A Saber-Slanted Baseball Community

At the risk of being called out for spamming, here is my first "official" post at Driveline Mechanics. You can read the full explanation there, but basically, I use Justin Inaz's field+positional adjustment numbers (balanced with bUZR) to see what players would have actually helped their teams more by DHing than by playing the field. Another way of looking at it is as a sabermetric approach whether or not a players is a "natural born DH." You'll have to go there to see the stunning results! Maybe I'll post a poll, as suggested to me by a someone else, as to what the trophy should be: A Gold Glove with hole in the middle? A bust of Greg Luzinski? I personally think each year's winners should get a Hall-of-Fame style bronze plaque based on one of their great fielding moments, as ampled by the introductory picture of the post.

Sean Smith has an interesting article up at The Hardball Times about replacement level. The whole thing is worth reading, but I want to highlight one cool table: REP POSITION -32.5 Catcher -27.5 Shortstop -22.5 2B, 3B, CF -12.5 Corner Outfield -7.5 First base -2.5 DH* The number listed for each position is how many runs below average a player must be offensively to be considered replacement level (assuming average fielding ability). So, at -7.5, first basemen have to hit just worse than major league average just to provide any value. On the other hand, catchers can be more than 30 runs worse than average and still deserve a spot in the majors. That's a 25 run difference between the two positions, which should explain why first basemen are extremely overrated. * Added by Sky, not in Sean's article.