The Best of FanGraphs: November 9-13, 2015

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, orange for TechGraphs and blue for Community Research.

MONDAY
Why This Free Agent Class May Hit the Jackpot, by Dave Cameron
Dave is going to have much more on BAM Tech and the upcoming CBA negotiations in the soon-to-be-released Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2016.

The Best Changeups of the Year by Shape and Speed, by Eno Sarris
Eno is obsessed with this stuff, and we are all the better for it.

The Dark History of Andrelton Simmons and Travis d’Arnaud, by August Fagerstrom
August kicked off Andrelton Simmons Week in style.

Evaluating the 2016 Prospects: Introduction and Primer, by Dan Farnsworth
Dan is getting to work. He kicked things off a day later with the Dbacks list.

Byung-ho Park Can Hit the (Snot) Out of the Ball, by Jeff Sullivan
The more you know…

TUESDAY
The Outfielders Who Threw 100, by August Fagerstrom
The Aaron Hicks throw is priceless. Still, he could be a good value for the Yankees, who acquired him this week from Minnesota.

The Extra Value of Having an Elite Reliever, by Jeff Sullivan
Jeff furthers the case that WAR is not the best way to evaluate relief pitchers.

An Early Preview of MLB’s 2016 CBA Negotiations: Part I, by Nathaniel Grow
Part II was as good as Part I.

WEDNESDAY
The Most Extreme Home Runs of 2015, by Owen Watson
Surprisingly, none of these extreme home runs were hit by Poochie.

Looking for a Kenta Maeda Comp, by Eno Sarris
Perhaps the best candidate is younger than Maeda, but he makes for an interesting comp nonetheless.

Macha(do), Macha(do) Man(ny), by Mike Podhorzer
Podz was on a title tear this week, but this one takes the cake. Oh, and also the analysis here is top notch, as usual.

Optimizing the Swing, by Alan Nathan
Most Alan Nathan articles are must-reads, and this is no exception. The literal definition of “dropping science.”

Evaluating the Gap Between ERA and FIP, by Christopher Rinaldi
“This suggests roughly 50% of the difference between ERA and FIP are correlated to defense and sequencing. The other half of the difference is not the great unknown, but it’s (sort of) immeasurable.”

THURSDAY
Jerry Dipoto on the Mariners’ New Direction, by David Laurila
Jerry Dipoto hopes the Mariners are going in the same direction as these stairs:

Eno built off of David’s interview on Friday, if you’re so inclined.

FRIDAY
How Did Previous Andrelton Simmonses Age?, by Dave Cameron
Dave capped Andrelton Simmons Week in similarly detailed style, though his details aren’t cool GIFs like August’s.

Joey Votto Is the Best at Another Thing, by Neil Weinberg
Just when you thought we had pinpointed all the things Joey Votto was awesome at.