Well, that's it. the holidays are all done and over. Everything is tucked back up in the attic for the year. The house is clean and comparatively bare in the chill. I even had a chance to squeeze in a week's worth of nasty head cold through all that, something that has impeded my ability to properly enjoy my Heady Topper.
Now I can get back on track with normal Friday/Monday posts. If only I could shake some news out of the sleeping world of baseball...
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Elsewhere in the Heavens of Anaheim: One must wonder how the enigmatic mind of Josh Hamilton will react to learning that the official scribe of the LA Angels has freely written that Hambone should not expect to stick around any longer than absolutely necessary..........."Oh please" cries Dan Haren, "please don't make me throw baseballs so far away from my fan...uh...fans!" Note to whomever it is with the duty today to wake 5thStarter out of his daydreams: don't.................The KC Royals just sucked up ex-Halo reliever Ryan Madson. Normally, I would make some insinuation concerning a desire to snatch some of our 2014 karma. But when one considers how many humans, some of them actual players, Jerry Dipoto has rolled through our roster in the past year it's pretty hard to avoid an ex-Halo anymore.............
Around Baseball: We will lead off with a story that is sure to change minute-by-minute. In fact, in the intervening hours between when I compose this and today's Links even post news may have already rendered this report obsolete. But word from Ken Rosenthal is that James Shields has a 5-year, $110MM offer on the table right now, from a team as yet to be named. And all of baseball is a-twitter...........On the same subject, Jim Bowden - not to be confused with the ever-accurate Jim Bowden who inhabits some parallel universe - tweets that the Marlins are currently in hot pursuit of Shields..............Not specific to baseball, but germane to the sporting world, ESPN anchor Stuart Scott passed away yesterday, losing his battle with cancer. As a survivor myself, godspeed Mr. Scott. May you rest in peace..............Just to remind you all, tomorrow the BBWAA HoF voting results will be posted. Should be fun. Always is...............I have said it before, and will say it again, perhaps the most beautiful part of the game of baseball, unlike the other major sports, is that the same rules apply no matter how important the game, or how important the moment.
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