The Best of FanGraphs: July 25-29, 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.
MONDAY
An Improved KATOH Top-100 List, by Chris Mitchell
Chris went back into the lab to formulate a new version of KATOH. Feast upon it!
The Cubs, Chapman, and the New Price for an Elite Reliever, by August Fagerstrom
This trade had all teams trying to sell relief pitchers like:
Ok but the 1996 DNC was lit pic.twitter.com/nuHp1lBND8
— Jesse McLaren (@McJesse) July 29, 2016
Second Base Waiver Watch: Schimpfly Magnificent, by Scott Strandberg
Scott covered the fantasy end of the Schimpf alert here, and Craig covered it on the main blog as well.
Our Would-Be Fans-in-Chief, by Nathaniel Rakich
Who is the bigger baseball fan — Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?
TUESDAY
Valuing Relievers: Correction or Bubble?, by Dave Cameron
I guess we’ll find out soon.
Melvin Upton Jr. Heads to Toronto, Continuing Preller Purge, by Craig Edwards
San Diego has been wheeling and/or dealing all month, and they would continue even after this deal.
WEDNESDAY
Players’ View: What It’s Like to Get Traded, by Eno Sarris
With some major assistance from David Laurila, Eno talks to the people behind the transactions.
Rangers Land Potential Relief Ace, by Jeff Sullivan
Dario Alvarez has been racking up the strikeouts.
Identifying Keepers Using Steamer600, by Justin Vibber
Great breakdowns on some very intriguing players here, including a couple who haven’t even debuted yet.
THURSDAY
Calculating Ian Kennedy’s Negative Trade Value, by Dave Cameron
Dave reverse engineers the rumor du jour.
Historical Relevance of Elite Rookie Seasons, by guster9285
An Indians fan is inspired by Tyler Naquin to come up with historical reference points for how Naquin’s career might play out.
FRIDAY
Marlins Add Andrew Cashner, Colin Rea for Stretch Run, by Craig Edwards
The Marlins are in it. Did you think they would be at the beginning of the season?
Eduardo Nunez and the Case of the Minus-28, by August Fagerstrom
August not only uncovered something extraordinary about Eduardo Nunez, but he had found it awhile ago, and was just waiting to write just such an article, because August is a baseball analysis monster eagerly consuming all great story angles in his path.
The Keys to Jon Gray’s Breakout, by Paul Sporer
He’s been mixing it up since the end of May, and it’s been to his benefit. Paul breaks it down.
Recasting PITCHf/x Data in Two Dimensions, by Matthew Mata
Really excellent stuff from Matthew.
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.