Thor'sLinks: Thankful to be an Angels fan!

This is one of those days when I have to ask you, what the heck are you doing here? It's a holiday. It's friends and family time, not time to spend playing on the Internet! I'm here because I have a responsibility to be here, but you can go on and get back to your real world now. Go. I got this. You did your part. You clicked into here and gave the site some traffic. The overlords will be pleased. Now go. Enjoy yourself. Baseball ain't going anywhere.

Be thankful for yet another day above ground, and all the wonderful things life places at your feet. Things like sand in your toes, fresh grass in spring time, babbling brooks and cheerful songbirds, clouds, love, puppy dogs, sunsets, rainy days, chocolate donuts, Nintendo, fresh thyme, and 435 horsepower pickup trucks.

Be thankful for teams that don't bunt, and for bases-clearing triples, and Opening Day. Be thankful for Mike Trout, and for Mike Trout's parents. And Garrett Richards' curve ball. And for Andrelton Simmons' defense.

Be thankful for all the incredible people who sacrifice so much for your protection, safety and welfare.

Be thankful for all your friends and loved ones, as I am thankful for my wife, and for my sons RubixsQube and HaloVet.

Be thankful for all the people, friends or strangers, who have ever cast you a smile.

And, if you are still insistent on sticking around for a few more minutes, be thankful I found some links to occupy your morning:

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In Baseball

Turkey Day Fun: Here you go. Let's start you out with 30 fun moments in baseball in 2015. Smile. You are still among the living and a fan of baseball and have the opportunity to appreciate these joyous little bits of our national pastime..........

More Fun: The Best Sports Bloopers of 2015. 15 and a half minutes of machine gun fire hilarity...........(h/t Awful Announcing)...........

Even More Fun: 10 Single-Season baseball feats we may never see again. Unless you disagree. Which is likely. Because that's how these things go.........

Recipes for Success: Still struggling to figure out what to put on your table this afternoon? Baseball personalities share their favorite feats of food engineering.  When your guests all fawn over your amazing Congri, just tell them that you got the recipe from your good buddy Nolan Arenado, who just happens to play third base for the Colorado Rockies..........

MVP Snubs: Man, and here I thought Mike Trout was getting jobbed a lot. Learning of Jim Gentile's 1961 season (46 home runs, 141 RBI's, .302 BA, .423 OBP, 1.069 OPS, the same 6.9 bWAR as MVP winner Roger Maris, and Gentile couldn't even place 2nd) would be an inexplicable tragedy except for the fact that his third place finish brought him in behind 2 Yankees. You can't say "inexplicable" when the issue is so easy to 'explain". But before you get all up in arms and in agreement with the author, you might want to compare the 1961 stats of Roger Maris (#1 MVP vote getter), Mickey Mantle (#2) and Gentile (#3) to a certain Norm Cash (#4). Cash absolutely demolished Gentile at the plate that year, and I would take Cash's 1961 season over Maris' every time. And Cash stacks up strongly against Mantle. But Cash got only one single 1st place MVP vote that year...........

Doubtful: I dunno here, folks. At the same time we are seeing huge spikes in TJ surgery, and the blowing out of young arms is becoming a national issue in our sport, and more pitchers are throwing more pitches near the maximum of human physiology, I just do not agree that these same humans will be able to sustain a 3-man rotation over a 162-game season. Not anytime soon. Not unless the role of "starter evolves into something closer to a 3-inning outing. Not the 5 inning that the article discusses.........

Peace in our time: Ok, you have gathered family and friends from near and far. Some of them are from Natioanl league cities. You have your work cut out for you because you know that baseball talk will get dicey. So, as a Public Service Announcement, Hardball Talk offers up some guidelines on how to discuss the Designated Hitter, and other things, without coming to blows............

Cub Chaos: After spending all last off-season renovating Wrigley Field, coming in late and screwing up Opening Month for 2015, the Cubs are fast at it again. This is starting to get the feel of rebuilding the airplane while still airborne..........

Pat Corbin: Corbin, a kid drafted by the Angels in 2009 in the 2nd round, and then sent over to Arizona as part of the package for Dan Haren, has recovered from Tommy John surgery and is becoming the ass-kicker pitcher that Tony Reagins and Eddie Bane were expecting when they drafted him...........

Fantasy Gambling: For those needing to play catch-up on the whole FanDuel/DraftKings fiasco (even as the NFL is now in full retreat), then here is a primer..........

MSM Biz: This is what happens when you lose your monopoly on information, and refuse to get off your high horse and adapt...........

LAA Staffing: The coaching roster looks now to be set with the slotting of Scott Radinsky as bullpen coach..........

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Hot Stove Season

Bargain Bin: It seems to me that a player is only a "value buy" in the Free Agent market as long as that player is not advertised widely as a "value buy". Once that happens, and you have everyone's attention, nobody is going to let anybody else get that player too cheap and that "value" diminishes. Take, for example, the case of Alex Gordon..........(By the way, it occurs to me that if anybody is going to get an Alex Gordon on the cheap, they better do it before any Chris Davis/Peter Angelos negotiations fail in Baltimore and the Orioles need to rush out with their $100+ million and get a new power-hitting outfielder. Not saying the Davis negotiations are going badly, but just saying there is a market risk there. Especially since the Cards are showing interest in Davis, too.)..........

Doyer Dollars: Yeah, the word recently was that the LAD's were looking to pare back payroll to something closer to $200 million and stop roasting luxury tax dodger dogs with their hundred dollar bills. But then you look at what they did with international signings, and what they need to do to retain Zack Greinke and how they need to sustain their star power Hollywood glow and, no, they are still going to be chasing the top talent with wheelbarrows full of cash, driving up the market price for all.

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And now, being the full-service weekend linkage institution that we are, here is the obligatory moment we take out of each Thursday...for beer...

Friday: Black House Black Friday 3: Season of the House! at Modern Times Beer in San Diego..........

Saturday: Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company's 5th Anniversary Release Party at Figueroa Mountain Brewing in Buellton..........Del Mar Craft Beer & Cider Fest at Del Mar Fairgounds..........

Sunday: Nada...

Stay safe, everyone!

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