on recent Futures Game superstar Joey Gallo and what makes him so special. 

After that, we've got the usual B-Ref Battle featuring one of the more lucrative names we've ever had. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered Lana's recent visit to Los Angeles and why she was hanging out with the USMNT. We finished up with a Barbecuers update and brief salute to 42 himself. Thanks for listening <3

Please rate and review us on iTunes!

(If you don't know what the Diet Barbecast is, click here for more info.)

Direct download: Untitled_Session_1_mixdown.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 1:05am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 41! This week's podcast almost has more to do with futbol and hot dogs than baseball, but that's okay; we think you'll enjoy it regardless. We have TWO special guests this week. 

Our first special guest is CJ Wittmann of Baseball Prospectus (15:43). We talked to CJ for twenty solid minutes about the recently released mid-season Top 50 Prospect list over at BP and which prospects he is high on, low on, medium on, and which prospects he has a special place in his heart for. CJ is Mort's cousin, and his #MortBlood and #MortAccent definitely shine through in this interview. For the full Top 50 list, click here.

Our second special guest is baseball player and hot dog connoisseur, Carlos Rodon (38:28). Carlos was selected third overall by the White Sox in last month's draft, so we had him on to talk about the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. We talked about hot dog consumption strategies, nicknames, and which MLB players would have a chance against Joey Chestnut. (For more from Carlos, check out Barbecast 29). 

After our special guests, we did our weekly B-Ref Battle of extaordinary baseball names and it was kindly interrupted by Jake's grandma. How cute. 

We recorded a segment in the car on the way to the Bowie Baysox game about THE WORLD CUP OF SOCCER FUTBOL and all the questions I had about the sport/the tournament.

Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry included MORE SOCCER TALK. Lana hasn't watched much of the World Cup. We asked her why. Her reasons were reasonable. Go Lana!

The end of this glorious podcast is a brief Barbecuers update and then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening <3

Don't forget to rate and review us on iTunes! 

 

Direct download: POD_41_REAL.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 5:37pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 40, Baseball Camp edition. This week's special guest (24:15) is John McCarthy (Coach Mac), the founder of Home Run Baseball Camp and current employer of both members of the BBQ. We talked to Coach Mac about his brief career in pro ball as a knuckleballer (facing Derek Jeter in the GCL!!!), his transition into becoming a coach, and how he maintains his insane level of optimism on a daily basis. We recorded in a Booeymonger, so we apologize for the semi-poor audio quality. You can and should read more about Coach Mac by clicking here. Our b-ref battle this week included a certain player that may or may not be the oldest living human being on Earth. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered Lana's surprise appearance on Mean Tweets: Dallas Cowboys edition. Our e-mail segment included some baseball camp stories, what we would do as the Padres GM, and a beautiful World Cup e-mail from OBP. At the end of the episode, you will hear a recording of the story that we, along with our co-counselor Jason, told a group of 100+ campers about the loss of our pet ferret, Guantez. Thanks for listening <3

Our musical guest is some German rapper because reasons. 

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Direct download: POD_40.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 3:48pm EDT

Full Barbecasts are back! Now with 25% worse audio quality. Get pumped. Our special guest this week is Ryan Parker of Baseball Prospectus. We talked to Ryan about how he scouts Low-A baseball, Joey Gallo, and other prospect-related thingzzz. You should follow Ryan on Twitter @RA_Parker because he is really good at what he does. Our b-ref battle this week consisted of numerous strange sounds, moreso than actual names. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered how Lana was surviving the sudden tornado in her area. The theme of the e-mail segment was WHAT THE HELL WAS IN CARLOS GONZALEZ'S FINGER with an eloquent backstory from Big Poop. The Barbecuers Update has good news regarding Barbecuer gear that is actually for sale. This isn't our best Barbecast, but it probably isn't our worst! Seriously, just go back and listen to Barbecast 38. Thanks for listening <3

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Direct download: POd_39.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 6:21pm EDT

Jordan usually writes the recaps, but this time it's me. What you're about to listen to is a recording of Jordan and Lana reading a story that I wrote when I was in 4th grade. The story is about a baseball player named Carlos Garcia. The story is ignorantly and accidentally slightly racist. It's also amazing. This is the story of the boy who never gave up. We apologize for the constant laughter throughout. 

