The Best of FanGraphs: June 16-20, 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 and blue for Community.

Monday

Catchers and Trust with a Runner on Third, by Jeff Sullivan
Jeff is such a good writer and researcher that he is even able to find the one thing that Mike Zunino does well. I kid, I kid.

The One Thing Yasiel Puig Doesn’t Do Well, by Mike Petriello
On the other side of the spectrum, Mike looks at the one thing that Yasiel Puig needs to work on.

The Exponential Nature of Ofense, by Jesse Wolfersberger
Jesse makes the case for more than linear returns if a good offense becomes great.

Tuesday

Important Life Questions And Brad Miller, by Blake Murphy
Generally speaking, a 57 wRC+ doesn’t fly. What happened?

Wednesday

The Other Contending Team With a Shortstop Issue, by Mike Petriello
Hint: It’s the Brewers.

The Diamondbacks’ Grit vs. Win Expectancy, by David G. Temple
Kirk Gibson continues to be the law, but the law just isn’t winning as much as it used to.

Thursday

The Most Perfect Non-Perfect Game, by Dave Cameron
Clayton Kershaw and Kerry Wood, together at last.

Should You Be Buying Jake Odorizzi?, by Mike Podhorzer
He’s probably not as bad as he’s been, but does that make him a good candidate for a buy-low deal?

Seeking Alternatives to Wins, by Nicholas Minnix
Part of the problem is that the easiest answer is to just do nothing, but Nicholas is just not going to take it any longer.

A Hypothetical Starting XI Composed Entirely of Major Leaguers, by Carson Cistulli
The phrase “defensive man wall” will now be required in one out of every 17 NotGraphs posts.

Friday

An Open Letter to the Shirtless Man, by John Paschal
Put your shirt back on, sir! But before you do, we have some questions…

Exploring the Shift Dynamic, by Max Weinstein
In the second of a two-part look at batted balls (find part one here), introduces a new metric to look at who shifts should and should not be foisted upon.

Breaking Down The Aging Curve, by Brian Henry
Hopefully, the first in a series that tries to look at the aging curve by specific age blocks.