Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 4/5/13

Well it didn't take very long to get my hands on the company Brewer tickets this year.  Got 'em for Sunday's game against the D-backs, which will give me a chance to see former Yankee Ian Kennedy in action.  I'm still a little salty about how quickly the team gave up on him and still wonder how his career path might have turned out had they kept him around.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog offered up his American League predictions for 2013, complete with W-L records for every team.  That's dedication, folks.

- On Tuesday, Mike Ashmore of Thunder Thoughts revealed the Double-A Trenton rotation for this season. On paper it looks like it could be sneaky good, but I was bummed to not see Jose Ramirez included.

- Staying with the Thunder, Josh Norris of Minor Matters had the details on all the upgrades to the Thunder's stadium this season, both on the field and in the clubhouse.

- Craig Edwards of Pinstriped Bible commented on the added importance and added risk the Yankees are taking with CC Sabathia in the new MLB world where teams lock up their best young pitchers to big deal.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud had the full player-by-player breakdown of the Yankees' record-setting 2013 payroll.  Still a little mind bottling to think that's how much they're paying players when you see the current lineup on the field.

- On Wednesday, Mike Eder of IIATMS/TYA examined the schedule to show how the Yankees may not get hurt too much by having a weak right-handed hitting team early.

- Curtis Clark of Bronx Baseball Daily predicted good things for Kevin Youkilis in 2013, and had plenty of reasons to support the prediction.

- El duque of It Is High... made some counter-arguments to the widespread belief that Robinson Cano dumping Scott Boras automatically means he's going to re-sign with the Yankees.

- On Thursday, Mike Axisa of RAB commented on the early struggles of the top of the lineup, the struggles that surely impacted Joe's decision to move everybody else up on Thursday night.

- Bryan Van Dusen of The Greedy Pinstripes used some statistical analysis, both current and historical, to point out how stupid all the hand wringing was over the first two games.

- Hunter Farman of Yanks Go Yard mused on the increasingly negative atmosphere that exists in the new Yankee Stadium.

- SG of RLYW compared the current lineups with the projected lineups if everybody was healthy to see just how much offense the Yankees are missing right now.

- On Friday, fishjam25 of Yankees Fans Unite questioned Bahhston's logic in shifting against Robbie Cano.  When you look at the spray charts and Cano's career numbers going the other way, it's a fair question to ask.

- Egon Spengler of NoMaas presented their first new series recap of the season.  These will come in handy if you're ever out of town and need to catch up on what you missed.

Today's Friday Jam is "When The Levee Breaks" by Zeppelin.  This is always our go-to first jukebox song when my buddies from work and I go out drinking. Seven minutes gives you plenty of time to pick out the rest of your selections without having to rush, and this is easily one of the 3-5 best Zeppeling songs.  Remember, kids, even in something as trivial as bar music, strategy is the key.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.