Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 3/9

No time for talk.  To the links we go!

- On Monday, SJK of NoMaas had this gem roasting Josh Beckett, which is a surefire way to get included in the palooza.  Sadly, I'm also bearded and also getting fatter, meaning I share qualities with Josh Beckett.  When this dawned at me at work the other day, I ran to the bathroom and cried.

- Matt S. of Yankees Fans Unite continued their recent streak of good interviews by scoring this one with David Aardsma.  He still has a long way to go, but it's good to read that he's hellbent on returning to the hill this year.

- The boys over at Respect Jeter's Gangster are ramping up their "Rival Review" series, and on Tuesday they put out my personal favorite to date, the second base comparison of Cano and Dahhston Pedroyahh.

- Also on Tuesday, Brien Jackson of IIATMS put the Michael Pineda changeup hype in context by explaining that he doesn't need to be dynamite with it to succeed.

- Larry Koestler of RAB looked at the recent history of production from the DH spot in Yankees lineups and established a baseline for what we can expect from the Ibanez-Jones duo this year.

- On Wednesday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog debunked the theories that Michael Pineda is at risk this season because of an "injury nexus" for pitchers under the age of 23 and because he's a young pitcher being handled by Joe Girardi.

- On Thursday, Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus released his top Yankee prospects list for 2012.  It's subscriber-only to get the full post, but you can at least get the list of his top 20 without being a subscriber.  Goldstein ranks Gary Sanchez above Dellin Betances.

- Chris McKeown of Pinstripe Alley ran some numbers to see if the Yankees could still be categorized as an "old team."  His research shows that they've done a good job getting younger since the mid-2000s.

- On Friday, Donnie Collins of the SWB Blog used the recent "Empire State Yankees" name change for 2012 as a lead-in to suggest a future, permanent, non-Yankee name change for the team in 2013.

- Mike Silva of NY Baseball Digest questioned whether MLB's regular season schedule should be reduced from 162 games as part of the new playoff expansion.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud has the latest on the D-Rob foot injury, which becomes more confusing by the minute.  Some reports have him feeling totally fine with no swelling, but others have him showing up today in a walking boot and on crutches.

- Marc Hulet of FanGraphs released his Top 30 Organizational Farm Systems list today, with the Yankees checking in at #10.

- As usual, we close with an offering from my TYA cohorts.  On Wednesday, Alex Geshwind attempted to shine a little sunlight on Phil Hughes by pointing out that there are some pitchers who have experienced career paths similar to the one Hughes is on now.

- And on Thursday, Matt Imbrogno started to lay out the potential early-season starting rotation.

For the Friday jam, it only seems appropriate on the anniversary of his death to play some Notorious B.I.G.  For my money he's the best rapper of all time, so I'm going with a double dip of my favorite Biggie collaborations this afternoon.





Enjoy the rest of your Friday afternoons and the entirety of your weekends, people.