Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen banter about how to abbreviate Twins executive Derek Falvey’s new dual role as president of both baseball and business operations, then (5:23) discuss Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki from a scouting perspective, touching on how good he could be, how a team could ease him into MLB, what tweaks he could make to his repertoire, the bonus pool system that could help determine where he signs, and more. After that (50:16), Ben and Meg talk to NPB journalist Jim Allen about Sasaki’s posting from a Japan-based perspective, exploring why Sasaki was posted now, how Japanese fans feel about his departure, and what the implications could be for NPB. Finally (1:21:01), Ben does a bonus Stat Blast about baseball overrepresentation in crossword puzzles.

Audio interstitial: Liz Panella, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio outro: Kite Person, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Falvey news

Link to Trueblood’s Falvey tweet

Link to Eric’s Roki update

Link to Eric on Roki in August

Link to Ben’s Roki update

Link to Ben on Roki in 2022

Link to Kiley on Roki

Link to Passan on Roki

Link to Coskrey on Roki

Link to 2024 bonus pools

Link to Cooper on draft picks

Link to Ardaya on courting Ohtani

Link to Ohtani courtship

Link to Jim on Roki’s situation

Link to Jim on the Marines

Link to Jim on Hirooka

Link to Jim on Roki’s future

Link to NPB union article

Link to Jim’s podcast

Link to Hang Up and Listen

Link to latest HUaL

Link to Raymond’s spreadsheet

Link to Rooker EW episode

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