JotCast | FanGraphs Book Club - The Shift

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Andrea's Fault

9:39

"There's also some beauty in just watching a team punch above its weight." Part of that is we like the underdog story, no? Plus, if you're an Indians fan, or a Mets fan, or a Mariners fan....

Russell Carleton

9:39

I quickly realized that it just made more sense to use the boxes that people would already be thinking in (a chapter on managers, a chapter on roster construction, a chapter on GMs)

9:40

Oh sure, everyone loves an underdog story. Moneyball would have been just another book if it was about the Yankees using analytics (which they do).

Andrea's Fault

9:41

Shouldn't we all get footlongs?

Russell Carleton

9:41

Yes, but it would keep me quiet for two innings, and I'm supposed to be chatting

Paul Swydan

9:42

Hahaha. How did it feel to share personal stories in the book?

Did it feel different because it was going to be in print?

Russell Carleton

9:45

Yes/no/maybe... In the therapy room when I worked as a counselor, I would use personal stories because it put my patients at ease and I could make fun of myself. I didn't realize how nervous I would be about them being in print until I realized that there were actually print copies out there. It's being very exposed in a strange way that I hadn't thought about when I was writing it

GYatch

9:45

It was interesting to see that Dave Roberts didn't appear in any of the manager charts in that chapter. Psychologically, what does it "mean" to be a consecutive WS loser?

Russell Carleton

9:46

The therapist in me says that Dave Roberts can think of things two ways. He can see it as losing the WS twice or he can say "I guided a team through a grueling gauntlet to the World Series twice in a row... and then lost on some bad hops."

I hope he picks the latter.

Paul Swydan

9:47

Me too. He could always talk to Ron Washington about it.

Russell Carleton

9:47

Tell 'em Wash!

GYatch

9:47

Is "bad hops" what they call Ryan Madson in the Dodger clubhouse?

Paul Swydan

9:47

Ouch.

9:48

Russell, here's one for you - did you read up on a lot of baseball books before you wrote yours, or did you go in blind?

Russell Carleton

9:49

10 years ago, Ryan Madson was the guy that you namedropped in a conversation to show that you were smart about baseball. It feels weird to me that was 10 years ago... and that he's still a roster-able reliever on a playoff team.

9:50

The problem is that I don't have a lot of time to read. I read a few just because I like reading books about baseball, but not in a "research-y" way.

9:51

I used the personal story then whatever topic model because it was the only way I really know how to structure a chapter.

Andrea's Fault

9:52

Russell, how do you feel about TB's use of the opener, as it sort of seems like they borrowed the idea from you.... And do you think it will grow as an option (and should it)?

Russell Carleton

9:53

Bryan Grosnick really laid out the groundwork for The Opener, at least publicly

9:55

I do think it will grow, but in a backdoor way. Teams are more wary of the third-time-through penalty, which means they know that they are going to need to get more out of their bullpens, which means more games in which they know a certain guy is 95% likely to pitch, which means that you might as well start him anyway, because it gives you longer to go into the game where you can see if your "starter" can stick around for the third time, because it's 9-3 and why not let him soak up some innings if he's already in the game.

Scott Lu

9:55

It was a great way to keep us engaged, really enjoyed those connections between life and baseball!

Russell Carleton

9:56

Thanks, eventually my wife started talking to me again, so apparently it worked all the way around.

Paul Swydan

9:57

Was there any material that you left out of the book? Or did everything make it in?

Russell Carleton

9:58

Are you asking if there's going to be a sequel? ;-)

Paul Swydan

9:58

Maybe!

(Is there?)

Russell Carleton

9:59

I'll put it this way. My original author's draft was 115,000 words or so. My publisher politely suggested that I find 20,000 or so of them that could be politely excused from the draft.

Paul Swydan

9:59

Was that hard to do?

10:00

I always found it easy to cut down other people's stories, but I had a hard time cutting my own down.

Russell Carleton

10:00

It turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. Partly because I totally overly completely absolutely use too many words in my prose.

10:01

Some of it was just tightening stuff up, but there's material on the proverbial cutting room floor

Paul Swydan

10:02

Awesome. So we'll definitely be looking forward to the sequel then!

Russell Carleton

10:02

*wry smile*

Paul Swydan

10:03

Well, this was a lot of fun. I think it's just about my bed time though, so we'll call this a wrap. Thanks very much for hanging out with us, Russell!

Russell Carleton

10:04

Thanks for having me here. Thanks to the people who sent in questions. And most of all, thank you for reading my book and not thinking I was an idiot.

GYatch

10:04

Thanks, Russell for the great book and stopping by, and thanks, Paul, for holding these! Go, Silver Unicorn!

Andrea's Fault

10:04

Thanks, guys!

Paul Swydan

10:04

Absolutely! Night everyone!

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