The Best of FanGraphs: October 17-21, 2016

by
October 22, 2016

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
Javier Baez’s Slightly Controversial Brilliance, by Jeff Sullivan
Javier Baez continues to be the best thing about this postseason.

Valuing Prospects: The Pros and Cons of a Single Number, by Eric Longenhagen
Before the prospect lists start rolling, Eric would like to have a word with you.

TUESDAY
Mike Hazen’s First Big Decision, by Dave Cameron
Believe it or not, the first big decision is not whether to install a cappucino machine or a sundae bar in the employee cafeteria. That’s Hazen’s second big decision.

The Legal Case for Challenging Chief Wahoo, by Nathaniel Grow
Sigh. Perhaps the Cleveland Baseball Club will wise up and we won’t have to debate the merits of such cases any longer.

The Chacon Zone and a Closer Look at Relief Pitchers in 2016, by Rylan Edwards
Rylan didn’t have time to find the Chacon Zone as often as he would have liked in 2016, but he did put together a nifty end-of-year update for it.

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Clustering Pitchers With PITCHf/x, by jonyanks620
I’m not sure about Cluster 29, but overall this is very interesting research.

WEDNESDAY
Ryan Merritt Pitched the Indians into the World Series, by August Fagerstrom
This is just a remarkable thing.

Ottoneu Power Rankings: Final 2016, by Justin Vibber
Congrats to The Murder Boners, Brinksmanship, WARriors, Super Serious Fantasy Baseball, Wally 31, Ultimate Foul Balls, Zeezils, and all the other teams who finished at the top of their respective leagues/formats!

The Pyramid Rating System’s All-Time Brooklyn Dodgers, by Paul Moehringer
Paul’s series has been great fun, and interesting debate fodder. This is his first in the series on an extinct team. Well, sort of.

THURSDAY
So You Want to Beat Andrew Miller: A Walkthrough, by August Fagerstrom
We briefly turned into MillerGraphs this week, but the most important question for right now is how do you beat him. August walks you through the process.

Did a Closed Roof Hurt the Blue Jays in Game 5?, by Eno Sarris
When homefield advantage isn’t homefield advantage.

“Memorial” and Other Poems, by Paul Moehringer
Adam is a great storyteller, be it in narrative or poetic form.

FRIDAY
Why They Don’t Run Like Mad On Jon Lester, by Jeff Sullivan
Jeff just can’t believe it.

How To Win Ottoneu: An Interview with Brent Daily, by Trey Baughn
The winner of the Ottoneu Champions League talks about his season.

Research Notebook: Slopegraphs and Mike Trout, by Bill Petti
Bill debuts a new series!





 

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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