MondoLinks: 12/3/2018

This is Hanukkah week, and I will be sharing with you lede photos of some famous Jewish Halos, some not-so-famous, and conclude with a pair that were merely passing through.

But to kick it all off, what about Jewish folks over on the saber side:

Open your week with December-To-Remember-HaloLinks:

A Little Bit Of Angels News

The Angels also wish all a Happy Hannukah.............

Not all Halo trades have been sour. Some have been pretty damned good..........

Maria Guadardo will not be covering the Angels next year. She is moving over to the Giants. Why she is so excited to not get to see Mike Trout play every day eludes me..........

Garrett Richards says goodbye..........

And here is the reason why that Padres gamble on Richards makes so much sense for them..........

Everywhere In Baseball

It’s not good to mess up. But, in my book, when you do mess up, you gotta own it. The messing up isn’t the bad part. Those aren’t good, but they happen. It’s pushing off your mess on anybody or anything else. So good on Brewers GM David Stearns, who traded for Jonathan Schoop. That turned out to be a pretty bad idea, and has led to the Brewers non-tendered Schoop altogether. That’s 3 prospects lost for one bag of yesterday’s fruit. Instead of ducking the mistake, Stearns faces up to it......(By the way, Stearns the good guy is hiring by the way.).......

We lost ex-President George H.W. Bush over the weekend. (Jimmie Carter takes over as the oldest living ex-President. He had trailed Bush by 112 days). When we are talking about accomplished people of that age, there are bound to be moments of baseball greatness. For Bush Sr., one-time ballplayer for Yale, there were more than one. Babe Ruth was one............

I don’t worry too much that legalized state gambling is going to be some social plague, preying on gambling addicts. Those who succumb to their addiction have zero barriers already. But the idea that private companies such as MGM might have access to deep insider information directly from MLB, info that fans and even players might not have (it IS, after all, the owners who run MLB), and a sportsbook such as MGM could have that when you walk up to the betting window, well, that is disturbing...........

For the record I agree with this, because I have chosen to vote for Larry Walker in the IBWAA ballot this year (our ballot is less crowded that the BBWAA version, because we get shit done)..........

Hot Stove

Dallas Keuchel has lots of options. Fortunately for us, most of them are in the National League (let’s add the Braves here).............You know, it’s almost as if last winter never happened. Everybody wants the big, long-term contract. A.J. Pollock wants 5 years, $80 million. Pretty big dreams for a guy who has only played 1 full season. That 7.2 bWAR back in 2015 is getting a lot of mileage between he and his agent......Craig Kimbrel? 6 years. That’s the 6 that comes in sequence 3 whole years after the number 3..........

Yan Gomes has been traded from Cleveland to the Nationals. That would be Yan Gomes, just the most productive catcher in the AL last year. After losing Matt Wieters to Free Agency, the Nats restocked pretty fast with Kurt Suzuki and now Yan Gomes...........

The Mariners and Mets did agree on that blockbuster trade to get Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz out of the AL West. It’s just not complete because there are so many names it takes a while to get through all the medicals..........

And the Mets aren’t done dealing. They were chasing Yan Gomes, but have now moved on to try and and get Corey Kluber away from the Indians...........

The Mariners aren’t done, either. They are dealing Jean Segura to the Phillies..........And they are busy trying to move Kyle Seager while they are at it.......And, yeah, Dipoto is digging the Mariners out of the farm system basement he parked them in last winter.........

Tell me where you have heard a story like this before. Patrick Corbin is touring MLB, as part of the coming bidding war for his services. A big decision will be coming over the next month or two. Meanwhile, Corbin also got married. And at his wedding, his family (and all those wedding friends) cast their vote, for the Yankees............

Mike Fiers was actually a better-than-average pitcher last season. And Oakland’s big battle cry was “look at all our starting rotation injuries!”. And even at his age (33), he is still in his arb years and under control until 2020. And he’s cheap. So what the hell with them non-tendering Mike Fiers?..........

Juan Graterol is back out there to be had. You miss him, don’t you?.........

The Duffle Bag

Alex Bregman living large, LA-style. Because Houston sucks.............Christian Yelich may be a big man in the NL, but then there are basketball players............Also outsized against baseball players: Knickers the cow...........Francisco Lindor might be my world traveler. Liverpool? At Anfield???.......What would cause ME to renounce the Halos? Losing Mike Trout to any other team..........Go get ‘em , Bauer..........Satchel Paige, The Legend............