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I got so caught up in an electrical project last night that I didn’t even remember to think up an essay and complete the Links. Shows you how much fun I am having elsewhere on my laptop!
It’s an animatronic thing. I’ve spent a couple of months on it and I expect it will take a couple months more since I only get to it in small doses. But think ‘Enchanted Tiki Room NSFW’. And it will be programmable, so that I can change it up at will. if all goes according to Hoyle, I might even leverage the finished product for some snark videos around here.
Solving the issues I am confronted with daily is a lot of fun, and rewarding. I just need to hustle before the regular season kicks off and I lose what little spare time I have had.
But have some Don’t-Feel-Neglected-Offseason-Links:
A Little Bit of Angels News
Billy Eppler is now squarely in his annual barrel-of-monkeys mode, grabbing pitchers from all over to stock up on Spring Training depth in order to allow Mike Scioscia the chance to flesh out a hot-handed bullpen for 2018............
Exactly what I was waiting for. Just what I want for Valentine’s Day. A Mike Trout 3D printing of all his home runs since 2015..........That, because being an autograph hound is not my thing, so I don’t want some Shohei Ohtani autographed baseball cards from Topps...........
Did I say Ohtani? Sam Miller has made a new tin foil hat for himself..........
Fantasy roster builder with the #1 draft choice, and who you got? Jose Altuve or Mike Trout? This guy says Trout..........
Some records are made never to be broken. Take, for instance, Albert Pujols’ ability to GIDP..........
In this FanGraphs chit-chat as to how they stuck their fingers into the wind and figured out their Top 100 prospects, we learn that they really don’t see Ohtani as getting many at-bats to warrant attention as a productive bat...........
Everywhere In Baseball
Commodity workers think baseball players are overpaid. News at 11..........
Carlos Beltran does the honorable thing, and chooses NOT to take the Yankees Front Office job offer of becoming Special Assistant in Charge of Breathing Down The Neck of new Manager Aaron Boone..........
Derek Jeter has taken his franchise so far backwards that even he sees it as being more feeble than a team that doesn’t even exist yet. But Jeets does have a plan to fix all that: fire the guy who wears the mascot costume..........
Bookmark this page. It will come in handy as we try to keep track of all the hash that will boil forth once the U.S. Supreme Court unleashes legalized sports betting..........
I didn’t realize that this was a thing, this Generación Y . It’s not going to make any them as good a Yikes Trout, however..........To remind, Cuba currently leads the Caribbean Series after pool play..........
This is a good question. Exactly who IS in charge of the Player’s Union anymore? Ostensibly it remains Tony Clark. but the agents knew things were going backward long before the CBA negotiations set in. For Clark, he did win for the players what was important to them: creature comforts...........
Just a round up of the weird things we name our baseball teams, by category. because Thursday..........
Hot Stove
If the Red Sox really are pissing off J.D. Martinez to the extent that Martinez is thinking about sitting out rather than signing, maybe we should all be rooting for Martinez to end up in Boston after all, where that sour taste in his mouth can fuel the animosity of BoSux fans for years to come. He and David Price could make for a nice one-two punching bag there in Fenway........
Here is another one. Build a fantasy team out of unsigned Free Agents. This one looks to shoot for a Wild Card spot in 2018, but at least this one is honest about the players’ asking prices. They work it out to $245 million worth of payroll just for the 25-man, and without the 5% in extra fees and shit that gets tacked on. And overall it works out to almost $900 million in payroll obligations. Remember, that is just for a Wild Card contender. I doubt Scott Boras reads FanGraphs much any more...........
The Duffle Bag
Somebody gets it. I have been saying for years that uniforms need to be modified to honor last season’s heroes. MVP’s, All-Stars, CYA’s, World Series Champs.......The Yankees have acquired the baseball talents of Russell Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks, by way of the Texas Rangers. C.C. Sabathia is stoked..........Is it just me or is it truly awkward that Joe Girardi is working for MLB as a broadcast analyst while he awaits his next gig as a franchise manager? I know it‘s the same thing as when Jon Gruden was in the booth during NFL games, but he was not an NFL employee then, and that was slimy the minute it became known he was headed back to the sidelines...........