The Jonah Keri Podcast, Episode 10
To gear up for the Winter Meetings, this week we have two guests with very different perspectives. Craig Calcaterra is a blogger for NBC Sports’ Hardball Talk. David Forst is the Assistant General Manager for the Oakland A’s.
The topics Craig and I cover:
- 0:00-7:28: Being starstruck at the Winter Meetings
- 7:29-9:11: Breaking news stories as a blogger
- 9:12-11:06: Transitioning from practicing law to blogging
- 11:07-13:50: The community of baseball writers is full of nice people
- 13:51-22:36: What are the big stories we can expect at the Winter Meetings?
- 22:37-29:23: Taking people to task on Twitter
- 29:24-31:53: Twitter is also the new water cooler for lonely writers who live in remote areas
- 31:54-37:26: Food Pick of the Week
My pick this week is really a Hanukkah cooking tip from my wife: When making potato latkes, parboil the grated potatoes first for 5 minutes. Most latke recipes involve frying uncooked potatoes, and the resulting latkes taste like raw potatoes.
Craig’s pick
Read Craig’s work at NBC Sports’ Hardball Talk blog and follow him on Twitter @craigcalcaterra
The topics David and I cover:
- 37:27-42:55: When’s the best time in the off-season for a team to acquire a player (and a player to sign a free-agent contract) — before, during, or after the Winter Meetings?
- 42:56-44:38: After a few years of highly valuing defense, are we now shifting back to big bucks going to big-bat, no-glove players?
- 44:39-47:30: Following Craig’s take on what it’s like at the Winter Meetings for a writer, we get David’s take on the scene for a team’s front office
- 47:31-49:35: The pluses and minuses of teams cozying up to writers
- 49:36-52:46: The pluses and minuses of the A’s roster-building strategy, namely sacrificing power to get multi-dimensional players
- 52:47-57:32: Are the A’s and other low-to-medium-payroll teams going against the grain and purposely targeting walk-year players, knowing they can collect compensation picks when the season’s over?
- 57:33-1:00:53: Should low-to-medium-payroll teams avoid very long-term contracts completely?
- 1:00:54-1:07:01: Will the A’s finally solve their third base and offensive problems this off-season (perhaps with Adrian Beltre) – especially given free agents’ recent tendency to turn down Oakland offers even when they’re higher than anyone else’s?
- 1:07:02-end: Food Pick of the Week
Thanks to David for for his candor and insight. For A’s tickets, head here.
Player embedded below. To download, right click here.
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