To Read: A-Rod, Monopoly, and Sperm Races

Derek Jacques at Baseball Prospectus tells us that under a ranking system agreed to by M.L.B. and the player's union in the early 1980's, Alex Rodriguez was not the best infielder in the American League over the past two years:

 Rk Player Grade AVG OBP SLG RBI HR Fielding Pct.
 1 Michael Young 89.286 .314 .360 .439 197 23 .9768
 2 Miguel Tejada 87.500 .315 .370 .473 181 42 .9716
 3 Robinson Cano 85.714 .322 .358 .504 175 34 .9843
 4 Derek Jeter 85.119 .333 .402 .468 170 26 .9729
 5 Mike Lowell 84.857 .305 .359 .488 200 41 .9752
 6 Alex Rodriguez 84.000 .302 .407 .584 277 89 .9508

      
       

The system's main purpose is to determine whether a team that loses a top ranked player to free agency receives any draft picks. How the rankings are created has never been released by baseball, but, as Jacques shows, they seem to put a little too much weight on field percentage.

Based on a different measure called Win Shares, a complex calculation which assigns each player's contributions to his teams wins, here is a more accurate list of the AL's top infielders over the last two seasons:

 Rk Player WinShares 1 Alex Rodriguez 64 2 Derek Jeter 57 3 Michael Young 47 4 Carlos Guillen 45 5 Orlando Cabrera 44 6 Mike Lowell 42 

How to Win at Monopoly
A reader points us to this neat guide on the optimal strategy for never losing at Monopoly. Here are the basics, but def. read the whole thing if you're a Monopoly fan:

• Always buy Railroads; never buy Utilities
• For every other property type, only buy them to complete a monopoly or to prevent opponents from completing one. Often this may mean buying as many properties as you can early in the game, but watch your cash reserves.
• At the beginning of the game, focus on acquiring a complete C-G (Color Group) in Sides 1+2, even if it means trading away properties on Sides 2+3. After acquiring one of these C-Gs, build 3 houses as quickly as possible: no more houses, no less!
• Once your first C-G starts to generate some cash, focus on completing a C-G and building 3 houses in Sides 3+4.
• Single properties are the least good investment if you don't build on them.
• The only exception to the above rules are when you need to acquire stray properties to prevent your opponents from completing their C-Gs to accomplish the above strategy.

Which Primate Has the Fastest Sperm?
Via New Scientist: