Tuesday Halolinks: Is Hamilton ready to play baseball?

I truly wanted to provide a Tuesday Halolinks post without any Josh Hamilton content.  There's a ton of coverage out there, and everyone has an opinion as to who won the deal, why it went down, and what's going to happen now. But with Monday being an off day for the club, there's not that much out there other than the Hamilton stuff.

So, embracing the news, I'll add to the chatter: Most think the Angels organization is full of scumbags who didn't offer Hamilton enough support, support they feel Hamilton (or his friends and family) wasn't able or obligated to give himself.

My two thoughts on this situation;

1)  I realize baseball isn't like other professions, however if I mess up outside of work by relapsing, or binging, or whatever, and it affects my job performance, my tenure with my company is over.  I'm the only one to blame.  In this situation, Hamilton is to blame.

2)  Had Hamilton lived up to his commitment and contract with the Angels he would still be an Angel.  And that too is on Hamilton.

Anyway, here's today's Halolinks:

• Jeff Sullivan takes a look at the whole mess: Josh Hamilton’s Return to a New Place - FanGraphs Baseball, "At its core, this really is just a baseball move. The Angels wouldn’t be paying for Josh Hamilton to go away if they thought he could still be a productive member of a contending team. And the Rangers are taking a shot because their financial risk will be laughably small, and they’re a team that could use a helpful left fielder. The Angels think they’ll be better for this, and the Rangers think they’ll be better for this. Obviously, it’s a little more complicated. It just always tends to come down to performance."
• Of all the things Hamilton has said, this is the most perplexing to me: Josh Hamilton disagrees with Angels' assertion he lacked accountability - LA Times, "Had the Angels embraced him after his relapse, "I would have been in spring training and playing a month ago," said Hamilton"  Wait a minute, is he hurt or not?  In what scenario would Hamilton not be playing baseball when he's not injured?
• As of 8:30am central: Poll: The Josh Hamilton Trade – MLB Trade Rumors, "While reports are still emerging on the complicated arrangement, it appears that Los Angeles will save about $20MM over the next three years, while Texas will enjoy Hamilton’s services for only $6MM or so during that stretch." 
  

  

• Here's something that's going to get bigger before long.  The way cable television is provide to its subscribers is going to change, or should I say, is changing, but before that happens,, everyone needs to sue each other: ESPN Sues Verizon Over Slimmed Down Cable Offering, "Almost two weeks ago Verizon announced that they were changing this basic calculus of how cable packages work, introducing FiOS Custom TV. For $65 a month customers will receive 36 basic channels, and get to choose from two of seven "channel packs": Lifestyle, Entertainment, News & Info, Pop Culture, Kids, Sports, and Sports Plus. (Additional channel packs can be bought for $10 a piece.) If a customer has limited television watching interests, they will probably pay less for cable than they do now."