Here's Friday's edition of Saber-Links:
Grant Brisbee of Baseball Nation discusses Chris Carter and the black hole that existed at first base for the Oakland A's: The Oakland A's Finally Find What They've Been Looking For - Baseball Nation
Around the turn of the millennium or so, the sabermetric orthodoxy posited that any team could find a slugging first baseman. They grew on trees, and in one of those beautifully cohesive puzzle pieces of evolution, the trees were fertilized by tobacco spit...The A's probably didn't really believe that simplistic theory. But they sure acted like it after Jason Giambi left.
Jay Jaffe of Baseball Prospectus evaluates Lance Berkman's Hall-of-Fame candidacy: Baseball Prospectus | Prospectus Hit and Run: Fat Elvis' Swan Song
For the purposes of this exercise, we'll consider him at 56.7 career WARP. Considered strictly as a left fielder, that leaves him 8.4 WARP shy of the career Hall standard but dead even on peak; considering him against all first base and corner outfield Hall of Famers—a hybrid standard I just made up, with a 64.3/41.3/52.8 line—renders basically the same verdict.
Eric Seidman of FanGraphs looks at potential issues for the Dodgers in the outfield next season: The Dodgers Have A Good Outfield Problem | FanGraphs Baseball
If everything doesn’t work out and Crawford misses more time, the Dodgers would be left with a fourth outfielder in an everyday role, which isn’t very prudent for a team looking to make a big-time dent in the National League. The future of the Dodgers outfield is very much up in the air, even with almost $400 million committed to four outfielders over the next several seasons.
The Hardball Times staff holds a panel discussing catcher collisions: Why can runners hit catchers—and only catchers?--THT
A reader's query and Molina's injury spark a discussion of home plate collisions.
Enjoy your weekend, folks! Saber-Links will return on Monday.