The Best of FanGraphs: May 19-23, 2014

If you missed the inaugural post of The Best Of FanGraphs, you can do so here. In case you don’t feel like clicking through though, here is how this post is structured:

We’ll pull from the whole FanGraphs family, picking 10-15 stories that we feel you really should read before the week draws to a close. The links are color coded — green for FanGraphs, burnt sienna for RotoGraphs, purple for NotGraphs, dark red for The Hardball Times and blue for Community. They are listed in this order as well in each day, just for the sake of consistency.

Monday

A Response to Bob Ryan, by Dave Cameron
A measured and thoughtful response to one of Boston’s most prominent sports columnists.

Tuesday

Dallas Keuchel, Who Can No Longer Be Ignored, by Mike Petriello
The Astros haven’t had a lot of good pitching in recent years, but Dallas Keuchel has demanded our attention. This post came with a great graph courtesy of Dave Cameron, who then expanded on said graph in a later article.

James Jones & Chase Whitley: Deep League Waiver Wire, by Karl de Vries
Those in deep leagues always need starting pitchers, so when a new guy comes up on the Yankees it’s something that demands our attention.

My Daughter is Not Impressed by You, Jack Daugherty, by Patrick Dubuque
Children can be so cruel.

MLBN to Debut ‘Christopher Russo Argues with a House Plant’, by David G. Temple
I was looking forward to “Christopher Russo Reminisces with Your Dad,” but whatever, this will do.

Pitch Win Values for Starting Pitchers — March/April 2014, by Stats All Folks
Putting individual pitches into a more easily-understandable framework.

Wednesday

Daily Fantasy Strategy — May 21 — For Draftstreet, by Landon Jones
Our writers regularly turn out thoughtful strategy pieces for the various daily fantasy games, and this piece is a perfect example. It’s old news now, perhaps, but the notes about Sean Doolittle’s ability to mow down both lefties and righties and not knowing how hard a pitcher will be pushed in his first start of the disabled list are instructive at any time.

How Much Is a Draft Pick Worth in 2014?, by Matthew Murphy
Matthew had a fantastic three-part series that updated draft pick valuation research. This was the first in the series, and you can check out the second and third articles here and here.

Where is Matt Carpenter and What Have You Done With Him?, by Michael Augustine
An interesting query turns into an examination of the Cardinals infielder.

Thursday

Michael Morse Is Having Fun Out There, by Eno Sarris
A great look at a player who has at times been a sabermetric darling, and at times been the exact opposite of that.

Madison Bumgarner and a First for the Decade, by Jeff Sullivan
He gets the green light, and perhaps that’s OK.

Kurt Suzuki and Baseball’s Slowest Inside-the-Park Homers, by August Fagerstrom
Our newest contributor, August forced open a door for himself here at FanGraphs, and in his first post for the main blog, he included a GIF of Ryan Raburn forcing a door open. Poetic, really.

Friday

Pedro Martinez on the Art and Science of Pitching, by David Laurila
If you read one article that is linked here this week, make sure it is this amazing interview.

Prospect Watch: Up-The-Middle Power, by Nathaniel Stoltz
Breaking down three players flashing power at strong defensive positions, including one minor leaguer who is keeping pace with Joey Gallo.

MLB Strongly Defends Local Broadcast Territories In Court, by Wendy Thurm
Major League Baseball goes in for the kill.