The Barbecast

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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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

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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. 

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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! 

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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

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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.

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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

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(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

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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

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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

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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

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