Direct download: Da_Bezt.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:23am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 37! It's our second one of the week, and our last one before we venture off to Texas. Our special guest this week is major league pitcher Daniel Hudson of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Daniel has had Tommy John surgery twice, so he seemed like a good person to talk to about the sudden epidemic of TJ's around baseball. We also talked about his career up to this point, why Pablo Sandoval owns him, and why he got into the world of social media. Our b-ref battle this week included another potential all-time great as well as an unexpected weapon. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered Lana's mental state a week before she's actually meeting us in person. We also talked about our trip to Texas, which is a thing that is happening. Jake's Varsity Baseball Update is on break for the summer, so we got a Barbecuers update as well as a special appearance from our two mothers. E-mails were great, including a wonderful Miguel Olivo-related OBP e-mail. Thanks for listening <3

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Direct download: POD_37_LEGIT.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 4:45pm EDT

Barbecast 36! Our special guest this week is a new minor league friend of ours. His name is Spencer Trygg and he is a right-handed pitcher in the depths of the Los Angeles Angels minor league system. We talked to Spencer about playing in the Pioneer League, the quirks of D3 baseball, and the even more ridiculous quirks of playing indy ball. We also talked about what it was like for him growing up a Giants fan and then signing with the Angels, and to what extent he's had to throw away his childhood fandom. Our b-ref battle this week was great, and includes possibly one of the ten best names we've ever found. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry began with some discussion of Tommy John surgery but quickly morphed into an in-depth discussion on PIZZA. Our e-mails were solid, with some questions about the Reds, comparing baseball to doom metal, another masterpiece from Napoleon Bookbindery, and a somber goodbye to Jose Fernandez from the one and only OBP. Jake's Varsity Baseball Update is over, and the Barbecuers update is here, plus some talk about our trip to Hagerstown. Thanks for listening <3

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Direct download: POD_36.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 10:31am EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 35! It has been over two weeks since our last full Barbecast but Finals Week is over and the summer has just begun, so here ya go. Our special guest this week is Zachary Levine, writer at Baseball Prospectus and former Astros beat writer for the Houston Chronicle. We talked to Zachary about the Astros' incredible ability to suck, and what it was it like covering a team that was SO BAD LIKE WOW SO BAD. We also talked about other non-Astros stuff, don't worry. As usual, we recorded our B-Ref segment before everything else, and in this case, it was in the MORNING. So we were tired. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered the first round of the NFL DRAFT YEAH FOOTBALL YEAH. We talked about Johnny Football and Lana's favorite moments of the draft. Jake's Varsity Baseball Update is...not a very good update. You'll hear more this week. Our e-mails were great, including a wonderful Mother's Day e-mail from OBP himself. Thanks for listening <3

Please take a moment to rate and review us on iTunes! We would very much appreciate it!

Direct download: POD_35.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 5:57pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 34.5! This isn't really a Barbecast. It's an interview. Jake and I are both very busy with final papers, exams, and other fun academic stuff, so we can't give you a full barbecast this week. What we do have is a spectacular interview with former major league pitcher Brian Bannister. We talked to Brian for over an hour about a plethora of baseball-related things, including...

  • His rookie year
  • Being on the same team as Pedro Martinez
  • Playing towards the end of the PED era
  • Why Barry Bonds was the best
  • Who Brian owned in the big leagues and who owned him
  • Brian's disastrously hilarious experience against Team Cuba
  • His unique retirement story
  • His current favorite teams

...and more. It was great, and we really appreciate Brian taking the time to chat with us. You can and should follow him on Twitter @RealBanny.

