The Best of FanGraphs: January 16-20, 2017

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 and blue for Community Research.

MONDAY
2017 MLB Arbitration Visualization, by Sean Dolinar
Sean is back on the case, and will be updating this file throughout arbitration season.

Relocation Less Common in MLB Than NFL, Other Leagues, by Craig Edwards
Craig takes a deep dive on relocation and expansion history. Excellent stuff from Craig.

Jerry Dipoto’s Trade Activity, in Context, by Jeff Sullivan
The Mariners make lots of trades, and Jeff quantified it. Then he discussed it with Ben on Effectively Wild.

Introducing the New Pitcher xK%, Updated for 2017, by Mike Podhorzer
Mike tinkered with the — in his words — best equation he’s ever developed. And then he talked about it in three subsequent posts, here, here and here.

TUESDAY
John Coppolella on Atlanta’s Deals with Seattle, by David Laurila
The Braves GM opens up about his various wheelings and dealings with Seattle’s GM.

2016 Weighted Arsenal Scores, by Alex Chamberlain
Alex updated Eno’s work.

The Physics of Barreled Balls, by David Kagan
What are the physics behind some of the best hit balls in the game?

WEDNESDAY
Hall of Fame Plaques Reflect the Style at the Time, by Cameron Martin
As the game has changed, so too has the way we write about it. This was a really fun piece from Cameron in his THT debut.

THURSDAY
Bo Knows Now, by Travis Sawchick
Bo and his big bad hip most definitely still know best.

Top 23 Prospects: Chicago Cubs, by Eric Longenhagen
[Looks up from book] Wait, the Cubs still have good prospects? What the hell?!?!?

Primary Repair Surgery – Returning Pitchers to the Field Faster, by Mike Sonne
Mike, a well-respected injury prevention researcher, debuted this week at RotoGraphs with this piece. Looking forward to reading more from Mike.

The 2017 Phillies Can Change Baseball Forever by kevinroshay
Herein lies an incredibly detailed explanation of the 3-3-3 pitching rotation, and why it hasn’t worked in the past.

Which Pitchers Got Burned on the First Pitch in 2016? by Ryan Dennick
I would describe the starting pitchers here as “four good pitchers and Kyle Gibson.”

FRIDAY
What Would a Post-Expansion MLB Look Like?, by Travis Sawchick
This was an article I had thought about writing but didn’t get to in time. This Sawchick guy is a keeper, I tell ya.

The Interwoven History of Baseball and Tobacco, by Steven Martano
From cigarette cards to the banning of snuff, a look at a century-long connection.