The Best of FanGraphs: March 27-31, 2017

by
April 1, 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
Mixing Fantasy & Reality: Tout Wars, Miller, & Brantley, by Jeff Zimmerman
The discussion of his Tout Wars team would have been reason enough to click on this one, but Jeff also adds quick looks on two players who actually warrant visual observation at this juncture.

TUESDAY
About the Back End of the Yankees’ Rotation, by Eno Sarris
Many of us are bullish on the Yankees. One of the reasons is the team’s unheralded rotation depth that Eno details here.

Is MLB Already Shrinking the Strike Zone?, by Jeff Sullivan
The big question is whether they did so with an electromagnetic shrinking machine.

A Spring Training Stat That Matters (I Swear), by Alex Chamberlain
Alex put together a study and, unbeknownest to him, reached similar conclusions that a study back in 2012 reached. Check it out.

corrVOL: Updating How We Can Measure Hitter Volatility, by Bill Petti
Bill checks back in on his hitter volatility study. Included are some graphics that looks suspiciously like hammocks.

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WEDNESDAY
The Unchanging Prices of Breakout Stars, by Dave Cameron
Players that get pre-free agency contracts are getting the same types of deals as they were five-six years ago, and Dave thinks it’s time for a change.

The Chicago Cubs: A Dynasty in the Making, by Ryan Pollack
Ryan checked in both here and The Hardball Times this week. Read both pieces!

2017 AL-Only Tout Wars Recap, by Mike Podhorzer
Jeff wasn’t the only staff member who recapped his Tout Wars team. Mike had less inventory to choose from, but he walked away with a stacked team. Also, there Jason and Paul discussed their Tout Wars teams on the pod on Tuesday.

THURSDAY
2017 Positional Power Rankings: Summary, by Dave Cameron
Dave put together this handy catch-all post for your summarizing pleasure. Or, if you want to listen to some fabulous season preview content, Ben summarized all of the EW season preview pods here.

On Mistakes and Baseball’s Long Memory, by Kate Preusser
Kate uses the example of mistakes by Jurickson Profar and Andrelton Simmons and uses it to expose our inherent human biases. It is a fitting and entertaining finale to her residency.

Are Forecasts Too Pessimistic About the Blue Jays’ Rotation?, by Travis Sawchick
Projections aren’t infallible, so it’s good to poke and prod them, and Travis believes he’s found a soft spot worthy of said prodding.

The Dodgers May Have Found the Next Justin Turner by SamF
Only time will tell, but this is certainly an interesting find.

FRIDAY
FanGraphs 2017 Staff Predictions, by Some Idiot
We asked the staff to tell us who they thought would reach the postseason and win coveted awards, so that we could share them with you, the people.

2017 RotoGraphs Staff Picks, by Alex Chamberlain
This piece is always interesting because the RG crew does a good job of picking interesting questions and setting the right parameters for those questions.

Hit Tool Examination Pt 2: Necessary Changes, by Jeff Zimmerman
Making old information useful is one of Jeff’s many talents, and that’s exactly what he’s doing here.





 

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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