Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Robin Ventura truthers defending Ventura on the 30th anniversary of his brawl with Nolan Ryan, Shohei Ohtani‘s 2023 WAR matching his full-season 2021 WAR and whether this Ohtani season would’ve won him an MVP award in 2022, the Yankees’ handling of Anthony Rizzo’s belatedly diagnosed post-concussion syndrome, whether this year’s shift restrictions are leading to more pitchers being hit by baseballs, and what winning or losing the trade deadline is actually worth, then (52:44) Stat Blast about players with the highest and lowest percentages of pulled homers (and the longest streaks of pulled homers), players who bat righty and throw lefty, the most matching pitch counts and speeds in one game, a record date for MLB birthdays, and the players traded the most times at the trade deadline, followed by (1:11:54) a conversation with former major leaguer J.A. Happ (and FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen) about what it’s like to be dealt at the deadline, Happ’s extensive trade history, the retirement of Cole Hamels, and more, plus (1:51:26) a Future Blast from 2042.

Audio outro: Xavier LeBlanc, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Ventura/Ryan video

Link to Ventura/Ryan story

Link to Drellich’s Ventura tweet

Link to Langs on Ohtani’s game

Link to FG WAR leaderboard

Link to B-Ref WAR leaderboard

Link to Fletcher’s EW interview

Link to Ben on Ohtani and Judge

Link to The Athletic on Rizzo

Link to Rosenthal on Rizzo

Link to Lindsey on Germán

Link to Jay on Rizzo and Germán

Link to Rizzo fatigue quote

Link to other Rizzo quote

Link to MLB.com story on Rizzo

Link to SIS comebackers tweet

Link to Pudge cheek story 1

Link to Pudge cheek story 2

Link to Down on the Farm post

Link to Dan S. on the 2023 deadline

Link to Dan S. on the 2022 deadline

Link to Dan S. on the 2021 deadline

Link to career pulled HR rates

Link to pulled HR streaks

Link to Russell Carleton’s Twitter

Link to weird-ass starter record

Link to weird-ass starter record (no P)

Link to weird-ass player record

Link to weird-ass player record (no P)

Link to all AL/NL weird-ass hitters

Link to pitch speed/count sheet

Link to Lucas Apostoleris’s Twitter

Link to MLB birthdays bar chart

Link to MLB birthdays heat map

Link to MLB relative age effect

Link to relative age effect wiki

Link to listener emails database

Link to trades on deadline day

Link to trades within 3 days

Link to trades within 1 week

Link to trades within 2 weeks

Link to Ryan Nelson’s Twitter

Link to Happ’s wiki

Link to “J Day” story

Link to Happ’s transactions

Link to Hamels retirement info

Link to IronPigs wiki

Link to Rick Wilber’s website

Link to Future Blast wiki

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