The Best of FanGraphs: February 26-March 2, 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, 2/26
A Semi-Complete Taxonomy of Baseball Ejections, Part I, by Meg Rowley
To relieve the bitter taste that an angry offseason left in her mouth, Meg categorizes the different aesthetics of ejections. She watched each of the 197 ejections that took place in 2017, whether they were the result of a joyfully petty display or outright anger, so you better believe there’s a Part II.

TUESDAY, 2/27
Meet Me in Waxahachie: The Offbeat, Unlikely, and Forgotten Cities of Spring Training, by Eric Robinson
To get to the centralized facilities that make up the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues of Arizona and Florida, baseball made stops in unexpected places. The journey started in spa resorts in the 1800s.

Fortifying the Dodgers’ Rotation, by Jay Jaffe
The Dodgers rotation in its present form looks a bit like Humpty Dumpty climbing up onto his ledge, with Clayton Kershaw as the main trustee of his safety. Which of the Dodgers’ options would be asked to try on the glass slipper when the egg starts to crack?

The Ninth-Inning Rule Change Would at Least Be Fun, by Craig Edwards
If you scrap baseball to its skeleton, what else should it be but fun?

Here Are the 25-and-Under Rankings, by Jeff Sullivan
After the glorious onslaught of prospect content during FanGraphs Prospect Week, you should know that recently graduated prospects are people, too.

WEDNESDAY, 2/28
Norris (5-0) vs. Jefferson (1-1), by Dave Jordan
An excerpt: “‘Exhibition Stadium, the old Blue Jays ballpark before they moved into the dome, had this strange echo in the bullpen. You’re throwing your pre-game warm-ups, and when the ball hits the catcher’s mitt it sounds like you’re throwing 300 miles an hour.’

The Blue Jays starter that night, Jesse Jefferson, must have heard the same sound.”

The Trickiest Third Strike Pitcher in MLB, by Michael Augustine
Run DMC approved, probably.

What the MLBPA’s Grievance Means, by Sheryl Ring
The MLB Players Association filed a grievance against four teams. Sheryl breaks it down: What does the union need to prove? What about each team’s situation is relevant?

We Might Be Observing the Decline of the Windup, by Jeff Sullivan
The windup is starting to catch onto its expendability, and it seems to be running off because of it.

THURSDAY, 3/1
Weird Incentives In The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational, by Brad Johnson
The only kind of incentive worth paying attention to, in my humble opinion.

The Physics and Timing of the Infield Bounce Throw, by Andrew Dominijanni
Modified from its original form as a presentation at the 2017 Saberseminar, Andrew asks if a baseball thrown across the diamond really can use speed gained from skipping off the turf to get to first base faster. Who needs rocks when you’ve got baseballs?

A Side Effect of the Super-Team Era, by Jeff Sullivan
Teams have mutated. So far, there’s one Wild (Card) side effect.

FRIDAY, 3/2
An Exercise Featuring Cody Bellinger, by Brad Johnson
This article might somehow be more interesting than Bellinger as the host of a workout video in an 80s jazzercise outfit.

Connecting Diaspora and Baseball Through Tim Lincecum, by Jen Mac Ramos
An excerpt: “I remember locking eyes with someone wearing a Giants cap at the airport, both of us nodding with an understood agreement of, ‘Yeah, Lincecum, hell yeah.’ I had never really connected to my being Filipino before that moment, and I haven’t been the same since.”

A Possible Legal Argument Against Service-Time Manipulation, by Sheryl Ring
Service-time manipulation has generally been an open secret in baseball for some time. What might pursuade teams to step away from the practice?