Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 9/20/13

Mo is my clear cut sentimental favorite athlete right now because of his pending retirement, and he's easily my 2nd or 3rd favorite athlete all time, but in terms of entertainment and rooting for them to do well my top 2 guys right now are Alex Rodriguez and Johnny Manziel.  The 2 biggest heels in the American sports media and I can't get enough of them.  What does that say about me as a sports fan?  What does it say about me as a person?  I'd like to think it means I'm smart enough to not get caught up in ESPN's constant anti-A-Rod and anti-Manziel shitstorms and evaluate their transgressions rationally and objectively, but maybe it's more than that.  Maybe I just like rooting for the bad guy.  Maybe I am a bad guy.  Do I need to adopt my own heel blogging persona?  Lot to think about here, mainly how fantastic it would be if A-Rod and Manziel could somehow play on the same team.

- On Monday, Jason Evans of Yanks Go Yard asked if we'd be seeing Brendan Ryan back as the starting shortstop next year.  I certainly hope not, although I would prefer him over Nunez for the backup role.

- On Tuesday, Mike Axisa of RAB laid out the rationale behind the Hughes-Huff tandem starter format Joe's using for the 5th rotation spot.  Can't blame him for trying something different.

- Derek Albin of Pinstripe Pundits commented on Chris Stewart's historically brutal 2013 and the outside forces that combined to make that brutality possible.

- Greg Corcoran of Bronx Baseball Daily examined the holes on the 2014 roster and how Tyler Austin could fit into the roster construction plans.

- On Wednesday, EJ Fagan of IIATMS/TYA came up with a formula for measuring the best hitting environments for Minor Leaguers and applied that formula to show where the Yankees rank in organizationl hitting environment.  The results may surprise you and may provide an explanation to why they've failed to produce quality hitting prospects in recent years.

- Bryan Van Dusen of The Greedy Pinstripes commented on the disappointing final season results for Mo and Andy. You know both guys were envisioning a final playoff run when they decided to come back.

- SG of RLYW projected the postseason odds over the final 11 games assuming different winning records.  The chances didn't look good before the end of the Toronto series.

- On Thursday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog ran through virtually all of the potential AL East postseason tiebreaker scenarios.  Hard to see the Yanks factoring into that picture after last night.

- On Friday, Chad Jennings of LoHud had all the details on this weekend's plans for Mo.

- Harlan Spence of Pinstriped Bible broke down Brett Gardner's 2013 season to show why he might not be an ideal candidate for a contract extension.

- El duque of It Is High... started firing off questions that need to asked about next season and still haven't been answered relative to this season.

- SJK of NoMaas continued to bang the drum about the below-average bats the Yankees acquired for multiple years.  People may not like it, but it's something that needs to be revisited time and time again.  No way that plan gels with Hal's commitment to fielding a championship-caliber team.

Got some new music for this week's jam, specifically the new Red Fang track "Blood Like Cream."  New album out next month, no reason to expect it to be any less rocking than the last one was.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.