We honestly don't know when the next full Barbecast will be, but we hope this is enough in the meantime. Thanks for listening <3

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Direct download: POD_34_5.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 4:37pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 34! We took a week off, but we're back with big one. Our guest this week is Bill Baer of Crashburn Alley, Hardball Talk, and Being-A-Cool-Person-On-Twitter fame. We talked to Bill about the state of his beloved Phillies, Ben Revere not hitting any dingers, Barry Bonds doing Barry Bonds things, and his HOT TAKE on the recent bombardment of hatred pointed at Rays reliever Josh Lueke. Bill was great. We like Bill! Our next special guest is the OFFICIAL MINOR LEAGUER OF CESPEDES FAMILY BARBECUE, Indians right-hander Kieran Lovegrove. We talked to Kieran about life in extended spring training, his Rick Ankiel-like struggles, and what he thinks he would hit in the big leagues RIGHT NOW. Kieran is the best. In addition to our weekly b-ref battle of ridiculous names, we played a little guessing game where I had to guess the 15 active players with at least 300 career home runs. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered one of the more interesting hashtags we've seen on Twitter in a while. Oh, and people sent some pretty awesome e-mails. Because we love the whole world, our musical guest this week is a collection of national anthems. Thanks for listening <3

Please rate and review us on iTunes! We would very much appreciate it!

Direct download: POD_34.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:38am EDT

Welcome to Episode 33 of the undisputed home run king of all podcasts. This episode is a bit shorter than usual, but that's okay. We're all busy people. Our special guest this week is far and away the youngest gust we've ever had. His name is David Shemie and he is already cooler than Chris Cotillo. Shemie is a 13-year-old Montreal native who attended the two exhibition games at Olympic Stadium during Spring Training. We talked to him about that, as well as what it's like being the smartest 13-year-old baseball fan in his entire city (probably). Instead of doing a full e-mail segment, we talked about the tallest and heaviest players at every position and debated which team was better, Team Fat or Team Tall. Our b-ref battle was top-notch, as we both came very prepared for the first time in a while. In the spirit of Passover, Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered what foods Lana has given up during her brief time here on Earth. Jake's Varsity Baseball Update had very little to do with baseball and much more to do with RALLY CHEESE #RallyCheese. Thanks for listening <3 

Our musical guest is apparently a random selection of Jake's music. 

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Direct download: POD_33.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 8:28pm EDT

Barbecast 32 is here! Our special guest this week is Daren Willman. You probably/hopefully know him as @darenw on the Tweeterz, but what you should know him as the genius behind baseballsavant.com and mlbfarm.com, your two new favorite time-wasters. We talked to Daren about how HE DOES THIS FOR FUN and what the new fun stuff released by MLB Advanced Media could mean for his sites. Seriously though, Daren is awesome and this interview should make that very apparent. Our b-ref battle was the reason for this episode's title, as Jake and I happened to choose the exact same player for only the third time in the segment's history. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry included all three of us being completely incompetent and we apologize for that. Our e-mails were stellar, and our two favorites came through BIG TIME with some incredibly insightful messages. Our musical guest is the theme song from Jimmy Neutron. Don't question it. Thanks for listening <3

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Direct download: POd_32.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:56pm EDT

Hello and welcome to BARBECAST 31 featuring 3.1 special guests. This is definitely a much better show than last week because Jake is actually awake for 90% of it! And yes, it's also a long one. Our THREE special guests this week, in order, are...

Dan Amodio, Baseball Operations and Facility Devlopment Manager at THE AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE. We talked to him about what it was like having Major League Baseball down under. He was in a coffee shop. We apologize for the background noise. 

Matt Ball, former Barbecast guest and right-handed pitching prospect for the Chicago White Sox. Matt gave some insight on what minor league camp in Arizona is like, talks about his year ahead, and shares a SPECTACULAR Alexei Ramirez story.

Matt Clark, former Barbecast guest, and first base prospect for the New York Mess. We talked to him about being in MAJOR LEAGUE SPRING TRAINING. Particularly, on the same team as Bartolo Colon. Matt is funny and we like Matt. Both Matts. Maybe even all Matts. Even Matt Stairs.

LANA BERRY. Just a plain ol' Tales from Logdog for the 20 something-th week in a row. Yeah. We talked about all the Rangers dying and who the hell Nick Martinez is. 

