Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley call for a listener referendum on how to treat Shohei Ohtani’s unprecedented contract in the EW free-agent-contract over/under draft, then (20:43) banter about the Royals’ recent pitching additions and a wizardly Will Smith. After that (33:32), they talk to FanGraphs lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen about the players from Asian leagues who have enlivened the MLB free-agent market (including reports on new Giants addition Jung Hoo Lee 이정후, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shota Imanaga, Yuki Matsui, and Yariel Rodríguez), Eric’s process for evaluating international players, how perceptions of Asian leagues’ strengths and top talents have evolved, Erick Fedde and other players who’ve improved after going overseas, the best Asian players who are still years away from MLB, stylistic differences among leagues, and more.

Audio outro: Daniel Leckie, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to vote on the Ohtani contract

Link to latest over/under draft

Link to over/under draft wiki

Link to EW drafts/competitions sheet

Link to AP on Ohtani’s deal

Link to L.A. Times on Ohtani’s deal

Link to Sportico on Ohtani’s deal

Link to Clemens on Ohtani’s deal

Link to Zaidi on Ohtani

Link to FG post on Royals signings

Link to FG SP depth charts

Link to BaseRuns standings

Link to Gonny Jomes wiki

Link to article on Smith’s streak

Link to article on Hinske’s streak

Link to article on swimming witches

Link to wizard vs. warlock

Link to Lee cheer song

Link to EW guest appearance data

Link to DeltaGraphs

Link to Ben on DeltaGraphs

Link to Synergy Sports

Link to Eric on Lee

Link to SIS on Lee

Link to study on velocity splits

Link to SIS on Yamamoto

Link to info on Yamamoto meeting

Link to Eric on Fedde

Link to Bannister on Fedde

Link to Jyun Yue Tseng news

Link to Davenport on league strength

Link to Ben on NPB teams’ scouting

Link to Eric’s Board update

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