The Best of FanGraphs: December 7-11, 2015

by
December 12, 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.

MONDAY
Carlos Gomez is No Longer Elite, by Alex Chamberlain
Losing more than 70 points of ISO on pitches in the heart of the zone can’t be a good sign.

Imagining a World Without ESPN, by Alec Denton
Phenomenal history and research by Alec here.

TUESDAY
Giants’ GM Bobby Evans on the Value of Flexibility, by Eno Sarris
It takes a confident team to not want to lock in their plans as soon as possible. The Giants are such a team.

Diamondbacks Pay for Ace, Get Shelby Miller, by Jeff Sullivan
The Dbacks identified the pitcher they want, and made the Godfather offer. But did they identify the right pitcher?

A Visual History of Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospect Lists, by John LaRue
It is fascinating to see the ebbs and flows of each team’s prospect cache.

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WEDNESDAY
Aroldis Chapman and the Duty to Disclose, by Nathaniel Grow
It’s hard to surmise that the Reds did the right thing, but as Nathaniel demonstrates, that doesn’t mean their behavior will get them sanctioned.

Dansby Swanson and the History of Trading No. 1 Picks, by Carson Cistulli
It doesn’t happen often, but it has happened before.

THURSDAY
On the Magnitude of Transaction Mistakes, by Dave Cameron
Just as one baseball player can’t affect too much change all by himself, neither can one baseball trade.

Managers on the Evolution of their Role, by Eno Sarris
Eno put in work this week at the Grand Opryland for this piece, and the reward is yours.

Evaluating the Prospects in the Shelby Miller Trade, by Dan Farnsworth
“[Dansby] Swanson would rank higher than Ozhaino Albies, becoming the top-ranked prospect in his new organization.”

Q&A: Derek Fisher, Philly’s New Outfield Prospect, by David Laurila
Refreshing quotes like — “to be perfectly honest, I probably don’t have the arm for right field” — pepper this piece.

MASH Report – Starting Pitcher and Hitter DL Projections, by Jeff Zimmerman
To me, the most interesting part of these projections are the people at the bottom of the list, as well as the fact that even the least likely pitchers to land on the disabled list still have at least a 28 percent chance to land there. Pitching is scary.

First Blood, Retaliation, and Piling On, by Rob Mains
How often does retaliation happen? Rob investigates.

FRIDAY
Fantasy Implications of the 2015 Rule 5 Draft, by Brad Johnson
Is there an Odubel Herrera or Delino Deshields Jr. lurking in this year’s crop? Both Brad and Chris Mitchell tackled this one.

Rooting for Jerks Without Being One, by Kyla Wall-Polin
How do we insert rationality into an endeavor that is inherently irrational?





 

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.

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