Author Archive: Jon Becker

As promised last Thursday, the first Feature Focus of this week highlights a Member-exclusive feature of FanGraphs: dashboard customization. The dashboard is the collection of cards you see when you first open a player page, as well as the first stats table.

The default dashboard view for non-Members includes the Quick Look, RosterResource and News cards, with different stats tables depending on whether the player is a hitter:

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For today’s FanGraphs Feature Focus, I’ll be taking a look at one of my favorite site features: our Weather Splits. Michael Baumann spotlighted these splits back in 2024, and the format of the page hasn’t changed since then. So while I’ll walk you through how the Weather Splits work and where to find them, I’ll mostly be showcasing some of the silly leaderboards they can help to generate.

To create the leaderboards in this piece, I toyed around with the Weather Split Ranges on the Splits tab of the Splits Leaderboard:

Those Weather Split Ranges aren’t mutually exclusive or siloed off from the rest of the splits. For example, by changing the Wind Speed filter and adding the Wind Direction sub filter, we can see which players have hit multiple home runs with the wind blowing in at 10 mph or more:

Bob Seger would be proud of Ryan Jeffers, who is currently on the IL after undergoing hamate surgery but still tops this leaderboard as the only player with a trio of homers against significant winds. If you click into the full leaderboard, you’ll notice that Auto PT is on:

When that’s the case, the leaderboard will smartly adjust the minimum playing time depending on how restrictive your search is, sometimes setting no minimum at all. You can always set your own minimum in the Filters section. The Temperature filter is even more straightforward to use, though here I’ll note that our filters don’t automatically eliminate indoor or retractable roof stadiums. That’s done with the Ballpark Type filter:

Applying those two filters in tandem, I made a list of the pitchers who’ve done especially well when it’s either chilly or flat-out cold, and they’re actually exposed to those elements:

While the ball doesn’t carry as well in cooler temperatures, it can also cause pitchers to experience grip troubles, even at a relatively balmy 57 degrees. But that hasn’t affected the pitchers on this leaderboard.

The Weather Splits are also a great excuse to take a crash course in barometric pressure, which I had to do in order to understand our various splits. Per Maximum Weather Instruments, which sells barometers and other pressure measurers, normal air pressure is considered 1,013.25 millibars. Anything above that is considered high pressure, so I set my minimum at 1,014. These relievers are the guys most frequently used in high-pressure situations… in both senses of the word:

Did I really do this research and make a whole leaderboard just so I could make an “Under Pressure” joke? I choose to exercise my Fifth Amendment rights, Your Honor.

I made leaderboards for these three splits, but we’ve got plenty more within the Weather tab of the Splits Leaderboard. Beyond the ranges for temperature, pressure, and wind, you can also set ranges for air density and elevation. The Ballpark Type and Weather tabs at the top also include some binary filters that you can combine (e.g., rain and drizzle, or fog and haze):

As with ballpark type and leverage, the weather ranges can be combined with both each other and the binary weather filters. For instance, you could look at high winds in warmer weather only, or rain in colder weather only.

Our Weather Splits are available going back to 2010, and the entirety of the Splits Leaderboard can be accessed regardless of whether you’re a FanGraphs Member. But if you want to export to Excel to more easily compare player performance across splits, you have to be a Member. If you’d like to sign up for a Membership, you can do so here.

Welcome to the FanGraphs Feature Focus, a new semiweekly series highlighting some of the overlooked site tools at your disposal as a FanGraphs user. With so many great tools, leaderboards and stats here at FanGraphs, it can be easy to lose track; my goal is to shed light on them. Since I spend about half of my time working on RosterResource and the rest helping to develop new features and improve old ones, I’ve gotten very familiar with everything the site has to offer. What’s more, because I am extremely online, I’m very attuned to how others use FanGraphs, which means I have a good sense of which features aren’t getting as much traction as their utility suggests they should.

These posts will take on different forms depending on the FanGraphs Feature being focused upon. Sometimes they’ll be quicker “Hey, this exists, have fun!” pieces; sometimes they’ll be in-depth tutorials explaining how our more complex tools work. If there’s an unfamiliar feature in our site menus that you’d like to know more about, drop it in the comments below. It might become a future Feature Focus! Read the rest of this entry »

Opening Day is in under two weeks, which means the offseason is just about over. Also wrapping up is this year’s Offseason Matrices document. With offseason business all but settled (sorry, Lucas Giolito), let’s summarize using my favorite thing: tables and tables of data.

It’s no surprise to see the two World Series teams spend big, with Dylan Cease’s seven-year, $210 million contract with the Blue Jays and Kyle Tucker’s four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers the two largest deals of the offseason. Of the 11 teams that spent at least $100 million, only the Braves did so without signing a player to a $50 million contract; reliever Robert Suarez’s three-year, $45 million deal was their priciest.

The two East divisions combined to spend more than the other four divisions, accounting for 50.8% of league-wide outlay. In addition to its place at the bottom of this list, the AL West was the only division that didn’t sign a player for $100 million or more. Josh Naylor’s $92.5 million deal with the Mariners was the largest handed out by that quintet of clubs.

Once again, Scott Boras’ clients eclipsed $1 billion in contracts signed, cracking 10 figures for the second straight offseason and fourth out of the last five. His agency could still get Michael Kopech a big league deal before the season starts, too.

As always, there were free agents who got the short end of the stick and had to settle for minor league contracts despite decent showings last year. Leading the pack was Mike Tauchman, the only player worth 1.0 WAR or better who signed a minor league deal. He’s not currently on the Mets’ projected roster, but he’s having a great camp as he makes a strong push for a spot. It’s also worth noting that any XX(B) free agent — free agents with at least six years of major league service time who ended the season on an big league roster or IL — who signed a minor league deal has the right to opt out before Opening Day and try to latch on elsewhere. Non XX(B) free agents like Tauchman often have opt-out clauses, too, so there are plenty of vets auditioning for a spot on another team if not their current one.