Our b-ref battle was solid, and our e-mail segment was brief but entertaining. Jake's Varsity Baseball Update was sobering to say the least. Barbecast 31! Thanks for listening <3

And yeah, our "musical guest" is beer commercials. Mostly just the same one over and over. 

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E-mail: cespedesfb@gmail.com

Direct download: PODCAST_31.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 1:38pm EDT

Barbecast 30 has finally arrived. It's been two weeks since our last podcast, and one week since we recorded our interview with special guest, National Baseball Writer for Sporting News,  Jesse Spector. Nevertheless, this mess of an episode is here for you to hopefully enjoy. Please excuse Jake's immense #slack and #sickness; as far as Lana and I know, he wasn't on anything, but rather very tired and somewhat ill. Anyway, we talked to Jesse about his spring training adventures and he shared his one personal experience with Barry Bonds. I came well prepared for the b-ref battle this week, but we both had some gems. Tales from Logdog with Lana, was actually one of our best Logdog segments in a while. We talked about how #Nelly1057 impacted us on all levels. If you don't know what #Nelly1057 was, you will definitely know by the end of this episode. Our e-mail segment was decent; we got lucky and received a last minute e-mail from OBP and Napoleon was wonderful as always. Thanks for listening <3

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Direct download: POD_31.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 10:03pm EDT

One week after Kelly Vs. Avril, we're back with a slightly more baseball-oriented podcast. Our special guest this week is...well it's a lot of people. We held our inaugural CFB fantasy baseball draft with some of our bestest friends including Carlos Rodon, Craig Goldstein, Chris Crawford, and my little brother David AKA Little Poop. We recorded during the whole thing and we've cautiously edited it down to 30 minutes of ridiculousness. It might be the funniest thing we've ever had on the podcast and we hope you enjoy it. Our b-ref battle featured the first appearance of Jake's girlfriend, so that was exciting. She provided a plus-plus amount of polite laughter at our bad jokes. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry covered Lana's experience with the Oscars and her WILD AND CRAZY SPRING BREAKS from her reckless youth. Our e-mail segment was missing a certain someone, but we managed. Our musical guest is all the best Backyard Baseball music. Thanks for listening <3

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Direct download: POD_29.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 2:11pm EDT

Because one huge post and constant tweets weren't enough, we've got an entire episode devoted to the most important rivalry in CFBBQ history. To help moderate our debate and provide a remarkably neutral perspective on the issue, we invited Bill Hanstock of SB Nation and Progressive Boink fame. He shared his personal experiences with both, his favorite Kelly/Avril songs, and explains how he deals with the whole Nickelback thing. We took a break from Kelly/Avril content to do our weekly b-ref battle in which I used a name that I've used before but I didn't realize I did. I'm sorry :( Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry was the lowpoint in the show for me, as Lana thoroughly embarrassed me with her enthusiastic failure to understand why I love Avril so much. Props to Logdog. We concluded with a summary of our feelings and why Kelly/Avril is so important to the BBQ in the first place. Our Kelly/Avril e-mails were also wonderful, and we appreciate those that contributed their equally passionate opinions. Thanks for listening <3

 

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Direct download: POD_28.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 2:23pm EDT

Welcome to Barbecast 27, the Mike Trout Is the Greatest Player of All Time and Wears No. 27 edition. Our special guest this week is the Mariners beat writer for the Seattle Times, Ryan Divish. We talked to Ryan about Robinson Cano ACTUALLY BEING ON THE MARINERS, how unbelievably slow Jesus Montero is, Felix's neck tattoo, Dustin Ackley's off-season hobbies, Geoff Baker's piece on the Mariners dysfunction, AND MORE. Our b-ref battle was a good one; it featured one of the more spectacularly contradicting names we've ever heard. Our e-mail segment was 94% Disney Princess talk. Tales from Logdog was definitely not nearly as good the second time around (oh yeah, Jake deleted a lot so we had to re-record some), so we apologize for that. And finally, Jake's Varsity Baseball Update is the most eventful one we've had in months. Thanks for listening <3

Direct download: pod-271.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 5:20am EDT

