The Best of FanGraphs: July 28 – August 1, 2014

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August 2, 2014

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, purple for NotGraphs, dark red for The Hardball Times and blue for Community.

MONDAY
What Happened To Brian Dozier?, by Scott Strandberg
An excellent breakdown of exactly what has changed for Dozier in the past month.

The Change: Is Matt Shoemaker a Mixed Leaguer?, by Eno Sarris
You don’t always need a great fastball to be relevant.

Trading Scherzer (aka, the Difficulties of Valuing an Ace), by Chad Young
It’s always good to have examples of prospective trades when considering your own wheelings and dealings, and Chad is here to help.

Hopeless Joe Reacts to the End of NotGraphs, by Jeremy Blachman
It’s all Hopeless Joe’s fault.

TUESDAY
Introducing InstaGraphs, by Dave Cameron
So far, no GIFs of mediocre curveballs from the Cal League!

The Effects, Or Lack Thereof, Of The New HOF Voting Rules, by Tony Blengino
In a word, the Hall of Fame is having problems.

You Aren't a FanGraphs Member
It looks like you aren't yet a FanGraphs Member (or aren't logged in). We aren't mad, just disappointed.
We get it. You want to read this article. But before we let you get back to it, we'd like to point out a few of the good reasons why you should become a Member.
1. Ad Free viewing! We won't bug you with this ad, or any other.
2. Unlimited articles! Non-Members only get to read 10 free articles a month. Members never get cut off.
3. Dark mode and Classic mode!
4. Custom player page dashboards! Choose the player cards you want, in the order you want them.
5. One-click data exports! Export our projections and leaderboards for your personal projects.
6. Remove the photos on the home page! (Honestly, this doesn't sound so great to us, but some people wanted it, and we like to give our Members what they want.)
7. Even more Steamer projections! We have handedness, percentile, and context neutral projections available for Members only.
8. Get FanGraphs Walk-Off, a customized year end review! Find out exactly how you used FanGraphs this year, and how that compares to other Members. Don't be a victim of FOMO.
9. A weekly mailbag column, exclusively for Members.
10. Help support FanGraphs and our entire staff! Our Members provide us with critical resources to improve the site and deliver new features!
We hope you'll consider a Membership today, for yourself or as a gift! And we realize this has been an awfully long sales pitch, so we've also removed all the other ads in this article. We didn't want to overdo it.

WEDNESDAY
Why I’m a Bit of an Oscar Taveras Skeptic, by Dave Cameron
With Allen Craig getting traded, Taveras is going to get his shot, at least.

Lost in the Sun: The Physics of Ballpark Orientation, by David Kagan
One of the most-ignored rules in baseball (and there are plenty of them) gets put into context.

THURSDAY
2014 Trade Reaction Roundup, by Dave Cameron
Thursday was a pretty big day in the baseball world. Rather than hit you like a ton of bricks with every single post, just go here to catch up.

Obsessing Over Perfection, by Neil Weinberg
There are very few walks of life in which there is an explicit definition of perfection.

FRIDAY
The Dark Side Of Booming Local TV Deals, by Wendy Thurm
The cable companies are having problems, problems, problems.

Where Chris Davis is Really Struggling, by Jeff Sullivan
Even Chris Davis is having problems. And to top it off, Starks got ejected.

Rays Fan Still Awaiting Trade Results, by Bradley Woodrum
Surely, the Rays got some more prospects in this deal?

John Smiley Is Not, by Patrick Dubuque
Some flagrant false advertising here.

Sonny Gray, Perfecting What Works, by Owen Watson
Hint: It’s his curveball.





 

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.

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Ben HallMember since 2016
11 years ago

Love the Tribe Called Quest reference.

2
Roger Rabbit
11 years ago
Reply to  Ben Hall

I’m getting my reference framed.

2