Thor'sLinks: Spring Training Test Run Weekend

Josh pulled this yesterday on twitter, and it's cool enough to share here for the rest of us. A great photo of vintage Wrigley Field, home of the Los Angeles Angels, Year 1. The reason the city in the background looks so flat is because LA once had an ordinance that no building could be taller than city hall.........

Yep. The Angels may not have spent a buttload of money, but they sure did have a pretty damned good off-season and more and more people are starting to notice.............I repeat, more and more people are starting to notice..........

Sorry Matt. Memory is a funny thing. A baseball hit you in the head because it came back too fast for you to catch it...........

Here is why Billy Eppler is smarter than me or you or an awful lot of MSM scribes. Because he signed a part-time of the quality of Luis Valbuena and not a full-time guy of the quality like Mark Trumbo. As the article lays out: "The big story this winter has been the market correction on bat-only corner guys, but interestingly, the Valbuena signing points out that there’s even more room for those kinds of guys to come down in price in the future. Instead of paying even this reduced rate for the full-time slugger, signing a guy with a platoon player label at the discount currently being applied is an even cheaper way to get similar production."..........

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Everywhere In Baseball

One of these days we are going to have to stop falling for this "Cardinals are a small market team" baloney. Their fans have already stopped thinking of themselves this way...........

It turns out that MLB is trying to do something to stop the loss of players to driving accidents in the DR. I stand corrected (for those who read my MondoLinks)..........

Good question. Why DOES Felix Hernandez own a 2000 New York Yankees World Series ring? Which player no longer owns their own?...............

What kind of evil plot is this? A Major League Baseball team is giving away stirrups for a promo night and it ain't the Angels??..........Another fun promo night that ain't that Angels: Muhammad Ali Night. A Triple-A team dealio...........

That Pedro Martinez claim about Yordano Ventura being robbed after his crash and left for dead? Next day's info refutes that, with a coroner report claiming the young man died on impact.......

Lovely long form from a prospect who has had to curtail his pro baseball dream as a consequence of a freak injury..........

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Ok, we need to switch to a new, shorter list. Which teams are not interested in Mike Napoli? We can scratch the Rays from that list.........

You probably have not been paying attention, because the Rockies are neither in our Division NOR in our League, but they have been busting their balls to ratchet up their team, too. Probably having made better progress than Eppler. The latest is the signing of Greg Holland. Ain't payroll flexibility fun?..........Interesting reddit convo discussing what MLB does right or wrong versus the other sport leagues............Interesting quiz. But if you get any of questions #3 through #9 wrong, you are a knucklehead..........

Ryan Howard, a guy who probably should have retired about 5 years ago, wants to remind MLB GM's that he is not retired...........

The Duffle Bag