We're back! After some time to recover from the insanity of Barbecast 25, we're here with another obnoxiously long podcast. Our special guest this week is Eno Sarris, finally. Eno writes for all the baseball websites and loves beer. So we talked about beer. And baseball. He also talked about Darwin Barney calling him a nerd. We were also lucky to talk to Matt Clark, another PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL PLAYER who spent 2013 in Japan for the Chunichi Dragons. We discussed Matt’s career to this point and heard some stories about his time in the minor leagues. Matt is particularly unique in that HE HAS MET LANA BERRY IN REAL LIFE. And of course, Tales from Logdog’s triumphant return was as crazy as ever, and managed to include two more special guests. Then, we talked to Siri. Yeah, that Siri.  Our baseball-reference battle was another fun one, and we received another extremely strong crop of e-mails that we greatly appreciate. You guys are funnier than we are. Also, I AM SO SORRY ABOUT THE MUSIC. Thanks for listening <3

Direct download: pod-26.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:32pm EDT

It happened. After weeks of anticipation and mental preparation, Barbecast 25 is here. This is the big one. AND THIS IS ONLY THE FIRST PART. We spent an hour talking to the best worst college baseball pitcher since Stephen Strasburg, Carlos Rodon. Carlos is a left-handed pitcher for NC State and you might have heard of him at some point. So that was a thing that happened. Next, Sam Miller of Baseball Prospectus joined us to talk about the new Baseball Prospectus 2014, as well as participate in our heated Baseball-Reference Battle. Oh, and before all that, we had about a dozen of our best e-mails yet. Little Poop included. Yeah, it’s close to three hours, but this is only part one...

Direct download: podcast-25.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 4:39pm EDT

Hey! Welcome to Part 2! We talked to the ORIGINAL GUEST OF THE BARBECAST, Craig Goldstein. It was a disaster. Then, we talked to the official minor leaguer of CFB, Kieran Lovegrove, about his off-season habits. And finally, Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry was spent reflecting on the ridiculous number of Barbecasts we've made her do. It got pretty emotional. IT'S BARBECAST 25; the most absurd podcast we’ve ever produced. Thanks for listening <3

Direct download: pod-25-part-2.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 4:38pm EDT

Episode 24 is here and is significantly less exciting than any episode of "24″. Our special guest this week is Doug "The Thug" Thorburn, pitching guru and Ubaldo Jimenez hater. Doug writes for Baseball Prospectus about pitching mechanics and he is the best of the best of the best at it. We talked to him for about an hour about his favorite and least favorite deliveries in baseball, as well as some ridiculous analysis on Jake’s pitching mechanics. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry was actually pretty decent; we talked about Richard Sherman and why more athletes should take credit for their awesomeness. We had a particularly impressive crop of e-mails this week that covered Barry Bonds as a fetus, walk-up music, Eric Sogard, and Big Poop with another legendary piece of poetry. Our musical guest is DJ YRS JERZY for reasons that we cannot possibly explain. Next week is going to be CRAZY. Thanks for listening <3

Direct download: pod-24.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:30pm EDT

We've only been back in school for two days but Episode 23 simply couldn't wait. Our very very very special guest this week is Fred Claire, former General Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. We talked to him about his extensive career in the Dodgers organization, spanning from his beat writer days to his 1988 World Series Championship. We discussed some of his biggest transactions and how they look in retrospect (including trading away Pedro Martinez). Claire also talked about how international scouting has changed, the progression of advanced statistics, and of course, we asked him about Puig and Kershaw...and Vin Scully. Our SECOND special guest is professional baseball player Matt Ball, a right-handed pitcher in the Chicago White Sox organization. He was also born in 1995. We talked to Matt about the process of being drafted in 2013 as well as what it's like playing in the rookie-level Appalachian League. And yeah, we talked to Lana Berry again. We asked her a bunch of rapid fire questions and briefly discussed how she's coping with this dreadfully boring time of the baseball offseason. Our B-ref showdown/throwdown/skirmish was solid, and our e-mails included another ALL TIME GREAT from OBP. Our musical guest is THE SPACE JAM. Thanks for listening <3

