Nats Noodles’ top 10 most-read posts of 2011

It’s year-end summary time, when publishers retread their favorite material from the past year. In that spirit, here’s a look back at this blog’s top 10 posts as determined by you, my dear readers. (I’ll note that a list of my own top 10 favorites would comprise most of the same posts, albeit in different order.)

1. A look at 2012 player projections (November 14). It appears that readers love looking at projections.
2. Bryce Harper’s eyesight (May 15). For once, I wrote a post that shows up near the top of the search engine results. If I could do that more often, I might have a future for myself in this world-wide-web business.
3. Envisioning the 2013 Nationals (Part one – the pitchers) (July 11). With last week’s trade, I guess I need to update the part about Brad Peacock and Tommy Milone being regulars in the 2013 rotation.
4. Washington’s last, forgotten World Series championship (October 5). This post, about the 1948 Negro League World Series championship won by Washington’s Homestead Grays, was my favorite post of the year to research and write. I hope that some of you enjoyed reading it.
5. Erik Komatsu major league equivalencies (July 30). I did other short pieces on major league equivalencies, so I’m not sure why this one drew the most readers. Maybe because it was read by both Nats and Cardinals fans.
6. Fireman extraordinaire (October 2). A statistical tribute to Tyler Clippard‘s excellent performance in 2011.
7. What’s the Nationals’ plan for Bryce Harper? (June 19). A bit of speculation.
8. My new favorite stat (September 25). I explore the interpretation and uses of “RE24.”
9. I’m no lawyer, but something about the new CBA… (November 26). I react to the new collective bargaining agreement’s slotting system for draft picks and restrictions on pay and bonuses going to international players.
10. Envisioning the 2013 Nationals (Part two – the position players) (July 15). This post has held up better over time than has the post on pitchers. We still need a center fielder.

I’ll also take this opportunity acknowledge my worst post of the year—the one I’d most like to retract. On May 24, John Lannan was off to a slow start and I wrote, “Is John Lannan getting close to the end of the line?” How was I to know that over his next 14 starts, Lannan would go 6–2, giving up only 2.85 R/9 with an average game score of 55? Fortunately, it looks like only about eight readers actually read the post. Unfortunately, during the last six weeks of the season John seemed to have returned to his early-season funk, giving me some concern for his projected performance going into next season.

Finally, I close this post by wishing the Nationals a successful 2012 season and all of you a happy new year!