Here's Tuesday's edition of Saber-Links:
Rob Neyer of Baseball Nation uses a modified game score to rate the best starts of Felix Hernandez's career: Rating King Felix's Greatest Performances - Baseball Nation
Hernández has been a great pitcher for a long time, but he might now be at the peak of his powers; his home-run rate is a career low, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is a career high. He entered this season with four career shutouts, and with nearly two months left to go, he's already got three shutouts this season.
Frank Johnson of THT discusses the strangeness of Wally Moon's supposed "impressive home run record" at the LA Coliseum: Moon shots
An entrenched nugget of baseball lore concerns Dodger outfielder Wallace Wade (more popularly known as Wally) Moon, who allegedly took advantage of the unique dimensions of the Los Angeles Coliseum to compile an impressive home run record. The 42-foot screen in left field would have been intimidating at conventional outfield distances, but since the left field foul pole was only 251 feet away, the screen was an inviting target for right-handed hitters.
Geoff Young of Baseball Prospectus discusses Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, last weekend's four-game slate and the issue of narrative: Baseball Prospectus | Western Front: When the Time is Right
Pujols struggles and narratives emerge. It is the contract. It is his age. Then he starts hitting like Pujols again, and all that disappears. Hamilton dominates, leading to different narratives. Then he struggles and makes a nebulous admission. Speculation abounds, and those that would feed off such things must be disappointed to learn how mundane his current battle is compared to what they may have imagined.
Matt Swartz, posting at FanGraphs, explains why first basemen may not, in fact, be overpaid: Why First Basemen Get Paid So Much | FanGraphs Baseball
Your owner tells you that you have $10 million left to spend, and fortunately there is a first baseman on the market who you expect to have a .330 wOBA and a second baseman who you also expect to have a .330 wOBA... If you ask WAR, it will say to go with the .330 wOBA from the 2B, since he plays the harder position. But a general manaher must determine how much pop they will get from the replacement-level players.
Saber-Links will return tomorrow at the same time in the same place.