Thursday Halolinks: The Cover of ESPN, No More Sex For You

Friends, Sex, and baseball edition of Halolinks:

• Friend of Halos Heaven and frequent guest on LunchTime HaloTalk, Sam Miller has hit a new high...the cover of the February 6th edition of ESPN The Magazine: How the Los Angeles Angels recruited Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson - ESPN The Magazine. "So you're looking at me and that guy?" (C.J.) Wilson asked Dipoto mischievously. "The guy with the high elbow, wears No. 5?" Maybe the exhausting days of negotiations had weakened Dipoto's poker face. Or maybe, secretly, he wanted Wilson to know. Dipoto wouldn't confirm anything, but Wilson saw -- or at least imagined -- something in Dipoto's eye that told Wilson he was right. "Are you for real?" Wilson asked. "I am absolutely for real," the GM responded." Reading that clip from the article gives me goosebumps. Congratulations Sam, soon they'll be singing about you and the cover. By the way, best video comment..."You can be high, but you'll never be 1970's rock band high." Kind of like me, I can write well (sometimes), but not Sam Miller well.
  
• Another Miller post, this time for the lowly OC Register, reviews Agent Scott Boras' most extraordinary contracts - The Orange County Register. It's one of those photo, click-through things, but worth the time. "What follows are the dozen most extraordinary contracts that the O.C.-based Boras ever negotiated for his clients. These aren't necessarily all deals that turned out poorly for their teams; they're deals that seemed unthinkable or groundbreaking at the time. Also, a lot of them turned out really poorly for their teams. But such is the sport.
• Rob Neyer finds an interesting stat: I Love My Teams, But ... - Baseball Nation. "Fifty percent of men and 32 percent of women ages 18 - 24 say that they'd give up sex for an entire year if it meant their team could win a championship, according to a poll by Yahoo Sports." Here's where he found the study: What's More Important: Sex or the Superbowl? - Self.com. Maybe that only has to do with baseball and football, or perhaps American sports because there's this: This Week In Great Quotes Linking Soccer Injuries To Sexual Frequency "'He's always [injured and unable to play] because we have sex seven to ten times a week,' Poor fella. Boo-frickin'-hoo.
  

MORE LINKS AFTER THE BREAK...

• The Halos are still looking for bullpen help and think this guy is their man: Angels have offer out to Ayala; nothing imminent - MLB.com Hot Stove Blog. "The Angels are one of "a handful of teams" that have tendered a formal offer to Luis Ayla, but a source familiar with the negotiations said the free-agent reliever is still weighing his options and a decision is not imminent." As with 99.99% of free agent signings, the cost and duration of the contract are what's important, so until he signs with someone, we won't know if this is a good thing or not. I think the club should look into Rich Harden...
• Harden is one of the players mention in this post: Anybody Out There? You Be the Judge. - FanGraphs Baseball. "Let’s take a peek at some other players still on the free-agent market, and then we’ll try to get a feel for some of their potential landing spots." Here's a tidbit about the oft-injured hurler, "Among the positive signs for Harden was the return of the strikeouts (back to 9.9/9), the banishment of walks (to a sub-career rate of 3.4/9), and a return of much of the velocity that escaped him during that disastrous season in the Lone Star State."
• I'll forever picture David Eckstein wearing Gene Autry's cowboy hat during the 2002 World Series celebration: You Can’t Measure Heart, or David Eckstein Bows Out - FanGraphs Baseball. "I learned that there was another side to Eckstein that I had never noticed before: David Eckstein, Cultural Icon. He was King of Grit. The Little Player Who Could. The Scrappiest Player You Ever Laid Eyes On. Sports writers loved him and waxed poetic about his positive traits. He played the game The Right Way. He always had a dirty uniform. His heart was so big, it threatened to consume his entire body."
• For some reason this sort of frightens me: Oakland A's sign Bartolo Colon to one-year, $2 million deal - San Jose Mercury News. "The A's signed free agent right-hander Bartolo Colon to a one-year, $2 million contract on Tuesday, adding a veteran arm to a rotation that's been depleted by trades this offseason."
• Jose Bautista’s drug testing seems something less than random - HardballTalk. "Bautista spoke at a banquet the other night and noted that in the past two years — the two years which coincided with his tremendous uptick in homers — he has been given sixteen drug tests. In the two years before that he had three total." We have random drug testing at the place I work. Well, they say it's a random testing, but each time, within a week of returning from vacation in California, I've had to submit to a drug testing. Do the people in Wisconsin think Californians do drugs? Just like the MLB think home run hitter do 'roids.
• Walden, on Year 2 as closer: "I think I have a way better understanding of what it takes" - Gonzo and 'The Show'. "Walden joined Angels Talk on AM 830 KLAA on Wednesday and said he has already begun throwing almost on an everyday basis in his native Texas. Here are the highlights of his conversation with host Terry Smith …"
• Angels' Wilson ready to go racing this weekend - Fox Sports. ""Our big thing is trying to find a way to bring over that crossover appeal," said Wilson, who will return to California on Saturday to begin baseball training. "I get more sponsorship opportunities because of baseball. Racing runs through my veins the same way baseball does. It's just my commitment is to the Angels."
• I forgot to include this bit in yesterday's links: Lincecum's $40M deal with Giants includes series of bonuses - CBSSports.com. "Giants ace Tim Lincecum's new $40.5 million, two-year deal includes a series of bonuses for winning the Cy Young and other awards. Lincecum, a two-time NL Cy Young Award winner, gets a $500,000 signing bonus and salaries of $18 million this year and $22 million in 2013. He would earn an additional $500,000 for winning his third Cy Young, $250,000 for second place, $100,000 for third, $75,000 for fourth and $50,000 for fifth. If he wins the Cy Young in 2012, the bonus for winning again in 2013 would increase to $1 million." Makes Jered Weaver's deal look even more like a bargain.
• Here's one billionaire who's not bidding on the Dodgers ... yet - latimes.com. "The richest man in Los Angeles has not bid for the Dodgers. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong could join the Dodgers sweepstakes soon — not by bidding on his own, but by joining one of the groups already in the running to buy the team. Soon-Shiong is a doctor, biotech investor and philanthropist. Forbes estimated his net worth at $7 billion in September."
• Here's a fun story: Marshall McDougall’s greatest game - The Hardball Times. "Marshall McDougall had a lot of good games in 1999. But none came close to surpassing his game on May 9th. He started off with a single to left in the top of the first inning. No one could have known at the time, but that was the only "underachieving" at bat he had all day."
• We recently had a little talk about cats around here. Some people hated them (me), while others loved them, and then some just hated the word "hate". Anyway, this guy should get his ribs kicked in: Man busted for kicking kitten then signaling field goal, police say - Chicago Sun-Times. "officers say they watched him take a running start and kick his kitten 15 feet before raising his arms to signal a field goal. "Despite the terrible abuse, the cat . . . is doing quite well."