Thor'sLinks: Eppler still making roster ripples

Torre-yes, Torre-no. I wonder if there is any paperwork or anything that players have to fill out when they get traded to a new team? I am assuming that all in-person things normally wait until the receiving team notifies the player of when and where to report, and for off-season players that should be some media introduction event or Spring Training. But what about the less famous, and during the off-season. For example, when Ronald Torreyes was picked up off of waivers two days ago, did anybody inside the Angels franchise task him with anything to do in those 48 hours before he was sent back off to that waiver wire again? That's gotta suck. But with the reputation for revolving doors that Eppler must be gaining among agents, I'm thinking that newly acquired Jefry Marte should probably ignore any calls from LAA HR staff for a week or two...........Enjoy some Carousel of Roster Change Links:

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Everywhere In Baseball

Pujols: As Josh linked yesterday, Pujols is hitting off a tee now and there are varying ideas as to when he will be game fit for 2016. My vote is that his old body ain't getting any younger and by this point we shouldn't be looking to save him for anything down the road, so just run him out there and get whatever you can out of him in whatever number of months he has left............

The Suck Zone: Our community nightmare is becoming a thing on the national stage. Yeah, the suckage that is the LAA talent pipeline, pummeled by the event horizon of Arte Moreno's wallet, has the franchise pretty screwed. Nobody else has answers, either. Well, as long as we ignore the option of "paying for one's mistakes"...........

Arby Party: With Kole Calhoun getting himself a shiny new $3.4 million contract for 2016, let's celebrate with an anomalous statistic. Guess which left-handed hitter in all of Major League Baseball had the absolute lowest opposite field power and still hit a home run to the opposite field?...........

Zombie Baseball: Glow in the dark uniforms? Sign me up! Damn, but aren't minor league baseball attitudes just the most life-affirming thing in all of sports?!............

Geography: Apparently, there needs to be a debate as to which States belong to the category of "mid-west". This is certainly a sign of very slow news days. But I am a California native. So, from my POV, those States are known as the mid-EAST...........

Raising Stakes: MLB is thinking about raising the bottom of the strike zone.  Not raising what umpires actually call, mind you, but changing what they should call. It's not so revolutionary since it merely restores the rule on the bottom of the zone to what the rule was before 1996. And it's not a very big proposed change, so don't freak out. But if the change is truly made, and umpires can be bothered to truly follow the change, it would have an impact on players. Assuming that the change was made for last season, here is how things might have differed for the most impacted pitchers...........

Ruthian Season: In case anyone cares, Alex Rodriguez is due to surpass Babe Ruth's career home run mark this season,.  He only needs 27 to tie...........

Baseball Biz: Something to keep an eye on is the New York State Attorney General going after the NFL and concert promoters for ticketing practices that he deems to be unfair. Things like this, once determined, tend to spread to other businesses (like, er, baseball) and to other jurisdictions (say, for example, California). The basic idea is that it's not fair that consumers cannot buy prime seats at face value.............

OT: Delorean is making a comeback!

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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: San Francisco Beer Week is still ongoing, see here for schedule..............Here is an awesome one: Hops on the Harbor with Modern Times Brewery, on board Flagship Cruises & Events in San Diego.............

Saturday: San Francisco Beer Week is still ongoing, see here for schedule..............7th Annual Meet The Brewers beer festival at Hermitage Brewing in San Jose...............RateBeer Best Awards Ceremony at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel & Spa in Santa Rosa..............Something to take a camera to, Wild Onsie Party at McFaddens' San Diego................

Sunday: San Francisco Beer Week concludes today, see here for schedule..............National Headlining Comedian and SNL Alum Brooks Wheelan Comes to Devil's Canyon Brewery social gathering at Devil's Canyon Brewery in San Carlos.............

Stay safe, everyone!