Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 11/22/13

It's my birthday on Monday.  For the first time in my life I don't really give a shit about it.  There's nothing fun, exciting, or special about turning 28.  It's just clicking another year off.  But I am flying back to CT to spend the Thanksgiving week at home and that's always a good time.  I get all the east coast beer that I can't get out in Wisconsin back, I get Francesa on the YES Network back, I'm going to the Rangers-Canucks game next Saturday, and I get the luxury of having the entire week off from work to sit around and do nothing.  Hopefully a noteworthy thing or 2 happens while I'm home so I have something good to blog about.  Now onto the links!

-  On Monday, Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA profiled free agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury.  He hasn't been talked about a lot, but he could be a better fit for the Yankees than people realize.

- On Tuesday, Brandon Mauk of The Greedy Pinstripes identified the cheaper free agent options that would make a lot of sense for the Yankees this offseason if they can't afford to shop hard for all their top targets.

- Craig Edwards of Pinstripe Alley discussed the idea of Brendan Ryan getting the bulk of the shortstop playing time over Jeter next year.

- On Wednesday, Vizzini of NoMaas went way off the free agent radar to find some starting pitching options that could work for the Yankees.

- El duque of It Is High... lamented the Randy Levine-heavy week we had to endure this week.  I hear that, Duke.  I hear that.

- SG of RLYW released the first round of MLB standing CAIRO projections for 2014.  Not a lot to be taken from it this early in the offseason, but another way to show how much work the Yankees have to do.

- On Thursday, Jonathan Aron of Yanks Go Yard kicked the tires on Scott Kazmir, one of the top low risk/high reward starters on the market.

- Mike Axisa of RAB looked back at the 2013 draft and declared it one of the strong points of the 2013 Yankee season.  That should spell good things for the farm system next year, right?

- Greg Corcoran of Bronx Baseball Daily ranked his top 5 Yankee catching prospects now that Austin Romine is no longer considered one.

- Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits examined the possibility of David Phelps becoming a reliable part of the rotation next season.

- On Friday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog broke down the arguments against re-signing Robinson Cano to point out how flawed they are and make the point that the Yankees can and should re-sign him.

This week's jam is "Do I Wanna Know?" by Arctic Monkeys.  Was going to go see them next month in Milwaukee but found out the show is already sold out.  Balls.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.