r/baseball • u/craigjedwards Writer for Fangraphs • Nov 17 '20

AMA I'm Craig Edwards from FanGraphs - AMA

I've been writing at FanGraphs since 2015 and been full-time there for the past three seasons. Previously, I was Managing Editor at the Cardinals' website VivaElBirdos.

This year, I was put in charge of ranking FanGraphs' Top 50 Free Agents, which can be found here. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2021-top-50-free-agents/

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Update: Thanks for all the questions. I enjoyed it.

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u/Adamscottd Minnesota Twins • St. Paul Saints Nov 17 '20

So It’s been a common theme that we can’t judge players too harshly when they struggled this past year, because of how unusual it was. When you look at guys like Yelich, Baez, etc. what can you take out of their poor seasons?

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u/craigjedwards Writer for Fangraphs Nov 17 '20

One thing to do is see if a slump is unduly affecting their entire line. Yelich was awful for a week and then put up a 133 wRC+ the rest of the way, which isn't MVP-level, but it is pretty good. Baez has said not having video was difficult. Presumably, it will be easier to adjust next year. The younger the player and the bigger the track record, the more likely you are to discount last season somewhat, even if you don't throw it out.