Direct download: pod-23.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 9:24am EDT

Episode 22 of this ridiculous podcast has arrived. Our special guest this week is prospect enthusiast and plus-plus human being Chris Crawford of ESPN and MLBDraftInsider. We talked to Chris for close to an hour about the upcoming college baseball season, who to watch for the 2014 Draft, and his time as an employee at BestBuy. And yeah, we talked about our crappy baseball throwing best friend, Carlos Rodon. He sucks. Our baseball-reference name skirmish/showdown was a good one #Toots. After being the guest on this week's PRODcast (click here to listen), we recorded a quick segment with the Productive Outs dudes showcasing Riley's ability to come up with unbelievably insane fake minor leaguer names. He's a talented individual. Tales from Logdog with Lana Berry was another sub-par segment of messiness. Oh, and our musical guest this week is the Powerpuff Girls theme music. Thanks for listening <3

Direct download: pod-22.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 12:53pm EDT

It's the 21st edition of the Barbecast so grab an alcoholic beverage, sit back, and enjoy this AUSSIE of an episode. Our special guest this week is JAKE FROM THE FUTURE. Sorta. It's our first guestless episode since Episode 4 but we still managed to talk for a long time. Our e-mails included a lot of questions regarding Jake’s trip to Australia as well as some fantastic material from the regular e-mail superstars like Napolean and OBP. After that, we did another battle of amazing baseball names and then talked about Jake’s trip a little more extensively. We DID manage to have Lana Berry on for the 13th consecutive episode (oh my god Lana I am so sorry) and we talked about her favorite things from 2013. Oh, and our musical “guest” is the sounds of a didgeridoo because duh. Thanks for listening <3

Direct download: pod-21.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 10:44am EDT

lol we've literally done twenty podcasts. Our special guest this week is male human being Jason Parks, who knows a bit about baseball and slightly more about what's wrong with Jeff Passan. You know who Jason Parks is. Prospect wise, we talked Bundy/Gausman, Bundy's cutter, Lucas Giolito's magical powers, Jason's earliest scouting memory, and OBVIOUSLY Victor Sanchez. Duh. We also touched on a few topics with PG-13 floors and NC-17 ceilings. Our baseball-reference war of Negro League names got pretty intense as usual. Our second special guest was our good friend Sara from high school. We talked about Matt Wieters for about 90 seconds. Tales from Logdog with Lana was a rapid fire edition where we asked her a bunch of pointless questions. It was basically what we usually do except even more random and irrelevant to baseball. Our e-mails were solid-average with plenty of room for improvement but Napolean and OBP came through and that's what matters. Thanks for listening <3 (Rate and review us on ze iTunes!)

Direct download: podcast-20.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 9:05am EDT

Our special guest this week is longtime friend of the blog/Twitterz, and one of the better Craigs out there, Craig Calcaterra of NBC's HardballTalk. He was at the Winter Meetings so we talked to him about the craziness of the meetings and discussed the nature of reporting baseball rumors nowadays. Craig dished a lot of dirt because Craig is dirty. We love Craig.

To celebrate the podcast turning 19, we brought back THE OFFICIAL MINOR LEAGUE PITCHER OF CESPEDES FAMILY BARBECUE right-hander Kieran Lovegrove, who happens to be 19 years old. Kieran just spent a month in South Africa. Kieran was also born in South Africa. Kieran was there when the legendary Nelson Mandela passed away. We talked to him about that. We also quizzed him on which free agents signed where because he hasn't had internet for a while. If you aren't following Kieran yet, go do that please @Lovegrove19.

We had a plus-plus crop of e-mails this week including a discussion on an All-Retired team, Gizoogle, and a somber life lesson from Big Poop.

AND YEAH WE TALKED TO LANA BERRY. We briefly discussed where Matt Kemp is going to not get traded to and some other stupid stuff because that's what Tales from Logdog is at this point.

Thanks for listening <3 Rate and review us on iTunes!

Direct download: pod-19.mp3
Category:Cespedes Family Barbecast -- posted at: 11:10am EDT