The Best of FanGraphs: March 5-9, 2018

Each week, we publish in the neighborhood of 75 articles across 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, 3/5
An Interesting and Bad Suggestion for Billy Hamilton, by Travis Sawchik
The only thing you need to know before diving into this article is that Hamilton responded to its premise by saying, “This is the stupidest thing I’ve heard in my life.”

What Are the Phillies Waiting For?, by Craig Edwards
The trolls that normally patrol the bridge to a decent roster are otherwise engaged. The Phillies have space to move closer to being good, and now is the time to take it.

So You Want to Have a Good Bullpen, by Jeff Sullivan
Jeff writes the baseball equivalent of “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” on what it really means to have a good bullpen.

What We Can Actually Say About the Miguel Sano Situation, by Sheryl Ring
This offseason, a reporter shared a story of sexual assault at the hands of Miguel Sano. MLB has since launched an investigation, and Sheryl spoke to a criminal defense attorney to better guide our conversation about assault accusations and the legal language we use to describe them.

TUESDAY, 3/6
Positional Case Study: Seattle Mariners Left Fielders, by Alex Remington
An excerpt: “Okay, okay, you get it: across numerous organizational changes over the decades, the Mariners have never seemed to believe in consistency in left field. And maybe that’s just fine: it’s an offense-first position, it’s where you stick players who don’t have an arm and don’t have a glove but aren’t valuable enough as hitters-only to take up a DH slot. I found in my Mets case study that the Mets used second base as an overflow position, solving roster logjams by placing players there even if they might have been more valuable elsewhere…”

Neil Walker Needs a Job, by Jay Jaffe
Maybe he doesn’t have star power, but he does have talent that would benefit quite a few teams.

WEDNESDAY, 3/7
Is Luis Castillo Worth a Top 100 Pick?, by Paul Sporer
You tell us, Paul.

Can Major League Baseball Legally Exclude a Woman?, by Sheryl Ring
There are many arguments concerning the inclusion of women in Major League Baseball and its affiliated systems. This article concerns the argument of its legality.

Baseball’s Middle Class Remains Embattled, by Travis Sawchik
One of the problems with the slowest offseason on record is that, even as the preseason has begun, its issues haven’t reached any kind of a conclusion. Baseball’s middle class still waits somewhere at a training camp in Florida for respectable offers.

THURSDAY, 3/8
The Diamondbacks Closer Dilemma, by Brad Johnson
Archie Bradley is probably going to close in Arizona. There are some problems with that.

What to Expect From J.D. Martinez’s Power in Fenway, by Michael Augustine
The Martinez/Sox saga finally ended with Martinez finding a happy home in Boston. What might his time there look like?

Ichiro and the Hall of Famers Who Returned Home, by Jay Jaffe
Ichiro, the Mariners’ likely Hall of Fame hero, will play on the dirt that earned him such a title once more in 2018. His reunion story is similar to those of others who came before him.

FRIDAY, 3/9
Why Mike Moustakas’ Market Didn’t Develop, by Jeff Sullivan
Free agency has yet to reward Moustakas like it typically has done for players in the past. This isn’t the fault of Moustakas, of course.

The Rays’ Modified Four-Man Rotation, by Craig Edwards
It was hard to say that the traditional five-man rotation would stick around forever, but the six-man rotation had barely begun to rear its head when the Rays jumped up with something different from even that.