Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 8/16/13

Have people noticed the ad ESPN has been using to plug Sunday night's Yanks-Sawx game?  The one with A-Rod where the voiceover makes direct reference to his steroid suspension and then calls him a lightning rod?  I've long given up on the idea of ESPN pulling its head out of its ass and getting back to being a reputable sports network, but it almost astounds me how they continue to find new ways to drop the bar even lower.  A-Rod is a "lightning rod" because you guys cover him like he's the worst person who ever existed.  You over-dramatize everything he does when you cover the guy, you trash him nonstop, then you use him to plug yourself and your product while acknowledging that you over-dramatize him and trash him.  Incredible.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Domenic Lanza of IIATMS/TYA put together an all-encompassing breakdown of the all-homegrown MLB rosters.  If you missed this earlier in the week when it was blowing up the baseball blogopshere, here's your chance to redeem yourself.

- On Tuesday, Andrew Mearns of Pinstriped Bible looked back at Alex Rodriguez's strange walk-off celebration batting helmet fetish.  I had never noticed this before and it's absolutely hilarious.

- Bryan Van Dusen of The Greedy Pinstripes crunched some numbers from this season to show how CC Sabathia could start to become a huge burden on the payroll if he doesn't start pitching better next season.

- Martin Riggs of NoMaas made a case for Hiroki Kuroda's Cy Young candidacy, and compared him to leading contender Felix Hernandez.

- Delia E. of Yankees Fans Unite mused on Brett Gardner's leadership qualities and how he's stepped up to assume a bigger leadership role with Derek Jeter out for so much of the season.

- On Wednesday, Chad Jennings of LoHud compared the differing paths that Chris Stewart and Austin Romine are on behind the plate.

- SG of RLYW played with projections and win-loss pace to see how much the Yankees will benefit from the upgrades to the lineup.  They're much better, no doubt, but that's still a tall mountain to climb to make the postseason.

- On Thursday, el duque of It Is High... looked ahead to this make-or-break weekend series against the Sawx.  I guess a Yankee sweep would at least make things interesting.

- Mike Axisa of RAB discussed Michael Pineda's service time situation and how it could affect the Yankees' plans for him moving forward after another lost season.

- On Friday, Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA showed how the move to Yankee Stadium could do good things for newly-acquired Mark Reynolds' production.

This week's jam is "The Symbol" by Action Bronson.  Even if rap isn't your cup of tea, you should be on the Action Bronson bandwagon.  Big fat white guy with a vicious beard who can rap, is shoot hilarious, readily admits that he's high all the time, and also happens to be a gourmet chef.  Sounds like a pretty fun dude to hang out with if you ask me.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.