Here's Thursday's edition of Saber-Links:
Jonah Keri compares Mike Trout to some of the greatest of all-time, at Grantland: Mike Trout's Rookie Campaign Is History in the Making - The Triangle Blog - Grantland
He is in the midst of one of the greatest rookie seasons of all time. He's doing things virtually no one his age has done before. He might already be the best player in the game. And if he keeps up this pace, we might soon be able to say this: On a per-game basis, he's putting up one of the greatest performances by any player, of any age, ever.
Kevin Goldstein discusses a possible contract extension for Trout, at Baseball Prospectus: Baseball Prospectus | Future Shock: Considering a Trout Extension
Mike Trout is having a season for the ages. That shouldn't be news to you. But let's forget about the present for a second and think about what could be an even more promising future, as terrifying as that sounds. By common thought in the analytical community, Trout is still six to eight years away from his peak, and if you’re the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, you want that peak. That means an extension for the most valuable young asset in the game. If you are the Angels, how do you even approach this? To find out, I talked to a number of scouts and executives to get their take.
Chris Cwik of FanGraphs discusses how much Melky Cabrera could make as a free agentWhat Will Melky Cabrera Make On The Market? | FanGraphs Baseball
For the purpose of this article, I’m not going to focus on whether Cabrera’s performance is sustainable. Many teams will likely be cautious with Cabrera considering his past performance never gave any indication that he would breakout like this. I’m going to focus mainly on how much value he’s produced recently, and compare it to similar contracts.
Steven Goldman of Baseball Nation writes about Jered Weaver, Smoky Joe Wood and pitcher wins: Jered Weaver vs. Smoky Joe Wood (In Which Pitcher Wins Are Fun) - Baseball Nation
Jered Weaver is working on a consecutive-wins streak. Wins aren't meaningful as a way to evaluate pitchers, but every now and again they lead to something wonderful.
Jason Linden of the Hardball Times makes Bobby Abreu's career the feature of his currently historic column: Currently Historic: Farewell, Bobby Abreu
And that, somewhat obviously is the rub on Abreu. He's the classic "good at everything" player. Who just never did anything that quite set the imagination on fire. Which is a shame. Because Bobby Abreu was a really, really excellent ballplayer for a long time. He has a pretty decent Hall of Fame case. If he shows back up on some team or other. I'll gladly go back to tracking his exploits.