The Best of FanGraphs: February 12-16, 2018

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, 2/12
Relief Pitchers Haven’t Been Feeling the Pressure of the Weak FA Market, by John Edwards
The free agent market is in free fall, but, based on methodology using a similarity tool and contract comparisons, it isn’t hitting relievers on the way down.

MLB Draft Rankings: 2018, 2019, and 2020, by Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel
The final installment of prospects week, Eric and Kiley put together preliminary rankings for the upcoming 2018 draft, as well as the 2019 and 2020 draft. Click it.

How the Union Could Win Over the Public, by Meg Rowley
The strategy, surprisingly, doesn’t include binge watching rom-coms and applying the tactics of the guy trying to win back the girl. Though, in both cases, displaying a dedication to improvement might go a long way.

The Rockies Ought to Consider Becoming a Mystery Team, by Travis Sawchik
The Rockies are still on the bubble of success, despite being second in spending this offseason. If they keep their foot on the gas pedal, they might be able to pull something out in the postseason.

TUESDAY, 2/13
The Cupboard is Bare: Franchises Still Searching for a Cy Young or MVP Award, by Cameron Martin
A look at the teams who lack in the hardware department, and the near-miss players who almost got them off the list.

The Red Sox and J.D. Martinez Still Need Each Other, by Travis Sawchik
The Red Sox can’t let him get away.

How Bad Will the Marlins Outfield Actually Be?, by Jeff Sullivan
The Marlins outfield will be bad. [Crowd shouting] HOW BAD IS IT?

Roy Halladay Isn’t Just a Borderline Hall of Famer, by Craig Edwards
Put him down next to Mo for the 2018 Hall of Fame, because Roy’s induction shouldn’t be delayed past next year.

WEDNESDAY, 2/14
A Not-So-Golden Anniversary, by Joe Distelheim
An excerpt: “Depressed batting averages are trivial, though, as we look back on the real-world events of 1968: The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Unrest, often violent, in many major league cities. The Bobby Kennedy assassination. The Democratic National Convention, with its images of police employing billy clubs and tear gas. Yippies and hippies. Black Power salutes at the Olympics. Nearly 17,000 Americans killed in Vietnam while antiwar protests raged at home.

The game went on, but it was not unaffected by what was going on around it.”

The A’s Might Have the Next J.D. Martinez, by Jeff Sullivan
Jeff is tired of talking about the best DH still on the market. Instead, he talks about a youngster that could develop into a copy of the best DH on the market.

THURSDAY, 2/15
Quick And Dirty Aging Curves With Exit Velocity., by Andrew Perpetua
How does exit velocity change with age?

FRIDAY, 2/16
Rob Manfred Might Have Just Made a Mistake, by Sheryl Ring
Before Commissioner Manfred was Commissioner Manfred, he was a highly trained labor lawyer. This week, he was a former elite labor lawyer who made a mistake that former elite labor lawyers should not make. Sheryl Ring, FanGraphs’ new legal contributor, explains.

Chris von der Ahe and the Terrible, Awful, No Good, Very Bad Year, by Mike Bates
An excerpt: “I don’t read this book to them anymore. For one thing, my son is 11 and reading it to him would be weird. He reads his own books now about maze running or something. But, more importantly, when I want them to know that life is unfair and that bad things happen to everybody, even the rich and powerful, I tell them the story of Chris von der Ahe, der Boss President of the St. Louis Browns.”

Three Prospect Patterns, by Brad Johnson
Count ’em.