The Best of FanGraphs: December 4-8, 2017

Each week, we publish in the neighborhood of 75 articles across 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
Time of Reckoning: Who Loses the Most in a Pitch Clock World?, by Mike Sonne
If you’re a relief pitcher, don’t read this article!

Evaluating Talent Distribution on Rosters, by John LaRue
John looks back at history to classify teams and see which types of teams have been the most successful.

TUESDAY
Here Are the Complete Front-Office Ratings, by Jeff Sullivan
Sometimes, Jeff runs polls. This was one of those times. You can read the original article here.

An Exercise in Generating Similarity Scores by John Edwards
John looks at a common issue and tries to put in objective terms. Even better, he shows his work.

WEDNESDAY
The Second Half’s Most Improved Changeup, by Eno Sarris
Hint: He’s a free agent.

DJ LeMahieu Is Unrosterable, by Brad Johnson
Well, not quite unrosterable, but you certainly can’t start him, Brad posits. That is, if your league has enough depth to carry a backup middle infielder. Not all leagues do.

THURSDAY
Rockies Farm Director Zach Wilson on Riley Pint, by David Laurila
Mr. Wilson makes the case that his young phenom shouldn’t be judged on his numbers this season, because the Rockies tweaked his delivery and limited the number of secondary pitches he was allowed to throw in each game.

What the Cubs Might See in Tyler Chatwood, by Eno Sarris
The Cubs signed one of those “spin-rate guys,” and Eno explores why.

Allow Me to Present an Incredible Baseball Coincidence, by Jeff Sullivan
I don’t want to spoil this one for you.

Mariners Address Center Field With Second Baseman, by Jeff Sullivan
It isn’t getting the attention it deserves from the general public, but we were all over this one. In addition to this piece, Dave wrote a quick piece on it, Chris projected the prospects that were included in the deal and Jeff Z. scrutinized Dee Gordon’s move to center field.

Ranking Shohei Ohtani, by Paul Sporer
While perhaps a touch conservative, Paul’s assessment seems right to me. And I’m not just saying that out of Paul solidarity!

Let’s Have A Conversation About Spin Rate., by Andrew Perpetua
OK, let’s.

THT’s Franchise Player Draft: Intro and Picks 1-2, by THT Staff
We’re going to be having a lot of fun over at THT the next two weeks, as we count down our picks in our Franchise Player Draft. In this edition, Jason Linden and Adam Dorhauer selected Mike Trout and Carlos Correa.

FRIDAY
Shohei Ohtani Changes the Angels’ Whole Outlook, by Jeff Sullivan
OhtLAni!!!!!!!!!!!! Travis wrote about this one, too. Actually, Travis wrote about Ohtani approximately 8,845 times this week, but I’m not linking to all of them.

Writers’ View: Who on the Modern Era Ballot Belongs in the Hall of Fame?, by David Laurila
There was a pretty clear consensus on two of the people on this ballot. Which two? Read on to find out!