For all the analysis of Matt Garza’s potential impact with the Cubs, and the skillsets of new Rays prospects Chris Archer, Robinson Chirinos, Brandon Guyer, and Hak-Ju Lee, the most interesting character in the eight-player deal may well be Sam Fuld.

The 29-year-old native of Durham, New Hampshire is a walk-taking speed merchant, a Stanford economics grad, pursuer of a Masters degree in statistics, fighter of diabetes, and lover of pizza bagels. Fuld took a few minutes to chat about his expectations with the Rays, his keen interest in stats and baseball analysis, and the value of playing the game without thinking. (You can listen to the full interview here.)

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We’re pleased to welcome our newest addition to the FanGraphs team – Jonah Keri. You may be familiar with his work, as he’s written for every publication known to man. We’re thrilled that he’s going to be writing for us going forward.

My name is Jonah Keri, and I am a fraud.

Nine years ago, I penned my first-ever article as a professional baseball writer, entitled “The Success Cycle”. The premise of the article was that every MLB team falls into one of three categories:

Competing teams feature enough talent on the major league roster to make a run at the playoffs. They should add win-now veterans and give themselves the best chance to win immediately.
Building teams own a solid core of major league talent, but still need to add a few pieces and wait another year or two to make a playoff run.
Rebuilding teams have already had their run at glory, and now must trade away veterans for prospects, bide their time for a few years, and take a shot at another run then.

The labels were all horribly wrong, and not just because the article referred to Luke Prokopec as an example of a desirable young talent.

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