Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 1/11/13

Major victory for me in my day job this week, people.  Truly life-altering stuff.  In my position, I'm constantly being shipped cases of sample containers for projects I run, usually bottles and cans.  When you do a lot of business with the big soda and beer companies of the world, there always exists the opportunity to get some free product, but I've never been lucky enough to experience that perk in the hundreds, probably thousands, of container samples I've received since I started working for my company.  Until this week.  I got me a fresh 24-case of 16oz aluminum Bud heavies sent to my attention for machine testing.  The King.  I damn near pissed my pants in excitement when I realized the bottles were full.  I saved about 5 to use for the project and the other 19 are going right back to the crib to take their rightful place in my fridge.  Is it shitty beer?  Absolutely.  Am I going to do my duty as an American and enjoy the hell out of every last drop?  You betcha.  Who needs profit sharing when you've got free beer?  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Derek Albin of Pinstripe Pundits analyzed the history of Yankee draft picks to find where their strengths and weaknesses have been, both past and present.

- On Tuesday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog looked back at past instances of HOF voters letting their moral compasses get in the way of logic.  Timely considering all the anti-steroid stuff going around this week from current BBWAA members.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud had some more nitty gritty details on A-Rod's injured left hip thanks to a Tuesday afternoon conference call with the suddenly famous Dr. Kelly.

- Erica Morales of Bleeding Yankee Blue wondered about Joba Chamberlain's future with the Yankees as he heads into a contract year this season.

- On Wednesday, Steven Goldman of Pinstriped Bible made his 3-point pitch for why the Yankees should trade Phil Hughes.

- Mark Simon of ESPN looked at Mike Mussina's career and made a strong HOF case for Mussina when he becomes eligible next year, a case that might also be strengthened by his not being connected to PEDs.

- SG of RLYW looked back at the last 5 years of projections vs. actual production from Alex Rodriguez to see if there's anything they can tell us about what to expect in 2013 after his upcoming surgery.

- Matt Hunter of Yanks Go Yard investigated the fit between the Yankees and Michael Morse.  Spoiler alert- it's a good one.

- On Thursday, Mike Eder of TYA identified 2 Cuban players that would be great targets for the Yankees, especially because they aren't subject to the new CBA rules on international free agents.

- El duque of It Is High... mused on what Brian Cashman could be up to behind the scenes during this part of January, his usual big surprise time of the offseason.

- Mike Axisa of RAB looked back through the Baseball America archives at some past top Yankee prospects and top 5-10 lists, and how they panned out.

- On Friday, Bryan Van Dusen of The Greedy Pinstripes weighed the option of giving up a big prospect package for Justin Upton in the wake of the failed Seattle trade.

- Stacey Gotsulias of Second Place Is Not An Option continued her daily countdown to Spring Training 2013 with a look back at one of Jason Giambi's better seasons in pinstripes.

- Brien Jackson of IIATMS offered up his take on Hal's offseason commentary from yesterday, and it was far more level-headed than mine.

This week's Friday Jam is a doozy, "Savage Henry" by Lo-Pan.  If you aren't familiar with their work, do yourself a favor and get familiar because these guys rock, plain and simple.  I checked them out a month or so ago in one of Magary's "NFL Jamboroo" posts on Deadspin and I've been hooked ever since.  Lead singer's got some pipes on him.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.  And just a reminder, only 2+ days left until Prospect Week and the 2nd annual AB4AR Top 30.

Hal Steinbrenner Does Not Compute

 ("I have more money than you.")

Hal Steinbrenner is not nearly as active in talking to the media as his old man was, and more and more it's starting to look like that's for the best because it seems like whenever he opens his mouth there's nothing good coming out of it.  I don't know if Hal thinks all the Yankee fans out there are as clueless about baseball as he is or if he thinks we're all just stupid, but the comments he made yesterday at the quarterly owners' meetings didn't make a whole lot of sense.  Some of what he said was downright offensive to me as a Yankee fan and someone who considers himself pretty knowledgeable about the sport of baseball.  Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal had the most comprehensive collection of Hal's quotes and after the jump are my takes on some of the highlights.

Do The Yankees Have Any Idea What They're Doing With Eduardo Nunez?

 (Courtesy of Tim Farrell/The Star-Ledger)

It hasn't been a very long career for Eduardo Nunez, but it also certainly hasn't been one short on headlines.  Once the heir apparent to Derek Jeter as the Yankees' everyday shortstop, Nunez has been shuffled around various positions and roles, experimented with as an outfielder, dangled as trade bait, and shuttled back and forth between the Majors and Triple-A constantly since first breaking in in 2010.  Based on Cash's comments to ESPN NY yesterday, it doesn't look like that trend is going to cease in 2013.  Speaking to Andrew Marchand, Cash stated that Nunez will be shifted back to the utility infielder role if he makes the team this season, the same role that was taken from him in May of last season.  If that doesn't make a lot of sense to you, good.  Because it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me either.