The Best of FanGraphs: December 14-18, 2015
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, orange for TechGraphs and blue for Community Research.
ALL WEEK
Hall of Fame Week!
This week, all five pieces at THT centered around the Hall of Fame. Every author killed their post, and you can get to all five from the link above.
MONDAY
The Fascinating Jason Heyward Contract, by Dave Cameron
Who likes opt-outs?
Johnny Cueto’s Two-Year Six-Year Contract, by Jeff Sullivan
Players whose first names begin with “J” like opt-outs!
A Minor Review of 2015: Houston Astros, by Marc Hulet
It’s a good time to be an Astros fan.
TUESDAY
Putting a Value on the Future of Yoenis Cespedes, by Craig Edwards
Craig goes in-depth with the comps to try and figure out how valuable Yoenis Cespedes will be.
WEDNESDAY
Binge-Watching Season One of “The Jerry Dipoto Show”, by Tony Blengino
That’s one handsome show!
The Cubs as the Best Team In Baseball, by Jeff Sullivan
Eighty-five percent of readers agree, the Cubs are currently the team to beat.
How Playing Hockey Video Games Actually Taught Me How Hockey Works, by David G. Temple
Learning sports through video games — it’s the American way!
THURSDAY
The 2016 Free Agents Who Could Have Been, by Neil Weinberg
If Neal Huntington ever makes the Hall of Fame, that Andrew McCutchen contract is going to feature prominently on his plaque.
Themed Teams – Some Semi-Off-Topic Fun, by Chad Young
This is a great job by Chad, but the all-verb team suggested in the first comment from Erik might be the best of the bunch!
FRIDAY
Imagining a Matt Harvey-Joc Pederson Trade, by Craig Edwards
Two things seem certain to me. One, if the Mets want any kind of return for Matt Harvey, they need to deal him now. Two, the Mets are not going to trade him now.
Executive Viewpoints: Structural Change with Regime Change, by David Laurila
Several executives check in with David to offer their views on an interesting time in the course of any franchise.
Managers on Learning on the Job, by Eno Sarris
There’s a lot of gems in this one, but this Yogi-ism from Dusty Baker tickled me just right: “I didn’t argue a whole bunch, anyway, unless I thought I was right.”
Trade Implications: Up Goes Frazier… to Chicago, by Paul Sporer
Todd Frazier’s value isn’t dramatically affected, but Paul goes in-depth on the rest of the players involved in the deal as well.
Revisiting the “Stuff” Metric, by Mike Sonne and Daanish Mulla
Cool studies that give you a chance to evaluate its methods are very cool indeed.
Paul Swydan used to be the managing editor of The Hardball Times, a writer and editor for FanGraphs and a writer for Boston.com and The Boston Globe. Now, he owns The Silver Unicorn Bookstore, an independent bookstore in Acton, Mass. Follow him on Twitter @Swydan. Follow the store @SilUnicornActon.