The Best of FanGraphs: September 29 – October 3, 2014

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, purple for NotGraphs, dark red for The Hardball Times, orange for TechGraphs and blue for Community Research.

MONDAY
The MVP and the DH Adjustment, by Matt Klaassen
Love or lump the designated hitter adjustment in WAR, Matt does a great job of breaking it down here.

Chad Young’s Ten Bold Predictions Revisited, by Chad Young
The “10 Bold Predictions” series is literally my favorite RotoGraphs thing aside from the Bullpen Report (nothing is better than the Bullpen Report). This was the week where each writer revisited theirs. Also looking back on Monday were Mike Podhorzer, Brett Talley, Scott Strandberg and Eno Sarris, but Chad gets the recognition here because he got the most correct. Well, Eno got five too, but he kind of fudged that Brian Dozier one.

The Day After, by Patrick Dubuque
Thirty years is a long time.

TUESDAY
Why Starting Edinson Volquez Isn’t A Bad Idea, by Tony Blengino
It ended up not mattering, since Madison Bumgarner
cruised, but keep this link handy for next October when we start up these arguments all over again.

Revisiting Karl de Vries’ Bold 2014 Predictions, by Karl de Vries
No one wanted to compete with Karl on Tuesday, so he gets this slot all to himself, even if Andrew Heaney never materialized for the Marlins this season.

How Well Did the FanGraphs Playoff Odds Work?, by Sean Dolinar
There are a lot of fun charts and tables in this article.

WEDNESDAY
Your Ballot for the 2014 Player of the Year, by Dave Cameron
Thank you for voting! I hope you enjoyed this process as much as we did.

How Jarrod Dyson Stole the Biggest Base of his Life, by Jeff Sullivan
Dave took to Twitter on Wednesday to proclaim this one of the best five pieces we’ve ever published, and Dave is less inclined to hyperbole than the rest of us, so…

I’m Still an Idiot: 10 Bold Predictions Revisited, by Chris Cwik
Here, we have find that both Chris and David Wiers really took it on the chin this year. They were simply too bold to be beautiful. Maybe next year…

THURSDAY
Evaluating the Prospects: Minnesota Twins, by Kiley McDaniel
Kiley ranked 25 guys, and then also found room to write about 22 other players in the Twins’ farm system. Perhaps someday they’ll graduate some of them and field a competent team. Until then, you can read about them here!

Reviewing Jeff Zimmerman’s 2014 Bold Predictions, by Jeff Zimmerman
On this day, we had four guys revisit their very, very bold predictions, as in addition to Jeff, Scott Spratt, Alan Harrison and Brad Johnson took a look back. Some of these guys graded themselves a little harshly, but you have to respect that, and Jeff topped this group with three correct predictions.

Staggered Rotations and Postseason Win Probabilities, by Dan Meyer
In his debut post for THT, Dan takes a look at the age-old game strategy question.

FRIDAY
The Dodgers Surprising Offensive Trait, by Drew Fairservice
Yasiel Puig giveth, and Yasiel Puig taketh away. But as time goes by, he’s getting better at eliminating his mistakes, and it’s helped the Dodgers in a unique way.

Revisiting Some Dumb Predictions by Some Big Dumb Idiot, by Brandon Warne
Brandon rounded out the bold predictions look back on Friday, and he got three and a half right, including calling Phil Hughes’ big season. All in all, that makes him one of the better predictors on the staff, which makes the title of his post a little misleading.

Your Weekend Guide to Streaming the MLB Postseason, by David G. Temple
Because it’s the weekend, and you want to watch baseball!





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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