In addition to the players listed above who finished with at least 1.0 WAR last year, five players from our Top 100 Prospects were moved: no. 37 Brandon Sproat and no. 75 Jett Williams from the Mets to the Brewers; no. 62 Owen Caissie from the Cubs to the Marlins; no. 74 Harry Ford from the Mariners to the Nationals; and no. 94 Jurrangelo Cijntje from the Mariners to the Cardinals.

As always, thanks for following along with the Matrix and all of this offseason’s Reloaded updates!

It’s Friday once again, and it’s time for the first abbreviated Matrix Reloaded in quite a while — there wasn’t even a trade this week! That sound you hear is Meg breathing a sigh of relief. Once we’ve run out of meaningful transactions and I declare that the Offseason is Officially Over, I’ll run through some fun summary statistics, but in the meantime, you can view those at the bottom of the Matrix.

Free Agent Signings

Because the market has whittled down to so few free agents, I’ll just run through the past week’s signings in one big section, and then I’ll dive into who’s left in the very limited pool down at the bottom.

Diamondbacks Sign Zac Gallen for One Year, $22.025 Million ($14.025 Million Deferred)

• Ben Clemens’ Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

The Diamondbacks’ rotation certainly looked full, if still thin, before Gallen’s 11th-hour return to Phoenix. Michael Soroka signed a one-year contract at the Winter Meetings and Merrill Kelly returned soon after, giving the Snakes a quintet of Kelly, Soroka, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt, and Ryne Nelson, with Corbin Burnes on track to potentially return sometime around the All-Star break. Read the rest of this entry »

Spring (training) has sprung, and with it comes another chock-full-of-transactions Matrix Reloaded. I’ll keep the weekly roundups going as long as the transaction gods give me things to write about, but the free agent market is all but completely picked over now. As always, summary statistics can be found at the bottom of the Matrix.

A Panoply of Primary Pitchers

With so many starting pitchers signing in the past week, I’ll structure this opening section a little differently than usual, going over each pitcher/team combo in a vacuum and then rounding up which teams could still use starters and who’s left to be signed.

Orioles Sign Chris Bassitt for One Year, $18.5 Million

• Davy Andrews’ Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

In my head, the Orioles went from being “the team likeliest to sign Framber Valdez” to “well, maybe they’re content with their rotation options because I’m not sure there’s a big enough upgrade left now” to “well, how do they sort this all out with Bassitt?” Nobody deserves to get bumped from the rotation if the sextet of Bassitt, Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, Shane Baz, Zach Eflin, and Dean Kremer all make it out of spring training healthy, so it’s no surprise that a six-man rotation is on the table. Read the rest of this entry »

After a week off owing to a lack of action around the league, we’re back with a fresh Matrix Reloaded, and this past week didn’t disappoint. We saw what will probably be the last nine-figure contract of the offseason, as well as a fun three-team trade. As always, the full Offseason Matrices document with summary statistics, remaining free agents, and much more can be found here.

Significant Signings

Tigers Sign Framber Valdez for Three Years, $115 Million (Includes Deferrals)

• Dan Szymborski’s Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

Effect on the Tigers

As if one top-shelf lefty wasn’t enough for opposing bats to deal with, the Tigers now boast two of the game’s best southpaws, with Valdez slotting behind the all-world Tarik Skubal in the Tigers’ rotation. While it crossed my mind (and those of many others) that adding another lefty with a large salary might lead to a Skubal trade, that reportedly won’t be the case. With Skubal winning his arbitration case and set to earn $32 million this year, he and Valdez will combine for $70 million in AAV, depending on how Framber’s deferrals shake out. Read the rest of this entry »

After a valiant editing effort from Matt Martell last week, I’m back with a Matrix Reloaded of a much more normal length! The Significant Signings section might not be necessary for too much longer this offseason, but I’ll continue to start there as long as players are signing for $10 million or more.

As always, the Offseason Matrices document can be found here.

Significant Signings

Yankees Sign Cody Bellinger for Five Years, $162.5 Million

• Ben Clemens’ Write-Up of the Deal
• Updated Roster Projection
• Updated Payroll Projection

Effect on the Yankees

The overarching theme of the Yankees’ offseason has been to get the band back together, with Bellinger the cherry on top of a very familiar sundae. Ryan Weathers is the team’s one major acquisition from another club, with Bellinger the fifth Yankees free agent re-signed, after Trent Grisham, Ryan Yarbrough, Amed Rosario, and Paul Blackburn. Read the rest of this entry »

Finally, the stars aligned to get us back on the Friday Matrix Reloaded schedule, and boy did they align! Nos. 1, 2, 8, and 9 on Ben Clemens’ Top 50 Free Agents list signed since we last checked in, leaving just two of the top 10 remaining. We also saw a three-team trade reported about a minute after our top free agent signed, and some two-teamers of significance, too.

As always, you can find the colorful Offseason Matrices spreadsheet here. Let’s get into the events of the last 11 days.

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Welcome to 2026. Time marches on, and so too does the Offseason Matrices document. It has been pretty quiet since I updated you with a Matrix Reloaded last Monday, so much so that we pushed back our return to our usual Friday schedule, knowing that Tatsuya Imai and Kazuma Okamoto would at least sign over the weekend. Assuming the first full week of the New Year is busier, we’ll be back at it on Fridays for the remainder of the offseason. Read the rest of this entry »