The Best of FanGraphs: July 11-15, 2016

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.

ALL WEEK

2016 TRADE VALUE SERIES Introduction Hon. Mention #41-50 #31-40 #21-30 #11-20 #1-10

It was Trade Value Week, which is always one of the highlights on the FanGraphs calendar. As always, Dave Cameron knocked the list right out of the park, giving us all something to argue about during the week baseball decides they don’t need us for two days. Hmph. You can find the links for the entire Trade Value Series in the box at the right. You had probably figured that out already, but it felt weird to not say it.

MONDAY
Player’s View: The Best Non-Knuckleballer Knuckleballs, by David Laurila
Someone really needs to sniff out one of these Evan Longoria knucklers back to the pitcher and preserve it in GIF form.

The Worst Called Ball of the First Half, by Jeff Sullivan
Jeff also wrote up the worst called strike, if you’re into that sort of thing.

TUESDAY
The Cubs Just Played a Month of Very Mediocre Baseball, by August Fagerstrom
The Cubs are still the favorites, but they’ve been taken down a peg.

In A Man’s World, by Justin Mason
For his THT debut, Justin went out to Sonoma to interview their first two women ballplayers. Give this one a read.

WEDNESDAY
Dissecting Rob Manfred, Tony Clark on Minor-League Wages, by Nathaniel Grow
The two heads of baseball’s state gave pressers this week, and Nathaniel wasn’t buying what they had to say about minor league wages.

The Two Greatest Games of the First Half, Maybe, by Corinne Landrey
Corinne makes her case.

Hitter xBABIP v2.0: A Long-Needed Update, by Alex Chamberlain
Spurred on by a commentator, Alex went back into the lab.

The Hatteberg Effect, by Adam Dorhauer
Playing first base really is incredibly hard, as Adam shows us.

Remembering Black Holes, by jaack
Willie Bloomquist sucked so bad he couldn’t even make this list, which was delightful in a hateful way. Let the hate flow through you!

THURSDAY
Red Sox Pay Up for Drew Pomeranz’s Breakout and Risk, by Jeff Sullivan
Jeff Sullivan doesn’t write hot or cold takes, he writes #reasonabletakes.

Scouting Anderson Espinoza, Newest Padre Prospect, by Eric Longenhagen
He might not have the best control around, as exemplified by the 11 wild pitches he’s thrown this year, but Eric really likes the total package nonetheless.

(Not) Just Another Ballpark Tour, by John Paschal
John has been to many ballparks, but the baseball is not always what creates the lasting memories. This was beautifully written.

FRIDAY
Astros Add Yulieski Gurriel to Suddenly Crowded Infield, by August Fagerstrom
And with it, the Astros become super interesting once again.

MASH Report (7/15/16) – PAIN and HURT Reports, by Jeff Zimmerman
One of the good things about the break is it gives Jeff a chance to update the PAIN and HURT Reports. Get in there. Jeff also had a good regular MASH Report on Tuesday.