The Best of FanGraphs: August 8-12, 2016

Each week, we publish north of 100 posts on our various blogs. With this post, we hope to highlight 10 to 15 of them. You can read more on it here. The links below are color coded — green for FanGraphs, brown for RotoGraphs, dark red for The Hardball Times and blue for Community Research.

MONDAY
The Changes Byron Buxton Has and Hasn’t Made, by August Fagerstrom
He isn’t good yet, but there’s still hope.

MASH Report 8/8/16, by BJ Maack
This was BJ’s first post. Please welcome him to RotoGraphs!

Mixing Fantasy and Reality: Introduction, Hitting Prospect Comps, and Velocity Changes, by Jeff Zimmerman
Jeff begins a new series. Exciting!

TUESDAY
Prince Fielder’s Baseball Career Is Over, by Jeff Sullivan
No one wants to go out like this. But we don’t always get to choose our own fate.

A Data Point in the Matter of Brandon Woodruff’s Command, by Carson Cistulli
Any time Carson writes an article that is not part of a series, it is cause for celebration!

WEDNESDAY
Players’ View: Do Pitchers Pitch to the Score?, by David Laurila
“I think it’s done mostly by pitchers who haven’t yet seen the downside of doing it.” This quote, from Brian Bannister, could probably be applied to a lot of the ill-informed decisions we make in life.

Let’s Prevent the Inevitable Underrating of Devon Travis, by August Fagerstrom
I have been preventing this since last season, so it’s about time the rest of you started preventing it too.

How Hard Are College Pitchers Worked?, by Gerald Schifman
This is a topic we generally hear a lot about anecdotally, but Gerald did the objective research to find out just how bad the situation is.

Will Cy Young Voters Like Zach Britton’s Year?, by Operation Shutdown
By WAR at least, it would seem that Dellin Betances has a better case than Zach Britton, but in a year without any transcendent starting pitching performances in the American League, both may get consideration.

THURSDAY
Insuring Prince Fielder, by Nathaniel Grow
Better than Ensure-ing him, am I right?

So You Want to Try to Salvage Carlos Gomez, by Jeff Sullivan
I do, yes. Only one former Brewers star is allowed to retire per week.

The Astros’ Chris Devenski and Large Velocity Gaps, by Eno Sarris
I thought this story was going to be about a great, new innovation in blue jeans technology. Alas.

Using Statcast and xStats To Value Pitches, by Andrew Perpetua
Andrew introduces more fun stuff.

FRIDAY
The Pyramid Rating System All-Time League and the All-Time Baltimore Orioles, by Paul Moehringer
Last year, Paul introduced his Pyramid Rating System. This year, he is putting it into practice, and then some, detailing not just a starting lineup but a whole 40-man roster for an all-time Orioles team.